Here is the biography of Andy Bumatai:
Andy Bumatai, Hawaii's first stand-up comic, was born in Germany on Christmas Eve, 1953, to parents who met and married there. He moved to the mainland with his family at a young age and began his education in San Francisco. At the age of nine, Andy suffered an accident that left him with a near-blind eye, which has contributed to some of his zaniest expressions.
Andy returned to Hawaii with his family in 1966 and attended Waianae Elementary, Intermediate, and High School. He learned to surf, play the saxophone and flute, and was voted the class clown in Intermediate School. Andy dropped out of high school, moved out of his parents' home, and got his first job as a dishwasher at the Fog Cutter Restaurant in Waianae.
Andy's early career was marked by various jobs, including polishing surfboards, taking a cooking course, and selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door. He noticed the absence of stand-up comics on the entertainment scene and decided to fill that void. He quit his lucrative job, sold his cars, and began his career in comedy, supporting himself by selling used cars, leis, and coconuts to tourists.
Andy's first appearance on stage was at Mama Mia's Pizzeria, where he was "hooked" off the stage but paid off in beer. He worked his way through Waikiki's main drag of entertainment, facing rejection after rejection, but eventually got his big break with a solo stand-up comic spot at Kojack's and a TV spot on Ron Jacob's "Pictures in Paradise".
Andy's breakthrough came when he became a member of Hawaii's comedy trio Booga Booga, followed by a solo stand-up comic spot at Kojack's. He got his first record album, "Andy Bumatai - Hawaii's First Stand-Up Comic", and his first TV special, "Andy Bumatai's High School Daze", which became the highest-rated locally produced show in Hawaii's TV history.
Andy's success led to him opening concerts for Pablo Cruz and Peaches and Herb, and he was signed by concert promoter Tom Moffatt for two major concerts as the opening act for Helen Reddy and Yvonne Elliman. He opened a new major showroom in Waikiki, the Ocean Showroom in the Cinerama Reef Hotel, and performed at the Comedy Store in Hollywood, meeting Don Rickles and Redd Fox in Las Vegas.
Andy's second album, "Andy Bumatai, Live in Waikiki", and his Saturday night late, late "Un-show" appearances were all dramatic steps in making his name a household word in Hawaii. He was named "Star of the Year" by the Honolulu Advertiser's Entertainment Editor, Wayne Harada, at the close of 1979.
In 1980, Andy's second KGMG-TV color special, "All in the Ohana", established him as a brilliant actor, and he was named "Hawaii's Peter Sellers" on the editorial page of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Andy's TV commercials for Shelly Mazda were considered the highest quality on television, and he was given a silver blue Porche 928 as a bonus.
Andy's success continued to grow, with appearances on the CBS television show "The Jeffersons", the John Davidson Show, the Mike Douglas Show, and a twenty-minute profile on Hollywood's highest-rated television magazine, KABC's Eyewitness L.A.
On April 28, 1981, Andy became the resident headliner of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel's elegant Monarch Room, an honor reserved only for a few. Throughout his career, Andy has retained the qualities of compassion, determination, and honesty that made him a success, and it seems that Hawaii's most popular and best-loved comic will have all of America laughing with him.
