Humour me

I have a strange taste for humour. I don't like the usual run-of-the-mill slapstick stuff. I consider my taste in humour as quite odd.

I grew up with P. Ramlee's brand of humour, which until today I find funny, especially the following movies: Ali Baba Bujang Lapok, Pendekar Bujang Lapok and Nujum Pa' Belalang. I also grew up knowing old American brand of humour in the forms of Charlie Chaplin's black-and-white silent comedies as well as the physical slapstick humour of the Three Stooges. In retrospect, while admittedly these two are classics, I don't find them interesting.

Another staple comedy diet that I grew up with were the American sitcoms. Those I find memorable are Here's Lucy, Happy Days, Mork and Mindy, the Jeffersons, Family Ties and the Cosby Show. While the American sitcoms are funny and popular, I find myself more attracted to British sitcoms, most memorably Mind Your Language.

When I left for the UK in 1992, I was further introduced to more British humour. I know that most of us are not comfortable with British humour, finding it quite outlandish and weird at times. Strangely though, I'm quite at home with British humour. I like stuff like One Foot in the Grave, Mr Bean (duh!), Fawlty Towers, the Blackadder series, etc. etc.

I know that some of us here are not familiar with British humour. That being said, the most famous British humour import to Malaysia is no doubt Mr Bean (left).

I was also introduced to British humour in movies. In particular, I am quite fond of Four Weddings and a Funeral. Although Hugh Grant and Andie McDowell were the lead, I find Rowan Atkinson's brief role in the movie the most hilarious of all. Speaking of Rowan Atkinson, I managed to watch his solo stand-up show, which was extremely funny. I couldn't stop laughing from start to end when I watched it circa 1995.

Overall, stand-up comedies are not really to my liking. Not many people can execute it well. I think Rowan Atkinson is great at these kind of stuff. So is Rory Bremner (right) who is great when dealing with political satires. He can mimic British politicians' voices and mannerisms perfectly. Too bad we don't get to see Rory Bremner on Malaysia's tv.

Improvisation comedies are also interesting. Whose Line Is It Anyway perhaps best epitomises this brand of comedy. While the Malaysian audience are familiar with the American version with Drew Carey and crew, I was first introduced to its British counterpart with the same name. I find both extremely funny, and sometimes how I wish Malaysian comedians could do improvisation well.

Yes, I know that a few of Malaysian comedians are very good at improvisation. Harith Iskander, Afdlin Shauki (left), Jo Kukathas, Jit Murad, Patrick Teoh are a few of names. Incidentally, these people are at one time or another were with the Instant Cafe Theatre. I had the opportunity to watch them live in action way back in 1997, and found their sketches humourous and satirical. The most memorable scene for me was when Afdlin Shauki blundered, and he ingeniously made up the lines to cover the blunder. [He was supposed to be wearing a wig which was crucial to the role he was playing, but he came on stage sans the wig].

As for American movies, no doubt there are some funny ones. I enjoyed a few of them, in particular Mrs Doubtfire, Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Shrek, Shrek 2 and A Bug's Life. Odd to note that most of these movies are animated. Coincidence? I'm not sure. Speaking of animations, there are some pretty funny cartoons on tv. One of my favourites is Spongebob Squarepants.

These days however, I don't get that much opportunity to follow comedies either on stage, in the cinema or on tv. So I can't really comment on the brand of humour of today.

That being said, I think we should not forget humour on the print medium. Every day when I read the papers, the one part that I will not miss is the funnies. I like comic strips, in particular Calvin and Hobbes, Dilbert, Zits, Garfield, Insanity Streak and Shoe. The local ones are good too. I giggle everytime I read Lat's (right) take on current issues. I still remember the classic Din Teksi by Nan.

And as some people know, I read comic books. While most of them are action-oriented, those written by Peter David are peppered with humour at the most unexpected of places. That is why I enjoyed his run when he was doing the Incredible Hulk, Aquaman and X-Factor. Now he's back to the newly-launched X-Factor, which is again funny.

It's ironic that we turn to comedic and humourous materials as a form of escapism, albeit brief, to get away from the sometimes painful and stressful lives that we live.