Top 5 comedy routines from the 1982 TV special, “Rap’s Hawaii”
Why Rap Reiplinger was, is, and will always be super freakin’ funny.
The Emmy award-winning special, “Rap’s Hawaii,” was produced for KGMB way back in 1982, but still cracks up Hawaii folks more than 30 years later.
At the time of broadcast, Reiplinger was already a name in Hawaii. He’d made his bones in the ’70s, performing with James Grant Benton and Edward Kaahea as Booga Booga at the Territorial Tavern, a Honolulu restaurant and nightclub that became a platform and creative petri dish for many musicians associated with the Second Hawaiian Renaissance.
Who knows why some creative works stick around and why others vanish from memory? Who knows if 30 years from now people will still be posting renditions of “Fate Yanagi” to YouTube (or whatever takes its place)? If “Rap’s Hawaii” continues to entertain us for a few more decades, it’s likely owing to Reiplinger’s empathetic approach to comedy and the people of Hawaii.
Here are our top 5 favorite routines from “Rap’s Hawaii.”
What are yours?
