[LJ2ME] Some Things On TV You Cannot Say
So he claimed, and not without reason, for local theatre does keep testing the waters and pushing the boundaries where and when it comes to topics off-limits to a wider audience reach. And so it was that Hossan Leong opened Episode 2 of his self-titled show where parody and satire were the order of the day, skewering anything and everything of note.
Coming late in the year, earlier events and non-events have already been plundered by other shows and thus did some old jokes fall flat, though the house still laughed along at the stale punchlines. Sitting right smack centre in the front row, I could have served as a visual cue card and barometer for our funny man as I rolled my eyes and furrowed my brows at lesser and inferior material.
One feature of the show was the unifying theme every year, where this year's "integration" was fleshed out and flowed through from start to finish. Right off the bat, the opening Singapore's Got Foreign Talent milked the laughs with OTT incarnations of the Malaysians, Chinese and Bangladeshis in our midst. With a medley of Singapore songs remixed with irreverent lyrics, the contributions of these individuals were elucidated despite the cheeky treatment.
Karen Tan returned in her popular Task Force segment where her civil servant Lorraine aka Lorry Chia expounded on local mascots old and new and introduced Uncle the Taxi Driver and Die-Lah the Parking Auntie as ideal figures to represent the country.
Chua Enlai and DJ Shigeki were sidelined this year, with smaller parts, though the former was a hoot with his arch and mannered portrayals and the latter gamely hammed it up along with the rest, cross-dressing as a geisha in a memorable moment.
Rounding up the cast was Judee Tan where she stole and ran away with the evening with her unparalleled talent in creating unforgettable characters that rank right up there with the best, her Ris Low still beacon in recent memory. Her monikered Teo Chew Muay (initials "TCM") TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) practitioner was a hoot, her no-holds-barred caricature unlimited and unrestricted by self-consciousness. Somebody just hand her an award and give her her own show already!
The show seemed to run a little short this year, with not as many blatant product endorsements doubling as prizes for the audience. The guy beside me got a St Regis voucher for being fed Mdm Lily Lim's rojak. I should have volunteered myself.
Coming late in the year, earlier events and non-events have already been plundered by other shows and thus did some old jokes fall flat, though the house still laughed along at the stale punchlines. Sitting right smack centre in the front row, I could have served as a visual cue card and barometer for our funny man as I rolled my eyes and furrowed my brows at lesser and inferior material.
One feature of the show was the unifying theme every year, where this year's "integration" was fleshed out and flowed through from start to finish. Right off the bat, the opening Singapore's Got Foreign Talent milked the laughs with OTT incarnations of the Malaysians, Chinese and Bangladeshis in our midst. With a medley of Singapore songs remixed with irreverent lyrics, the contributions of these individuals were elucidated despite the cheeky treatment.
Karen Tan returned in her popular Task Force segment where her civil servant Lorraine aka Lorry Chia expounded on local mascots old and new and introduced Uncle the Taxi Driver and Die-Lah the Parking Auntie as ideal figures to represent the country.
Chua Enlai and DJ Shigeki were sidelined this year, with smaller parts, though the former was a hoot with his arch and mannered portrayals and the latter gamely hammed it up along with the rest, cross-dressing as a geisha in a memorable moment.
Rounding up the cast was Judee Tan where she stole and ran away with the evening with her unparalleled talent in creating unforgettable characters that rank right up there with the best, her Ris Low still beacon in recent memory. Her monikered Teo Chew Muay (initials "TCM") TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) practitioner was a hoot, her no-holds-barred caricature unlimited and unrestricted by self-consciousness. Somebody just hand her an award and give her her own show already!
The show seemed to run a little short this year, with not as many blatant product endorsements doubling as prizes for the audience. The guy beside me got a St Regis voucher for being fed Mdm Lily Lim's rojak. I should have volunteered myself.