1. 2 malaysia tatler . july 2015
Photography kah mun from myth studio
Art Direction syahlia albina sari
Stand-up comedy is not for everyone. Requirements include having a
creative mind, being a great talker, possessing perseverance and no less
thick skin. Jacqueline Wong talks to five local comics who have braved the
stage and are now blazing a trail of funny here and abroad

2. malaysia tatler . july 2015 3
V
eteran joanne kam put it best when
she told me “getting five busy comics
together is harder than winning the
lottery”. It was a somewhat chaotic,
whirlwind-came-by moment attempting
to gather these five stand-up comics together in a
confined space. You can’t help but be swept up by
the spur of their energy. It was like a gathering of five
close friends. I soon found out that this was how the
comedy scene here operates; a close-knit group of
individuals sharing the same passion and helping one
another to reach greater heights.

3. 4
S
ometimes, achieving success
and making a name for yourself
depends not just on innate talent
and hard work but also on an
opportune time. Some twenty
years ago, Joanne Kam took up
an invitation to headline Boom
Boom Room, a provocative cabaret show, in
Kuala Lumpur. “I felt Malaysians were much
more affluent and open-minded during the 90s.
Even though my show had inciting and risqué
elements, the people were less quick to judge
and treated it as something out-of-the-box and
exciting,” Kam regresses.
Having been in the entertainment industry
since the age of 19, Kam has taken her experience
on stage and in front of public while moulding
a persona that is unique to her. Well-known for
her image as a femme fatale, Kam is unabashed
to use her curves and female traits to stir up
conversations. Now raising a young daughter,
I was curious whether she would continue to
centre her shows around these materials. “I
have been very lucky to still be able to instil my
cabaret roots into my shows. Contrary to the
emergence of more extremist views, the general
audience has been very appreciative of what I
do. There has been a slight change in my style
but this is what the audience expect and what I
am good at. As long as there is a demand for it,
I don’t see why I need to change it up,” explains
Kam. However, she says female stand-ups should
not be limited to talking about their physical
attributes. “In comedy, there is no fixed ways to
tell a story or joke. I think the reason why there
are fewer female in this industry is due to the
lack of a safe and supportive platform.”
As one of the few, if not the only, veteran
comedienne in Malaysia, Kam now looks to
nurture more female comedians in the industry.
A few months ago, she organised the first female
only open mic event with the hope of finding the
next female stand-up. “The turnout was better
than what we had expected. I believe there is
a big talent pool out there. The contestants
performed a variety of styles and genres and
it was refreshing and heartwarming for me as
a senior to watch them.” Kam expresses her
excitement to work with the winners and new
talents from the event by conducting workshops
to help hone their craft. For an aspiring comic,
having the opportunity to work with Kam and
her crew and be under her wing is certainly an
invaluable experience.
Kam embraces her role as a mentor to a lot
of her juniors. The rapport of the close-knit
community was evident when I noticed all five of
the interviewees greeting one another excitedly
at the photo shoot as they started serious
discussions about how to be funny. It was also
clear that the other four younger comedians have
a lot of respect for Kam.
She shares her thoughts on the growth of the
comedy scene. “The scene here is still relatively
young but there is an abundance of senior comics
together with a big pool of ambitious individuals.
There are many more venues now that are
opened to comedy as well. The environment
right now is much more conducive for stand-up
comedians but at the end of the day, whether
or not one can be successful depends largely on
what the Malaysian audience prefer and where
you want to position yourself.” Kam’s advice for
the aspires is to experiment with different forms
of performing arts to help craft their definitive
character on stage. “I think we should start to
compartmentalise our job scope and pinpoint
the niche in which we are able to entertain
our audience. Because what is comedy but to
entertain people.”
I asked Kam what is the best part of her job.
“You mean apart from earning money doing what
I love?” she laughs before turning serious, “It has
to be the audience who appreciates what I do.
Some say that corporate shows are only to make
money but in the last couple of appearances that
I did, I had a very responsive audience. Even the
VIPs were laughing out loud at my jokes and that
is the best feeling, to know that I am doing the
right thing.”
joanne kam

4. malaysia tatler . july 2015 5
“What is
comedy but to
entertain people”
laughing on Obstacles or objections,
Joanne Kam has no plans to slow down
in her quest to bring her brand of in-your-
face comedy to the masses

5. 6 malaysia tatler . july 2015
“Before I can
make it in the
industry, I
need to make
the industry”
comedy cousins The comedy gene
runs in this family as both Andrew Netto
and Kavin Jay solidify their names in the
burgeoning scene

6. 7
Andrew Netto & Kavin Jay
Y
ou could say Andrew
Netto led a charmed life.
Among the five comedians
I met, Andrew was the
only one who jumped
straight into comedy after
graduating from school
and found quick success in the industry. He
was picked up by Harith Iskander as one of the
emerging comedians back then and Andrew did
the opening act for the comic superstar’s shows
before he was signed on. “The first stand-up I
ever watched was Russell Peters when my father
brought home a DVD back in 2004. Here was
this Indian fellow telling funny stories on stage
and making a living out of it. I told myself I could
also do that.” Andrew landed a gig to be the
opening act of Russell Peters’ show in Malaysia a
few years later.
Never in his wildest dreams did Andrew think
he would be doing comedy for a living but after
taking the stage at his first stand-up experience
with Kavin Jay, he realised he has a knack for
making people laugh. “I think I was born with
the gift of talking a lot so it is not a problem
for me to do a 90-minute show by myself,” says
Andrew. “I was basically working freelance as a
comic for eight years, looking around for places
to perform and doing my own promotion. People
look at me now and think would have been easy
but it was all hard work.” Andrew reminisces
about the times when he lived day to day,
worrying about where his next paycheck would
come from. “I started my first full time job at the
age of 27, working with LOL Events. Nowadays,
we work together to come up with ideas and
projects to bring comedy to the masses.”
Andrew tells me excitedly about one such
project that he is organising with LOL Events.
“I have always wanted to do this for the longest
time and there is no better time than now.” The
LOL Fest is a comedy festival where people can
get their doses of endorphins through sketches,
laughter yoga and family fun. This is Andrew’s
way of increasing exposure to regional comedy
talents while getting more Malaysians to be
aware of the burgeoning local comedy scene.
As one of the more experienced comics able to
command for higher appearance fees, Andrew
still enjoys doing the small shows. “I never turn
down any opportunity in making people laugh.
This industry is not about money. It is about
passion and bringing laughter to others.”
Contrary to his cousin’s lucky foray into the
land of comedy, engineer by profession Kavin
Jay knew he wanted to be involved with the arts.
After the untimely passing of his brother at a
young age, Kavin and Andrew gathered a group
of friends and performed a stand-up show. It
was nothing to shout about but Kavin kept at it
as he wanted to receive real compliments rather
than niceties from the audience. “I am good at
learning things. Comedy is something I learned
because I really enjoy it. I did not have a mentor.
I would get together with my peers to share ideas
and exchange feedback. This was how we learned
the ropes,” ” Kavin confesses.
It is still a learning journey after nine years
in the scene but Kavin now confidently calls
himself a professional stand-up comedian and
considers comedy as his main job. “I realised that
the day I became a stand-up comedian was when
I was being myself, telling jokes on stage and not
pretending to be someone else,” says Kavin. He
has been organising and hosting open-mic events
at PJ Live Arts for the past three years and is the
co-owner of Crackhouse Comedy Club to create
more avenues for comedy to thrive. Despite these
efforts, the state of the local comedy scene is still
many years away from reaching maturity. Kavin
attributes this to the lack of drive and wrong
perceptions on comedy.
Nevertheless, many consider comedy to be
a hipster trend here but Kavin believes that it
is an art most accessible to everyone. “Before I
can make it in the industry, I need to make the
industry. That’s why I have been actively bringing
in comedy acts to not only educate the aspires
but also the audience as well.” It is a commitment
Kavin has decided to take upon and pursue, “I
don’t care whether I am leading the charge. I just
want to share what I think is funny with others.”

7. 8
O
ne fine night in June 2010,
a Chinese man with a medical
degree jumped on stage and
had his first taste of stand-up
comedy. Stowing away his
doctor’s coat, Jason Leong is
now on a sabbatical to pursue
his passion for comedy. Always taking the role
of class clown, emcee and joker, Leong enjoys
making people laugh. “It is my dream to do this
for the rest of my life. I fell in love with it and fell
into it,” says Leong.
As a relatively newcomer to the scene, Leong
is grateful for the help and support extended by
his seniors who have established the groundwork
and infrastructure. “I feel very lucky to be
able to do this in Malaysia. I just sort of tagged
along the big names in the comedy scene. It is
easier in terms of getting stage time but to be
good at comedy, each journey is very personal
and different. So it doesn’t matter at which
point I jump in. It’s about how much I want to
grow,” Leong explains of his situation. “In any
comedian’s journey, you learn most from the gigs
you don’t do well. There is nothing worse than
being paid to do something and you fail to meet
the expectations.” Leong tells me the importance
of having thick skin to do stand-up comedy. “Two
years ago, I did a corporate event and I didn’t do
well. It was on my birthday and I almost broke
into tears.” However, Leong adds optimistically,
“There is no place to go but up when you’ve
experienced the pits. One of the most important
qualities to be good at this is to persevere. Keep
at it and do as much as possible, as often as
possible. This is the nature of stand-up comedy.
You have to perform in front of a live audience
and you must live or die on stage.”
Kuah Jenhan is one of the country’s most
prominent young comedians and dare I say
it, the face most Malaysians would associate
with the newer comedy scene. Unlike the other
interviewees, Kuah’s motivation for getting into
comedy stemmed from a much more personal
and naive reason. “I wanted to fulfil a promise I
made to the girl-of-my-dreams then. I wanted to
show her that I am capable and prove my worth.”
Like a moth attracted to light, Kuah’s passion
for the stage is indisputable but he admits to not
knowing anything about stand-up comedy when
he first started. “As a young boy, it was a noble
thought; I just want to make people laugh. I
want to make people happy. But when I failed, it
became a very painful and sad memory.”
For a few years, Kuah concentrated on
finishing his studies in advertising and stayed
away from comedy. “I met Indi Nadarajah
at a comedy event and he gave me the best
advice; you should be happy that you could
doubt yourself because that’s when you know
you are real. The worst thing that can happen
to a comedian is overconfidence.” With the
encouragement from his peers as well as positive
feedback from the public, Kuah decided to give
comedy another shot and live with no regrets. “If
you can learn to laugh about something, you can
accept it. So I worked hard to earn the applause
from the audience whenever I perform. I don’t
know how to sell but I believe when I’m giving
my best, people would know.”
Now, attending a comedy show has become
an option for a night out. Kuah opines that the
only way to encourage more people to come
and support is to make sure the comedians do a
good show. “I believe comedy and honesty must
come hand in hand. Comedy is very broad, there
is plenty of room for different kinds of materials.
There is bound to be a brand of comedy that will
tickle your funny bones.” @
show your support
Laughter is the best medicine! Check out a myriad
of comedy shows happening at The Comedy Club
KL, Crackhouse Comedy Club and PJ Live Arts
to name a few. For the latest updates on these five
comics, follow them on Twitter at @joannekam
@andrew_netto @KavinJay @TheJasonLSK and
@kuahjenhan
jason leong & kuah jenhan

8. malaysia tatler . july 2015 9
“If you can learn to
laugh about something,
you can accept it”
soul searchers Jason Leong and
Kuah Jenhan turn their personal stories
and experiences into comical skits to
engage their audiences on a deeper level