“Laughing is an act of resistance”
The much-beloved Brazilian comedian Paulo Gustavo was hospitalized on March 13 of this year with Covid-19. He passed away on May 4 at the age of 42. Gustavo’s 2020 year-end special, which was re-aired on the 4th, included these words:
This year showed us that we can’t live without wit, without humor. Humor saves us, transforms us, soothes us, cures us, brings hope into our lives. This pandemic also made the importance of art in our lives very clear. Was this year difficult? It was. And it was the dramatic arts, music, cinema, dance, culture in general that helped us to move forward, making everything just a little bit lighter. I am very happy and proud to be an artist and actor and even more so because comedy runs so strongly through me. I clown around, you laugh, this fills my heart. I feel fulfilled to be able to make you happy. Laughing is an act of resistance.
Gustavo was perhaps best known for his film franchise “Minha Mãe É Uma Peça” with his character (who he also played on TV) Dona Hermínia. The movie series is usually translated as “My Mother Is a Character,” but the word in Portuguese (“peça”) is actually “play” - giving the idea that the character was an entire stage play unto herself. That is, the title could possibly be thought of as “My Mother Is a Cast of Characters.”
The character was often seen as a foil to President Bolsonaro, and that conflict was highlighted even more after the comedian’s death. Bolsonaro’s tweeted condolences have been met with scorn and anger, with many high profile names calling the noted Covid denier out on his hypocrisy and tone deafness. For example, while he didn’t name the president directly, Paulo Coelho tweeted, “Assassins of Paulo Gustavo: who said ‘it’s just a little flu,’ ‘it won’t surpass 200 deaths,’ ‘chloroquine solves it,’ ‘people die every day,’ ‘lockdowns destroy countries,’ ‘masks make us breath bad air,’ ‘I follow the commander’ and so on. Scum of the worst kind.”
Gustavo ended his 2020 special this way:
As long as this much-awaited vaccine doesn’t get here for everyone, it’s good to remember that there’s already a vaccine against prejudice, intolerance, lies, sadness: it’s affection, it’s love. So it’s about how much you love the one you love. But it’s not just saying it, folks. Love in practice, in action. Loving is action, loving is art. A lot of love, people. So long.