A “bio”. The idea of them has always made me uneasy and I don’t know exactly why. In the computer world the acronym BIOS stands for Basic Input Output System and it’s funny to me because that’s what a written Bio is trying to control.

So, I’ve decided to tell the story in my own words so it doesn’t sound like a resume. Which is another can of worms. It took me a while to get the pictures added because going through old pictures takes me forever. I don’t blame the pictures because that’s their job, tangents.

Okay, I’m updating this in November 2007 Hawai`i standard time. I’m 53 years old. My birthday is December 24th. I’m married and have two children, a boy 17 and a girl 15. In my act I say “Yeah, I got teenagers. So in other words, I used to have kids now I have bad roommates.”

I started out in 1977. That’s when I decided I wanted to be a Stand Up Comic. It took me about a year to get my first gig. I was hired by Millie at the Noodle Shop to play the breaks for Frank DeLima.

It was there that Jimmy and Ed (two thirds of the comedy team Booga Booga) approached me and asked if I’d be interested in taking Rap’s place in Booga Booga. I did that for about a year, learned a lot about acting from Jimmy and Edward.

Then I went back to doing Stand Up in a small club near the old police station called Kojack’s. Mel owned and ran the club. Great guy.  

I recorded my first album there and won a Hoku award for “Most Promising Artist.” This was 1979 and the first year of the category. I went on to win 3 more Hoku awards for “Best Comedy Album” but the “Most Promising” has always been my favorite. I’m not good at keeping time but I think I was at Kojack’s for about a year.

Right about this time I did a TV Special for KGMB Hawai`i Ch.9 called School Daze. It was very popular and instantly packed the club, literally overnight.

From Kojack’s I went to open for the Beamer Brothers in the Ocean Showroom in Waikiki. This is also about the time Kimo McVay became my manager. Great gig, on the water in Waikiki.

Right about here I did another TV Special for KGMB called “All in the Ohana” written by my good friend Larry Fleece. “Ohana” was a smash hit. Twenty years after making it, KGMB and I released it as a video tape and it topped the charts here in Hawai`i.

I went through the summer and then some at the Ocean Showroom and then Kimo landed an amazing deal. I was the headliner at The Monarch Room of The Royal Hawaiian Hotel. Too bad I didn’t have enough sense to know it was all wrong for me.

Don’t get me wrong, it was an honor to work there but here I was maybe 26 years old performing in a tux to tourists who wanted to see a “Hawaiian” show. I didn’t have the chops and I lasted a year and a half.

After the Monarch Room I made the first big mistake of my career. I bought a nightclub with partners called The Canoe House in the Ilikai Hotel. Sure I could blame Kimo and say it was his idea, but I let it happen. I’ve since learned to be honest about the things that I do really badly.

Okay, so after hanging on for about a year the club was history and I decided to “give the mainland a shot”. I ended up living just outside L.A. in Topanga Canyon for 10 years. During this time I worked The Comedy Store and The Improv circuit and slowly worked my way up from playing the clubs around the country to opening for acts like Tom Jones, Paul Anka, Kenny Logins, The Beach Boys, Charlie Daniels and Natalie Cole.

I did a few TV shots and 3 movies; Whoopie Boys, Man Called Sarge and Aloha Summer. Then I took acting lessons at Tony Barr’s TV & Film Actors Workshop.

We all moved back to Hawai`i when my son became pre-school age. My wife and I wanted our kids to grow up in Hawai`i. The thought of my son turning to me one day and saying “Whoa, gag me with a spoon” also played a small part in the decision.

Fast forward through the moving process and I’m back in Hawai’i playing small clubs in Waikiki. I’m able to eke out a living doing clubs and doing casual gigs.

During this period I put out an album, repackaged some earlier video work (School Daze, All in the Ohana). I also did a couple of Television series. One is Raven and I was in all but two of the twenty-one episodes, and also Marker, in which I was one of the stars.

Basically I was trying to build my name (and fortune) back up after being gone from Hawai’i for ten years. This period lasted about four years. Again, I’m lousy at keeping time.

Then one day during an attempt to get an endorsement deal with VoiceStream Hawaii (which I didn’t get) I was asked if I would consider being a VoiceStream (now T-Mobile) Authorized Dealer. The first image to flash in my mind was me wearing a big name badge standing in a convention holding an oddly colored beverage.

So, I did it. Wireless Paradise was born October 1998 and we grew to three stores in Kona, Hilo and Honolulu. I must admit that the stores sidetracked me from re-building my name as an entertainer but I did learn a lot about business.

We were doing very well until 9/11 happened and we all know what a devastating effect that had on business, especially here in Hawai`i. I closed all three stores about 3 years after we opened. I tried to hang on but just couldn’t.

Good thing I had my show business career to fall back on when my day job didn’t work out. How strange is that?

I went on to do some “opening act” type gigs for people like Kalapana, Tommy Davidson, an oldies concert at the NBC arena featuring Hermann’s Hermits and the Rascals.

In 2002 my brother Ray and I made a short film called “The Procrastinators” about two guys (guess who) that do nothing but ride their Harleys around the island. We entered it in the L.A. short film festival and it made the finals but we didn’t win anything. My brother and I also made a couple (Hawai`i only) comedy specials called BumaVision for OC 16. That was fun!

My brother lost his battle with brain cancer in October of 2005. I miss him every day.

In the summer of 2002 I worked Don Ho’s showroom in Waikiki on Friday’s and Saturday’s with my buddy Augie Tulba.

Then for a couple nights a week at the Brew Moon (BrewMoon.com) in Ward Center. I was there for 8 months. Great restaurant, good people.

After the Brew Moon I went back to Waikiki to perform at the Palace Showroom every Friday and Saturday with my good friends Frank DeLima and Paul Ogata. All three of us on the same show! We had a great time and were there until the end of 2004.

In 2003 I put out a Stand Up Comedy CD called “Brain Child.” I called it that because I basically did most of the work on it myself.

About the middle of 2003 I became a “segment host” on the (Hawai`i only) weekly series “Ohana Road” on the ABC affiliate. It’s a car show sponsored by Cutter Cars. My job is to interview people about their interesting cars. I’m a “car guy” so I’m having a great time checking out all these tricked out rides. We’ve won a number of national awards and we are still going strong though I may not be able to do it much longer because I intend to do more “mainland gigs” but we’ll see. I have done it for two years now and I really enjoy hanging with the car crowd.

Early in 2004 I shot a “guest star” role in a pilot episode of the new NBC series “Hawaii” that aired in August of 2004. The show didn’t fly and was canceled along with “North Shore” in which I performed in one episode.

2005 was mostly about “casual gigs” and it was fun to be able to work weekends on the “neighbor islands.” Something I wasn’t able to do for a few years because I worked weekends in Waikiki.

Talking about something I hadn’t done in years, in March 2005 I did a weekend at the Glass Kat/A Taste of Aloha in San Francisco. The gig went very well and I went back in June 2005.

Also in June 2005, I did an “Andy Bumatai’s Comedy Showcase” every Thursday at the HighTide Café in the University area. I did a set and then opened the stage to “up and coming stand ups.” This is something I’ve done before and it’s a lot fun. We had good crowds and they must have liked us because after we left they closed the club. Heh?!

2006 was, again, mostly about private shows  but I did host another “Andy Bumatai’s Comedy Showcase at the Jazz Minds nightclub until I went to the mainland to open for my buddy Paul Rodriguez on a tour that took us through a few States. We played Indian Casinos, The Bellagio in Las Vegas and when we were in Los Angeles we dropped into the Laugh Factory.

Here it is 2007 and I have decided to go back again into a nightclub.

Except this time it’s the The Outrigger Main Showroom, and now it’s as the host of my own talk show NightTime with Andy Bumatai.

And that brings us up to speed.

Thanks,