 Hello everyone and welcome to Hawaii Together on the Think Tech Hawaii Broadcast Network. I'm Kaley Ikeena and you're going to enjoy today's program. From time to time I just bring on somebody who's remarkable, somebody who's had an impact on the people of Hawaii and certainly my guest has today. His name is Agi Tulban. Whether you got to know him as a Golden Globes boxing champion way back when or as an entertainer who's been featured on programs such as Hawaii Five-O, Baywatch and Magnum PI or you've perhaps seen him in his comedy routines or maybe just watching him do a great deal of community service during the past 30 years. I think you'll realize he's somebody special. One of the special people here in Hawaii and I thought today what we'd do is just talk story with Agi and learn a little bit about his heart, his values, who he is and what makes him think. What makes him tick. I know he thinks as well. But please welcome to the program my friend Agi Tulban. Agi, I'm Oha. Thanks Kaley. Thanks for having me. Good to see you. Yeah, same here. How do you stay looking so young all the time? I like to say Filipino, being Filipino but you know I also know that when you live life to your fullest and you happy, magical things happen. A lot of people think I dye my hair, never dyed my hair once and I see a lot of my classmates with gray hair and I'm almost jealous, I'm almost envious at 51 I go maybe that's what I need. So they don't call you kupuna or ronko, they just call you Agi. They call me Agi but I like the fact that I am growing older and I'm learning a lot at this age so. You know a lot of folks out there don't know how diverse your background has been, how many different kinds of things you've done during the last 30, 40 years, 50 years of your career. But you started out in the projects, didn't you? I grew up in Kalee Valley housing that's Kanford housing and my parents lived there until about like 16 years I got out of the housing at 16 years and I understood what that was all about you know growing up in public housing it was a hand up you know and my parents really explained to us that this is only temporary and we have to be thankful that we have shelter but it's not for us to be in and stay in you know we have to work hard and provide one for your family but also like you know it should have given you an understanding that you know there are people out there willing to help so that's what public housing did for our family. You learned a lot about life from your family growing up. What are some of those values that you've carried with you? You know hard work, Kalee. Hard work. Work hard. You know I had five brothers. Then you had to work hard to get enough food when you fought on the table. Yes. My mom and my dad, my dad you know he only went up to the fourth grade in education. My mom graduated from Faraday High School and education wasn't really stress on our family because my mom and dad was busy working but my mom and dad always told all my brothers that if you work hard harder than anybody wherever you're working at you're going to do great things and that's what I saw mom and dad work the tail off and honest hard working people. Well you know I know what that's like because the same thing for me. My dad graduated from parenting high school. Oh wow. I was wondering if our parents knew each other. My mom never finished high school either and yet my parents taught me everything I need to know about living life and working hard. You know when you and I first met I was back in the days when I was a minister with Youth for Christ working with the young people and I knew there was something special about you. I thought that you had a touch of faith back then. Yeah and I still do I mean you know in this crazy world I think you need to find some balance and it doesn't matter you know where do you go to find that that peace that balance you know it's super important that you have some sort of faith and for me you know I so appreciate all the blessings you know I'm in a very challenging life but you know the man upstairs really took care of me and my family and whenever times got tough believe it or not prayer and God answering those prayers man you know he helps you really get centered in a lot of things and you're thinking so you know I'm so thankful that that has always been there in my life. Well I can see your faith in your family and your wife and your beautiful five children you've really really done well you know in the world of entertainment one of the cheapest ways to be funny is to be dirty and one of the cheapest ways to be funny also is to make fun of people but you know as I've watched you you've kind of shied away from that. Yeah. I think you've been fairly clean. In the beginning I was very rebellious and there's a story behind that you know wanting to be a G.I. I wanted to be Eddie Murphy of Hawaii but then I realized Andy Bumutai told me you're not going to make money doing that you have to work clean you know and so I built my career around you know a lot tougher to write you know it's easy to use the effort it's easy like you said to tease the difference is like telling a story without being so graphic and part of the reason why you know I'm quitting or I'm taking a step back from comedy is because it's hard to compete with the social media I mean I will watch it now and then the only way to get a really cheap laugh is to be as a vulgar and almost shocking you know to forget those millions of hits and I just don't feel like doing that people go why don't you do YouTube videos I go I'm 51 I have time to get in front of the you know and and do what the young kids are doing and some of them like the only way to get that laugh is they being vulgar and they swearing just to get that shock and I get it that's the way of the world but that's not how you know I was taught to do this thing. Well it sounds to me as though you've got your own moral compass you have standards that you've set for yourself and you want to maintain in whatever field of life you're in. You know I've always wondered what it was like when you were back with Buga Buga and also working with people like Andy Bumazalai, Rap Rappalinger. You know these were some great luminaries when it comes to comedy well not to mention you yourself. Well you know when I was young I listened to them on records right? Records? Records, what are those? My auntie, my dad used to send me to Maui to be around older cousins because I believe in a constant show me your friends and I'll show you your future. My dad knew that if I stayed where I was in the summer hanging around with some of my crazy friends I would have been easy for me to take that path so he would send me to Maui so I can be around older cousins and they introduced me to records and my auntie took me to a concert and Andy Bumazalai was the opening act and I was like blown away that a guy standing on stage was making 3,000 people laugh. I started buying comedy albums and I being dyslexic and having a gif of gab I listened and I started memorizing these guys act, Rap Rappalinger, Buga Buga, George Carlin, Andy Bumazalai and I just fell in love with comedy. You know one of the things that you have done well is communicate. I've seen you perform, I've listened to you, you really reach out and the audience relates well to you. What have you learned about the people of Hawaii during your entire entertainment career? I'm sure you've learned a lot. Yeah, I learned that people who can really take a joke, honestly. You know we have such a diverse community, we have a whole bunch of different ethnic races and we know the stereotype and I'm blessed to have a very dysfunctional family Kelly. So I want to thank my mom, my dad, my kids, my brothers for really making me successful and not having to attack people but like a lot of the comedy for me has been self-deprecating. I play, even when I'm trying to make an analogy, I'm looking at it always as a local boy perspective. I might not be right but it's going to be funny, it's going to be entertaining and sometimes it makes sense. You know you talk about local boy perspective, you know. What kind of value does that bring to the way you look at the world as opposed to looking at it like a high muck-a-muck or something like that? I like that question because it's really common sense, honestly. You know, it's so fun like right, I saw a sign two weeks ago and said, Billy's surprise birthday party and in my mind Kelly, I was laughing because only a local family would put Billy's surprise birthday party on the fence and I'm thinking, you know, Billy cannot read, right? So it's like, it's so funny like so when you see things, when I'm watching things the last 28 years of doing comedy, it might be something as really extreme as 9-11 or Super Fairy. There's always something funny to something that's very serious and topical. You know, there are a lot of serious things that the people of Hawaii are facing today. We live in paradise, we've got beautiful skies, ocean, lovely people, but there's some real challenges and I know that those challenges are things you've been thinking about a lot lately. Yeah, you know, I never aspired to be Frank Delima. I love you, Frank, to go into schools and talk to students. My daughter, Mahia, she created a foundation called Brave Hawaii and it's an anti-bullying foundation but it also helps kids with setting goals, making right choices, drug and alcohol, suicide prevention. And she started this foundation when she was 13 years old. She wrote a book called It's OK to Be Different and she started reading books through elementary school kids but what was happening is there was a need so they said, can Brave do more than just read a book? And then that's where my daughter who knows me and my family knows me more than anybody else knows about my challenges growing up, being poor, setting goals, making right choices, you know. And it wasn't for amazing teachers. I knew my challenges at home. I wouldn't have not been as effective, you know, in these programs as it is right now. You know, being able to tell that story, being able to relate to kids in middle school and high school, you know, even at this age. So I'm very thankful that my daughter created this stuff and it helped me see that there's a lot of challenges in our community. And one of the reasons why I'm considering running for office. You're thinking of running for office? Yes. I'm sure that the question you get asked more than any other question is why. Yeah, it's because of that. You know, I was able to serve in the American Noise Administration for two years. Lieutenant Governor Shanson Sui's Administration for a year and working with my daughter's foundation, going out, talking to communities and talking to students. And I grew up poor and I can always tell people how tough it was, but I haven't seen so much challenges now. And sometimes when I'm working my tail off for the last 28 years, you know, hasn't sort of slowed down when I started doing my daughter's foundation and sitting with people talking in schools. I realized, oh, there's a lot more challenges out there compared to when I was growing up. You know, Augie, a lot of people are just sick and tired of politics. They don't want to vote. They don't think there's anybody worth voting for. They don't have a high opinion of politicians and so forth. You know, I'm sure you've heard all this all the time. So, yet, why do you want to go into the world of politics? And again, that's part of the reason. I mean, people realize that we spend, we're going to spend more money paying into government than we're going to do our homes, our families. And why not invest, vote? You know, I remember being a small boy, Kelly, watching my mom vote behind the wall, looking through the, you know, the little window, what is she doing going behind the red, white, and blue curtain? And you come in and I go, Mom, what you did? I voted. I was like, when do I get to vote? You have to wait until you're 18. Where have we lost that excitement to make a difference in our community? And I mean this with all sincerity. I'm doing it because I'm hoping that in the years that I've done comedy, I've made people laugh. Now at 51, I can maybe lead by example. If I'm challenging students and teachers when I'm doing speeches in schools and I'm talking to them about stepping outside the box, facing their fears, you know, I have no reason to want to run. I don't need the publicity. I'm not doing this as a publicity stunt. I don't need the criticism. You know what I mean? I just want to serve the same way I watch my daughter and the same way I watch people help me grow to be the person I am today. 28 years, Kelly, I've lived an amazing life. Even after my first Hawaii Theater DVD, I said, if I died right now, I've lived my life. I said, I was going to do all the things that I wanted to do and I'm doing it. Well it sure sounds as though you're going into a new phase in life. We're going to take a break right now. We're going to come right back in here a lot more. You're not going to go away. My guest today, Agitoba, a remarkable person, is going to share a little bit more about his values and his plans for the rest of his life and maybe our lives as well as he impacted us. I'm Kaili Iakina on Think Tech Hawaii's Hawaii Together. Don't go away. We'll be right back after this short message. Aloha, my name is Duretian. You are watching Think Tech Hawaii. I will be hosting a show here every other Wednesday at 1 p.m. and we will be talking to a lot of experts and guests around sustainability, social justice, the future here in Hawaii, progressive politics, and a whole lot more. So please tune in and thank you for watching Think Tech Hawaii. Aloha, my name is Wendy Lo and I want you to join me as we take our health back. On my show, all we do is talk about things in everyday life in Hawaii or abroad. I have guests on board that will just talk about different aspects of health in every way, whether it's medical health, nutritional health, diabetic health, you name it, we'll talk about it, even financial health. We'll even have some of the Miss Hawaii's on board and all the different topics that I feel will make your health and your lifestyle a lot better. So come join me. I welcome you to take your health back. Mahalo. Well, I welcome you back to Hawaii Together on the Think Tech Hawaii Broadcasting Network. I'm Akina today with my friend, Agi Tolba. And if you've been watching so far, I think you're probably delighted to hear about somebody who's coming from a fresh direction of life into politics and government and who wants to serve. And I'm going to ask him a little bit more about that as we continue. Agi, some people may have been surprised to hear what you just announced, that you want to go into government service. And we've already discussed why it is. But apparently you believe, you must believe that we really can make a difference through government. I think everybody can. I think one of the things that I've learned the last couple of weeks of that, I think everybody should want to consider possibly serving. I mean, I've learned so much the last four weeks, just educating myself. I think if everybody just had their heart to do it, then maybe we won't be so critical against government. Because I believe government there to help, like I said in the beginning. I mean, if it wasn't for public housing and giving us that fresh start, I wouldn't be where I'm at today. I'm very thankful for that. It's an interesting thing you say that maybe everybody should try. Because it sounds as though you don't see it as necessarily a life-long career that is for a select group of people, but government is something that people, anybody could get involved in. Absolutely. A teacher. You run a non-profit. And a lot of it, a lot of it is people feeling maybe insecure about it, right? Because we see lawyers and we see politicians. We see smart people. But really, you're doing it because you're the voice of the people. You want to listen. And I think the last couple of weeks, going door to door, talking to people, talking to everyday people, who go, I almost feel like I know you. And how rewarding that is for somebody like me. I'm about to take steps in a different direction in my life. You know, when somebody is offering to help in the campaign or wanting to give money, or when I just go, you know, I'm considering running. And they go, man, you're right on. I'll go and vote for you. Or when you walking to foodlet and look at you, they go, What do you say if somebody says, you know, Augie, you're bright-eyed and bushy-tailed right now. But you're fresh. You're at the start. What would happen after time if you become like the other politicians? What would prevent that from happening? You know, if people know me, you know, once I, you know, it's 28 years, I've got criticized by maybe some jokes that I've done and I own up to everything. You can see everything online. So you're going to attack me because some of the things I said go for it. I own everything. You know, I feel and I've always been very passionate about things that I've done the last. When I don't feel like it's day anymore, I don't feel like I'm happy at doing something or I feel like I cannot do anymore. I am the kind of guy that believes just walking out that door. And I say this without sincerity because I also believe that, like I believe in God, that when one door closes, I want to open. So I'm hoping that I'll learn. I'm hoping that I can do as much as I can for people, you know, but I also know that at the end of the day, I'm all alone by myself. You know, I got to live with what I said. You know, I don't want to be that guy. I don't know how to be that guy. Honestly, Kelly, you know, I'm taking responsibility for all my challenges, you know, and doing that has helped me really grow as a person. Maybe I've heard some people's feelings, but it's humbled me, you know, because that's how you grow and you learn. What you're really talking about is being a person of integrity. And it sounds as though that's deep in your heart. And it's something that you would take in public service. I just want to help. I just want to serve the same people that with 20 years, sometimes I would laugh, you know, when I'm backstage and I see a line of people. And sometimes, you know, some of my closest friends who still around me and open for me that hangs out with me at these comments show, I go, can you believe that? Look at these lines of people wanting to just hear me talk about me. Crazy, plain old Augie, you know, and humbly looking for something. And, you know, unfortunately, here in Hawaii, we have the lowest voter turnout in the nation. Not something to be proud of. But there are obvious reasons for this. I don't want to dwell upon them. But what could change that? What could inspire people to get involved and come out to the polls and to embrace being part of governance? I honestly think fresh new leaders, fresh new faces, fresh new voice, you know, learn, get involved. Like I said, it's been so exciting. People ask me, not scared. You don't know if it's like, Oh, no, I'm learning so much. I mean, you never ever stop learning. You know what I mean? Like, I saw my dad retire. And after he was done, he was retired. He did the same old thing. And he grew old ass, you know, and I'm like, you want to always continue to learn and grow. And I'm hoping that people watching this, or as I'm talking about why I'm running, people will be encouraged to vote. Because like I said, the most you ever go and spend is on government. Why not invest in that? Why not take the time? And it's so easy now. Mailbox, you can mail your vote in, register, vote, you know, be a part of a society that's that you can help change and influence, you know, so you've been talking to a lot of people, and I'm sure they've been sharing their monologue, their thoughts about what government is doing and what government is not doing. What do you think our people want government to do more of out there? I mean, there are problems we're facing, crises that are in front of us. What does the average person out there want to see its government doing much more? And, you know, it's a variety of things. I'm running for city council. So I'm really focusing in my community. So there's a city council. Yes. Yes. He's learning. I'm considering running for district nine city council. And there's a variety of things in my community. But listening, right, absorbing, paying attention, you know, and saying, look, I will give back if I get back at you. And the reality is that, you know, uh, we all need to like take this. It's our Kulihana, right? You talking about Kulihana, it's everybody. It's not just the politicians, not just the leaders. It's the everyday person. Well, where have you lost that excitement of watching your parents go behind that red, white, and blue curtain to make a difference? You think it doesn't, it does 100%. You know, and I'm hoping that I will encourage, you know, guys my age, 51, who think the government has forgotten about you. That's the youth vote. Yes. Yes. But I also, I'm hoping that you can lead by example because if you do it, your children will do it. And I think you want to get things done and you got to vote. And I'm hoping that, you know, I will be a great example and I will work as hard to talk to people on a daily basis. Like you said, I'm far, right? I bushy-tailed. And what a great way to start, right? That's right. Absorb and let's learn and lead by example. You know, I'm sure you're going into government or politics, not just for yourself, obviously, but for your children, for the future of other people's children and so forth. You know, what kind of Hawaii do you envision? What kind of Hawaii would you like to see for your children and your grandchildren? Something we could work for all together? You know, it's so funny that you say that. I'm an amazing campaign manager, amazing wife, amazing family. I was born in 1968. I'm always born. I'm long gone from this planet. There's a dash between everything. Right? 1968 is a dash. So it's happening right now. We're in a dash. And in all these world, I like to see parents home 15, maybe 30 minutes every day so that they can spend time with their family. I understand mom and dad works in the perfect world. I like to see that happen. I like to see, we respect police officers. I like to see teachers, new teachers thriving, teaching our kids. I go and I talk to teachers and I say, your worst day can be the most amazing day to a kid. And I love teachers. If it wasn't for that every day teacher, I was doing a, going green event this past weekend and a guy came up to me and said, my dad was your sixth grade teacher. And I said, you know, Mr. Yamanaka, man, I remember all those teachers because they knew that despite being that Kalo'i kid, get something special, you know, and teachers spend more time with sometimes parents now. And I'm so thankful for the teachers that moved me the right way. So in August, perfect world, in that dash, I love to see a lot of things in that perfect world. Parents coming home to take care of the kids, being responsible for your children, not allowing, putting the burden on teachers or on government. It's your responsibility. You know, what are you giving your kids? Me, my, and my brothers and my children is that hard work attitude, working hard. And if it's in school, working hard at school, giving it your all, giving 110%. You know, so I'm excited about the new journey. I'm excited that I've gotten the opportunity to sit with you today and sharing a little bit. And, you know, thank you. Well, Agi, it's just a delight to have you on the program today. And I'm sure we'll have you in the future, but I wish you the best on the decision you've made, on the direction you're going, and on the great service that you want to continue giving to the people of Hawaii. Thank you. Aloha to you. My guest today, Agi Tolba, a remarkable person. Didn't I tell you you'd enjoy watching this? And I hope you'll tell your friends about Agi. He's a great guy. Thank you for watching today. I'm Keli Akinah on the Think Tech Hawaii Broadcast Network, signing off until next time. Aloha.