Meet Vivek Mahbubani, a funny Indian guy who grew up in the bustling city of Hong Kong. Amidst all the inevitable racial profiling and cultural challenges, Vivek managed to surpass the odds and rose to become one of the leading comedians in not only Hong Kong, but all over Asia.
In fact, he was even crowned the Funniest Person (in Chinese) in Hong Kong in 2007, followed by his victory in the English category at the Hong Kong International Comedy Competition in 2008. His honest recounts as a victim of discrimination and laughing about it has won the hearts of audiences in every country he’s ever performed in.
Recently, Lipstiq had the pleasure of catching up with this bilingual funnyman regarding his latest stint on Stand-Up, Asia!, Comedy Central Asia’s first Asian original stand-up series. Read below!
Describe yourself in one sentence.
I’m a hairy Indian with a super power — fluent Cantonese!
The burning question on everyone’s mind – how did you end up in Hong Kong?
By way of the doctor’s help during my mother’s delivery because I was born in Hong Kong.
I’m sure it wasn’t easy growing up in a Cantonese-speaking country. What are some of the challenges you faced?
First, the language is a big issue because unlike many Western languages, Cantonese isn’t a language where you can just take a few classes and pick up. You have to actually live in it to learn it properly so I started off mimicking sounds and messing up the tones and saying the wrong things. It was weird because sometimes people would get upset, and other times people would be very forgiving considering I was not Chinese.
Over the years, through a lot of painful hard work and practice, I can now speak fluently, but I still take advantage of the fact that people think I don’t realise what I was saying when I said something wrong.
What made you want to channel all the discrimination into comedy – instead of plotting revenge?
I figured revenge is free but comedy can be pay-per-head. So from a business point of view, comedy would be more profitable. I’m actually a big fan of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War and one of his quotes is, “Ultimate excellence lies not in winning every battle, but in defeating the enemy without ever fighting,” and that has been a big influence on how I deal with issues in life.
I figured instead of revenge, why not put it into the comedy show and hopefully one day they will come to the show, pay for their ticket and go, “Wait, that story sounds very familiar!” and then realise they just contributed to my bank account and there are no refunds!
Do you get recognised on the streets of Hong Kong?
Yes, but it depends on how many days it’s been since I shaved. If I’ve freshly shaved (with just my goatee), people recognise me and talk to me. Three days after shaving , people stare at me and think, “Is that the guy? Or his brother? Oh, I can’t tell them apart.” Seven days after shaving, people usually try to avoid me for their own safety.
You perform in both English and Cantonese. How do you alter your material to fit the audience? Do they react differently to the same joke?
Over the years, I’ve realized the sense of humour is similar and it’s just the delivery of the joke that needs to change. There are differences in reaction not so much based on the language, but the audience’s experience with comedy. Since comedy in English is so much more mature, an English audience would have seen or heard of stand-up before, so they’d be looking for a punchline, whereas a Cantonese audience may be experiencing this for the first time, so simple exaggerated gestures or slapstick comedy would get a good laugh already.
You have performed extensively around Asia. Which is your favourite country or audience?
I’d have to say it’s a tie between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In general, Hong Kong audiences are more demanding; they want high quality punchlines before they reward you with their laughter.
When I go to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, it’s such a melting pot of cultures, and everyone is able to better relate to cultural comedy as well as jokes about daily life without the worry of, “This punchline was worthy of my hourly rate, I’ll give it a chuckle”.
How does it feel like to be a part of Stand-Up, Asia!?
It’s an honour and a mind-blowing experience to not only to share the stage with some of Asia’s top talents, but to be considered one of them. I have known some of the comedians for years and it’s great to watch each other grow and catch up, but the biggest thing I’ve learned is that Asia’s got a whole gold mine of comedy that isn’t waiting to explode. It’s already exploding and now it’s just a matter of those waves rippling throughout the region and worldwide.
I also learned that Asian comedians enjoy eating after shows rather than just going for drinks.. especially if it’s sponsored.
What is the one superpower you wish you had?
The ability to teleport (not just myself but anything I can physically hold on to while I’m teleporting). Not only would that allow me to perform around the world, I’d be able to do a show, and when no one is laughing, I could flash into a corner of the room, do the quick awkward chuckle and hopefully get the room laughing with that ignition.
If your ideal woman was a cup of coffee, what would the coffee be like?
Strong, fragrant and keeping me up all night.
Catch Stand-Up, Asia! next Tuesday, 23 August at 9.55pm (MY) on Comedy Central (Channel HD 609 on HyppTV).
