KUMAR STANDS UP FOR SINGAPORE by Dream Academy

Standing Kumar

Reviewer: Gan Soon Rui
Performance: 24 April 2015

If, to quote a quotable quote, “Laughter is the best medicine”, can KUMAR Stands Up For Singapore be the proverbial “all-cure” to Singapore’s problems?

Perhaps.

KUMAR Stands Up For Singapore is the latest stand-up comedy by the self-proclaimed STB (Singapore’s Top Bapok. In this installment, Kumar who, as the title iterates, stands up for Singapore by bringing up current issues of concerns. The performance is presented in five parts, each part based on one of the ideas behind each of the five stars (Justice, Equality, Democracy, Peace and Progress) on the Singapore flag.

As far as stand-up comedy goes, KUMAR Stands Up For Singapore manages to explore much of the Singapore current affairs:

The obligatory puns and innuendos about his sexuality, and the public’s “intolerance” of it?

Check.

The occasional wink wink, nudge nudge regarding the stereotypical personalities and portrayal of the four races in Singapore?

Check.

Thinly veiled pot-shots fired at the Singapore government?

Check.

Questions of the true foreigners in our country?

Check.

Recycled jokes and gags notwithstanding, the performance remains interesting and fresh. Kumar, ever sensitive to his audience and its reaction, alters his pace and angle of approach to accommodate for the “slower” audience, all the while gaining maximum mileage out of his jokes. In short, he had most of the audience in stitches throughout the entire performance. Yet, this reviewer cannot help but wonder whether if this performance does anything else besides amuse and entertain?

In this reviewer’s opinion, stand-up comedy prides itself on being able to inject critical commentary because it has license to be politically incorrect. In a carnivalesque space were everyone and everything is fair game in comedy, comedians mocks anything and anyone and consequently shed light on issues worthy of attention. Based on this criteria, Kumar Stands Up For Singapore did stir the waters in an increasing stagnant pool called Singapore, but whether this will ripple onto the audience, that remains to be seen.