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What was the reason for going into stand-up?

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It's a craft I've been fascinated with since I was 17 years old.

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I was in college at the time, Tampines Junior College.

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TP?

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Yeah, Tampines Boy.

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And I remember watching Russell Peters for the first time.

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This was the first time ever comedians and censors met in a meeting room.

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They sent their most senior censor, Mr Tan.

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Oh boy.

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And he comes out, he's like, hello, hi, you're the comedian, right?

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Yeah, yeah, we saw all your video on the YouTube.

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Ha ha, very funny, all of you, very good, yeah, yeah.

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But today we are here to talk to you about the thing that you can and cannot, more importantly,

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cannot say on the live TV show later, okay?

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First thing we step in, it's like, hey, Mr Tan, can we say **** on TV or not?

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Hmm, **** is out, huh?

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Comedian, of course **** is out, ma, cannot be in, **** must be out, right?

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Cannot be inside, right?

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I remember this.

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Sorry, that joke cannot.

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And we were doing very well for about 15 minutes of the show until one comedian goes on live

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free-to-air TV in Singapore and says, you know, my girlfriend has been giving me so

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much **** lately, and he realised what he said with his mic still on, he looks at me

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and says ****, I just said **** on TV.

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Really central stand-up.

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Yeah, oh boy, good old days of live TV in Singapore, huh?

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But it's true, isn't it?

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I mean, I don't know.

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I'm speaking from the stuff that came out from you on that show, right?

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The word ****, yeah, yeah.

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I think it's kind of liberal now, don't you think?

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I think things have changed, man, Chris, in all frankness.

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Wow, we go into deep recesses of discussing comedy with the censors.

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I think there was a phase in time where we were winning some battles as creatives, but

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I think so much has changed that it's weird.

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There are some things that were okay five, seven years ago that have suddenly not become

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okay now.

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And the opposite also stands true.

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Back in the day, they were like, oh man, this won't fly, Rishi, but now they're like, okay,

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you know, we get it.

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So don't you think that this unpredictability, can I call it that, is a little off for a

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lot of entertainers?

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It is extremely, extremely, it's, wow, people ask me what stand-up comedy is like, and I

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don't think this is just true for Singapore, right?

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We always think that, oh, Singapore, everything is so, what's the word?

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Kosher.

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Kosher, sanitized, you know, people don't know how to.

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But if you do American TV, we go to Australia, we go to more mature scenes, the comics have

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their same or similar battles where there is a different spectrum on what you can see

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and do and perform in a live comedy club versus what you can do on, you know, on a state-owned

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network.

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Yeah.

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It's strange because I've noticed this, I've noticed this because I love Brit comedy, man.

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And you know, I'm, Graham Norton is amazing.

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Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

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Eight out of ten cats, Jimmy Carr, right, Mickey Flanagan.

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All right, yeah.

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I tell you, these guys, I know when you watch British live TV and you watch chat shows,

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right?

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Yep.

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Jonathan Ross, Graham Norton, for example, and the Americans who are guests on the show

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get kind of culture shocked.

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Like how can they be so open about certain things?

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Well, yeah, no, I feel you, man.

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Yeah, and I love that, you know.

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Well, yes, and it's so cultural.

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I'll tell you something about the British acts, sometimes as open and as accepting they

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are of certain genre of comedy, like, you know, sex or vulgarity, pushing the limits

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on dark humor.

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There are certain topics that are still very touchy for a British audience.

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For example, race.

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Okay.

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Like, you know, when you come to Singapore and we openly still talk about race as a part

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of comedy because it's just the fabric of who we are.

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Okay.

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But when you go to the UK and as a minority, for example, you're talking about race related

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issues, they're like, oh, you should not.

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I don't think you can.

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No, we will not go there.

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We will not partake in this.

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But if you look at on a scale of one to ten, right, I would think maybe seven or eight,

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it's fine with them to just push the ante a little bit.

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But in this country, what do you think?

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I think it's all about media men.

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Like I said, I've been lucky, I guess, to be able to do those gigs with, you know, ten

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people at midnight in the dingy basement comedy club versus 25,000 people at the parade, the

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float and everything in between.

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And I'll say that if you come to a live comedy club in Singapore, there's almost no topic

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that's off limits, man.

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I've rarely seen, I mean, again, provided you can make it funny.

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It's not like you can go out there and suddenly just roi ngeng your way through and ask for

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CPF.

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We don't do that.

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Can I just make it clear that comedians in Singapore are not out for some kind of political

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revolution?

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No.

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Just entertainment, good clean, well, not necessarily clean, but good fun.

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Yeah.

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You can't just roi ngeng your way, huh?

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No, I mean, that's not what that's about, right?

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And I genuinely think sometimes the censors are afraid of that.

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They're afraid that, hey, you know what, why are you mentioning these political figures

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in your script?

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Because, I mean, I don't know if the audience that's watching the show know this, but for

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every live performance that comedians or any kind of performers do in Singapore for theaters,

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you need to apply for an arts entertainment license.

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What?

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Yeah.

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So that requires some kind of scripting.

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You got to put in an application about two months in advance.

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Oh man.

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Yeah.

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Which makes it very challenging for comedians because a lot of our work is meant to talk

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about the current issues.

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Yeah.

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Like if something happens in the news today, like say, I read this morning that MBS is

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going to have Tower 4.

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The fourth tower, yeah.

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Because they're competing with Changi Airport, right?

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That's the race.

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Just for you to know, Changi is on terminal five now.

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Five now, yeah.

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So MBS, you guys, you got to catch up, all right?

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I don't know when T5 is going to come up, but hey, you got to do that.

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That's a good one.

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Speaking of good ones, how do you come up with content?

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You know one thing I got to say, Rishi, hey everybody, I didn't do a proper introduction.

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My guest in the studio for the I Love My Job series.

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I Love My Job and I'm pretty sure this man loves his is Rishi Butrani.

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What's going on everyone?

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Thanks for having me.

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This man has got accolade after accolade, man.

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I mean, talk about Wikipedia running out of pages.

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Jews.

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Oh man.

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It's nice to have a Wikipedia page, man.

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That's when people started taking me seriously.

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What do you mean?

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They're like, oh my God, man.

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Yeah, you're a funny guy.

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And then suddenly my team reveals that we've got a Wikipedia page up and they're like, wow,

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Rishi, hey man, I saw you got a Wikipedia page.

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Congratulations, bro.

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I'm like, I've been doing this 10 years, guys.

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But I got to tell you, man, I mean, your team definitely did a great job, that's for sure,

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but I can say this, judging by the stuff I've read on your Wiki, it's wicked simply because

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I can sense blood, toil, sweat and tears, man.

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The amount of work you put in over this short span of 10 years is not a long time.

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Yeah, man.

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Blood, sweat, tears.

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I mean, some laughter also.

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I mean, let's not forget.

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It's a big part of this job.

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I mean, let's not ignore that.

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Sure, sure.

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Well, to be fair, I've been in show business a little longer than I've been in standup.

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Standup came a little later for me in all fragments.

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I actually, believe it or not, I started my show business career dancing in a Bollywood

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dance troupe in Singapore for extra cash in university and the army.

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I paid my way through some courses and classes doing like dancing at weddings.

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There was a bunch of us that were really keen to make a career in Bollywood at the time,

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which is just, you know, like 17, 18 year old boys and girls who kind of found each

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other.

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And I ended up marrying one of them, my wife and their troupe.

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One of my closest friends in showbiz, you might know him, he's a very sought after MC

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now.

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Yeah.

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So it's interesting because all our paths kind of started under some block in Bedok,

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dancing in some car park in Kentonman.

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And eventually, you know, it's interesting to see how everyone's wings have spread in

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a different way.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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So, I mean, but it all started because we truly believed that we loved that craft at

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the time, which was different for everyone.

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Yeah, but the craft at the time was shared by all of you.

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Yeah.

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And that would be Bollywood dance.

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It was, I think the end goal for everyone was clear, which was acting actually.

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Everyone wanted to be an actor of some kind, a Bollywood star.

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Dance was a way in.

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Right.

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From dancing, you know, some of us went into MCing, some went into stand up, some started

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directing more, some started writing more.

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But you decided to go to stand up.

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I did.

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It wasn't a conscious decision to turn it into a job.

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In all fairness.

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I still, I mean, wow.

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But what was the reason for going into stand up?

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It's a craft I've been fascinated with since I was 17 years old.

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I was in college at the time, Tampines Junior College.

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TEP?

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Yeah.

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Okay.

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Tampines Boy.

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And I remember watching Russell Peters for the first time.

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Okay.

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He was doing it illegally on YouTube as you know, he had his viral clip going crazy.

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And I watched him for the first time and I was doing some drama in college at the time

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and I wrote a character of a corrupt Indian Swami, like an Indian guru, really corrupt

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who would like, who'd go to clubs at night and then give out like, you know, like messages

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and then sage wisdom in the day at the temples.

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And it was just a weird character and I wrote inspired by my, you know, watching Russell

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Peters and Eddie Murphy.

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And I remember watching the clip going like this.

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There's some really bad jokes in there man, Rishi.

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But it's how it kind of started.

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And because of that, I started a document called cracks.doc where I would just put down

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jokes that I thought were funny when I was 17 years old.

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Okay.

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Never thinking I'd ever be a comic or whatever, but kind of by accident sometime in 2011,

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I want to say I heard about an open mic scene in Singapore.

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I went to watch two weeks in a row and by the third week, the organizer had convinced

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me, it's like, Hey, you know, why don't you go up on stage?

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I mean, you know, I know you host and I know you do this.

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That time I was like, I was just doing weddings mostly.

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I was acting as, you know, random security guards in crime watch.

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Really?

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Yeah.

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Oh wow.

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I think I did some award winning photography playing a security guard before for an art

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project.

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I was damn good at that, man.

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I could really channel the safety.

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At that time, I mean, it was limited roles, right?

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It was either security guard or rapist or murderer or wife beater.

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It was really, really shit.

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Yeah, I know, I know.

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I was always a villain.

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You see that's-

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On channel five.

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Yeah.

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On the showbiz, everyone wanted you.

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I'm sorry?

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Yeah.

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So all the roles were for pan-Asian.

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No, I'm not pan-Asian, man.

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You're not, man.

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Eurasian what?

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I'm Eurasian, but not pan-Asian.

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I lament about that all the time.

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But I think that's what they kind of wanted.

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They wanted this amalgamation of cultures that's a bit neutral.

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Yeah, but it's not guys like me.

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00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:51,160
I mean, I'm Eurasian.

246
00:12:51,160 --> 00:12:53,160
Pan-Asian is completely different, man.

247
00:12:53,160 --> 00:12:54,160
Is it?

248
00:12:54,160 --> 00:12:55,160
Yeah.

249
00:12:55,160 --> 00:12:59,640
So if you're a white person mixed with an Asian person, then therefore you call them

250
00:12:59,640 --> 00:13:00,640
pan-Asian.

251
00:13:00,640 --> 00:13:02,080
But just say like, they won't know what.

252
00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:03,080
Your name Chris Hansen.

253
00:13:03,080 --> 00:13:04,080
I'll be like, oh my God.

254
00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:06,520
I guess I'm kind of fooled them for a bit.

255
00:13:06,520 --> 00:13:08,520
I know, right?

256
00:13:08,520 --> 00:13:14,760
You know, every time I would see a job description in ads or I would see all pan-Asian.

257
00:13:14,760 --> 00:13:18,120
I've had this discussion with so many other people before.

258
00:13:18,120 --> 00:13:19,560
Yeah, sucks, huh?

259
00:13:19,560 --> 00:13:25,080
Yeah, I guess at that time, that's one of the ways I would kind of channel this frustration

260
00:13:25,080 --> 00:13:26,080
into stand-up.

261
00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:29,680
So that's how it all started, man.

262
00:13:29,680 --> 00:13:33,200
It started as a hobby, as something that I wanted.

263
00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:41,600
But you know, I have this admiration for people who do stand-up comedy because, you know,

264
00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:44,240
as in anything we do on stage, right?

265
00:13:44,240 --> 00:13:48,880
Whether or not you're an emcee or whether or not you're just a front person in a band

266
00:13:48,880 --> 00:13:50,720
even, right?

267
00:13:50,720 --> 00:13:54,280
Improv is something that you got to have.

268
00:13:54,280 --> 00:13:59,240
And comedians, man, is a higher standard, higher level of improv.

269
00:13:59,240 --> 00:14:04,320
Your content, the stuff you come up with, how do you do that?

270
00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:09,160
Oh man, I think everyone has a different process.

271
00:14:09,160 --> 00:14:10,560
Yeah, okay.

272
00:14:10,560 --> 00:14:19,040
For me, I think it's a combination of actually working and a bit of that discipline of like,

273
00:14:19,040 --> 00:14:20,560
hey, you know what?

274
00:14:20,560 --> 00:14:23,900
You're going to write X amount every day.

275
00:14:23,900 --> 00:14:29,960
Whether it's funny or not, the tap's got to be on for water to come up.

276
00:14:29,960 --> 00:14:36,140
I had a very good friend who used to be a writer on American sitcoms in the past.

277
00:14:36,140 --> 00:14:42,080
He wrote for shows like In Living Color, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, back in the day.

278
00:14:42,080 --> 00:14:50,720
So he told me ones that stand up to him is like sculpting, creating a sculpture where,

279
00:14:50,720 --> 00:14:54,440
you know, part of the job is to gather clay.

280
00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:56,680
And a lot of the clay won't be used.

281
00:14:56,680 --> 00:14:58,760
But that's okay.

282
00:14:58,760 --> 00:15:01,760
You can't create the sculpture without gathering the clay.

283
00:15:01,760 --> 00:15:04,600
Because in our minds, sometimes we're like, oh, I will only write the good jokes.

284
00:15:04,600 --> 00:15:07,320
So only when it's ready, then I'll deliver.

285
00:15:07,320 --> 00:15:12,360
No, part of the process is A, just blurting it all out.

286
00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:15,200
Getting it out on paper or on notes or whatever you do.

287
00:15:15,200 --> 00:15:16,320
And then you polish it.

288
00:15:16,320 --> 00:15:17,320
And then you polish it.

289
00:15:17,320 --> 00:15:20,280
And the way to do that is to go to the open mics.

290
00:15:20,280 --> 00:15:24,480
The open mic comedy scene is the biggest, most important thing.

291
00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:28,560
Where you go out, you test the material.

292
00:15:28,560 --> 00:15:32,960
And I remember this advice I got from an old buddy who's now unfortunately passed.

293
00:15:32,960 --> 00:15:33,960
His name was Jonathan Atherton.

294
00:15:33,960 --> 00:15:34,960
Oh yes.

295
00:15:34,960 --> 00:15:35,960
You might have known John.

296
00:15:35,960 --> 00:15:36,960
Yeah, yeah.

297
00:15:36,960 --> 00:15:44,200
He was hugely responsible for kicking off a lot of careers of Asian comedians in Southeast

298
00:15:44,200 --> 00:15:45,200
Asia.

299
00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:48,160
I mean, Singapore, Malaysia, this region.

300
00:15:48,160 --> 00:15:51,960
And I remember the first time he booked me for a show, I asked him, hey John, what advice

301
00:15:51,960 --> 00:15:52,960
can you give?

302
00:15:52,960 --> 00:15:54,360
I was like six months into standup.

303
00:15:54,360 --> 00:16:00,740
And he said, keep writing, keep doing it, and keep watching the pros do it live as much

304
00:16:00,740 --> 00:16:01,740
as you can.

305
00:16:01,740 --> 00:16:04,280
Don't ever think that, oh, I know, I know it all.

306
00:16:04,280 --> 00:16:05,280
I know everything.

307
00:16:05,280 --> 00:16:10,680
If you get a chance to watch any professional comic in a club, in a theater, anywhere, just

308
00:16:10,680 --> 00:16:11,680
watch.

309
00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:14,720
Good or bad, you will learn something.

310
00:16:14,720 --> 00:16:21,920
But don't you think that there's got to be a whole lot of self-awareness of even how

311
00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:27,000
you look like, how funny it looks like, how you pull certain facial muscles that will

312
00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:30,160
make you look certain way that you want the audience to see.

313
00:16:30,160 --> 00:16:31,160
Yeah.

314
00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:32,160
Yeah, yeah.

315
00:16:32,160 --> 00:16:35,560
I think that's again, it's something you discover about yourself.

316
00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:36,560
Yeah, yeah.

317
00:16:36,560 --> 00:16:41,720
And I think I never understood this when I was starting out comedy, but all the seasoned

318
00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:47,480
pros would tell you that, oh, you need to be 10 years into comedy before you find your

319
00:16:47,480 --> 00:16:55,200
voice, which you don't understand until you've spent 10 years doing standup.

320
00:16:55,200 --> 00:17:01,280
And then you realize, oh man, this is what these guys were talking about.

321
00:17:01,280 --> 00:17:07,360
Because you learn who you are, you learn how to portray who you are, you learn how to connect

322
00:17:07,360 --> 00:17:08,600
with an audience.

323
00:17:08,600 --> 00:17:12,480
And I'll share this very interesting experience because I don't think any other Singaporean

324
00:17:12,480 --> 00:17:13,800
comic has this experience.

325
00:17:13,800 --> 00:17:20,280
I was very lucky, very early on, I got a chance to do a three-minute open mic comedy spot

326
00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:23,280
at the world famous comedy store in LA.

327
00:17:23,280 --> 00:17:25,840
So this is one of the top clubs in the world.

328
00:17:25,840 --> 00:17:26,840
Right.

329
00:17:26,840 --> 00:17:27,840
Three minutes.

330
00:17:27,840 --> 00:17:28,840
Three minutes.

331
00:17:28,840 --> 00:17:29,840
That's it.

332
00:17:29,840 --> 00:17:30,840
That's it.

333
00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:32,080
Because I mean, that's the interesting part, right?

334
00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:36,120
The first time you go anywhere for an open mic, nobody gives you more than three minutes,

335
00:17:36,120 --> 00:17:37,840
especially the mature scenes.

336
00:17:37,840 --> 00:17:38,840
Okay.

337
00:17:38,840 --> 00:17:43,240
So I remember going there and it's one of those late night shows where, you know, it's

338
00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:44,500
three hours long.

339
00:17:44,500 --> 00:17:49,640
It starts with like eight people and then there's two people and then five more come

340
00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:53,840
in and then by the time you go on, maybe there's like four people in the room, something like

341
00:17:53,840 --> 00:17:54,840
that.

342
00:17:54,840 --> 00:17:55,840
Right.

343
00:17:55,840 --> 00:17:56,840
Brutal kind of gig.

344
00:17:56,840 --> 00:17:57,840
Okay.

345
00:17:57,840 --> 00:17:58,840
Just got to go out there and do it, right?

346
00:17:58,840 --> 00:17:59,840
That's how you earn your stripes.

347
00:17:59,840 --> 00:18:00,840
Right.

348
00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:03,380
I remember going out there three minutes, boom, boom, boom.

349
00:18:03,380 --> 00:18:07,800
And then the booker comes up to me after the show and he's like, you're that kid from Singapore,

350
00:18:07,800 --> 00:18:08,800
right?

351
00:18:08,800 --> 00:18:09,800
I'm like, yeah.

352
00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:11,080
He's like, let me talk to you.

353
00:18:11,080 --> 00:18:17,400
So he said, look, you've got jokes, but I want to tell you something.

354
00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:21,520
We are not looking for the person who can do the most jokes in three minutes.

355
00:18:21,520 --> 00:18:22,520
Right.

356
00:18:22,520 --> 00:18:28,160
We're looking for comics who can show us who they are in three minutes.

357
00:18:28,160 --> 00:18:29,160
Okay.

358
00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:30,160
While being funny.

359
00:18:30,160 --> 00:18:31,160
Wow.

360
00:18:31,160 --> 00:18:32,160
Which was such a revelation.

361
00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:33,160
Yeah.

362
00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:34,160
Right.

363
00:18:34,160 --> 00:18:39,000
I realized that, oh, in a place like LA with sitcoms and movies and all, there's a lot

364
00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:45,640
of joke writers, but what separates the comics, the special comics is like, how can I show

365
00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:49,880
you a part of myself in those three minutes while making you laugh?

366
00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:50,880
Okay.

367
00:18:50,880 --> 00:18:51,880
That's the real challenge.

368
00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:52,880
So that's self-awareness, isn't it?

369
00:18:52,880 --> 00:18:54,560
That's about knowing who you are.

370
00:18:54,560 --> 00:18:55,560
Yeah.

371
00:18:55,560 --> 00:19:02,000
Knowing who, like, you know, discovering yourself, finding your voice in comedy, so to speak.

372
00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:03,920
And that was a real revelation for me, man.

373
00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:10,160
But you got yourself, other than that particular club, you got yourself into Gotham Comedy

374
00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:11,160
Club as well.

375
00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:12,160
How did that happen?

376
00:19:12,160 --> 00:19:18,320
I got a chance to do Gotham the first time because back in around 2012, 2013, I think

377
00:19:18,320 --> 00:19:22,800
there was this thing going on called the Hong Kong International Comedy Competition.

378
00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:25,880
Again, I was really new.

379
00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:29,360
I was like less than a year in a comedy or maybe just a year in a comedy.

380
00:19:29,360 --> 00:19:32,820
And people were like from the region flying into Hong Kong to do it.

381
00:19:32,820 --> 00:19:39,800
Because the prize if you win was, I think it came up to about $5,000 Sing dollars.

382
00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:40,800
Okay.

383
00:19:40,800 --> 00:19:41,800
First prize.

384
00:19:41,800 --> 00:19:42,800
Okay.

385
00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:48,320
And you get hooked up with spots at these various clubs in New York and in Minneapolis.

386
00:19:48,320 --> 00:19:49,760
So that's the real prize basically.

387
00:19:49,760 --> 00:19:50,760
That's the real prize.

388
00:19:50,760 --> 00:19:55,400
So a lot of times, you know, sometimes people would just take the cash and they're like,

389
00:19:55,400 --> 00:19:56,400
you know what?

390
00:19:56,400 --> 00:20:00,200
I'm just going to keep the cash and continue doing whatever else I do.

391
00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:03,320
But I wanted to do these spots.

392
00:20:03,320 --> 00:20:08,800
So I used the prize money to fly myself to the US and you know, put myself up in shitty

393
00:20:08,800 --> 00:20:13,120
hostels and like do the gigs, man.

394
00:20:13,120 --> 00:20:14,720
Best decision ever.

395
00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:19,040
It taught me so much of like brutal lessons very early.

396
00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:20,040
Like what?

397
00:20:20,040 --> 00:20:26,340
Like for example, if you are going into the scene in a mature scene like that, I thought

398
00:20:26,340 --> 00:20:32,280
before doing these gigs at Gotham or the comic strip, let me do some open mics.

399
00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:37,680
So I went to some open mics, you know, the open mics there are pay gigs.

400
00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:38,720
Wow.

401
00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:42,120
That means you pay to get stage time.

402
00:20:42,120 --> 00:20:43,120
Wow.

403
00:20:43,120 --> 00:20:44,120
Because it's such a premium.

404
00:20:44,120 --> 00:20:47,120
It means I got to pay $3 for a five minute spot.

405
00:20:47,120 --> 00:20:48,120
Wow.

406
00:20:48,120 --> 00:20:52,800
That's how comics, but then very quickly I realized that when I was doing these open

407
00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:59,480
rooms, I would go on stage trying to practice my stuff for the bigger rooms and I would

408
00:20:59,480 --> 00:21:00,880
not get any response.

409
00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:06,880
I'll be like, people will be like, I wasn't getting any laughs in the first two gigs.

410
00:21:06,880 --> 00:21:09,720
And I'm like, what the fuck is going on?

411
00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:11,840
And I'm like dying on my ass here.

412
00:21:11,840 --> 00:21:12,840
Yeah.

413
00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:14,440
I mean, it's like bombing, right?

414
00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:15,440
Really horribly.

415
00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:17,400
Morale really low.

416
00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:22,720
And my girlfriend at the time, my wife now, Cheryl, she traveled with me and I told her,

417
00:21:22,720 --> 00:21:25,200
fuck this line or it's not worth it.

418
00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:26,880
Maybe I'm just not cut out to do this.

419
00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:28,520
She's like, you know what?

420
00:21:28,520 --> 00:21:34,320
Do the gigs you were booked for before you call it off, before you think that or whatever,

421
00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:36,840
you know, do the actual shows.

422
00:21:36,840 --> 00:21:40,880
And then what I realized when I went for the first gig that I was booked for at a proper

423
00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:45,880
club with an audience, it went really well.

424
00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:46,880
Seven to 10 minute spots.

425
00:21:46,880 --> 00:21:48,760
And then people were like, oh, laughing.

426
00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:52,120
And I was getting applause breaks and the bookers were happy.

427
00:21:52,120 --> 00:21:53,200
And that's when it hit me.

428
00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:59,040
These open mic scenes were full of other struggling comedians.

429
00:21:59,040 --> 00:22:00,040
Okay.

430
00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:01,040
Right.

431
00:22:01,040 --> 00:22:06,560
And they were doing jokes that were really dark and out there and edgy things about like,

432
00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:12,240
you know, topics like whatever you think, like, oh, I don't know, like orgies and, you

433
00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:15,080
know, pedophilia and baby rape and all.

434
00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:16,440
Oh, fuck me.

435
00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:20,080
And whenever you, and it was weird because when someone would bring up a topic like that,

436
00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:22,760
the room will be like, ha ha ha.

437
00:22:22,760 --> 00:22:27,480
And I was so fucking confused, man, for a while until I realized that these comics were

438
00:22:27,480 --> 00:22:32,560
stuck in a loop because they were getting feedback from other struggling comics, which

439
00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:35,720
just kept them stuck there for years.

440
00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:43,040
Whereas in Singapore, we were very lucky because even our open mics are attended by real audience

441
00:22:43,040 --> 00:22:44,040
members.

442
00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:49,160
So you get real feedback about what's working, what's not working.

443
00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:50,360
And that was the biggest lesson, man.

444
00:22:50,360 --> 00:22:52,080
Like when I came out, I was like, oh, okay.

445
00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:57,080
So you got to pick where you're going to perform because if you get the wrong feedback from

446
00:22:57,080 --> 00:23:01,560
the wrong audience, it's going to mess you up and mess up that process.

447
00:23:01,560 --> 00:23:04,400
That was one of the things.

448
00:23:04,400 --> 00:23:08,080
And also it was comforting to know that I could like make people around the world laugh,

449
00:23:08,080 --> 00:23:09,080
not just in Singapore.

450
00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:10,080
You get heckles, man.

451
00:23:10,080 --> 00:23:11,080
I'm sure you do.

452
00:23:11,080 --> 00:23:18,560
I mean, I have, I have in the past, there have been situations.

453
00:23:18,560 --> 00:23:22,320
Something that was too crazy.

454
00:23:22,320 --> 00:23:26,680
I can share one story, which was a weird positive heckle.

455
00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:27,680
Okay.

456
00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:29,960
I remember performing at the Blue Jazz in Singapore.

457
00:23:29,960 --> 00:23:30,960
This is in Singapore.

458
00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:34,960
Beautiful, nice comedy room on top they used to have.

459
00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:40,720
And I'm doing my show and this lady stands up in the middle of my act and goes, Rishi,

460
00:23:40,720 --> 00:23:41,720
God bless you.

461
00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:42,720
Like, thanks a lot, man.

462
00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:43,720
I just got to finish this show.

463
00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:44,720
He's like, no, no, God bless you.

464
00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:45,720
Can I say a prayer?

465
00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:48,720
For you?

466
00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:54,120
I'm like, oh, it was like a hundred people here.

467
00:23:54,120 --> 00:24:00,760
And she goes, ah, I'm a spiritual healer.

468
00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:01,760
Oh man.

469
00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:06,760
She did have all the spirits in her bro.

470
00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:09,760
Vodka, whiskey, bartenders.

471
00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:10,760
Yeah.

472
00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:13,440
She's been having long islands all night.

473
00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:18,840
So she was full of spirits for sure.

474
00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:24,080
And then she goes on to like say a prayer, but she's like, oh Lord Jesus Christ.

475
00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:25,080
Oh man.

476
00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:27,120
And then she goes, Allah.

477
00:24:27,120 --> 00:24:30,120
I'm like, whoa.

478
00:24:30,120 --> 00:24:35,880
I'm like, is this a conference call?

479
00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:38,280
But eventually we had to let her finish.

480
00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:42,160
And then, you know, I got the crowd to like give a round of applause and then we carried

481
00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:43,160
on with the show.

482
00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:44,160
It was that weird.

483
00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:48,000
Like, cause as comics, you're, you're wired to deal with negative heckles.

484
00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:49,000
Right?

485
00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:54,560
If someone tries to screw up your show, you put them in their place in the best way possible.

486
00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:56,360
But how do you manage something like that?

487
00:24:56,360 --> 00:24:59,840
Because it's going to take so much, so much out of you.

488
00:24:59,840 --> 00:25:04,960
You got to think about, first of all, you got to set aside how you feel about, depends

489
00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:05,960
on the heckle.

490
00:25:05,960 --> 00:25:07,560
How you feel about that shit.

491
00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:13,000
Then after which you've got to sit down and think, what am I going to say to this person?

492
00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:15,520
How am I going to turn that heckle around?

493
00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:16,520
Yeah.

494
00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:19,040
I don't know.

495
00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:27,360
If you've watched my act live before, I am, I'm very friendly even to the hecklers.

496
00:25:27,360 --> 00:25:28,360
Yeah.

497
00:25:28,360 --> 00:25:29,360
Right.

498
00:25:29,360 --> 00:25:35,480
But my approach is to turn the audience against them because nobody in the room wants the

499
00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:37,880
show to be ruined by a heckler.

500
00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:38,880
They're here.

501
00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:39,880
They paid money to watch Rishi.

502
00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:40,880
Yeah.

503
00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:43,320
Whoever, whichever the comic is on the bill, right?

504
00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:44,320
Right.

505
00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:49,320
They've not paid to watch some person, you know, trying to be a wise ass.

506
00:25:49,320 --> 00:25:52,280
Granted, but is there a process?

507
00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:54,720
I think it's a lot of practice.

508
00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:58,400
I think it's a lot of what your personality is.

509
00:25:58,400 --> 00:26:02,320
And when I say practice, it's not just limited to stand up comedy.

510
00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:03,320
Right.

511
00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:04,920
I host for a living.

512
00:26:04,920 --> 00:26:05,920
Yeah.

513
00:26:05,920 --> 00:26:06,920
I train as an actor.

514
00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:07,920
Right.

515
00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:13,320
And all those hours of, you know, dealing with drunk pais at Indian weddings.

516
00:26:13,320 --> 00:26:17,200
I mean, you know how it is, bro.

517
00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:18,200
Oh yeah.

518
00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:19,200
Yeah.

519
00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:20,200
Believe me.

520
00:26:20,200 --> 00:26:21,200
I've done a lot of those in Kalsa.

521
00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:22,200
Yeah.

522
00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:23,200
There you go.

523
00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:27,320
I mean, I mean, even, you know, dealing with like difficult D and D audiences.

524
00:26:27,320 --> 00:26:30,040
Well, they're not really that difficult.

525
00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:32,240
I mean, it's rare.

526
00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:33,240
It's rare.

527
00:26:33,240 --> 00:26:35,920
I just think that, sorry to interject, man.

528
00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:36,920
Please.

529
00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:45,560
I just think, man, for the life of me, I never saw myself to ever do stand up comedy.

530
00:26:45,560 --> 00:26:46,560
Okay.

531
00:26:46,560 --> 00:26:50,320
I've been doing shows for a long time.

532
00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:51,320
Yes.

533
00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:52,320
Yes.

534
00:26:52,320 --> 00:26:56,560
And I can tell you that, yeah, I mean, I know I can't be funny, but I never thought about

535
00:26:56,560 --> 00:27:06,560
sitting down and writing stuff to be for stand up comedy because I find it just way too daunting.

536
00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:10,840
And I always felt that it's only reserved for a special few.

537
00:27:10,840 --> 00:27:11,840
Okay.

538
00:27:11,840 --> 00:27:17,560
When I say a special few, let me just put it, I'm going to be fucking blunt about this.

539
00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:26,200
Out of 10 people, local, I can maybe think three, four tops that I would say, yeah, born

540
00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:27,200
for it.

541
00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:30,960
You know, really meant, this is meant for them.

542
00:27:30,960 --> 00:27:32,520
The rest I still don't know.

543
00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:34,800
I'm not saying it can never be.

544
00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:45,240
So my point of view is that I've always felt stand up comedians got into that, into this

545
00:27:45,240 --> 00:27:48,840
little niche world because it's a calling.

546
00:27:48,840 --> 00:27:49,840
Wow.

547
00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:53,040
But the way you said it to me from the time we started the show, right?

548
00:27:53,040 --> 00:27:54,040
Yeah.

549
00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:57,280
It's like, you know, Chris, I was first, you know, we all want to go end up in Bollywood.

550
00:27:57,280 --> 00:27:58,640
We got into Bollywood dancing.

551
00:27:58,640 --> 00:27:59,640
Yeah.

552
00:27:59,640 --> 00:28:04,160
Then after which, you know, some went emceeing, some went writing, some went, you know, acting.

553
00:28:04,160 --> 00:28:06,400
I went into standup comedy, right?

554
00:28:06,400 --> 00:28:14,880
And it was as if it was like a sort of a discerned choice.

555
00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:15,880
Wow.

556
00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:18,720
It wasn't a choice for me, man.

557
00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:24,120
I mean, in case it came across, I mean, look, let's be honest, you're growing up in Singapore.

558
00:28:24,120 --> 00:28:31,900
No Asian parent, no parent in the world will, you know, go like, Ro, you want to be a comic?

559
00:28:31,900 --> 00:28:35,920
Even if you're the funniest kid in the world, your parents will be like, oh, trying to be

560
00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:36,920
funny.

561
00:28:36,920 --> 00:28:37,920
Very funny.

562
00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:38,920
Is it laugh some more?

563
00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:39,920
Very funny.

564
00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:46,200
You know, we all grew up in a way, like even until today as liberal, as liberal and you

565
00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:51,720
know, as, as open as, as parents have become, I don't think there's any, like, you know,

566
00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:57,000
your parent, even in 2024, if your child has an affinity to football, you'll be like,

567
00:28:57,000 --> 00:28:58,920
I'm going to put my child in a football academy.

568
00:28:58,920 --> 00:28:59,920
Yeah.

569
00:28:59,920 --> 00:29:00,920
See, even in Singapore.

570
00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:01,920
Okay.

571
00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:02,920
Yeah.

572
00:29:02,920 --> 00:29:03,920
I know where you're going with this.

573
00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:14,600
Even if your child has some affinity to gymnastics, but where are you going to put a funny child?

574
00:29:14,600 --> 00:29:17,560
You send your funny child to the funny farm.

575
00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:18,560
Where?

576
00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:23,160
You'll be like, this boy, trying to be funny, go more tuition.

577
00:29:23,160 --> 00:29:25,520
You send the funny child to the funny farm, man.

578
00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:26,520
Where is that?

579
00:29:26,520 --> 00:29:29,520
It's in, it's in, Jambong Kok.

580
00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:31,120
Is this true?

581
00:29:31,120 --> 00:29:32,120
Is that so?

582
00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:35,120
I'm going to be full of fuck for this.

583
00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:36,120
Come on, man.

584
00:29:36,120 --> 00:29:38,120
You know what's in, Laurel, Bangkok, right?

585
00:29:38,120 --> 00:29:40,720
Or the funny farm or the Kampong.

586
00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:42,520
Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

587
00:29:42,520 --> 00:29:45,320
It used to be in another part of Singapore.

588
00:29:45,320 --> 00:29:46,320
Right.

589
00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:47,320
Right around there anyway.

590
00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:48,320
Oh boy.

591
00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:49,320
Going down that road.

592
00:29:49,320 --> 00:29:55,160
No, I'm going to retract.

593
00:29:55,160 --> 00:30:00,000
My point is that you never grow up thinking it's a legitimate career choice.

594
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:02,920
But there have been people looking, maybe not in Singapore.

595
00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:03,920
I don't know.

596
00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:07,480
I have not asked Kumar this question yet.

597
00:30:07,480 --> 00:30:11,440
But let's say, for example, Eddie Murphy.

598
00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:18,440
I think that fucker has told the whole world that he was born to do this.

599
00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:20,080
I'm sure you watch Raw and Deliveries.

600
00:30:20,080 --> 00:30:21,080
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

601
00:30:21,080 --> 00:30:23,080
There's one of the early inspirations of my work.

602
00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:24,080
Oh man, I love it, man.

603
00:30:24,080 --> 00:30:25,600
I love those shows.

604
00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:31,000
And if you recall in Raw, it started with a kid that's acting like Eddie Murphy, young

605
00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:32,000
Eddie Murphy.

606
00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:33,000
I remember.

607
00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:35,000
And how he was talking about all the dirty jokes and he's telling all the dirty jokes

608
00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:36,680
to his folks and all that shit.

609
00:30:36,680 --> 00:30:39,080
And how he was disappointing his parents.

610
00:30:39,080 --> 00:30:43,380
It seemed as if he's telling us a story that, look man, since I was that small, I wanted

611
00:30:43,380 --> 00:30:44,380
to do this.

612
00:30:44,380 --> 00:30:45,380
Fair.

613
00:30:45,380 --> 00:30:47,160
I mean, have you met anyone like that?

614
00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:48,160
Oh man.

615
00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:52,000
The reason why I'm asking Rishi is simply because this is I love my job.

616
00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:53,000
Sure.

617
00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:57,080
But there could be some guy, some girl or guy who's watching the show, listening to

618
00:30:57,080 --> 00:31:00,560
the show, thinking to themselves, you know, I've always wanted to do this.

619
00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:04,080
I've always wanted to do stand-up comedy.

620
00:31:04,080 --> 00:31:05,080
And should I?

621
00:31:05,080 --> 00:31:06,080
Shouldn't I not?

622
00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:07,080
Should I?

623
00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:08,080
Should I not?

624
00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:09,080
Let's give them an answer.

625
00:31:09,080 --> 00:31:15,480
Well, I'm sure there was a lot of kids like Eddie Murphy growing up.

626
00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:19,480
Well, we only hear about the success of Eddie Murphy.

627
00:31:19,480 --> 00:31:25,280
We don't hear about the hundreds of thousands of foul-mouthed funny kids who maybe, you

628
00:31:25,280 --> 00:31:29,960
know, didn't make it home, who are maybe still struggling in clubs in LA and New York.

629
00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:31,520
Maybe I'm saying.

630
00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:39,000
Similarly, I think if you talk to a lot of successful or pro comics of this generation,

631
00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:43,200
you will hear stories like what you hear from what I share, like, hey, you know, maybe someone

632
00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:49,400
trained as an actor, maybe someone got a gig on SNL first, or maybe someone was open micing

633
00:31:49,400 --> 00:31:52,320
and got spotted for their own sitcom.

634
00:31:52,320 --> 00:31:54,240
But make no mistake about it.

635
00:31:54,240 --> 00:31:59,920
Whether or not you have some kind of raw affinity towards that kind of craft that you're looking

636
00:31:59,920 --> 00:32:05,720
to do, it's going to take a shitload of work.

637
00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:07,960
It's going to take a shitload of rejection.

638
00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:13,600
It's going to take a shitload of failure before you actually see some kind of success.

639
00:32:13,600 --> 00:32:15,160
That's my opinion about it.

640
00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:20,720
And how do I approach or how do I advise people who are, you know, looking for the job that

641
00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:21,720
they love?

642
00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:31,040
I always say, find something that comes easy to you and work really hard at it.

643
00:32:31,040 --> 00:32:34,400
How about money?

644
00:32:34,400 --> 00:32:38,360
Do you call yourself a full-time comedian?

645
00:32:38,360 --> 00:32:43,920
I'm a full-time, I'm full-time in show business, so I don't restrict myself to stand-up comedy.

646
00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:46,880
That's the difference that I feel.

647
00:32:46,880 --> 00:32:53,880
Like, I still enjoy doing the hosting work, whether it's like, you know, on TV or on a

648
00:32:53,880 --> 00:32:58,680
web series or whether I get to host a travel show, which I've done, or whether it's to

649
00:32:58,680 --> 00:33:01,200
do, you know, like, president star charity.

650
00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:03,680
I enjoy that aspect of it.

651
00:33:03,680 --> 00:33:07,400
I still write work, I still do film.

652
00:33:07,400 --> 00:33:13,920
So I would, although maybe my identity is strongest as a stand-up comedian, I still

653
00:33:13,920 --> 00:33:20,160
do a wide variety of work within show business, which even if you look at, you know, our Hollywood

654
00:33:20,160 --> 00:33:24,360
examples that we want to hopefully get the guidance from.

655
00:33:24,360 --> 00:33:26,840
Eddie Murphy, SNL, movies.

656
00:33:26,840 --> 00:33:31,680
Yeah, but you still remember Roy Delirious because, you know, you recognize him as a

657
00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:36,080
comic, and then it opened the doors to all these things, which happens a lot.

658
00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:42,240
Like even, for example, if we look at someone like Ronnie Chang, who's a current example.

659
00:33:42,240 --> 00:33:47,480
Great comic, toured his way around Australia, made his way to Canada, got spotted at Just

660
00:33:47,480 --> 00:33:53,060
for Laughs Montreal, went to The Daily Show, Daily Show, and then now he's won an Emmy

661
00:33:53,060 --> 00:33:57,400
with The Daily Show, he's doing Marvel movies, he's touring.

662
00:33:57,400 --> 00:34:02,860
But it all started because, you know, he had built this craft as a comic.

663
00:34:02,860 --> 00:34:07,240
So I think, even for me, I feel like although stand-up comedy is something I always come

664
00:34:07,240 --> 00:34:12,680
back to and continue doing, I keep the doors open to all kinds of work in show business.

665
00:34:12,680 --> 00:34:13,680
Right.

666
00:34:13,680 --> 00:34:15,800
So that's how you earn your keep?

667
00:34:15,800 --> 00:34:16,800
Yeah.

668
00:34:16,800 --> 00:34:22,120
Through all, as many jobs as you can get, doing the things I love, not just stand-up

669
00:34:22,120 --> 00:34:23,120
comedy.

670
00:34:23,120 --> 00:34:24,120
That's right.

671
00:34:24,120 --> 00:34:25,120
Yeah.

672
00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:26,920
And people still ask me, hey, you know, people are a bit sheepish to ask me, Richie, do you

673
00:34:26,920 --> 00:34:28,920
still host weddings?

674
00:34:28,920 --> 00:34:31,440
Because we saw it, I'm like, yeah, I love doing weddings.

675
00:34:31,440 --> 00:34:32,800
Oh, I love doing weddings too, man.

676
00:34:32,800 --> 00:34:34,440
I mean, I have no qualms about it.

677
00:34:34,440 --> 00:34:38,680
Like it's a great chance for me to kind of hang out in a low pressure environment.

678
00:34:38,680 --> 00:34:39,680
Yeah, yeah.

679
00:34:39,680 --> 00:34:40,680
There's some jokes.

680
00:34:40,680 --> 00:34:41,680
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

681
00:34:41,680 --> 00:34:46,800
I do it very professionally in that, you know, I meet the couple, I try to keep it personalized,

682
00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:48,440
but it's not a corporate show at the end.

683
00:34:48,440 --> 00:34:49,440
Yeah.

684
00:34:49,440 --> 00:34:50,440
That's why I love it.

685
00:34:50,440 --> 00:34:51,440
Yeah.

686
00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:53,440
You don't have to worry so much about corporate governance and all that stuff.

687
00:34:53,440 --> 00:34:54,440
It can be fun.

688
00:34:54,440 --> 00:34:55,440
Yeah.

689
00:34:55,440 --> 00:35:00,060
While, and most importantly, I think what it does that, okay, to us as the pros being

690
00:35:00,060 --> 00:35:04,360
hired for this, it's a job, right, it's one night of work and you know, you kind of do

691
00:35:04,360 --> 00:35:06,800
your best to make it exciting and memorable.

692
00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:10,720
But to the couple, this is arguably one of the biggest days of their lives.

693
00:35:10,720 --> 00:35:11,720
Yeah, yeah.

694
00:35:11,720 --> 00:35:16,040
I get texts all the time like, hey, do you remember 10 years ago you hosted this thing?

695
00:35:16,040 --> 00:35:19,720
We were watching our wedding video and we were like, you made it so, and I'm like, that

696
00:35:19,720 --> 00:35:20,720
means so much.

697
00:35:20,720 --> 00:35:21,720
Yeah.

698
00:35:21,720 --> 00:35:22,720
It does.

699
00:35:22,720 --> 00:35:27,080
And that, those kinds of things remind me why I still do what I do.

700
00:35:27,080 --> 00:35:29,440
And you know, it makes you love your job even more.

701
00:35:29,440 --> 00:35:30,440
Yeah.

702
00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:33,840
I mean, I've been doing this for a long time and you know, weddings right now, as far as

703
00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:37,760
I'm concerned, tell me there's a D and D coming up and it's no longer, you shouldn't have

704
00:35:37,760 --> 00:35:39,080
the second D anymore anyway.

705
00:35:39,080 --> 00:35:42,920
There's no, people don't fucking dance.

706
00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:48,760
And I've never had, I've never had, you know, nights where you host an event and you're

707
00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:51,320
done at 10 o'clock.

708
00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:56,400
The years, especially in my heyday in the 90s, right, and we end at two on average.

709
00:35:56,400 --> 00:35:57,400
Wow.

710
00:35:57,400 --> 00:35:58,400
Okay.

711
00:35:58,400 --> 00:36:02,920
And then we have, we have a dance set before the grand draw.

712
00:36:02,920 --> 00:36:03,920
So people stay back.

713
00:36:03,920 --> 00:36:05,400
They dance, they really dance.

714
00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:06,400
We don't waste the dance floor.

715
00:36:06,400 --> 00:36:07,400
Like an actual dance floor.

716
00:36:07,400 --> 00:36:08,400
Yeah, dude.

717
00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:13,320
And we have, we had a saying, you know, don't waste the dance floor.

718
00:36:13,320 --> 00:36:14,320
It's there.

719
00:36:14,320 --> 00:36:15,320
It's set up.

720
00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:16,320
Yep.

721
00:36:16,320 --> 00:36:17,320
Have fun, right?

722
00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:18,320
Wow.

723
00:36:18,320 --> 00:36:20,800
And then after which they dance for about half an hour, 45 minutes, then we go to grand

724
00:36:20,800 --> 00:36:21,800
draw.

725
00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:23,960
The grand draw happens just before midnight.

726
00:36:23,960 --> 00:36:28,120
By the time the show ends, the actual program, the show program ends at midnight.

727
00:36:28,120 --> 00:36:29,120
Right.

728
00:36:29,120 --> 00:36:31,640
And then second set, final set for the dance.

729
00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:32,640
Whoever is staying.

730
00:36:32,640 --> 00:36:33,640
Yeah, whoever wants to stay back.

731
00:36:33,640 --> 00:36:34,640
Right?

732
00:36:34,640 --> 00:36:35,640
Wow.

733
00:36:35,640 --> 00:36:36,640
So sometimes we stay back a little bit.

734
00:36:36,640 --> 00:36:38,640
We hobnob with the people that we've been partying with the whole night.

735
00:36:38,640 --> 00:36:39,640
Yep.

736
00:36:39,640 --> 00:36:40,640
Right?

737
00:36:40,640 --> 00:36:43,640
So by the time we get, we're really done, one-ish, two in the morning.

738
00:36:43,640 --> 00:36:44,640
Wow.

739
00:36:44,640 --> 00:36:49,400
And then go to Adam Road, go to Newton's Circus, have a two-long and then go back, you know.

740
00:36:49,400 --> 00:36:50,800
But those are great times, man.

741
00:36:50,800 --> 00:36:54,680
But nowadays you have the D, don't have the other D. The other D at the end.

742
00:36:54,680 --> 00:36:57,360
D and D, no, and that's just a freaking dinner, man.

743
00:36:57,360 --> 00:36:58,360
Yeah, it's rare.

744
00:36:58,360 --> 00:36:59,360
You're right.

745
00:36:59,360 --> 00:37:02,840
I mean, the dance floor thing happens not with all the Indies.

746
00:37:02,840 --> 00:37:03,840
You're right.

747
00:37:03,840 --> 00:37:05,600
It's very, it's rare, especially the bigger companies.

748
00:37:05,600 --> 00:37:08,080
You rarely see the people staying back.

749
00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:09,080
Yeah.

750
00:37:09,080 --> 00:37:11,400
They just want to grand, they just want to go for the grand draw, win some lucky draw

751
00:37:11,400 --> 00:37:13,120
prizes and go home.

752
00:37:13,120 --> 00:37:14,120
Yeah.

753
00:37:14,120 --> 00:37:15,120
Weddings are different though.

754
00:37:15,120 --> 00:37:22,640
I mean, I think I was doing some counting not long ago and I think I've crossed a thousand

755
00:37:22,640 --> 00:37:23,640
five hundred weddings.

756
00:37:23,640 --> 00:37:24,640
Oh, wow.

757
00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:25,640
In my lifetime.

758
00:37:25,640 --> 00:37:26,640
That's a lot, dude.

759
00:37:26,640 --> 00:37:32,760
And you know, frankly, I keep thinking about, you know, I walk the street, I walk down the

760
00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:36,320
street, you know, sometimes I get couples that go, hey, Chris.

761
00:37:36,320 --> 00:37:37,880
And I go, shit, I don't remember them.

762
00:37:37,880 --> 00:37:38,880
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

763
00:37:38,880 --> 00:37:39,880
It happens.

764
00:37:39,880 --> 00:37:40,880
Oh, you had a great time.

765
00:37:40,880 --> 00:37:43,960
And you know, when you hosted a wedding, blah, blah, blah.

766
00:37:43,960 --> 00:37:45,960
Oh, yeah, yeah.

767
00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:49,240
Really deep down inside, I can't remember who they were.

768
00:37:49,240 --> 00:37:50,240
You know?

769
00:37:50,240 --> 00:37:51,240
That's okay.

770
00:37:51,240 --> 00:37:55,680
You know, like you said, it's about the impression that, you know, you left from the work that

771
00:37:55,680 --> 00:37:59,520
you do and it's very obvious that even you truly love what you do.

772
00:37:59,520 --> 00:38:00,520
I do, I do.

773
00:38:00,520 --> 00:38:03,680
I've never not loved it, you know?

774
00:38:03,680 --> 00:38:04,680
Yeah.

775
00:38:04,680 --> 00:38:08,200
But we, Rishi Budrani is concerned, man.

776
00:38:08,200 --> 00:38:09,400
When I think of you, you're right.

777
00:38:09,400 --> 00:38:11,240
I think stand up comedian.

778
00:38:11,240 --> 00:38:14,040
And did you know what?

779
00:38:14,040 --> 00:38:15,480
Let's get back to that topic.

780
00:38:15,480 --> 00:38:16,480
Yeah.

781
00:38:16,480 --> 00:38:17,480
Uh huh.

782
00:38:17,480 --> 00:38:18,480
You know what?

783
00:38:18,480 --> 00:38:24,560
When I watch some of your shows that you post online, yeah, and the stuff you say, I would

784
00:38:24,560 --> 00:38:27,800
have thought you had gotten yourself into some kind of shit, man.

785
00:38:27,800 --> 00:38:28,800
Oh, really?

786
00:38:28,800 --> 00:38:31,120
I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, okay.

787
00:38:31,120 --> 00:38:32,120
Presidential election is one.

788
00:38:32,120 --> 00:38:33,120
Oh, presidential election.

789
00:38:33,120 --> 00:38:36,120
Oh, that race race is another.

790
00:38:36,120 --> 00:38:37,120
Yeah.

791
00:38:37,120 --> 00:38:38,120
What I, okay.

792
00:38:38,120 --> 00:38:43,840
So I president, let's talk about last year's presidential election.

793
00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:44,840
Okay.

794
00:38:44,840 --> 00:38:45,840
Right.

795
00:38:45,840 --> 00:38:46,840
Did it get me into trouble?

796
00:38:46,840 --> 00:38:47,840
Uh, not really.

797
00:38:47,840 --> 00:38:51,840
It got me to host president's lounge.

798
00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:55,320
I guess.

799
00:38:55,320 --> 00:38:56,600
How do you get away with that, man?

800
00:38:56,600 --> 00:38:58,600
I don't think it's about getting away.

801
00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:08,280
Cause my opinion, when I do this kind of content is it's not the stir shit or like, you know,

802
00:39:08,280 --> 00:39:10,200
do anything negative.

803
00:39:10,200 --> 00:39:19,080
It's more to address issues that are of actual concern to society.

804
00:39:19,080 --> 00:39:26,880
But maybe, maybe you and I come from an era that are from errors that are a little different

805
00:39:26,880 --> 00:39:34,760
because back in the day, my time, uh, we, we had to steer clear, you know, you know,

806
00:39:34,760 --> 00:39:35,760
you know what I mean?

807
00:39:35,760 --> 00:39:42,120
But when I watch yours and I go, whoa, dude, jam on the brakes, a little bit of tap on

808
00:39:42,120 --> 00:39:47,320
it, you know, and then the next thing I know, Hey, the guys on president's side, charity,

809
00:39:47,320 --> 00:39:50,280
the guys on NDP 2022.

810
00:39:50,280 --> 00:39:51,280
Yeah.

811
00:39:51,280 --> 00:39:57,120
I, I, again, I, I think my, and I'm very open about this.

812
00:39:57,120 --> 00:40:03,080
My, my, my love for my country is strong.

813
00:40:03,080 --> 00:40:07,600
Like I, you know, I'm a, I grew up in Baruch South.

814
00:40:07,600 --> 00:40:12,080
You know, I went to a neighborhood school, the heartlands are my home and always will

815
00:40:12,080 --> 00:40:16,440
be wherever I moved to, wherever I traveled to.

816
00:40:16,440 --> 00:40:24,400
And I am always interested in some way or the other to use my craft to make society

817
00:40:24,400 --> 00:40:26,400
better for all of us to live in.

818
00:40:26,400 --> 00:40:27,400
Yeah.

819
00:40:27,400 --> 00:40:32,120
It's not something that I sit down and practice or, uh, kind of, you know, it's not like a

820
00:40:32,120 --> 00:40:37,040
code of conduct, but in my head, if I'm discussing an issue that is important to Singaporeans

821
00:40:37,040 --> 00:40:42,240
or people living here, it's something that's, uh, that I feel is useful.

822
00:40:42,240 --> 00:40:43,240
Right.

823
00:40:43,240 --> 00:40:47,040
And when you can use humor to do it, it makes it even more palatable.

824
00:40:47,040 --> 00:40:49,560
It makes it a little easier to discuss certain things.

825
00:40:49,560 --> 00:40:56,120
It makes it easier for us to kind of, uh, uh, tread through those minefields of difficult

826
00:40:56,120 --> 00:41:03,400
topics like politics or race or, um, or issues of, uh, you know, uh, cost of living, for

827
00:41:03,400 --> 00:41:06,760
example, amongst other things in Singapore.

828
00:41:06,760 --> 00:41:12,160
So I never approach it in a negative way that, Hey, let's take someone down or let's go.

829
00:41:12,160 --> 00:41:13,160
The Roi Ng Ying.

830
00:41:13,160 --> 00:41:14,160
No, no, no.

831
00:41:14,160 --> 00:41:16,360
That's to me, that's not what I'm here to do, right?

832
00:41:16,360 --> 00:41:21,280
I'm here to raise a topic that is important that maybe sometimes mainstream media cannot

833
00:41:21,280 --> 00:41:23,800
for whatever reasons.

834
00:41:23,800 --> 00:41:29,400
Like I trained as a journalist and very early on I learned about concepts of socialization.

835
00:41:29,400 --> 00:41:33,560
I learned about concepts of, uh, how, you know, you have kind of state influence and

836
00:41:33,560 --> 00:41:37,440
state owned networks and media and all that, which have certain responsibilities of public

837
00:41:37,440 --> 00:41:43,040
service and maybe sometimes, uh, something coming from an independent source like me,

838
00:41:43,040 --> 00:41:44,520
I'm not funded by anyone.

839
00:41:44,520 --> 00:41:49,700
I don't have some kind of stream of income coming from a media conglomerate.

840
00:41:49,700 --> 00:41:53,040
So my views are my own, right?

841
00:41:53,040 --> 00:41:55,520
So accept it or disagree with it.

842
00:41:55,520 --> 00:41:59,680
I raise it in the best way that I can for people to go out there and kind of chat about

843
00:41:59,680 --> 00:42:02,980
it, discuss it, what their stances are.

844
00:42:02,980 --> 00:42:09,800
And I approach it as a journalist where I'm not puffing, you know, it's all based on facts

845
00:42:09,800 --> 00:42:12,360
that are available right there.

846
00:42:12,360 --> 00:42:15,800
And what is opinion is very clearly opinion.

847
00:42:15,800 --> 00:42:16,800
So okay.

848
00:42:16,800 --> 00:42:18,360
I've got this interesting picture, man.

849
00:42:18,360 --> 00:42:20,880
I think we're talking about that particular subject.

850
00:42:20,880 --> 00:42:23,520
I call this the Rishi and Lauren show.

851
00:42:23,520 --> 00:42:26,520
Oh, love it.

852
00:42:26,520 --> 00:42:29,660
Was this a coincidence?

853
00:42:29,660 --> 00:42:31,760
It was a hundred percent, man.

854
00:42:31,760 --> 00:42:33,240
Okay.

855
00:42:33,240 --> 00:42:43,320
So shout out to my friend, Sylvia, who runs the Emporium, the Emporium group, which does

856
00:42:43,320 --> 00:42:45,880
a lot of this, the outfit that you saw.

857
00:42:45,880 --> 00:42:46,880
Right.

858
00:42:46,880 --> 00:42:49,400
So Sylvia is a, is an old friend, a collaborator.

859
00:42:49,400 --> 00:42:56,000
She does really beautiful customized work in terms of, uh, with Singapore related designs

860
00:42:56,000 --> 00:42:57,000
and all that.

861
00:42:57,000 --> 00:42:58,000
Right.

862
00:42:58,000 --> 00:42:59,000
Right.

863
00:42:59,000 --> 00:43:00,000
The motifs.

864
00:43:00,000 --> 00:43:01,000
Yeah.

865
00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:05,600
So back then, we were collaborating on something that you found out, she's like, Rishi, you

866
00:43:05,600 --> 00:43:07,680
know, can I, can I give you something?

867
00:43:07,680 --> 00:43:09,480
We only have one piece with us right now.

868
00:43:09,480 --> 00:43:13,120
We make like one piece every year or something.

869
00:43:13,120 --> 00:43:17,440
And if you're okay, I'd love for you to have, I'm like, wow, that's so sweet of you, Sylvia.

870
00:43:17,440 --> 00:43:18,440
That was in 2022.

871
00:43:18,440 --> 00:43:25,280
And in 2023, I think the second piece, I stand corrected on this.

872
00:43:25,280 --> 00:43:31,880
Sylvia, if I'm talking nonsense, please tell me, but I think you made a new one and that

873
00:43:31,880 --> 00:43:35,640
went to Lawrence Wong.

874
00:43:35,640 --> 00:43:36,640
And I saw it.

875
00:43:36,640 --> 00:43:39,640
I'm like, wait a minute.

876
00:43:39,640 --> 00:43:41,640
That looks cool.

877
00:43:41,640 --> 00:43:45,880
I feel like I've seen that shirt before.

878
00:43:45,880 --> 00:43:47,760
Oh man.

879
00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:49,880
The only one available is no more.

880
00:43:49,880 --> 00:43:50,880
Yeah.

881
00:43:50,880 --> 00:43:51,880
Give it to you Rishi.

882
00:43:51,880 --> 00:43:52,880
You're right.

883
00:43:52,880 --> 00:43:55,400
You know, you do jokes.

884
00:43:55,400 --> 00:43:58,680
I mean, I'm Eurasian and half Chinese as well.

885
00:43:58,680 --> 00:43:59,680
Right?

886
00:43:59,680 --> 00:44:00,680
Okay.

887
00:44:00,680 --> 00:44:01,680
I'm quite a melting pot.

888
00:44:01,680 --> 00:44:04,480
You know, my mom's Peranakan and she's Chinese.

889
00:44:04,480 --> 00:44:06,920
My dad is Eurasian.

890
00:44:06,920 --> 00:44:13,160
And you know, guys like you, guys like me, we understand what it is to be a minority

891
00:44:13,160 --> 00:44:14,160
race.

892
00:44:14,160 --> 00:44:15,160
Right?

893
00:44:15,160 --> 00:44:20,080
I'm not going to really touch on it, such a touchy subject, but I find it quite fascinating

894
00:44:20,080 --> 00:44:29,120
because when it comes to standup comedy and anyone talking about race or racist, I usually

895
00:44:29,120 --> 00:44:31,120
the ethnic minority.

896
00:44:31,120 --> 00:44:32,120
Fair.

897
00:44:32,120 --> 00:44:33,120
Yeah.

898
00:44:33,120 --> 00:44:42,320
I've never heard from anyone from them, ethnic majority touching on the subject of race in

899
00:44:42,320 --> 00:44:43,320
comedy.

900
00:44:43,320 --> 00:44:50,320
It's kind of a natural phenomenon in the comedy world, right?

901
00:44:50,320 --> 00:44:56,960
Because in a way, good comedy, people respond to it when it's a punch up as opposed to a

902
00:44:56,960 --> 00:44:58,240
punch down.

903
00:44:58,240 --> 00:45:04,600
So when it's on a topic of race, if you are the ethnic majority, it's very difficult to

904
00:45:04,600 --> 00:45:05,600
talk about.

905
00:45:05,600 --> 00:45:07,480
You know what I'm saying?

906
00:45:07,480 --> 00:45:11,240
It's very easy for it to be construed as a punch down the moment you start making fun

907
00:45:11,240 --> 00:45:12,240
of racist.

908
00:45:12,240 --> 00:45:13,240
It's a tough one.

909
00:45:13,240 --> 00:45:14,240
Yeah.

910
00:45:14,240 --> 00:45:16,240
There's this danger of being called out.

911
00:45:16,240 --> 00:45:17,240
Yeah.

912
00:45:17,240 --> 00:45:21,760
I mean, at the end of the day, I feel like, you know, some comics, it is possible for

913
00:45:21,760 --> 00:45:25,920
someone to do it because if it's funny, it's funny at the end of the day.

914
00:45:25,920 --> 00:45:29,440
Funny is the world that at least me as a comic I live in.

915
00:45:29,440 --> 00:45:37,520
I don't view it as a lens of correct or wrong or how can you say this or whatever.

916
00:45:37,520 --> 00:45:42,080
If you're watching something and that's the beauty of standup, I think sometimes it's

917
00:45:42,080 --> 00:45:45,600
one of the closest forms of justice in performance.

918
00:45:45,600 --> 00:45:51,360
If you're sitting in a room, watching someone and this room is not curated.

919
00:45:51,360 --> 00:45:57,280
That means like whoever buys a ticket can go in, sit there and watch this person.

920
00:45:57,280 --> 00:46:03,940
That is the most involuntary response that you can get about whether someone is funny

921
00:46:03,940 --> 00:46:04,940
or not.

922
00:46:04,940 --> 00:46:05,940
Within that context.

923
00:46:05,940 --> 00:46:06,940
Sure.

924
00:46:06,940 --> 00:46:12,880
If you put someone who's, if you put Kumar in the US and it's an American crowd, maybe

925
00:46:12,880 --> 00:46:14,520
they won't understand everything.

926
00:46:14,520 --> 00:46:15,520
So it's not fair.

927
00:46:15,520 --> 00:46:19,680
But within that context of that room and that people, if you make them laugh, chances are

928
00:46:19,680 --> 00:46:22,200
you're probably quite funny.

929
00:46:22,200 --> 00:46:24,240
Because there's a lot of relatability I would think, right?

930
00:46:24,240 --> 00:46:25,240
Yeah.

931
00:46:25,240 --> 00:46:26,240
You're going to relate to you.

932
00:46:26,240 --> 00:46:27,240
Yeah.

933
00:46:27,240 --> 00:46:28,240
And you're connecting.

934
00:46:28,240 --> 00:46:31,520
You are uniting a room full of strangers just through humor.

935
00:46:31,520 --> 00:46:32,520
Right.

936
00:46:32,520 --> 00:46:36,080
And this is where I actually found this video really funny.

937
00:46:36,080 --> 00:46:37,080
Okay.

938
00:46:37,080 --> 00:46:38,080
Video of yours.

939
00:46:38,080 --> 00:46:40,080
Can we play that one please with the accent?

940
00:46:40,080 --> 00:46:41,080
Yeah.

941
00:46:41,080 --> 00:46:44,080
Oh, what's this man?

942
00:46:44,080 --> 00:46:48,080
Oh, you don't remember this?

943
00:46:48,080 --> 00:46:51,080
Oh my God.

944
00:46:51,080 --> 00:47:00,080
Your Sindhi accent is so sexy.

945
00:47:00,080 --> 00:47:01,080
Sindhis.

946
00:47:01,080 --> 00:47:02,080
Say it again.

947
00:47:02,080 --> 00:47:03,080
Hong Kong.

948
00:47:03,080 --> 00:47:04,080
Jakarta.

949
00:47:04,080 --> 00:47:05,080
Oh boy.

950
00:47:05,080 --> 00:47:06,080
I'm laughing.

951
00:47:06,080 --> 00:47:07,080
I'm laughing.

952
00:47:07,080 --> 00:47:08,080
Bye.

953
00:47:08,080 --> 00:47:09,080
Bye.

954
00:47:09,080 --> 00:47:10,080
Daughter.

955
00:47:10,080 --> 00:47:13,320
Grandma you say daughter.

956
00:47:13,320 --> 00:47:14,320
Kolhannapur.

957
00:47:14,320 --> 00:47:15,320
Yep.

958
00:47:15,320 --> 00:47:16,320
White water.

959
00:47:16,320 --> 00:47:18,060
Do I say tomorrow?

960
00:47:18,060 --> 00:47:23,140
I hope there's tomorrow in there.

961
00:47:23,140 --> 00:47:24,600
Bus.

962
00:47:24,600 --> 00:47:26,240
Money.

963
00:47:26,240 --> 00:47:29,160
Toilet.

964
00:47:29,160 --> 00:47:45,480
I want to ask you man. Has anyone talked about this? Because my curiosity is, is that I understood

965
00:47:45,480 --> 00:47:53,120
that. I understood the humor and the accent. I don't have to... I mean, of course I know

966
00:47:53,120 --> 00:48:01,200
six, I know Cindy's, right? I'm used to it, yeah. I can relate. But you've got... Do you

967
00:48:01,200 --> 00:48:06,160
happen to have a lot of people, let's say the Chinese, do they understand that? I think

968
00:48:06,160 --> 00:48:10,640
some do because you know they just kind of see it as, oh there's this Indian-ish kind

969
00:48:10,640 --> 00:48:15,880
of thing. But part of it is also building that nuance for people who are not aware that

970
00:48:15,880 --> 00:48:21,040
you know there's a lot of different kinds of Indian people out there. You know what

971
00:48:21,040 --> 00:48:24,400
I mean? Like I get asked all the time, hey Rishi, you Indian, you cannot speak Tamil.

972
00:48:24,400 --> 00:48:29,000
How come? I never learned that. Oh man. I'm like bro, that's a bunch of different kind

973
00:48:29,000 --> 00:48:32,600
of languages. You know it's a bit funny, but people... In Singapore, you know, sometimes

974
00:48:32,600 --> 00:48:38,480
it's just so culturally inept. They don't really recognise the difference in certain

975
00:48:38,480 --> 00:48:43,840
races, right? Yeah, yeah. I mean look, that's why sometimes I feel like, okay, look, let's

976
00:48:43,840 --> 00:48:47,480
not view it from the negative lens that, ayah, why are these people so old like that? I'm

977
00:48:47,480 --> 00:48:53,040
okay, never mind. Let me use humour to spread some kind of positive awareness. Like even

978
00:48:53,040 --> 00:48:58,200
this, so okay, I'm doing this Sindhi video I did after a really long time, but I used

979
00:48:58,200 --> 00:49:02,360
to do a lot of Sindhi content like 10, 12 years ago when I first started out, when I

980
00:49:02,360 --> 00:49:08,440
was exploring stuff. I remember I did a very old video called, there was an online trend

981
00:49:08,440 --> 00:49:15,400
called shit XYZ parents say. So I did what shit Sindhi parents say. And that, like for

982
00:49:15,400 --> 00:49:21,520
the first time I experienced what it was to get like global viral fame in the community.

983
00:49:21,520 --> 00:49:28,360
And I was getting like messages from random parts Sindhis in the world. I saw this, congratulations,

984
00:49:28,360 --> 00:49:34,080
you are making your parents really proud. But I also got hate mail and death threats

985
00:49:34,080 --> 00:49:40,440
from Pakistan. Holy crap. Which were like, oh, you are, they used to call me a Muhajir,

986
00:49:40,440 --> 00:49:44,440
you're an immigrant Sindhi, you don't know what it's like to be a real Sindhi. Oh my.

987
00:49:44,440 --> 00:49:48,920
You're going to get yourself killed. I'm like, whoa, hey man. I mean, that's when you know

988
00:49:48,920 --> 00:49:56,200
it's really gone viral when the village idiots start to reach out to warn you. Hey, we're

989
00:49:56,200 --> 00:50:01,760
going to make you a village bicycle. Oh dear. You know, you know, speaking of accents, man,

990
00:50:01,760 --> 00:50:06,080
let me tell you, I'm sure something really funny that happened to me. I went, I went

991
00:50:06,080 --> 00:50:10,480
for lunch in my neighborhood coffee shop. I'm a goPTM. I was sitting there and then

992
00:50:10,480 --> 00:50:15,400
it was about lunchtime. So there's a bunch of, there were a bunch of young, I think they

993
00:50:15,400 --> 00:50:22,760
were bankers, executives who, you know, seated there, young people, guys, girls, you know.

994
00:50:22,760 --> 00:50:29,120
And it's so funny because when the food arrived, there was Balachan on the table. Okay. Then

995
00:50:29,120 --> 00:50:38,560
the old Chinese. So this girl went to ask the friend, hey, you want Balachan? You went,

996
00:50:38,560 --> 00:50:43,920
no, no, no, I cannot take, I cannot take it because my other spice. Hey, but it's not

997
00:50:43,920 --> 00:50:48,480
spicy. It's Balachan. It's very nice. This Balachan really tastes good. It is not hot

998
00:50:48,480 --> 00:50:54,360
one. Balachan. Then I'm thinking, Hey, I got to meet this Chindian guy, man. First name

999
00:50:54,360 --> 00:50:59,200
Bala, last name Chan. Yeah. I tell you, I tell you, some of the strangest shit happened

1000
00:50:59,200 --> 00:51:06,840
to me, you know, really. And yeah, yeah, really. It's so, it's so freaking funny. Then, well,

1001
00:51:06,840 --> 00:51:13,080
if I talk about the Chinese, I don't know whether I should say this. Okay. I was in

1002
00:51:13,080 --> 00:51:19,120
the Shengxiang. It was a quiet Shengxiang. And then I was just in a queue to pay out

1003
00:51:19,120 --> 00:51:25,280
my groceries, right? These three ladies, young, no, not young, they weren't young, but maybe

1004
00:51:25,280 --> 00:51:31,880
in the early thirties and Malay girls walking past and they were talking so loudly. And

1005
00:51:31,880 --> 00:51:37,080
one of them said, Hey, what you think? You think this place will send nipple covers?

1006
00:51:37,080 --> 00:51:44,760
What? Holy shit, dude. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nipple covers. Then after a friend looked at her,

1007
00:51:44,760 --> 00:51:53,960
like, then I was looking at her. I was going, yes, they do. I just bought some. Come on,

1008
00:51:53,960 --> 00:52:01,040
come on. I have fun with this kind of things because I'm also a minority race, you know?

1009
00:52:01,040 --> 00:52:04,000
Right, right, right. And I have fun watching these things, listening to some of the stupid

1010
00:52:04,000 --> 00:52:13,000
things that people say. You know, some people really, to them, Oh, I speak Chinese. Okay.

1011
00:52:13,000 --> 00:52:22,800
Yeah. Okay. So what? What Chinese? What do you mean what Chinese? Yeah. Mandarin? Chinese.

1012
00:52:22,800 --> 00:52:33,760
Okay. Could it be Hokkien? No, that's dialect. Yeah, I know. But it's part and parcel of

1013
00:52:33,760 --> 00:52:38,360
Chinese, but they don't get it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The dialect. Yeah. You know, it's not

1014
00:52:38,360 --> 00:52:46,320
just that, just the people just don't bother or ignorant of what things truly are. You

1015
00:52:46,320 --> 00:52:50,000
know what I mean? Well, anyway, I sit back and I kind of enjoy that because why I've

1016
00:52:50,000 --> 00:52:55,200
got the benefit of two different races. So, yeah, you know, so if you could help, if you

1017
00:52:55,200 --> 00:53:01,920
could write a self-help book, man, for aspiring comedians, what would the chapters be titled?

1018
00:53:01,920 --> 00:53:09,720
Wow. I give you bonus points for Panzer. Oh man. Damn, I haven't thought about this, bro.

1019
00:53:09,720 --> 00:53:15,520
Cause like the number one thing that I would advise all comics is to never listen to anyone's

1020
00:53:15,520 --> 00:53:23,240
advice. It's people who just like, you know, project all the time, right? They're like,

1021
00:53:23,240 --> 00:53:26,960
you know what, this one is joke. Maybe you should try it like that. Well, if it's not

1022
00:53:26,960 --> 00:53:32,040
yours, it's not yours, right? Relax, let the audience. Well, okay. I guess the biggest

1023
00:53:32,040 --> 00:53:37,200
thing I'll, what would the book be titled? Yeah. What book be titled? What chapters be

1024
00:53:37,200 --> 00:53:40,440
titled? Nevermind. This goes just for the book title. Book title, trying to be funny.

1025
00:53:40,440 --> 00:53:45,960
Is it? That's what. Trying to be funny. Is it? Trying to be funny. Is it? Yeah. That

1026
00:53:45,960 --> 00:53:51,440
would be the title of the book. Speaking of the way you just said that, trying to be funny,

1027
00:53:51,440 --> 00:53:56,480
Kai, you know which one we want to play now, right? Oh, is there something? Freaking hell.

1028
00:53:56,480 --> 00:54:04,000
I freaking cracked up, man. This one. Trying to be funny. Is it? Yeah. Hey, Pop, what's

1029
00:54:04,000 --> 00:54:08,240
up? You have started your nonsense again, huh? What did I do now? You asked me to make

1030
00:54:08,240 --> 00:54:12,160
you a free suit because you wanted to meet the president. And then you didn't even bother

1031
00:54:12,160 --> 00:54:17,040
to introduce him to me. I was right there holding the masala pineapple tart to give

1032
00:54:17,040 --> 00:54:21,040
him. Masala pineapple tart? That's gross. Okay, but how can I suddenly swap the president

1033
00:54:21,040 --> 00:54:24,440
and say, hey, you know, meet my father. He's the one who made my suit. Okay, the next time

1034
00:54:24,440 --> 00:54:28,440
I'll make you a birthday suit. Let's see who's going to hire you. That's very extreme, isn't

1035
00:54:28,440 --> 00:54:33,840
it? You are extreme. An extreme idiot. You call me to tell me all this. No, I called

1036
00:54:33,840 --> 00:54:38,240
you because it's Diwali this week. Oh, of course. Happy Diwali, Pop. Yeah, yeah. Do you have

1037
00:54:38,240 --> 00:54:43,240
any Diwali gift for your father? I can get you Deepavali discount tickets to my show.

1038
00:54:43,240 --> 00:54:47,440
Why? Artificial Indian. I'm doing a rerun on 9th December. Do you want me to pay to watch

1039
00:54:47,440 --> 00:54:51,440
you to be a clown on stage? No, no. I mean, not full price. I'm saying I'll give you a

1040
00:54:51,440 --> 00:54:55,040
discount. Your brain needs a discount from your ass. What's that? It means that you're

1041
00:54:55,040 --> 00:54:59,440
talking shit. Oh, wow. Your show shouldn't be called AI. Your show should be called UI.

1042
00:54:59,440 --> 00:55:08,040
Because you are useless Indian. That's what you are. You are useless. I'm going on tour

1043
00:55:08,040 --> 00:55:12,440
next year as well. Okay, okay. I'm not interested in your career. Hi. I'm interested in your

1044
00:55:12,440 --> 00:55:18,640
height. My height? Yes. Your mom and I need your height to beat the tree. True story, bro.

1045
00:55:18,640 --> 00:55:25,840
Hello? Hello? Hello? Happy Diwali to everyone. Don't be useless like my son. Is that really

1046
00:55:25,840 --> 00:55:32,040
your dad? That's my dad. That's my real dad. Seriously? That's what they tell me. Yeah.

1047
00:55:32,040 --> 00:55:37,740
He's funny, man. He's really good, man. I tell you. Yeah. He's actually a tailor by

1048
00:55:37,740 --> 00:55:42,900
profession for the past. So that's true. That's real. He's been a tailor. He's been running

1049
00:55:42,900 --> 00:55:50,040
a tailor shop since 79. Wow. So, I mean, it's just interesting, right? They all ask me,

1050
00:55:50,040 --> 00:55:53,240
how come we never joined the family business? I said, well, I'm still dealing in material.

1051
00:55:53,240 --> 00:55:58,240
You know what I mean? Like, it's a different kind of... Good one. We still are, you know.

1052
00:55:58,240 --> 00:56:03,240
We still are in a way. Good material for a tailor shop. I had a friend. I have a friend.

1053
00:56:03,240 --> 00:56:07,400
I have a friend. We've known each other for ages. Yeah. For 30 plus years. Yeah. When

1054
00:56:07,400 --> 00:56:12,600
I knew him, I'm a bit old. I'm kind of a lot older actually. He was just 18 years old and

1055
00:56:12,600 --> 00:56:18,040
he was working in a tailor shop. Okay. He's a baeviler. Oh, okay. Yeah. A Sikh guy. There

1056
00:56:18,040 --> 00:56:22,240
you go. And then, you know, I tell you, he cracked me up because Far East Plaza, right?

1057
00:56:22,240 --> 00:56:27,560
Loads of tailor shops, right? Yes. Yes. So, you have the white tourists going up and down

1058
00:56:27,560 --> 00:56:31,920
and then he stops a guy and he goes, excuse me sir, can I interest you? Can I interest

1059
00:56:31,920 --> 00:56:40,160
you in a long pair of trousers for a short price? I mean, where the hell did he come

1060
00:56:40,160 --> 00:56:45,600
up with that? And he's replied to me, I'm baev, bro. I know. This kind of thing. Wow.

1061
00:56:45,600 --> 00:56:51,840
That's hilarious. That's something I haven't heard. I've heard a lot of tailor puns in

1062
00:56:51,840 --> 00:56:58,640
my life. A long pair of trousers for a short price. And you know, frankly, man, then he

1063
00:56:58,640 --> 00:57:04,200
said, hey bro, I'm a baev, bro. I know how to do these kind of things. But to me, it's

1064
00:57:04,200 --> 00:57:10,520
this whole thing, man. It's a celebration of races. And we have the ability to laugh

1065
00:57:10,520 --> 00:57:16,680
at each other and laugh at ourselves. Yeah. Don't you think it's a bit lost these days,

1066
00:57:16,680 --> 00:57:26,960
man? Yeah. Yeah. I feel like maybe the world like fashion, like trends, like a lot of things

1067
00:57:26,960 --> 00:57:33,640
in the world. Maybe it's cyclical, bro. I don't know if you've seen the younger generation

1068
00:57:33,640 --> 00:57:39,440
today. Yeah. It's almost like 90s fashion is coming back with a baggy pants. What's

1069
00:57:39,440 --> 00:57:45,960
it? Baggy jeans. Sorry? Baggy jeans. Baggy jeans. Yeah. Okay. Baggy jeans. A bit of loser

1070
00:57:45,960 --> 00:57:49,840
clothing and all that. Because there was a period in between where everything went tight.

1071
00:57:49,840 --> 00:57:55,480
Let's go this. Yeah. It's almost like fashion has become cyclical. It's almost maybe even

1072
00:57:55,480 --> 00:58:01,360
trends and political views or, you know, now there's a phase where it's, like you say,

1073
00:58:01,360 --> 00:58:05,880
you know, cancel culture. Yeah. It's quite huge right now. But perhaps there will be

1074
00:58:05,880 --> 00:58:11,800
a time where even we manage to figure that out and write that out to be able to, you

1075
00:58:11,800 --> 00:58:21,920
know, kind of do comedy without having it be such a challenging thing. Yeah. With fall

1076
00:58:21,920 --> 00:58:25,600
out. With fall outs, right? Yeah. Yeah. You know, walking on eggshells every time you

1077
00:58:25,600 --> 00:58:30,000
go on stage. Yeah, man. I think it's a sign of the times as well. Like you brought up

1078
00:58:30,000 --> 00:58:36,760
Eddie Murphy and Raw. Right? That happens today. Yeah. You're fucked. Those jokes would not

1079
00:58:36,760 --> 00:58:42,040
fly in 2024. No freaking way. Having said that, it's a sign of the times, right? So

1080
00:58:42,040 --> 00:58:46,200
if you, maybe 10 years from now, we'll be talking again, or 15 years, we'll be talking

1081
00:58:46,200 --> 00:58:53,520
again and we'll talk about the iconic comedy goal from the 2020 years. And you'll be like,

1082
00:58:53,520 --> 00:59:00,240
damn, you know, that kind of comedy will not fly in 2040, man. Because in 2040, maybe a

1083
00:59:00,240 --> 00:59:05,200
different kind of world we'll be living in. We'll go back to the good old sitcoms like,

1084
00:59:05,200 --> 00:59:09,840
you know, JJ for good times, man. See, that's the thing, right? So I always think like comedians

1085
00:59:09,840 --> 00:59:17,280
are almost like storytellers before there was social media, before there was communication

1086
00:59:17,280 --> 00:59:26,960
devices where storytellers were almost like historians of the time, kind of keeping track

1087
00:59:26,960 --> 00:59:31,800
of what the current stories are, what the narratives were at the time. And they were

1088
00:59:31,800 --> 00:59:36,720
passed down from generation to generation. I think comedians in a way, without blowing

1089
00:59:36,720 --> 00:59:42,200
and tooting our own horns, it's not something that, you know, to be glorified or anything,

1090
00:59:42,200 --> 00:59:48,920
but it's just what our job is, is to talk about things that are reflective of the current

1091
00:59:48,920 --> 00:59:53,040
state of the world, because that's what relevance is about. What's the world like today? What's

1092
00:59:53,040 --> 00:59:57,000
the news today? Or what the feelings of people, what the topics are, what are things that

1093
00:59:57,000 --> 01:00:01,600
are relevant that are connecting with an audience that makes them laugh? Yeah. You think people

1094
01:00:01,600 --> 01:00:06,720
like Russell Peters are relevant today? I think there's an audience for Russell Peters.

1095
01:00:06,720 --> 01:00:11,040
Yes. I watched him live when I was on my tour in the US in July last year. I got a chance

1096
01:00:11,040 --> 01:00:16,880
to hang out with Russell Peters. It was, yeah, it was a wild, it was weird, man. Like life

1097
01:00:16,880 --> 01:00:21,840
came full circle in a weird way. I was at the Laugh Factory. He was one of the comics on

1098
01:00:21,840 --> 01:00:30,160
the bill. He invited me to his home to eat like burritos. And you know, he's a sweet

1099
01:00:30,160 --> 01:00:34,280
old Indian uncle, man. He's like, Hey, eat. Why you don't want to eat? You don't want

1100
01:00:34,280 --> 01:00:40,320
to drink whiskey. Offering me single malt whiskey and burritos, DJing. He opens up his

1101
01:00:40,320 --> 01:00:46,720
whole CDJ and he starts spinning for a bunch of us. And it was just a nice night hanging

1102
01:00:46,720 --> 01:00:51,240
out. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah. It was cool. And even on stage, there were people that

1103
01:00:51,240 --> 01:00:54,720
paid money to come and watch Russell Peters. They were like, Hey, you know what? We get

1104
01:00:54,720 --> 01:00:58,120
to watch Russell Peters. I don't want to be here. I want to see what Russell Peters does.

1105
01:00:58,120 --> 01:01:05,440
So well, I think Russell Peters still has an audience, man. Yeah. Wow. So there's longevity

1106
01:01:05,440 --> 01:01:14,400
for comedians, you think? I think your audience kind of grows with you. Okay. If you, if you,

1107
01:01:14,400 --> 01:01:21,120
there's a lot of argument that sometimes treats art and entertainment like business. Right.

1108
01:01:21,120 --> 01:01:26,000
Although show business, the word business is longer. I always think of it as the other

1109
01:01:26,000 --> 01:01:31,480
way around. People say, Oh, you know, I want a piece of the pie. Yeah. Right. Or this person

1110
01:01:31,480 --> 01:01:35,200
is coming into my and he's taking my piece of the pie. Right. But I think when it comes

1111
01:01:35,200 --> 01:01:41,600
to this world we are in today, all comedians, all artists, all entertainers in a way are

1112
01:01:41,600 --> 01:01:48,440
creating their own pie because there's enough audience out there for all of us. I talk about

1113
01:01:48,440 --> 01:01:52,280
this with all my comics. I'm like, Oh, they're like, Oh, Rishi, you know, if we all do the

1114
01:01:52,280 --> 01:01:57,840
show at the same year, bro, don't worry, man. You know, you've got your own crowd. This

1115
01:01:57,840 --> 01:02:01,360
person, I mean, of course you've got to be honest to your craft. Yeah. Continue bringing

1116
01:02:01,360 --> 01:02:05,820
the quality. You got to continue working hard and being relevant and putting in the hours

1117
01:02:05,820 --> 01:02:09,440
and putting in the diligence. Yeah. You got to do it, man. There's no way around that.

1118
01:02:09,440 --> 01:02:14,000
You can't say, Oh, I'm good enough the way I am. I'm going to sit back. Yeah. Then of

1119
01:02:14,000 --> 01:02:18,200
course you, there's, I don't believe in that. I'm like, you know, always give someone, give

1120
01:02:18,200 --> 01:02:22,520
your audience something new, always give them something to be excited about and forward

1121
01:02:22,520 --> 01:02:27,320
to. Right. And then you are literally building your own pie and making it bigger every time.

1122
01:02:27,320 --> 01:02:31,720
You don't have to worry about it. So Rishi, on that note, man, what's next for Rishi Bhujani

1123
01:02:31,720 --> 01:02:38,560
then? In 2024, there's a couple of, there's a couple of exciting things I cannot mention

1124
01:02:38,560 --> 01:02:46,560
yet, but what I can say is that you saw that clip with my dad. Yeah. I do a live show called,

1125
01:02:46,560 --> 01:02:53,040
Can I Make You a Suit Mate? Which is a one man improv slash storytelling slash comedic

1126
01:02:53,040 --> 01:03:01,280
show. Yeah. Which I debuted in 2022 commissioned by the Esplanade. Okay. We are rerunning that

1127
01:03:01,280 --> 01:03:07,720
in 2024. Okay. So that's happening in October. That's a really interesting project, which

1128
01:03:07,720 --> 01:03:14,840
kind of talks about the life of Taylor and how he kind of travels the world without leaving

1129
01:03:14,840 --> 01:03:20,080
his shop in a way. Okay. That's one exciting thing that's happening in the second half

1130
01:03:20,080 --> 01:03:23,880
of the year. The last, the simplest question we're going to ask, the last and final question

1131
01:03:23,880 --> 01:03:31,160
so we can end the show. Yeah. Sure. Sure. Sure. Rishi Bhujani, do you love your job? Oh yeah,

1132
01:03:31,160 --> 01:03:41,400
man. I 100% love my job. It's, it's, it's something that saved me from a lot of things.

1133
01:03:41,400 --> 01:03:51,440
Yeah. Finding, finding comedy, finding, finding this, this, this craft to express myself has

1134
01:03:51,440 --> 01:03:57,200
in a way kept me sane for the longest time. So I'm very, very, very fortunate to be able

1135
01:03:57,200 --> 01:04:03,280
to do this while being able to earn a living and feed my family. So you found fulfillment

1136
01:04:03,280 --> 01:04:11,360
in what you do? Oh yeah. 100%. Yeah. I, COVID in part was a really tough time because, you

1137
01:04:11,360 --> 01:04:17,400
know, of not having a live audience. Yeah. Because ever since 2011, when I started my

1138
01:04:17,400 --> 01:04:25,960
first open mic, I safely say every week in my life, I was on stage somewhere in the world

1139
01:04:25,960 --> 01:04:31,200
performing to a live audience, whether it was an open mic in, you know, Bodky or whether

1140
01:04:31,200 --> 01:04:40,120
it was doing a theater in China, oh sorry, in Mumbai, or whether it was doing some dingy,

1141
01:04:40,120 --> 01:04:45,520
dingy gig in Changzhou in China, or whether it was in the storm in the Philippines. I

1142
01:04:45,520 --> 01:04:52,680
was somewhere doing something for a live audience. So when COVID came around, I realized that

1143
01:04:52,680 --> 01:04:58,200
when there was even, even traumatic experiences, comedians, I speak for myself, but I think

1144
01:04:58,200 --> 01:05:08,400
a lot of comedians process trauma through performing comedy. So when I had tough patches

1145
01:05:08,400 --> 01:05:13,200
in my life, when I lost people I love, for example, or when I was going through difficult

1146
01:05:13,200 --> 01:05:17,600
times, I would still be on stage, you know, people are like, Oh dude, you know, are you

1147
01:05:17,600 --> 01:05:22,040
sure you can continue because you just lost this person? I'm like, no man, this is who

1148
01:05:22,040 --> 01:05:28,080
I am. This is a part of my existence now. So in a way I see comedy is less of a job.

1149
01:05:28,080 --> 01:05:37,080
I see it as a part of my existence. Yeah. Wow. Wow. Yeah. Thank you so very much for

1150
01:05:37,080 --> 01:05:41,320
being with us today. Thank you. Really man. I've always wanted to meet you. You're a

1151
01:05:41,320 --> 01:05:44,520
funny guy. No, I'm glad man. I'm glad we got a chance to do this. Thanks for having me.

1152
01:05:44,520 --> 01:05:47,240
And you know, and you know something else, I got to say this before, just to end the

1153
01:05:47,240 --> 01:05:53,240
show. I'm going to say this. I've watched you on TV. I've watched you, I've listened

1154
01:05:53,240 --> 01:06:02,040
to you on air. Yeah. And the first thing that always hit me is that this guy has got brains.

1155
01:06:02,040 --> 01:06:09,000
Wow. Because your answers are intelligent. The things you talk about, they're intelligent.

1156
01:06:09,000 --> 01:06:14,760
They're simple, easy to understand and intelligent. And that is something that's very rare. I

1157
01:06:14,760 --> 01:06:19,000
appreciate that man. As an entertainer. Yep. Yep. And from one entertainer to another.

1158
01:06:19,000 --> 01:06:22,160
Thank you so very much brother. Thanks a lot buddy. Really appreciate it man. Really. Thank

1159
01:06:22,160 --> 01:06:26,800
you for having me. No, not at all. Thank you for being here. Okay guys. Don't forget the

1160
01:06:26,800 --> 01:06:35,200
Chris Hansen conversation is in YouTube at CCB TV podcasts. Subscribe, hit the damn bell

1161
01:06:35,200 --> 01:06:41,200
as well. Okay. So you'll be notified of the next episode. Follow us also on Facebook,

1162
01:06:41,200 --> 01:06:47,960
at CCB TV. We are also on Instagram at ccb.tv underscore. Don't ask me why the fuck I had

1163
01:06:47,960 --> 01:06:56,040
to do that. Come up with that address for Instagram. Because the obvious one's been

1164
01:06:56,040 --> 01:07:01,840
taken for fuck's sake. We hope you've been having fun so far until the next episode.

1165
01:07:01,840 --> 01:07:26,120
Stay safe everyone. Bye bye.