Diné comics put it in HI-larity gear

In this file photo from last spring, comedian James Junes listens and laughs while fellow performer Ernest Tsosie III tells a joke at the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock. The two comedians will be performing once again at the museum this Friday and Saturday. (Photo by Jeff Jones/Independent)

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola, Staff Writer

WINDOW ROCK — Hold on to your seats because they're back.

James Junes and Ernest Tsosie III, the Navajo Nation's comic duo, will be back in Window Rock tonight and Saturday to share with audiences their own brand of off-the-wall Navajo humor.

Junes and Tsosie will be performing in a comedy showcase at 6 p.m. both evenings at the Navajo Nation Museum. Opening for the comedians will be the Nammy-nominated singer and songwriter Socie Saltwater.

In a recent interview, Junes and Tsosie talked about developments in their comedy career since their performances in Window Rock last spring. Those performances came soon after the two comics combined their separate standup comedy routines into a new duo act full of physical comedy, belly laughs, and over-the-top spoofs of life on the Rez.

For Junes, who is married and has two children, the biggest change has been his decision to quit his day job. It was a "scary thought," he admitted, to leave the security of a steady paycheck with the Farmington Public Schools. "It was like taking a step of faith," he said.

Tsosie and his wife, also parents of two children, had already made a similar decision sometime back when Tsosie left his job in archaeology to pursue an acting career. Tsosie recently appeared in the Native American play, "Evening at the Warbonnet," in Albuquerque and will be seen on television as a police dispatcher in the next PBS movie based on a Tony Hillerman mystery.

But once he left his job, Junes said, and he and Tsosie began to devote their energies full-time into their comedy career, more and more shows "started popping up."

Initially, said Tsosie, the pair thought their routine would be limited to audiences on the Navajo Reservation. However, he added, their comedy act has traveled beyond the reservation's borders, and they have found other Indian people can relate to their humorous spin on life on the rez.

For Junes, this was tested when they were booked to perform at the Sky City Casino with big name Indian comics like Don Burnsticks, Charlie Hill, Vanessa Short Bull, and Drew Lacapa.

"It was kind of like a measuring stick," said Junes, who admitted he wasn't sure he and Tsosie would measure up to the other comics. He was so nervous, he explained, his left harm kept shaking throughout their performance. "I literally had to hide it on stage," he said.

The audience's response, however, was enthusiastic. "Wow, we really held our own," recalled thinking afterwards. "From there on, I knew we were standing on the verge of something."

Later in the year, Junes and Tsosie were invited to perform a comedy skit and present an award at the most recent Native American Music Awards.

And earlier this week, the pair performed for the first time in Las Vegas, Nev. Calling it the duo's "biggest show to date," Tsosie said he and Junes were hired to perform in a comedy show for a national conference of Native American business professionals.

The comedians are now looking at possible future shows at the Route 66 Casino, the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, and a performance in Washington D.C.

Junes' dream is for the pair to be in front of the cameras at the Jay Leno Show one day. "I think that will be the icing on the cake," he said. Although he admitted they would "have to shift gears there," he believes he and Tsosie could keep Leno's non-Indian audience laughing.

And while the comedians are known for their very physical comedy and their use of music and props, they are also known for their stance against substance abuse and domestic violence. In a number of their shows, they include a short dramatic skit they call "Addicted."

It's a skit that hits home with many of their audience members.

According to Junes, a number of people have come up to them afterwards and said, "That was me. That was how I used to be." After one show, he said, a teenage girl came up with tears in her eyes. Junes said his first thought was he and Tsosie's performance had offended her. Instead, he explained, the girl's school had recently lost a student due to a drunk driving accident, and the girl was wanting Junes and Tsosie to perform for the grieving students.

"It's been real positive," said Tsosie of audiences' reactions to their more serious messages. "It's been a wonderful thing - it still sort of baffles me."

Those messages come straight from the comics' lives as Junes grew up in a home marred with domestic violence and both men are recovering substance abusers. Junes has been clean and sober for eight years, and Tsosie will be celebrating his third sobriety anniversary this spring.

Both men credit their recovery to God, and they pray together before and after each show.

Tsosie quoted a remark he says he often tells people: "It's great to be Native American," he said. "But it's even greater to be a sober Native American."

Junes believes the difficulties he has experienced in his life have helped him to appreciate the success he and Tsosie are now experiencing. "You finally feel like it's all worth it," he said.

Both Junes and Tsosie also expressed appreciation for the friendship they have discovered with each other as they have worked to establish their comedy career.

"We don't get tired of each other," Tsosie said. "It's all good."