What was the reason for going into stand-up?
It's a craft I've been fascinated with since I was 17 years old.
I was in college at the time, Tampines Junior College.
TP?
Yeah, Tampines Boy.
And I remember watching Russell Peters for the first time.
This was the first time ever comedians and censors met in a meeting room.
They sent their most senior censor, Mr Tan.
Oh boy.
And he comes out, he's like, hello, hi, you're the comedian, right?
Yeah, yeah, we saw all your video on the YouTube.
Ha ha, very funny, all of you, very good, yeah, yeah.
But today we are here to talk to you about the thing that you can and cannot, more importantly,
cannot say on the live TV show later, okay?
First thing we step in, it's like, hey, Mr Tan, can we say **** on TV or not?
Hmm, **** is out, huh?
Comedian, of course **** is out, ma, cannot be in, **** must be out, right?
Cannot be inside, right?
I remember this.
Sorry, that joke cannot.
And we were doing very well for about 15 minutes of the show until one comedian goes on live
free-to-air TV in Singapore and says, you know, my girlfriend has been giving me so
much **** lately, and he realised what he said with his mic still on, he looks at me
and says ****, I just said **** on TV.
Really central stand-up.
Yeah, oh boy, good old days of live TV in Singapore, huh?
But it's true, isn't it?
I mean, I don't know.
I'm speaking from the stuff that came out from you on that show, right?
The word ****, yeah, yeah.
I think it's kind of liberal now, don't you think?
I think things have changed, man, Chris, in all frankness.
Wow, we go into deep recesses of discussing comedy with the censors.
I think there was a phase in time where we were winning some battles as creatives, but
I think so much has changed that it's weird.
There are some things that were okay five, seven years ago that have suddenly not become
okay now.
And the opposite also stands true.
Back in the day, they were like, oh man, this won't fly, Rishi, but now they're like, okay,
you know, we get it.
So don't you think that this unpredictability, can I call it that, is a little off for a
lot of entertainers?
It is extremely, extremely, it's, wow, people ask me what stand-up comedy is like, and I
don't think this is just true for Singapore, right?
We always think that, oh, Singapore, everything is so, what's the word?
Kosher.
Kosher, sanitized, you know, people don't know how to.
But if you do American TV, we go to Australia, we go to more mature scenes, the comics have
their same or similar battles where there is a different spectrum on what you can see
and do and perform in a live comedy club versus what you can do on, you know, on a state-owned
network.
Yeah.
It's strange because I've noticed this, I've noticed this because I love Brit comedy, man.
And you know, I'm, Graham Norton is amazing.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Eight out of ten cats, Jimmy Carr, right, Mickey Flanagan.
All right, yeah.
I tell you, these guys, I know when you watch British live TV and you watch chat shows,
right?
Yep.
Jonathan Ross, Graham Norton, for example, and the Americans who are guests on the show
get kind of culture shocked.
Like how can they be so open about certain things?
Well, yeah, no, I feel you, man.
Yeah, and I love that, you know.
Well, yes, and it's so cultural.
I'll tell you something about the British acts, sometimes as open and as accepting they
are of certain genre of comedy, like, you know, sex or vulgarity, pushing the limits
on dark humor.
There are certain topics that are still very touchy for a British audience.
For example, race.
Okay.
Like, you know, when you come to Singapore and we openly still talk about race as a part
of comedy because it's just the fabric of who we are.
Okay.
But when you go to the UK and as a minority, for example, you're talking about race related
issues, they're like, oh, you should not.
I don't think you can.
No, we will not go there.
We will not partake in this.
But if you look at on a scale of one to ten, right, I would think maybe seven or eight,
it's fine with them to just push the ante a little bit.
But in this country, what do you think?
I think it's all about media men.
Like I said, I've been lucky, I guess, to be able to do those gigs with, you know, ten
people at midnight in the dingy basement comedy club versus 25,000 people at the parade, the
float and everything in between.
And I'll say that if you come to a live comedy club in Singapore, there's almost no topic
that's off limits, man.
I've rarely seen, I mean, again, provided you can make it funny.
It's not like you can go out there and suddenly just roi ngeng your way through and ask for
CPF.
We don't do that.
Can I just make it clear that comedians in Singapore are not out for some kind of political
revolution?
No.
Just entertainment, good clean, well, not necessarily clean, but good fun.
Yeah.
You can't just roi ngeng your way, huh?
No, I mean, that's not what that's about, right?
And I genuinely think sometimes the censors are afraid of that.
They're afraid that, hey, you know what, why are you mentioning these political figures
in your script?
Because, I mean, I don't know if the audience that's watching the show know this, but for
every live performance that comedians or any kind of performers do in Singapore for theaters,
you need to apply for an arts entertainment license.
What?
Yeah.
So that requires some kind of scripting.
You got to put in an application about two months in advance.
Oh man.
Yeah.
Which makes it very challenging for comedians because a lot of our work is meant to talk
about the current issues.
Yeah.
Like if something happens in the news today, like say, I read this morning that MBS is
going to have Tower 4.
The fourth tower, yeah.
Because they're competing with Changi Airport, right?
That's the race.
Just for you to know, Changi is on terminal five now.
Five now, yeah.
So MBS, you guys, you got to catch up, all right?
I don't know when T5 is going to come up, but hey, you got to do that.
That's a good one.
Speaking of good ones, how do you come up with content?
You know one thing I got to say, Rishi, hey everybody, I didn't do a proper introduction.
My guest in the studio for the I Love My Job series.
I Love My Job and I'm pretty sure this man loves his is Rishi Butrani.
What's going on everyone?
Thanks for having me.
This man has got accolade after accolade, man.
I mean, talk about Wikipedia running out of pages.
Jews.
Oh man.
It's nice to have a Wikipedia page, man.
That's when people started taking me seriously.
What do you mean?
They're like, oh my God, man.
Yeah, you're a funny guy.
And then suddenly my team reveals that we've got a Wikipedia page up and they're like, wow,
Rishi, hey man, I saw you got a Wikipedia page.
Congratulations, bro.
I'm like, I've been doing this 10 years, guys.
But I got to tell you, man, I mean, your team definitely did a great job, that's for sure,
but I can say this, judging by the stuff I've read on your Wiki, it's wicked simply because
I can sense blood, toil, sweat and tears, man.
The amount of work you put in over this short span of 10 years is not a long time.
Yeah, man.
Blood, sweat, tears.
I mean, some laughter also.
I mean, let's not forget.
It's a big part of this job.
I mean, let's not ignore that.
Sure, sure.
Well, to be fair, I've been in show business a little longer than I've been in standup.
Standup came a little later for me in all fragments.
I actually, believe it or not, I started my show business career dancing in a Bollywood
dance troupe in Singapore for extra cash in university and the army.
I paid my way through some courses and classes doing like dancing at weddings.
There was a bunch of us that were really keen to make a career in Bollywood at the time,
which is just, you know, like 17, 18 year old boys and girls who kind of found each
other.
And I ended up marrying one of them, my wife and their troupe.
One of my closest friends in showbiz, you might know him, he's a very sought after MC
now.
Yeah.
So it's interesting because all our paths kind of started under some block in Bedok,
dancing in some car park in Kentonman.
And eventually, you know, it's interesting to see how everyone's wings have spread in
a different way.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, I mean, but it all started because we truly believed that we loved that craft at
the time, which was different for everyone.
Yeah, but the craft at the time was shared by all of you.
Yeah.
And that would be Bollywood dance.
It was, I think the end goal for everyone was clear, which was acting actually.
Everyone wanted to be an actor of some kind, a Bollywood star.
Dance was a way in.
Right.
From dancing, you know, some of us went into MCing, some went into stand up, some started
directing more, some started writing more.
But you decided to go to stand up.
I did.
It wasn't a conscious decision to turn it into a job.
In all fairness.
I still, I mean, wow.
But what was the reason for going into stand up?
It's a craft I've been fascinated with since I was 17 years old.
I was in college at the time, Tampines Junior College.
TEP?
Yeah.
Okay.
Tampines Boy.
And I remember watching Russell Peters for the first time.
Okay.
He was doing it illegally on YouTube as you know, he had his viral clip going crazy.
And I watched him for the first time and I was doing some drama in college at the time
and I wrote a character of a corrupt Indian Swami, like an Indian guru, really corrupt
who would like, who'd go to clubs at night and then give out like, you know, like messages
and then sage wisdom in the day at the temples.
And it was just a weird character and I wrote inspired by my, you know, watching Russell
Peters and Eddie Murphy.
And I remember watching the clip going like this.
There's some really bad jokes in there man, Rishi.
But it's how it kind of started.
And because of that, I started a document called cracks.doc where I would just put down
jokes that I thought were funny when I was 17 years old.
Okay.
Never thinking I'd ever be a comic or whatever, but kind of by accident sometime in 2011,
I want to say I heard about an open mic scene in Singapore.
I went to watch two weeks in a row and by the third week, the organizer had convinced
me, it's like, Hey, you know, why don't you go up on stage?
I mean, you know, I know you host and I know you do this.
That time I was like, I was just doing weddings mostly.
I was acting as, you know, random security guards in crime watch.
Really?
Yeah.
Oh wow.
I think I did some award winning photography playing a security guard before for an art
project.
I was damn good at that, man.
I could really channel the safety.
At that time, I mean, it was limited roles, right?
It was either security guard or rapist or murderer or wife beater.
It was really, really shit.
Yeah, I know, I know.
I was always a villain.
You see that's-
On channel five.
Yeah.
On the showbiz, everyone wanted you.
I'm sorry?
Yeah.
So all the roles were for pan-Asian.
No, I'm not pan-Asian, man.
You're not, man.
Eurasian what?
I'm Eurasian, but not pan-Asian.
I lament about that all the time.
But I think that's what they kind of wanted.
They wanted this amalgamation of cultures that's a bit neutral.
Yeah, but it's not guys like me.
I mean, I'm Eurasian.
Pan-Asian is completely different, man.
Is it?
Yeah.
So if you're a white person mixed with an Asian person, then therefore you call them
pan-Asian.
But just say like, they won't know what.
Your name Chris Hansen.
I'll be like, oh my God.
I guess I'm kind of fooled them for a bit.
I know, right?
You know, every time I would see a job description in ads or I would see all pan-Asian.
I've had this discussion with so many other people before.
Yeah, sucks, huh?
Yeah, I guess at that time, that's one of the ways I would kind of channel this frustration
into stand-up.
So that's how it all started, man.
It started as a hobby, as something that I wanted.
But you know, I have this admiration for people who do stand-up comedy because, you know,
as in anything we do on stage, right?
Whether or not you're an emcee or whether or not you're just a front person in a band
even, right?
Improv is something that you got to have.
And comedians, man, is a higher standard, higher level of improv.
Your content, the stuff you come up with, how do you do that?
Oh man, I think everyone has a different process.
Yeah, okay.
For me, I think it's a combination of actually working and a bit of that discipline of like,
hey, you know what?
You're going to write X amount every day.
Whether it's funny or not, the tap's got to be on for water to come up.
I had a very good friend who used to be a writer on American sitcoms in the past.
He wrote for shows like In Living Color, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, back in the day.
So he told me ones that stand up to him is like sculpting, creating a sculpture where,
you know, part of the job is to gather clay.
And a lot of the clay won't be used.
But that's okay.
You can't create the sculpture without gathering the clay.
Because in our minds, sometimes we're like, oh, I will only write the good jokes.
So only when it's ready, then I'll deliver.
No, part of the process is A, just blurting it all out.
Getting it out on paper or on notes or whatever you do.
And then you polish it.
And the way to do that is to go to the open mics.
The open mic comedy scene is the biggest, most important thing.
Where you go out, you test the material.
And I remember this advice I got from an old buddy who's now unfortunately passed.
His name was Jonathan Atherton.
Oh yes.
You might have known John.
Yeah, yeah.
He was hugely responsible for kicking off a lot of careers of Asian comedians in Southeast
Asia.
I mean, Singapore, Malaysia, this region.
And I remember the first time he booked me for a show, I asked him, hey John, what advice
can you give?
I was like six months into standup.
And he said, keep writing, keep doing it, and keep watching the pros do it live as much
as you can.
Don't ever think that, oh, I know, I know it all.
I know everything.
If you get a chance to watch any professional comic in a club, in a theater, anywhere, just
watch.
Good or bad, you will learn something.
But don't you think that there's got to be a whole lot of self-awareness of even how
you look like, how funny it looks like, how you pull certain facial muscles that will
make you look certain way that you want the audience to see.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
I think that's again, it's something you discover about yourself.
Yeah, yeah.
And I think I never understood this when I was starting out comedy, but all the seasoned
pros would tell you that, oh, you need to be 10 years into comedy before you find your
voice, which you don't understand until you've spent 10 years doing standup.
And then you realize, oh man, this is what these guys were talking about.
Because you learn who you are, you learn how to portray who you are, you learn how to connect
with an audience.
And I'll share this very interesting experience because I don't think any other Singaporean
comic has this experience.
I was very lucky, very early on, I got a chance to do a three-minute open mic comedy spot
at the world famous comedy store in LA.
So this is one of the top clubs in the world.
Right.
Three minutes.
That's it.
Because I mean, that's the interesting part, right?
The first time you go anywhere for an open mic, nobody gives you more than three minutes,
especially the mature scenes.
Okay.
So I remember going there and it's one of those late night shows where, you know, it's
three hours long.
It starts with like eight people and then there's two people and then five more come
in and then by the time you go on, maybe there's like four people in the room, something like
that.
Right.
Brutal kind of gig.
Okay.
Just got to go out there and do it, right?
That's how you earn your stripes.
Right.
I remember going out there three minutes, boom, boom, boom.
And then the booker comes up to me after the show and he's like, you're that kid from Singapore,
right?
I'm like, yeah.
He's like, let me talk to you.
So he said, look, you've got jokes, but I want to tell you something.
We are not looking for the person who can do the most jokes in three minutes.
Right.
We're looking for comics who can show us who they are in three minutes.
Okay.
While being funny.
Wow.
Which was such a revelation.
Yeah.
Right.
I realized that, oh, in a place like LA with sitcoms and movies and all, there's a lot
of joke writers, but what separates the comics, the special comics is like, how can I show
you a part of myself in those three minutes while making you laugh?
Okay.
That's the real challenge.
So that's self-awareness, isn't it?
That's about knowing who you are.
Yeah.
Knowing who, like, you know, discovering yourself, finding your voice in comedy, so to speak.
And that was a real revelation for me, man.
But you got yourself, other than that particular club, you got yourself into Gotham Comedy
Club as well.
How did that happen?
I got a chance to do Gotham the first time because back in around 2012, 2013, I think
there was this thing going on called the Hong Kong International Comedy Competition.
Again, I was really new.
I was like less than a year in a comedy or maybe just a year in a comedy.
And people were like from the region flying into Hong Kong to do it.
Because the prize if you win was, I think it came up to about $5,000 Sing dollars.
Okay.
First prize.
Okay.
And you get hooked up with spots at these various clubs in New York and in Minneapolis.
So that's the real prize basically.
That's the real prize.
So a lot of times, you know, sometimes people would just take the cash and they're like,
you know what?
I'm just going to keep the cash and continue doing whatever else I do.
But I wanted to do these spots.
So I used the prize money to fly myself to the US and you know, put myself up in shitty
hostels and like do the gigs, man.
Best decision ever.
It taught me so much of like brutal lessons very early.
Like what?
Like for example, if you are going into the scene in a mature scene like that, I thought
before doing these gigs at Gotham or the comic strip, let me do some open mics.
So I went to some open mics, you know, the open mics there are pay gigs.
Wow.
That means you pay to get stage time.
Wow.
Because it's such a premium.
It means I got to pay $3 for a five minute spot.
Wow.
That's how comics, but then very quickly I realized that when I was doing these open
rooms, I would go on stage trying to practice my stuff for the bigger rooms and I would
not get any response.
I'll be like, people will be like, I wasn't getting any laughs in the first two gigs.
And I'm like, what the fuck is going on?
And I'm like dying on my ass here.
Yeah.
I mean, it's like bombing, right?
Really horribly.
Morale really low.
And my girlfriend at the time, my wife now, Cheryl, she traveled with me and I told her,
fuck this line or it's not worth it.
Maybe I'm just not cut out to do this.
She's like, you know what?
Do the gigs you were booked for before you call it off, before you think that or whatever,
you know, do the actual shows.
And then what I realized when I went for the first gig that I was booked for at a proper
club with an audience, it went really well.
Seven to 10 minute spots.
And then people were like, oh, laughing.
And I was getting applause breaks and the bookers were happy.
And that's when it hit me.
These open mic scenes were full of other struggling comedians.
Okay.
Right.
And they were doing jokes that were really dark and out there and edgy things about like,
you know, topics like whatever you think, like, oh, I don't know, like orgies and, you
know, pedophilia and baby rape and all.
Oh, fuck me.
And whenever you, and it was weird because when someone would bring up a topic like that,
the room will be like, ha ha ha.
And I was so fucking confused, man, for a while until I realized that these comics were
stuck in a loop because they were getting feedback from other struggling comics, which
just kept them stuck there for years.
Whereas in Singapore, we were very lucky because even our open mics are attended by real audience
members.
So you get real feedback about what's working, what's not working.
And that was the biggest lesson, man.
Like when I came out, I was like, oh, okay.
So you got to pick where you're going to perform because if you get the wrong feedback from
the wrong audience, it's going to mess you up and mess up that process.
That was one of the things.
And also it was comforting to know that I could like make people around the world laugh,
not just in Singapore.
You get heckles, man.
I'm sure you do.
I mean, I have, I have in the past, there have been situations.
Something that was too crazy.
I can share one story, which was a weird positive heckle.
Okay.
I remember performing at the Blue Jazz in Singapore.
This is in Singapore.
Beautiful, nice comedy room on top they used to have.
And I'm doing my show and this lady stands up in the middle of my act and goes, Rishi,
God bless you.
Like, thanks a lot, man.
I just got to finish this show.
He's like, no, no, God bless you.
Can I say a prayer?
For you?
I'm like, oh, it was like a hundred people here.
And she goes, ah, I'm a spiritual healer.
Oh man.
She did have all the spirits in her bro.
Vodka, whiskey, bartenders.
Yeah.
She's been having long islands all night.
So she was full of spirits for sure.
And then she goes on to like say a prayer, but she's like, oh Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh man.
And then she goes, Allah.
I'm like, whoa.
I'm like, is this a conference call?
But eventually we had to let her finish.
And then, you know, I got the crowd to like give a round of applause and then we carried
on with the show.
It was that weird.
Like, cause as comics, you're, you're wired to deal with negative heckles.
Right?
If someone tries to screw up your show, you put them in their place in the best way possible.
But how do you manage something like that?
Because it's going to take so much, so much out of you.
You got to think about, first of all, you got to set aside how you feel about, depends
on the heckle.
How you feel about that shit.
Then after which you've got to sit down and think, what am I going to say to this person?
How am I going to turn that heckle around?
Yeah.
I don't know.
If you've watched my act live before, I am, I'm very friendly even to the hecklers.
Yeah.
Right.
But my approach is to turn the audience against them because nobody in the room wants the
show to be ruined by a heckler.
They're here.
They paid money to watch Rishi.
Yeah.
Whoever, whichever the comic is on the bill, right?
Right.
They've not paid to watch some person, you know, trying to be a wise ass.
Granted, but is there a process?
I think it's a lot of practice.
I think it's a lot of what your personality is.
And when I say practice, it's not just limited to stand up comedy.
Right.
I host for a living.
Yeah.
I train as an actor.
Right.
And all those hours of, you know, dealing with drunk pais at Indian weddings.
I mean, you know how it is, bro.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
Believe me.
I've done a lot of those in Kalsa.
Yeah.
There you go.
I mean, I mean, even, you know, dealing with like difficult D and D audiences.
Well, they're not really that difficult.
I mean, it's rare.
It's rare.
I just think that, sorry to interject, man.
Please.
I just think, man, for the life of me, I never saw myself to ever do stand up comedy.
Okay.
I've been doing shows for a long time.
Yes.
And I can tell you that, yeah, I mean, I know I can't be funny, but I never thought about
sitting down and writing stuff to be for stand up comedy because I find it just way too daunting.
And I always felt that it's only reserved for a special few.
Okay.
When I say a special few, let me just put it, I'm going to be fucking blunt about this.
Out of 10 people, local, I can maybe think three, four tops that I would say, yeah, born
for it.
You know, really meant, this is meant for them.
The rest I still don't know.
I'm not saying it can never be.
So my point of view is that I've always felt stand up comedians got into that, into this
little niche world because it's a calling.
Wow.
But the way you said it to me from the time we started the show, right?
Yeah.
It's like, you know, Chris, I was first, you know, we all want to go end up in Bollywood.
We got into Bollywood dancing.
Yeah.
Then after which, you know, some went emceeing, some went writing, some went, you know, acting.
I went into standup comedy, right?
And it was as if it was like a sort of a discerned choice.
Wow.
It wasn't a choice for me, man.
I mean, in case it came across, I mean, look, let's be honest, you're growing up in Singapore.
No Asian parent, no parent in the world will, you know, go like, Ro, you want to be a comic?
Even if you're the funniest kid in the world, your parents will be like, oh, trying to be
funny.
Very funny.
Is it laugh some more?
Very funny.
You know, we all grew up in a way, like even until today as liberal, as liberal and you
know, as, as open as, as parents have become, I don't think there's any, like, you know,
your parent, even in 2024, if your child has an affinity to football, you'll be like,
I'm going to put my child in a football academy.
Yeah.
See, even in Singapore.
Okay.
Yeah.
I know where you're going with this.
Even if your child has some affinity to gymnastics, but where are you going to put a funny child?
You send your funny child to the funny farm.
Where?
You'll be like, this boy, trying to be funny, go more tuition.
You send the funny child to the funny farm, man.
Where is that?
It's in, it's in, Jambong Kok.
Is this true?
Is that so?
I'm going to be full of fuck for this.
Come on, man.
You know what's in, Laurel, Bangkok, right?
Or the funny farm or the Kampong.
Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
It used to be in another part of Singapore.
Right.
Right around there anyway.
Oh boy.
Going down that road.
No, I'm going to retract.
My point is that you never grow up thinking it's a legitimate career choice.
But there have been people looking, maybe not in Singapore.
I don't know.
I have not asked Kumar this question yet.
But let's say, for example, Eddie Murphy.
I think that fucker has told the whole world that he was born to do this.
I'm sure you watch Raw and Deliveries.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
There's one of the early inspirations of my work.
Oh man, I love it, man.
I love those shows.
And if you recall in Raw, it started with a kid that's acting like Eddie Murphy, young
Eddie Murphy.
I remember.
And how he was talking about all the dirty jokes and he's telling all the dirty jokes
to his folks and all that shit.
And how he was disappointing his parents.
It seemed as if he's telling us a story that, look man, since I was that small, I wanted
to do this.
Fair.
I mean, have you met anyone like that?
Oh man.
The reason why I'm asking Rishi is simply because this is I love my job.
Sure.
But there could be some guy, some girl or guy who's watching the show, listening to
the show, thinking to themselves, you know, I've always wanted to do this.
I've always wanted to do stand-up comedy.
And should I?
Shouldn't I not?
Should I?
Should I not?
Let's give them an answer.
Well, I'm sure there was a lot of kids like Eddie Murphy growing up.
Well, we only hear about the success of Eddie Murphy.
We don't hear about the hundreds of thousands of foul-mouthed funny kids who maybe, you
know, didn't make it home, who are maybe still struggling in clubs in LA and New York.
Maybe I'm saying.
Similarly, I think if you talk to a lot of successful or pro comics of this generation,
you will hear stories like what you hear from what I share, like, hey, you know, maybe someone
trained as an actor, maybe someone got a gig on SNL first, or maybe someone was open micing
and got spotted for their own sitcom.
But make no mistake about it.
Whether or not you have some kind of raw affinity towards that kind of craft that you're looking
to do, it's going to take a shitload of work.
It's going to take a shitload of rejection.
It's going to take a shitload of failure before you actually see some kind of success.
That's my opinion about it.
And how do I approach or how do I advise people who are, you know, looking for the job that
they love?
I always say, find something that comes easy to you and work really hard at it.
How about money?
Do you call yourself a full-time comedian?
I'm a full-time, I'm full-time in show business, so I don't restrict myself to stand-up comedy.
That's the difference that I feel.
Like, I still enjoy doing the hosting work, whether it's like, you know, on TV or on a
web series or whether I get to host a travel show, which I've done, or whether it's to
do, you know, like, president star charity.
I enjoy that aspect of it.
I still write work, I still do film.
So I would, although maybe my identity is strongest as a stand-up comedian, I still
do a wide variety of work within show business, which even if you look at, you know, our Hollywood
examples that we want to hopefully get the guidance from.
Eddie Murphy, SNL, movies.
Yeah, but you still remember Roy Delirious because, you know, you recognize him as a
comic, and then it opened the doors to all these things, which happens a lot.
Like even, for example, if we look at someone like Ronnie Chang, who's a current example.
Great comic, toured his way around Australia, made his way to Canada, got spotted at Just
for Laughs Montreal, went to The Daily Show, Daily Show, and then now he's won an Emmy
with The Daily Show, he's doing Marvel movies, he's touring.
But it all started because, you know, he had built this craft as a comic.
So I think, even for me, I feel like although stand-up comedy is something I always come
back to and continue doing, I keep the doors open to all kinds of work in show business.
Right.
So that's how you earn your keep?
Yeah.
Through all, as many jobs as you can get, doing the things I love, not just stand-up
comedy.
That's right.
Yeah.
And people still ask me, hey, you know, people are a bit sheepish to ask me, Richie, do you
still host weddings?
Because we saw it, I'm like, yeah, I love doing weddings.
Oh, I love doing weddings too, man.
I mean, I have no qualms about it.
Like it's a great chance for me to kind of hang out in a low pressure environment.
Yeah, yeah.
There's some jokes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I do it very professionally in that, you know, I meet the couple, I try to keep it personalized,
but it's not a corporate show at the end.
Yeah.
That's why I love it.
Yeah.
You don't have to worry so much about corporate governance and all that stuff.
It can be fun.
Yeah.
While, and most importantly, I think what it does that, okay, to us as the pros being
hired for this, it's a job, right, it's one night of work and you know, you kind of do
your best to make it exciting and memorable.
But to the couple, this is arguably one of the biggest days of their lives.
Yeah, yeah.
I get texts all the time like, hey, do you remember 10 years ago you hosted this thing?
We were watching our wedding video and we were like, you made it so, and I'm like, that
means so much.
Yeah.
It does.
And that, those kinds of things remind me why I still do what I do.
And you know, it makes you love your job even more.
Yeah.
I mean, I've been doing this for a long time and you know, weddings right now, as far as
I'm concerned, tell me there's a D and D coming up and it's no longer, you shouldn't have
the second D anymore anyway.
There's no, people don't fucking dance.
And I've never had, I've never had, you know, nights where you host an event and you're
done at 10 o'clock.
The years, especially in my heyday in the 90s, right, and we end at two on average.
Wow.
Okay.
And then we have, we have a dance set before the grand draw.
So people stay back.
They dance, they really dance.
We don't waste the dance floor.
Like an actual dance floor.
Yeah, dude.
And we have, we had a saying, you know, don't waste the dance floor.
It's there.
It's set up.
Yep.
Have fun, right?
Wow.
And then after which they dance for about half an hour, 45 minutes, then we go to grand
draw.
The grand draw happens just before midnight.
By the time the show ends, the actual program, the show program ends at midnight.
Right.
And then second set, final set for the dance.
Whoever is staying.
Yeah, whoever wants to stay back.
Right?
Wow.
So sometimes we stay back a little bit.
We hobnob with the people that we've been partying with the whole night.
Yep.
Right?
So by the time we get, we're really done, one-ish, two in the morning.
Wow.
And then go to Adam Road, go to Newton's Circus, have a two-long and then go back, you know.
But those are great times, man.
But nowadays you have the D, don't have the other D. The other D at the end.
D and D, no, and that's just a freaking dinner, man.
Yeah, it's rare.
You're right.
I mean, the dance floor thing happens not with all the Indies.
You're right.
It's very, it's rare, especially the bigger companies.
You rarely see the people staying back.
Yeah.
They just want to grand, they just want to go for the grand draw, win some lucky draw
prizes and go home.
Yeah.
Weddings are different though.
I mean, I think I was doing some counting not long ago and I think I've crossed a thousand
five hundred weddings.
Oh, wow.
In my lifetime.
That's a lot, dude.
And you know, frankly, I keep thinking about, you know, I walk the street, I walk down the
street, you know, sometimes I get couples that go, hey, Chris.
And I go, shit, I don't remember them.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
It happens.
Oh, you had a great time.
And you know, when you hosted a wedding, blah, blah, blah.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Really deep down inside, I can't remember who they were.
You know?
That's okay.
You know, like you said, it's about the impression that, you know, you left from the work that
you do and it's very obvious that even you truly love what you do.
I do, I do.
I've never not loved it, you know?
Yeah.
But we, Rishi Budrani is concerned, man.
When I think of you, you're right.
I think stand up comedian.
And did you know what?
Let's get back to that topic.
Yeah.
Uh huh.
You know what?
When I watch some of your shows that you post online, yeah, and the stuff you say, I would
have thought you had gotten yourself into some kind of shit, man.
Oh, really?
I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, okay.
Presidential election is one.
Oh, presidential election.
Oh, that race race is another.
Yeah.
What I, okay.
So I president, let's talk about last year's presidential election.
Okay.
Right.
Did it get me into trouble?
Uh, not really.
It got me to host president's lounge.
I guess.
How do you get away with that, man?
I don't think it's about getting away.
Cause my opinion, when I do this kind of content is it's not the stir shit or like, you know,
do anything negative.
It's more to address issues that are of actual concern to society.
But maybe, maybe you and I come from an era that are from errors that are a little different
because back in the day, my time, uh, we, we had to steer clear, you know, you know,
you know what I mean?
But when I watch yours and I go, whoa, dude, jam on the brakes, a little bit of tap on
it, you know, and then the next thing I know, Hey, the guys on president's side, charity,
the guys on NDP 2022.
Yeah.
I, I, again, I, I think my, and I'm very open about this.
My, my, my love for my country is strong.
Like I, you know, I'm a, I grew up in Baruch South.
You know, I went to a neighborhood school, the heartlands are my home and always will
be wherever I moved to, wherever I traveled to.
And I am always interested in some way or the other to use my craft to make society
better for all of us to live in.
Yeah.
It's not something that I sit down and practice or, uh, kind of, you know, it's not like a
code of conduct, but in my head, if I'm discussing an issue that is important to Singaporeans
or people living here, it's something that's, uh, that I feel is useful.
Right.
And when you can use humor to do it, it makes it even more palatable.
It makes it a little easier to discuss certain things.
It makes it easier for us to kind of, uh, uh, tread through those minefields of difficult
topics like politics or race or, um, or issues of, uh, you know, uh, cost of living, for
example, amongst other things in Singapore.
So I never approach it in a negative way that, Hey, let's take someone down or let's go.
The Roi Ng Ying.
No, no, no.
That's to me, that's not what I'm here to do, right?
I'm here to raise a topic that is important that maybe sometimes mainstream media cannot
for whatever reasons.
Like I trained as a journalist and very early on I learned about concepts of socialization.
I learned about concepts of, uh, how, you know, you have kind of state influence and
state owned networks and media and all that, which have certain responsibilities of public
service and maybe sometimes, uh, something coming from an independent source like me,
I'm not funded by anyone.
I don't have some kind of stream of income coming from a media conglomerate.
So my views are my own, right?
So accept it or disagree with it.
I raise it in the best way that I can for people to go out there and kind of chat about
it, discuss it, what their stances are.
And I approach it as a journalist where I'm not puffing, you know, it's all based on facts
that are available right there.
And what is opinion is very clearly opinion.
So okay.
I've got this interesting picture, man.
I think we're talking about that particular subject.
I call this the Rishi and Lauren show.
Oh, love it.
Was this a coincidence?
It was a hundred percent, man.
Okay.
So shout out to my friend, Sylvia, who runs the Emporium, the Emporium group, which does
a lot of this, the outfit that you saw.
Right.
So Sylvia is a, is an old friend, a collaborator.
She does really beautiful customized work in terms of, uh, with Singapore related designs
and all that.
Right.
The motifs.
Yeah.
So back then, we were collaborating on something that you found out, she's like, Rishi, you
know, can I, can I give you something?
We only have one piece with us right now.
We make like one piece every year or something.
And if you're okay, I'd love for you to have, I'm like, wow, that's so sweet of you, Sylvia.
That was in 2022.
And in 2023, I think the second piece, I stand corrected on this.
Sylvia, if I'm talking nonsense, please tell me, but I think you made a new one and that
went to Lawrence Wong.
And I saw it.
I'm like, wait a minute.
That looks cool.
I feel like I've seen that shirt before.
Oh man.
The only one available is no more.
Yeah.
Give it to you Rishi.
You're right.
You know, you do jokes.
I mean, I'm Eurasian and half Chinese as well.
Right?
Okay.
I'm quite a melting pot.
You know, my mom's Peranakan and she's Chinese.
My dad is Eurasian.
And you know, guys like you, guys like me, we understand what it is to be a minority
race.
Right?
I'm not going to really touch on it, such a touchy subject, but I find it quite fascinating
because when it comes to standup comedy and anyone talking about race or racist, I usually
the ethnic minority.
Fair.
Yeah.
I've never heard from anyone from them, ethnic majority touching on the subject of race in
comedy.
It's kind of a natural phenomenon in the comedy world, right?
Because in a way, good comedy, people respond to it when it's a punch up as opposed to a
punch down.
So when it's on a topic of race, if you are the ethnic majority, it's very difficult to
talk about.
You know what I'm saying?
It's very easy for it to be construed as a punch down the moment you start making fun
of racist.
It's a tough one.
Yeah.
There's this danger of being called out.
Yeah.
I mean, at the end of the day, I feel like, you know, some comics, it is possible for
someone to do it because if it's funny, it's funny at the end of the day.
Funny is the world that at least me as a comic I live in.
I don't view it as a lens of correct or wrong or how can you say this or whatever.
If you're watching something and that's the beauty of standup, I think sometimes it's
one of the closest forms of justice in performance.
If you're sitting in a room, watching someone and this room is not curated.
That means like whoever buys a ticket can go in, sit there and watch this person.
That is the most involuntary response that you can get about whether someone is funny
or not.
Within that context.
Sure.
If you put someone who's, if you put Kumar in the US and it's an American crowd, maybe
they won't understand everything.
So it's not fair.
But within that context of that room and that people, if you make them laugh, chances are
you're probably quite funny.
Because there's a lot of relatability I would think, right?
Yeah.
You're going to relate to you.
Yeah.
And you're connecting.
You are uniting a room full of strangers just through humor.
Right.
And this is where I actually found this video really funny.
Okay.
Video of yours.
Can we play that one please with the accent?
Yeah.
Oh, what's this man?
Oh, you don't remember this?
Oh my God.
Your Sindhi accent is so sexy.
Sindhis.
Say it again.
Hong Kong.
Jakarta.
Oh boy.
I'm laughing.
Bye.
Daughter.
Grandma you say daughter.
Kolhannapur.
Yep.
White water.
Do I say tomorrow?
I hope there's tomorrow in there.
Bus.
Money.
Toilet.
I want to ask you man. Has anyone talked about this? Because my curiosity is, is that I understood
that. I understood the humor and the accent. I don't have to... I mean, of course I know
six, I know Cindy's, right? I'm used to it, yeah. I can relate. But you've got... Do you
happen to have a lot of people, let's say the Chinese, do they understand that? I think
some do because you know they just kind of see it as, oh there's this Indian-ish kind
of thing. But part of it is also building that nuance for people who are not aware that
you know there's a lot of different kinds of Indian people out there. You know what
I mean? Like I get asked all the time, hey Rishi, you Indian, you cannot speak Tamil.
How come? I never learned that. Oh man. I'm like bro, that's a bunch of different kind
of languages. You know it's a bit funny, but people... In Singapore, you know, sometimes
it's just so culturally inept. They don't really recognise the difference in certain
races, right? Yeah, yeah. I mean look, that's why sometimes I feel like, okay, look, let's
not view it from the negative lens that, ayah, why are these people so old like that? I'm
okay, never mind. Let me use humour to spread some kind of positive awareness. Like even
this, so okay, I'm doing this Sindhi video I did after a really long time, but I used
to do a lot of Sindhi content like 10, 12 years ago when I first started out, when I
was exploring stuff. I remember I did a very old video called, there was an online trend
called shit XYZ parents say. So I did what shit Sindhi parents say. And that, like for
the first time I experienced what it was to get like global viral fame in the community.
And I was getting like messages from random parts Sindhis in the world. I saw this, congratulations,
you are making your parents really proud. But I also got hate mail and death threats
from Pakistan. Holy crap. Which were like, oh, you are, they used to call me a Muhajir,
you're an immigrant Sindhi, you don't know what it's like to be a real Sindhi. Oh my.
You're going to get yourself killed. I'm like, whoa, hey man. I mean, that's when you know
it's really gone viral when the village idiots start to reach out to warn you. Hey, we're
going to make you a village bicycle. Oh dear. You know, you know, speaking of accents, man,
let me tell you, I'm sure something really funny that happened to me. I went, I went
for lunch in my neighborhood coffee shop. I'm a goPTM. I was sitting there and then
it was about lunchtime. So there's a bunch of, there were a bunch of young, I think they
were bankers, executives who, you know, seated there, young people, guys, girls, you know.
And it's so funny because when the food arrived, there was Balachan on the table. Okay. Then
the old Chinese. So this girl went to ask the friend, hey, you want Balachan? You went,
no, no, no, I cannot take, I cannot take it because my other spice. Hey, but it's not
spicy. It's Balachan. It's very nice. This Balachan really tastes good. It is not hot
one. Balachan. Then I'm thinking, Hey, I got to meet this Chindian guy, man. First name
Bala, last name Chan. Yeah. I tell you, I tell you, some of the strangest shit happened
to me, you know, really. And yeah, yeah, really. It's so, it's so freaking funny. Then, well,
if I talk about the Chinese, I don't know whether I should say this. Okay. I was in
the Shengxiang. It was a quiet Shengxiang. And then I was just in a queue to pay out
my groceries, right? These three ladies, young, no, not young, they weren't young, but maybe
in the early thirties and Malay girls walking past and they were talking so loudly. And
one of them said, Hey, what you think? You think this place will send nipple covers?
What? Holy shit, dude. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nipple covers. Then after a friend looked at her,
like, then I was looking at her. I was going, yes, they do. I just bought some. Come on,
come on. I have fun with this kind of things because I'm also a minority race, you know?
Right, right, right. And I have fun watching these things, listening to some of the stupid
things that people say. You know, some people really, to them, Oh, I speak Chinese. Okay.
Yeah. Okay. So what? What Chinese? What do you mean what Chinese? Yeah. Mandarin? Chinese.
Okay. Could it be Hokkien? No, that's dialect. Yeah, I know. But it's part and parcel of
Chinese, but they don't get it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The dialect. Yeah. You know, it's not
just that, just the people just don't bother or ignorant of what things truly are. You
know what I mean? Well, anyway, I sit back and I kind of enjoy that because why I've
got the benefit of two different races. So, yeah, you know, so if you could help, if you
could write a self-help book, man, for aspiring comedians, what would the chapters be titled?
Wow. I give you bonus points for Panzer. Oh man. Damn, I haven't thought about this, bro.
Cause like the number one thing that I would advise all comics is to never listen to anyone's
advice. It's people who just like, you know, project all the time, right? They're like,
you know what, this one is joke. Maybe you should try it like that. Well, if it's not
yours, it's not yours, right? Relax, let the audience. Well, okay. I guess the biggest
thing I'll, what would the book be titled? Yeah. What book be titled? What chapters be
titled? Nevermind. This goes just for the book title. Book title, trying to be funny.
Is it? That's what. Trying to be funny. Is it? Trying to be funny. Is it? Yeah. That
would be the title of the book. Speaking of the way you just said that, trying to be funny,
Kai, you know which one we want to play now, right? Oh, is there something? Freaking hell.
I freaking cracked up, man. This one. Trying to be funny. Is it? Yeah. Hey, Pop, what's
up? You have started your nonsense again, huh? What did I do now? You asked me to make
you a free suit because you wanted to meet the president. And then you didn't even bother
to introduce him to me. I was right there holding the masala pineapple tart to give
him. Masala pineapple tart? That's gross. Okay, but how can I suddenly swap the president
and say, hey, you know, meet my father. He's the one who made my suit. Okay, the next time
I'll make you a birthday suit. Let's see who's going to hire you. That's very extreme, isn't
it? You are extreme. An extreme idiot. You call me to tell me all this. No, I called
you because it's Diwali this week. Oh, of course. Happy Diwali, Pop. Yeah, yeah. Do you have
any Diwali gift for your father? I can get you Deepavali discount tickets to my show.
Why? Artificial Indian. I'm doing a rerun on 9th December. Do you want me to pay to watch
you to be a clown on stage? No, no. I mean, not full price. I'm saying I'll give you a
discount. Your brain needs a discount from your ass. What's that? It means that you're
talking shit. Oh, wow. Your show shouldn't be called AI. Your show should be called UI.
Because you are useless Indian. That's what you are. You are useless. I'm going on tour
next year as well. Okay, okay. I'm not interested in your career. Hi. I'm interested in your
height. My height? Yes. Your mom and I need your height to beat the tree. True story, bro.
Hello? Hello? Hello? Happy Diwali to everyone. Don't be useless like my son. Is that really
your dad? That's my dad. That's my real dad. Seriously? That's what they tell me. Yeah.
He's funny, man. He's really good, man. I tell you. Yeah. He's actually a tailor by
profession for the past. So that's true. That's real. He's been a tailor. He's been running
a tailor shop since 79. Wow. So, I mean, it's just interesting, right? They all ask me,
how come we never joined the family business? I said, well, I'm still dealing in material.
You know what I mean? Like, it's a different kind of... Good one. We still are, you know.
We still are in a way. Good material for a tailor shop. I had a friend. I have a friend.
I have a friend. We've known each other for ages. Yeah. For 30 plus years. Yeah. When
I knew him, I'm a bit old. I'm kind of a lot older actually. He was just 18 years old and
he was working in a tailor shop. Okay. He's a baeviler. Oh, okay. Yeah. A Sikh guy. There
you go. And then, you know, I tell you, he cracked me up because Far East Plaza, right?
Loads of tailor shops, right? Yes. Yes. So, you have the white tourists going up and down
and then he stops a guy and he goes, excuse me sir, can I interest you? Can I interest
you in a long pair of trousers for a short price? I mean, where the hell did he come
up with that? And he's replied to me, I'm baev, bro. I know. This kind of thing. Wow.
That's hilarious. That's something I haven't heard. I've heard a lot of tailor puns in
my life. A long pair of trousers for a short price. And you know, frankly, man, then he
said, hey bro, I'm a baev, bro. I know how to do these kind of things. But to me, it's
this whole thing, man. It's a celebration of races. And we have the ability to laugh
at each other and laugh at ourselves. Yeah. Don't you think it's a bit lost these days,
man? Yeah. Yeah. I feel like maybe the world like fashion, like trends, like a lot of things
in the world. Maybe it's cyclical, bro. I don't know if you've seen the younger generation
today. Yeah. It's almost like 90s fashion is coming back with a baggy pants. What's
it? Baggy jeans. Sorry? Baggy jeans. Baggy jeans. Yeah. Okay. Baggy jeans. A bit of loser
clothing and all that. Because there was a period in between where everything went tight.
Let's go this. Yeah. It's almost like fashion has become cyclical. It's almost maybe even
trends and political views or, you know, now there's a phase where it's, like you say,
you know, cancel culture. Yeah. It's quite huge right now. But perhaps there will be
a time where even we manage to figure that out and write that out to be able to, you
know, kind of do comedy without having it be such a challenging thing. Yeah. With fall
out. With fall outs, right? Yeah. Yeah. You know, walking on eggshells every time you
go on stage. Yeah, man. I think it's a sign of the times as well. Like you brought up
Eddie Murphy and Raw. Right? That happens today. Yeah. You're fucked. Those jokes would not
fly in 2024. No freaking way. Having said that, it's a sign of the times, right? So
if you, maybe 10 years from now, we'll be talking again, or 15 years, we'll be talking
again and we'll talk about the iconic comedy goal from the 2020 years. And you'll be like,
damn, you know, that kind of comedy will not fly in 2040, man. Because in 2040, maybe a
different kind of world we'll be living in. We'll go back to the good old sitcoms like,
you know, JJ for good times, man. See, that's the thing, right? So I always think like comedians
are almost like storytellers before there was social media, before there was communication
devices where storytellers were almost like historians of the time, kind of keeping track
of what the current stories are, what the narratives were at the time. And they were
passed down from generation to generation. I think comedians in a way, without blowing
and tooting our own horns, it's not something that, you know, to be glorified or anything,
but it's just what our job is, is to talk about things that are reflective of the current
state of the world, because that's what relevance is about. What's the world like today? What's
the news today? Or what the feelings of people, what the topics are, what are things that
are relevant that are connecting with an audience that makes them laugh? Yeah. You think people
like Russell Peters are relevant today? I think there's an audience for Russell Peters.
Yes. I watched him live when I was on my tour in the US in July last year. I got a chance
to hang out with Russell Peters. It was, yeah, it was a wild, it was weird, man. Like life
came full circle in a weird way. I was at the Laugh Factory. He was one of the comics on
the bill. He invited me to his home to eat like burritos. And you know, he's a sweet
old Indian uncle, man. He's like, Hey, eat. Why you don't want to eat? You don't want
to drink whiskey. Offering me single malt whiskey and burritos, DJing. He opens up his
whole CDJ and he starts spinning for a bunch of us. And it was just a nice night hanging
out. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah. It was cool. And even on stage, there were people that
paid money to come and watch Russell Peters. They were like, Hey, you know what? We get
to watch Russell Peters. I don't want to be here. I want to see what Russell Peters does.
So well, I think Russell Peters still has an audience, man. Yeah. Wow. So there's longevity
for comedians, you think? I think your audience kind of grows with you. Okay. If you, if you,
there's a lot of argument that sometimes treats art and entertainment like business. Right.
Although show business, the word business is longer. I always think of it as the other
way around. People say, Oh, you know, I want a piece of the pie. Yeah. Right. Or this person
is coming into my and he's taking my piece of the pie. Right. But I think when it comes
to this world we are in today, all comedians, all artists, all entertainers in a way are
creating their own pie because there's enough audience out there for all of us. I talk about
this with all my comics. I'm like, Oh, they're like, Oh, Rishi, you know, if we all do the
show at the same year, bro, don't worry, man. You know, you've got your own crowd. This
person, I mean, of course you've got to be honest to your craft. Yeah. Continue bringing
the quality. You got to continue working hard and being relevant and putting in the hours
and putting in the diligence. Yeah. You got to do it, man. There's no way around that.
You can't say, Oh, I'm good enough the way I am. I'm going to sit back. Yeah. Then of
course you, there's, I don't believe in that. I'm like, you know, always give someone, give
your audience something new, always give them something to be excited about and forward
to. Right. And then you are literally building your own pie and making it bigger every time.
You don't have to worry about it. So Rishi, on that note, man, what's next for Rishi Bhujani
then? In 2024, there's a couple of, there's a couple of exciting things I cannot mention
yet, but what I can say is that you saw that clip with my dad. Yeah. I do a live show called,
Can I Make You a Suit Mate? Which is a one man improv slash storytelling slash comedic
show. Yeah. Which I debuted in 2022 commissioned by the Esplanade. Okay. We are rerunning that
in 2024. Okay. So that's happening in October. That's a really interesting project, which
kind of talks about the life of Taylor and how he kind of travels the world without leaving
his shop in a way. Okay. That's one exciting thing that's happening in the second half
of the year. The last, the simplest question we're going to ask, the last and final question
so we can end the show. Yeah. Sure. Sure. Sure. Rishi Bhujani, do you love your job? Oh yeah,
man. I 100% love my job. It's, it's, it's something that saved me from a lot of things.
Yeah. Finding, finding comedy, finding, finding this, this, this craft to express myself has
in a way kept me sane for the longest time. So I'm very, very, very fortunate to be able
to do this while being able to earn a living and feed my family. So you found fulfillment
in what you do? Oh yeah. 100%. Yeah. I, COVID in part was a really tough time because, you
know, of not having a live audience. Yeah. Because ever since 2011, when I started my
first open mic, I safely say every week in my life, I was on stage somewhere in the world
performing to a live audience, whether it was an open mic in, you know, Bodky or whether
it was doing a theater in China, oh sorry, in Mumbai, or whether it was doing some dingy,
dingy gig in Changzhou in China, or whether it was in the storm in the Philippines. I
was somewhere doing something for a live audience. So when COVID came around, I realized that
when there was even, even traumatic experiences, comedians, I speak for myself, but I think
a lot of comedians process trauma through performing comedy. So when I had tough patches
in my life, when I lost people I love, for example, or when I was going through difficult
times, I would still be on stage, you know, people are like, Oh dude, you know, are you
sure you can continue because you just lost this person? I'm like, no man, this is who
I am. This is a part of my existence now. So in a way I see comedy is less of a job.
I see it as a part of my existence. Yeah. Wow. Wow. Yeah. Thank you so very much for
being with us today. Thank you. Really man. I've always wanted to meet you. You're a
funny guy. No, I'm glad man. I'm glad we got a chance to do this. Thanks for having me.
And you know, and you know something else, I got to say this before, just to end the
show. I'm going to say this. I've watched you on TV. I've watched you, I've listened
to you on air. Yeah. And the first thing that always hit me is that this guy has got brains.
Wow. Because your answers are intelligent. The things you talk about, they're intelligent.
They're simple, easy to understand and intelligent. And that is something that's very rare. I
appreciate that man. As an entertainer. Yep. Yep. And from one entertainer to another.
Thank you so very much brother. Thanks a lot buddy. Really appreciate it man. Really. Thank
you for having me. No, not at all. Thank you for being here. Okay guys. Don't forget the
Chris Hansen conversation is in YouTube at CCB TV podcasts. Subscribe, hit the damn bell
as well. Okay. So you'll be notified of the next episode. Follow us also on Facebook,
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taken for fuck's sake. We hope you've been having fun so far until the next episode.
Stay safe everyone. Bye bye.