We have often heard that humor is a serious issue, but do we do it with the seriousness it deserves?

I guess not. Those of us who work on the subject take it seriously, but it's generally treated as something very superficial, as if it wasn't an instrument for really working things. However, it is improving, through social networks you can see that different topics are being worked on, and that it serves to send a message… and to entertain us, of course.

When did humor work publicly?

I've done theater since I was a little girl, because in our ikastola there was a theater school. I started about ten years old, and every year we did a play. We've always touched from humor, because it's the most fun thing to do and see. It's true that I haven't worked other genres, but it's the most enjoyable thing for me. At first I got into one group, then another, later a acquaintance gets into a project… I haven’t gone to the castings, everything has been between friends and informal.

You say humor is the most enjoyable genre, but it comes to mind that, for example, it's one of the most difficult genres. It can be “easier” to put someone in tension on a thriller, or to create a suspense, than to make people laugh...

Humor is very variable, it fluctuates a lot. Something that was graceful two weeks ago can be completely burned today. There's something that's funny somewhere else that you have to adapt to the local humor code. If you do the same thing too many times, it stops making fun, but if you do too little it doesn't come. The majority of the Barrexerka group are from Donostia, and something that is successful in Donostia does not make any favor in some village of Bizkaia...

You can do something similar to the map that Luis Bonaparte made, instead of the dialects, with humor codes.

Completely! We've had some experiences. We recently did a little tour through many small towns of Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia, and we also gained silence (laughter).

How did it turn around?

By the time we were surprised by the lockdown we had already done most of the tour. The experience has been very nice and in some places we have had better reception than in others. Donostia/San Sebastian is currently the place where we have the most public, because it is where they know us the most. It has been very nice to know different places, we do it very well, we have created our small family and although occasionally we have a bit of silence, we have fun. That's how you learn.

From country to country, town to country, age -- there are many variables.

Yes. With age, for example. We don't put limits, and sometimes boys and girls come with their parents, and maybe what we're doing is not for each other. We're finding the balance, we can't always get it right with everyone.

What is Barrexerka for you?

A group of friends that we think we have a hole in the world of humor. We do little scenes, direct, theater, humor very simple, based on everyday life, we try to get away from stereotypes, but there always falls someone… The goal is that the audience also have fun, and that we do something easy, without too much depth.

Behind you are also in the Zuloa project.

The Bagera Association asked Hiru Damatxo, and they thought of me by mouth and doing some little previous spots. The first series of videos was well received, we did more, and in the last season we have made three different lots. It’s clear that it’s “Pantomima Full” style, we’ve brought it to us and I’m very comfortable. Everyday things come out, if it doesn't happen to someone around you, and it's easy to get into the paper.

I laughed a lot...

We also record!

You have also worked in the podcast format with the program “The Elevator”.

This also emerged as Atz-Zuloa. AEK asked Hiru Damatxo for a podcast and they contacted me. Nerea Arriola also participates, and has a great experience in dubbing; I felt more beginner, but I was also very comfortable.

All right. Quentin Tarantino has uma Thurman and Hiru Damatxo has Nerea Aranburu.

Yes, yes, that is it! (Laughter) When you find comfort, when people hang it, it's easy to work, and you know it's going well. They're simple projects and there's trust.

Have you had a chance to laugh a lot during the lockdown?

At the beginning of the lockdown, it was a boom that went down, and thank you. I was also very active at the beginning, breaking to laugh on Twitter, but it was convenient to go down before it was too much. I think it's important that when you feel more worried, or just bored, you're in humor. It has been above all a quick humor: a photo, a gif, a small video… I see it positive. I still get the quarantine videos and I laugh at myself imagining two months ago.

You are a nurse and work in the field of mental health with children. How do you work humor in it?

Humor has a lot of room in it, I use it a lot, and I do it very well with the children. We use a lot of theater and music, and we think they're very useful. Music has been very important in my life. With humor and joy, a lot of things are achieved with the children.

Although you have not been touched precisely by the cruellest place, you have certainly talked to the nurses around you about everything that has caused the pandemic. What role does humor play in these harsh situations?

Our work can often be very difficult, very hard and very black, and we need to go to humor from time to time. The humor among nurses makes everything more bearable. The limits have to be clear to know where, when and how to use them, but I am clear that we would not have the same everyday life as alive without a point of humor.

The monologue model has been very successful in other languages, but there has been no movement in Basque.

You can choose to speak in Basque, but what is in front of you is a strange terminology, it makes you more graceful in Spanish. We have received a lot of humor in Spanish for a lot of years, there has been a deficit in Euskera, and now when we get the monologue in Euskera it is a little strange.

What happens to us with the films translated into Basque.

That is, it is not so “natural” to us. I’ve seen Mikel Irazusta, or Nerea Arriola… and if possible. You have to find the formula: the audience, where to do it, how… Run tests until you get it right. As has been said before, what is invented has to evolve, but it does.

You mentioned Nerea Arriola. What are your main references today?

Aitziber Garmendia, a classic, I love it. The laughter I've thrown with Nerea Arriola! He speaks quickly, and I really like that. In Spanish, Berto Romero and Buenafuente make me the grace of God. I also really like Monthy Phyton's humor. Absurd. Pagadi also makes me a lot of grace, and it's also very absurd, it falls to the ground and it makes me graceful… I'm very simple.

The public square, including that of humor, has been historically controlled by men. What do you see with your gaze as a woman from the stage, on the net?

The first two references I mentioned to you are women. By chance! Little by little we are taking a space that has been almost exclusive to men so far, and we are also seeing many forms of women in the world of humor, outside of traditional stereotypes. There is certainly a long way to go. In view of my experience, in the projects in which I have participated there has always been parity, it has always been something that has been taken care of. Looking back, I'm convinced that there are always things that escape you, things that need to be fine-tuned more, but well, in the world of humor and in others, there are things that are there: sharpening your gaze, improving and approaching equality.

Limits. Where do you put them?

There are limits, but we also have doubts that this is a black humor that is “passing” or that people are going to catch. I think nobody knows, I don’t know how to explain it very well…

How do you see the future?

We always have the opportunity to stay on the net, but it is true that our site is the settings. We're fed laughter. On the other hand, we have always found half-full scenarios, even before containment. It is a very underdeveloped field and we have a great capacity for adaptation. Theater has always been very important in my life, and I'd like to remain so.