 Hi, I'm Rusty Komori, and this is Beyond the Lines. We are broadcasting live from the beautiful ThinkTek Hawaii TV studio in the Pioneer Plaza in downtown Honolulu. This show is based on my book, which is also titled Beyond the Lines, and it's about creating a superior culture of excellence, leadership, and finding greatness. Today's special guest is comedy king Frank Dilema. He has been and still continues to be one of the most successful, most funny comedians in the state of Hawaii for many decades, and today we are going Beyond the Jokes. Frank, great having you here today on Beyond the Lines. Thank you. Aloha, everybody. I know that I have two big things in common with you. One is I'm part Portuguese. Oh, yeah. I'm going to handle all the jokes. Right on. And the second is I went to Damien. Viriliterade. Viriliterade. Right on. That's both right on. Now, I want to ask you, Frank, about your background. What schools did you go to before you went to Damien? Kindergarten, I went to Paoa Elementary. Then I went to Cathedral School for eight years, and then off to Damien. And then I went on to St. Stephen's Seminary, and we commuted to Shamanad, graduated from Shamanad. And then I went up to St. Patrick's Theologian in Menlo Park, California, and was there for three years. Got back home and was one year at Holy Trinity Church as a deacon, but the entertainer was getting stronger as I was going along all the way through school. I was in charge of all the social events and the fundraisers, the musician, the emcee, pep squad, pep rallies. So I was on the mic, and so that was starting to get popular in me, stronger in me. And so at that point, at Holy Trinity, I decided I'd better take a break and go out and find out where I really should be. So I did realize after I got one hit after another, from Abdul-Fatai to Lucille and beyond, just one hit after another. And so I said, maybe this is my career, but there's still something missing. And I want to continue to do something for the community and as a church person. And so I used to work at the summer fund summer camp programs for eight years while in the school. And so I picked up about what makes them laugh and what keeps their attention. And that all came to be. My first school was in Maui. I had sold out my shows on the weekend. I said, OK, this is probably the time. I feel like I'm supposed to do something. I'm not doing anything during the day, during the week. So I asked my cousin, Charlie, is there a school close by? And so he said, yep, Kahulu Elementary. The principal was open and minded. And he said, yeah, come on. And so he set up 800 kids, K to 8. And I went on stage. I said, God help me because I have no idea what I'm going to do. But I was enough information in my head. I did a half hour. Kids laugh, but they also listened. And I gave my message. And that has continued for 40 years from one school to 300 schools on my schedule. That is amazing. It takes two years to visit all 300. And so I've seen every school, K to 8, or almost every school, depending if they say yes or no, but K to 8. And I've seen them, each of the kids, five times. Because I've been back to the schools, and I would give messages as they're getting older. And it's been very successful. I still got a whole bunch of schools that I'm doing up to about 270. Geez. And like I said, it takes two years. So that's my program. And I thank my sponsors because when Waikiki's closed down, then I needed sponsors to pay the bills. Because I volunteer, but I still cannot pay the bills. So Texaco takes help from me, and Prince Guanacua, and Sony Open, and the Federico. And I'm even asking the state if they can help now that I need that help. And so we'll see what they say. But that is important. Otherwise, the program cannot continue. So if people want to donate, it's frankdilema.com. Go on and do a donation. Thank you. Thanks for giving me that opportunity. Of course. And Frank, I remember when I was at Damien. Damien was the most strict school in the state. How was it when you were at Damien? Oh, man, it was strict. But I was a nervous kid. So I never did get out of line. I got my black samba one time on my hand. And it was because of vocabulary. See, I have a problem with memorizing. And so the brothers really helped me there because they realized it. So I had a problem there. So it kind of helped me back from becoming really a good student, but I was pretty good. That's ironic that you had problems with memorizations. Yeah, I've always did because of my imagination. It would keep wandering, especially if the thing doesn't interest me. Then I started going off into tangents and daydreaming. And of course, that wastes time. And you still got to go back and memorize it. But I remember it completely after. Four score and seven years ago, our forefathers brought forth from this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. And I took forever. But there's a lot of songs and skits that are plenty words. And most of them I did myself. So it was easier because it's in the brain, even though you change this and that over and over again. You still got to memorize it. But then there's little stuff, you know, scripts of plays and stuff that my helper, Patrick Downs, would make right that I needed to go in and memorize the whole thing. I have a story about one of them is that I had a meeting with a stage play, Christmas play, at Hawaii Theater. And we told the group that they wanted me to be part of it. Don't give Frank any stuff, my manager said, that he has to learn because it takes him forever to learn it. They didn't listen. All they told us there was, oh, it's Christmas songs. Now you tell me, how many people in the public know Frosty the Snowman? She sings, Frosty the Snowman. Da da da da da da, you know. But I'm sure there's a son that know it. But you got to notice, I had to know the song. I was busy. I was top of my career and so much shows and stuff like that. But they gave me songs like, what are you doing? New Year's. I never heard that song in my whole life. And I had to memorize that thing and sing to a puppet. Oh, I tell you, I just had a hard time because they didn't believe. And I guess a lot of people don't realize that I have that memorizing problem. So yeah, through the years. But when I get to show and I'm on stage, I don't have that problem. It was easy, but it takes work. Frank, let's talk about Portuguese being super. Now, did you learn how to make Portuguese being soup because of your mom? Mom used to make them. And so I knew the recipe by the time I started taking over. And I thought that would be a good thing to make for my building, so at Christmas I make a pot for them. I make a pot for all the radio stations and TV stations thanking them for a year of their help and so that continues for many years. I'm going to make one on Monday. I didn't tell them yet, but I'm going to send out the email that I'll be bringing soup on Monday. And it takes about four to five hours to make, from buying the stuff, to chopping it, and to boiling it. That's the longest part. You got to get the ham shanks off the bone, have it fall off, and then it's ready. Then you add everything else, and it's steep. A lot of my TV news anchor friends, they tell me every year that you deliver the Portuguese being soup to the studios. Now, I want to ask you, Frank, I remember going to see your shows, I mean, multiple times at the noodle shop in Waikiki. And you did Lucille, Glenn Miyashiro, I mean, Imelda. I mean, how was it with all of those different characters that you would invent at those times? How was it? Yeah, how was it like? Because you're so creative at having so many different characters. And didn't Imelda come to one of your shows? She came to the show. Your neighbor brought her. And she was interested because she hung out with show business people. She knows show business, and she knows that different comedians dress up as different big stars. And she was kind of flattered. And so she came down, they put her in the front seat, and she had a bag of shoes. So when I walked on stage dressed like her, first I panicked. I said, as Portuguese, we strong people. I mean, yeah, I got, so I went out there, and I'm going to face her. And two of us with the duck glasses looking at each other. She busted out laughing. And when I started singing, I left my shoes in my manila. And then she held up the shoes and said, here, have some. It was hilarious. It was absolutely hilarious, yeah. Because before that, a lot of the people that loved Imelda weren't happy at all with me dressed up as that. But when she came in, then they understood, yeah. That it's just doing, and simple stuff. I mean, it's not like going into the terrible things that they say she did. I just stay with the shoes, and the bra, and the panties, and whatever it is, and the hair. And I said, and I'll leave it at home. At least that's fun. And she loved it, she thought. She said, oh, you take good care. You didn't do anything mean. And I said, well, we're both Catholic. I ran into her at church. She was sick and hot-sighted. I was sick, blessed, modest-eyed. Didn't know we were both together. And after mass, I heard, pssh, pssh. And I looked around. I said, who's calling me? Was her? With her son, Bong Bong. And oh, my goodness. Anyway. Oh, wow. OK, Frank. And then you came up with Ethnicology 101. What was that all about? I wanted to put something together that I get my message out about Hawaii, a culture and a culture. Therefore, it can be offensive to people that didn't grow up here. There's a few that even grew up here that really didn't get into it. But it came from the plantation days. And so I tell stories about that in that CD about how our humor developed. And the fact that most people in Hawaii, they grew up with all the ethnics in their group, in their street. And they mingled with each other. The kids all played together, football and all that. That happened with me. We had the park and stayed at each other's house. But me, I was more the type that would hang around the grandma and the grandpa and the mom and dad and listen to them and ask questions and stuff like that. So I picked up a lot of stuff. But so I wanted to let them know where this culture is. And most people got that sense of humor. They grew up with it at the garage party, at the Luau, aunties with the flowers in the air singing like that and said, hey, pake, put that plastic bag away. You cannot take this food home. I remember that so well. I was young and I tell you, the whole audience busted out laughing. But that's the local stuff. And Frank, I have to ask you, what's your favorite food to eat? Bisou and rice. Bisou and rice. Bisou and rice spaghetti, pake, pake, deluxe. Bisou and rice spaghetti, pake, pake, deluxe. What's more, I mean, one life. I mean, what's more, I mean, one life. I mean, one deluxe, one ton, min. I absolutely love it. Well, because of that song, I started to love Bisou and rice even more. Well, it's something that all the local restaurants make. And it's like, oh, no. It's oh, no. The gravies, that's what the whole thing is. Oh, totally. How the gravy is. The gravy junk, then the Bisou and rice. Frank, we're going to take a quick break. And then when we come back, we're going to continue going beyond the jokes. All right. You are watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii with my special guest, Frank Dilema. We'll be back in a quick minute. Hey, Stan the Energyman here on Think Tech Hawaii. And they won't let me do political commentary. So I'm stuck doing energy stuff. But I really like energy stuff. So I'm going to keep on doing it. So join me every Friday on Stan the Energyman at lunchtime, at noon, on my lunch hour. We're going to talk about everything energy, especially if it begins with the word hydrogen. We're going to definitely be talking about it. We'll talk about how we can make Hawaii cleaner, how we can make the world a better place. Just basically save the planet. Even Miss America can't even talk about stuff like that anymore. We got it nailed down here. So we'll see you on Friday at noon with Stan the Energyman. Aloha. Hello, I'm Yukari Kunisue. I'm your host of New Japanese Language Show on Think Tech Hawaii, called Konnichiwa Hawaii, broadcasting live every other Monday at 2 PM. Please join us where we discuss important and useful information for the Japanese language community in Hawaii. The show will be all in Japanese. Hope you can join us every other Monday at 2 PM. Aloha. Welcome back to Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. My special guest today is Frank Dilema, who is one of the funniest comedians in the state of Hawaii for many, many decades. And today we are going beyond the jokes. Frank, I'm cracking up laughing with you. And we're in December right now, almost Christmas time. And we all love the Filipino Christmas. And on and on and on. Yeah, that song, you know, I went to visit a school at Waipahu Elementary. And the fifth grader, student body president, straight-A student, wonderful kid came up to me. And he said, Uncle Frank, I love your Filipino Christmas song. I can sing it. I said, from beginning to end, he said, yeah. And you know, a lot of people, they say it's all bull-eye. Some of the words are bull-eye, but a lot of them are real. Where did you learn your words from? I said, my neighbor and the ladies down at Bless the Sacrament Church, you know, the Filipino Catholic Club. So I used to pick up all these words because I used to ask them questions. What is this? What is that? What kind of plant do you have, tata? And tata teach me words like buddh-buddh, petr-petr-baddhoya, kos-karon, bibing-kas-suman, ding-ding-ding, darang-darang, soloyot, kalamunga, balut, and otot, all those words. And so through the years, it stayed with me. And that's how my comedy was based. And I wanted to do a Christmas song, a funny song, because Lucio was such a huge hero. And I said, I've got to follow with something for Christmas. And that song came to mind. And today, right? Because it was peppy. And I said, what kind of words are going to fit there, you know? And the Filipino words came to be perfect. And so I, this guy, Tremaine Tamayose, one day he was, we were doing a commercial. And he started singing, makadang-dang, soloyot, and soloyot. And I said, oh, I changed that to soloyot. But through the years, I added and added and added to it. And it became the Filipino Christmas song. And the kid sang the whole thing. And then at the end, he said, Uncle Frank, I didn't hear the word for squid. I said, I never heard that word. You know, I never learned that. He said, I'll spell it for you. It's puset, P-U-S-I-T, puset. I said, well, thank you for telling me that. And then he said, Uncle Frank, what is this? I said, well, it looks like a puset swimming. He said, yes. And what is this? I said, well, I don't know. He said, a puset. I busted out laughing. That kid had a joke building up and waiting for me to fall for it. And I did. Oh, Frank, OK. So two weeks ago, I had Augie T on my TV show. And he said that you are one of his all-time idols. And you guys are all doing some comedy tour, some performances together. How is it with all of you guys? Mel Kabang, Augie, Andy Bumatai, how is it with you guys? Oh, we work wonderful together, because each guy got his own category. And so we don't step on each other's toes as far as material. And we know exactly what each other does. So we won't go there. Sometimes we overlap in our own shows. But when it comes to that, we know exactly what each guy does. So we work really well together offstage. We have good fun in the dressing room. Mel Kabang is, oh, my goodness. That guy with his rubber face. Mel is the oldest of all of us. I come second. And then comes Andy. And here is with Andy, I think, same age. And then the baby, which is Augie. And so Augie did a show for his Mayday or whatever it was when he was in fourth grade or something. And he dressed up as Abdulif Alad. And so he got great laughs. And so that was a big hit back then. That's how old I am, my god. So he always talks to me about that and other stuff. And that's nice, too. It's amazing, yeah. It's amazing that you guys are all doing that together. And then there's another big show coming up this March 2. That's correct. All right, now, Frank, obviously you've achieved great success and you've sustained success. And I talk a lot about that in my book Beyond the Lines. And you created a student enrichment program. And tell me about the impact that when you're there. You mentioned earlier about that Maui school and performing in front of them. But through countless students through these decades, I mean, what is the impact that you're seeing through all these years with the kids? Well, the only thing that I can see if they remember what I did was my brother put when the computer came out and he put a program on it. And so we give the kids a choice to go on and take a test. And through the years, the tests have been very good. I just do multiple choice. And the teachers say, come back or not. A lot of them, sometimes 100%, whoever goes on. It's only sampling because not everybody got the time or want to, got other things to do. But I get about 85% positive. The kids know the songs and the message. And that helps me that I'm doing the right thing. But it also makes me remember that the next time I go, I've got to develop the message and keep developing it. Because they've seen me, all these young from kindergarten. And the songs have to be updated. Except for kindergarten to third grade, I still do peanut butter and jelly and going on a butahat. In fact, I have a story about it. Somebody that I was taking my blood for a blood test at Strop. And so this 26-year-old, I found out after what he told me, he said, Uncle Frank, nice to meet you. What is your name? And I said, you just said Uncle Frank. He said, formally. And I said, I'm Frank Wilcox, Nene, my junior. He said, thank you very much. So he says, OK, do we get a good vein? And so he sticks the needle in. And as the blood is going out into the vial, he starts singing peanut, peanut butter, jelly. And I cracked that. I said, what is this? I never expected this. He said, Kona, why not? Elementary school. And I was in first grade. I said, you remember that? He said, yeah, and you visited after that, too. And he said, thank you. And I said, well, thank you for letting me know. So that was out of nowhere. Another time, I stopped at the stop sign and had these construction workers doing something in the road. And they spotted me. So they all looked, and one of them said, going on a butahat. And then the other three chimed in. So you have these three blalas with the construction hat on, singing, going on a butahat. I mean, you have to be there. So through the years, it's gotten even more and more. There are more waiters and stewardesses. I was on an island there. And the stewardess in the front, I was sitting in front, and she was facing me. And she was looking at me and kept looking at me. And when the plane started ticking off, she started going, going on a butahat. Man, blows my mind. But it's nice. If they only remember that, well, at least they remember that. Well, I remember when I was at Damien, and you came to perform for all of us at school, and you're so inspirational and made us all feel so happy. And I want to ask you, Frank, about your definition of success. What do you think success means? Three things. The first is that you never pass up the opportunity to learn more. And whatever ability you have, you make the best use of it. And I conclude that because of my hard time memorizing. But you just do the best you can and get it done. Secondly is to take care of your health. And it's so easy for you to not think about the future. Just what you're doing now, you feel great. I got diabetes from overweight. I was fine, 20 and 30 years old. I was great. After work, we'd eat, oh, whatever, beef stew and rice. And three scoops of ice cream with half a pie. And oh, whatever you wanted. But then you get older, and not all humans, but a lot of them start putting on the weight and the body slows down, doesn't burn the food fast enough. So Dr. Tommy, you better watch out. You're going to get diabetes. And I said, I asked my mom, damn me. I said, hey, we have diabetes in the family. He said, no. Because I thought diabetes is inherited. I didn't know that you could actually get it from being overweight and older. And so about 350, when I was like 50, is when I got it. And the doctor said, I told you, and you never listened. I said, oh, I didn't know about type 2, and you know that. And he said, that's why. Type 1, you inherit. Type 2, you don't listen. And so I had to go lose 100 pounds. I did. Now I'm off the medication about two years ago. And I thank my doctor for his encouragement and so forth. And so that's why I say to everybody, please be cautious when you're young. And just take care of your health and food and vegetables and whatever it takes. And smoking and all that stuff is not good. And so health is second. Because in order to progress in life, you need to have your health. You need that. And diseases that are out there, you need a strong heart and lungs so that they can fight it. So you can live to be 80 years old and still go to the senior center and boogie. And boogie. Yeah. And then the third thing is to have aloha. To always think about other people. Like when the light, the arrow going to turn, and you're in a line, and you're the first person, and the arrow only lasts for a short time. You know that. And get plenty of people, got things to do. And you start off real slow and make the turn. And only two cars go through. I always think about the people behind me when I drive as well. And people that are just around, talk nice, and get to know them. I tell the kids that at school, I said, always treat people good, all your classmates, schoolmates. Because you're learning how to realize that people think differently. And when you have disagreements, you debate. But you don't get to the point where you don't talk to them for five years. That kind of thing, which is typical human. But I try to this for myself, always try to just get along with everyone. I get challenges. I get people that are angry with me and stuff. But I don't let them turn me angry. I love those insights from you, Frank. Thank you. You know, again, you're such an inspiration to countless people in Hawaii and including me. And I really want to thank you for your time and being on Beyond the Lines today. Sure. And hope to do a sequel episode with you in the future. OK. Very good. Thank you, Frank. Thank you for having me. Aloha. And thank you for watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. For more information, please visit my website, rusticamori.com. And my book is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and all Costco stores in Hawaii. I hope that this show inspires you to create your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs. Aloha. Aloha.