COMEDIANS ARE TODAY’S PHILOSOPHERS and comedy tends to reflect society’s current culture and political climate. As satirist Alan King once said, “It’s a distorted mirror in the fun house.” And if that’s the case, then Singapore’s house is in absolute disarray.
A casual browse through the local comedy creators on YouTube will reveal that we’re scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to content. Fortunately, a few creators have started writing clever routines and sketches with an Asian slant that are as funny as they are thoughtful. One of them, The Benzi Project - the name is a portmanteau of its creators Benjamin Kheng and Hirzi Zulkiflie - has been generating some buzz. We chat with the duo about the self-funded channel and the state of comedy in Singapore.
So, why do you think the local comedy scene is so bad?
Hirzi: It’s supply and demand. The generation that first went on YouTube was us, and we grew up with ’90s sitcoms and a Mediacorp format of comedy. Unfortunately, the majority of it was Chinese-driven narratives, which is why you get racial rhetoric and slapstick jokes. We found it funny at that point in time. But, comedy evolves with the times, as do narratives. The first wave of YouTubers produced content that consumers wanted. Now the challenge is to introduce Western-style content with an Asian flavour into Singapore.
Ben: I’ve always wanted to be a part of the solution and The Benzi Project is a chance to do that. It’s almost disappointing if you have a platform and don’t try to use it. With regard to the local scene, I completely understand why most folks structure their video content that way. It’s just a wise business choice and you can’t knock on that. From a statistical point of view, they are all successes.
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