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Tessie Tomas slows down

AFTER MORE than 25 years in showbiz, veteran comedienne Tessie Tomas feels she’s earned the right to, as the saying goes, 'stop and smell the roses'. Tessie, who recently celebrated her 25th anniversary as a performer with a show at the Captain’s Bar...

used to host a daily show on ABS-CBN entitled Teysi ng Tahanan. She enjoyed doing the show, but when it went off the air, it gave Tessie the chance to focus on the other areas of her life and on things she had no time for when she was busy climbing the career ladder and making a name for herself in showbiz.

She thinks it’s why her first marriage didn’t last. She was slavishly devoted to her career in advertising and combining that with a showbiz career and being a single parent was not easy. “I was very young then—and when you’re young, you want everything. You want a career and a family. You work so hard to get what you want until you realize that by doing that, you lose the very thing you wanted in the first place,” says Tessie, now happily married to British biologist Roger Pullin.

So when the show went off the air, she actually welcomed it. With the pressure of a daily show off her shoulders, Tessie was able to make time for family and friends.

Now, she is happy. “I’ve slowed down,” she says. “I’m able to see friends more often, and do a lot of the things that I never had time for before, when I was still active.”

But she still makes time for work. Fortunately, she now has the luxury of picking and choosing her assignments. She works only when she wants to, and when the offer is something she can’t resist, like the election-inspired comedy revue Rock Da Vote, where she will be the special guest on April 20 and 21.

Expect Tessie to resurrect her famous characters, especially Meldita, an impersonation of former First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos. Tessie has been part of Rock Da Vote since it first hit the Philippine stage in 1992, which is why she couldn’t resist the invitation to be part of this one, even as just as special guest.

“That was a really great experience,” says Tessie. “Times were different, and political satire was at its peak.”

This being an election year, Tessie promises that Rock Da Vote 2007 will have some surprises of its own. It will be something to look forward to, and with that we very definitely agree.