La Comay

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La Comay is a puppet doll featured in Puerto Rican television that is managed by Antulio Santarrosa Acevedo, also known as Kobbo Santarrosa, a puppeteer, actor, magician, ventriloquist and promoter born in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. Loosely translated in English to "The Godmother", "La Comay" appears on the WAPA-TV program "SuperXclusivo", where she spreads gossip about different personalities in the entertainment, political, sports and religious fields.

La Comay, is distinguished from ventriloquist dummies and marionettes, which are typically animated only in the head and face, in that its arms and other features of the body as its legs and feet, are also mobile and expressive. The head of La Comay is made of softer materials, and is also presented as being independent of the puppeteer, who isn't visible, hidden behind a set, outside of the camera frame.

"La Comay" is one of the members of a line of gossip characters that Santarrosa has created to remain on Puerto Rican television for two decades. His previous ones were:

"La Chachara", who participated in a show hosted by Luisito Vigoreaux (and reportedly created by Santarrosa at the request of Vigoreaux) at WAPA-TV, from 1987 to 1989. The character moved to Telemundo in 1989.
"La Condesa del Bochinche" ("The Countess of Gossip") made its debut in the summer of 1989 with a small segment within "El Show de las 12" with her then "buddy" and chatter partner Eddie Miro. The segment became so popular that by the mid-to-late 90's, it had its own hour long show called "Exclusivo" that aired on Thursday nights at 9pm. It ran until 1999 before moving back to WAPA-TV in January 2000 with the show renamed "Super Xclusivo."
Hector Travieso - A Cuban who has lived in Puerto Rico for more than thirty years, is La Comay's buddy and gossip chatter partner. He has had a long career as a soap opera supporting actor and has performed secondary roles as a comedic actor.

Jorge Seijo, a radio personality who, at first, provided short, recorded appearances on some shows insulting people. Some time after, he was invited to provide comments and opinions on local politics and other subjects.

Several celebrities and personalities have provided short cameos as if talking to "La Comay" that are shown at random intervals to provide punch lines to some of the gossips. Some of these celebrities include baseball player Juan González, Mexican singer Alejandra Guzmán, singer José Feliciano, Tego Calderón, Raymond Arrieta, current Puerto Rican Governor Anibal Acevedo Vilá and other well known public figures.

[edit] Catchphrases

The three characters, coined several humorous catchphrases which became staples of Puerto Rican pop-culture. Among them are:

QUE BOCHINCHE! : Translates as "What gossip!". It was used as early as it was known as La Condesa del Bochinche and it is still used to this very day. It is considered her signature catchphrase.
HE MENCIONADO NOMBRE YYYYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO? : Translates as "Did I mention anyone's name?". It is used to maintain the anonymity of the person being gossiped about. This is usually followed by a video of a celebrity saying "Tiralo al Medio Comay, Tiralo al Medio!!," telling La Comay to say the person's name.
APARENTE Y ALEGADAMENTE : "Apparently and allegedly". Uttered by the puppet to sound formal in a humorously ironic way and also, most likely, as a legal disclaimer.
EXCLUSIVOOOOOOOO!!!!! : "EXCLUSIVE!" , used to mean that only La Comay has the scoop on the celebrity, hence the show's title
UUUUUUUYYYYYYYY! : Translates roughly as "OOOOOOH!". Used when a particular piece of gossip is shocking or very scandalous. It is often uttered in unison along with Hector Travieso and the "audience".
"PARALO AHI! PARALO AHI!" : Translates literally to "Stop it there! Stop it There!" but means "Stop the film, freeze the frame!" When La Comay shows some film footage related to the gossip being discussed, she will usually find a spot in which she hollers "Parelo ahi!" to illustrate the point she's trying to make. This happens in almost every show.

[edit] SuperXclusivo

"SuperXclusivo" (titled "SuperXclusivo" by Televicentro), has been on the air since January 2000 with positive results, in relation to audience ratings. In 2005, the show was ranked number one by a poll that analyses Puerto Rican viewer's preferred shows.

Many political critics expressed that "La Comay" had a lot to do with the outcome of the 2004 Puerto Rican elections. Santarrosa kept doing on air campaign for the PPD, the critics say, which may have encouraged the electorate to vote for Anibal Acevedo Vilá instead of Pedro Rosselló or Ruben Berrios. It shall be pointed out that Santarrosa, a pro-Puerto Rican statehood supporter, through his character of "La Comay", invited all three main governor candidates to the show; only Acevedo Vilá visited "La Comay".

Because of the context of the information she spreads, "La Comay" is often a topic of controversy, and many famous people have even called her show live to deny her accusations. Santarrosa himself has hired a considerable amount of bodyguards, since he has been the victim of violent acts and threats by various persons.

Apart from gossip, "La Comay" also shows bloopers committed by television personalities, news reporters, TV shows and novelas, such as Gata Salvaje and La Madrastra, movies and stories from other Puerto Rican channels, newspapers and magazines.

An event stemming from an interview conducted by SuperXclusivo nemesis Carmen Jovet (TV show host) has led to Leo Fernandez III's apparent and alleged dismissal from SuperXclusivo. Details are sketchy but some opinions say that this is an attempt by Jovet to knock SuperXclusivo and La Comay from the top of the ratings board, with no success. Currently, Leo Fernandez can be seen on Hector Marcano's show called "Que Suerte" on a rival TV channel in Puerto Rico. The show has suffered several lawsuits based on defamation. Nonetheless, "La Comay" always uses the phrase "apparently and allegedly" in order to free herself from accusations and lawsuits.

The show is supposed to be shown live on tv but many of the episodes are pre-recorded. Sidekick Travieso tries to hide this by mentioning the airdates in the episodes but the pre-recording of certain episodes was evidenced when they did not talk for several days about Miss Puerto Rico winning the Miss Universe Pageant even though this was the main news in the island. Travieso apologized once they were back on the air.

It is possible that the show spoofs Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez because of Santarosa's friendship with Cuban exiles in Puerto Rico. The show also is very biased against Puerto Rican separatist groups and constantly criticizes the leftist groups at the University of Puerto Rico. The show promotes conservative Hispanic values under the disguise of populism and nationalist morality. Santarosa and Travieso both have demean the Puerto Rican gay population in very dangerous ways, although to be fair, this has been a trait in Puerto Rican television for several decades.

Santarrosa has been criticized for showboating constantly in his show. La Comay constantly refers to his manager Santarosa's money and how big his private airplane and boats are. When criticizing recently the morality of a pop singer, La Comay showed a photo of the celebrity with a mistress riding a boat and had to say that his boat was smaller than Santarrosa's.

As of July of 2006, SuperXclusivo had been going on and strong without the services of Leo Fernandez and now dismissed Julio Victor Ramirez, hijo.