Some 10 foreign tourists gather on the ground floor of the house to watch the Moustache Brothers performance.
The Moustache Brothers are probably the most popular comedians in Burma.
They’re known for their political humour and for poking fun at the government...
Lu Maw is making a joke about the dictator Nay Win, the military junta’s first ruler.
“In my dream, Nay Win transformed into a huge fish, as huge as this house. And one day, tsunami came to Burma and damaged houses. And then the fish came into the surface and said,” The tsunami is too late, I have damaged the country myself.”
Under Nay Win’s administration, Burma became one of the poorest nations in the world.
And human rights abuses were rampant across the country.
The comedy group has been performing for more than 10 years, with their unique combination of humour, slapstick, music and dance.
They are known for their political humour... they’ve been making fun of the government since the beginning.
“Back then, we had to queue for cooking oil, rice and fish paste. Officials took everything and left only a small portion for the people. We made jokes about this to reflect how people really felt about what was going on, and they supported us. This drove me on to continue the show.”
After performing for years, the original trio is now down to two... following the death of the group’s leader Par Par Lay last year.
But many tourists still come to see their performances, says Lu Maw one of the members of the group.
“I wanted to be a comedian since I was young. Many people in our family are comedians and my father founded this group.”
In 1995, the Moustache Brothers performed in Yangon, at the house of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
This landed them in jail.
“After that, our group had to disappear from the public eye. We had to sell our equipment to survive. In 2001, we were released from prison. And we’ve been performing at home ever since. We didn’t have permission to perform in public.”
Under military rule in Burma, opposition leaders, journalists and even comedians were sent to prison.
But in 2010, Thein Sein’s reformist government released hundreds of political prisoners.
Former political prisoner Kyaw Zaya, says the troupe has awakened many people.
“People had to depend on what these comedians were saying to keep them informed. Even now, the Moustache Brothers still play an important role, especially for rural people who are more likely to be less informed.”
The group says that jokes about corruption, the lack of health care or the quality of education still make people laugh.
Lu Maw says they will continue to use their comedy to educate people about politics.
“It’s part of our daily life. We comedians have a responsibility to raise issues, to inform high ranking officials through our performance.”
