It all started with a joke.
And one that was made countless times, apparently. But when a video of American-born-formerly-Singapore-passport-holding comedian Jocelyn Chia’s joke about the missing MH370 plane that poked fun at Malaysia went viral, people really reacted.
While politicians and authorities from Singapore and Malaysia were scurrying around apologizing and doing damage control while Chia remained unapologetic and even silent for a day or two.
The Malaysian police even tried to rope in Interpol to help them find her exact location. Bit much?
Which brings us to think, are there limits to comedy? After all, some of the best-known comedians have built careers on being offensive.
Reppin’ the region
And it all comes down to personal preference, really. Earlier this week, Singaporean comedian Kumar said in an interview with The Straits Times, “In my shows, I don’t touch on topics based on tragedies, disasters or anything where we are not sure what happened. We don’t speculate.”
He also spoke up in a video to advise comedians to not use stand-up as a “tool to vent out anger and hatred.”
Stand-up comedian Nat Kang from Malaysia also told Coconuts that comedy can be very nuanced and heavily depends on context. “I believe where to draw the line with more controversial comedy, is subject to the skill of the comedian and also the perception of the audience,” he said.
He added, “Some comedians wouldn’t joke about topics they themselves have bad experiences with, some others will use their own past traumas as material for jokes. And I believe this is also applicable to what an audience would consider taboo.”
Some of the comedians Coconuts reached out to in the region felt uncomfortable commenting or chose to refrain from making a statement about Chia and her actions.
Not the biggest crime
Then while doing a deepdive on her career (that is to watch all her stand up comedy on YouTube), it hit us. It wasn’t just the MH370 joke – Chia has a record of making really bad jokes.
And it’s all there on YouTube. From abortion to Asian “bad boys”, she really hit the jackpot of comedy cringe.
Can it be that her biggest crime is not that she’s no longer Singaporean and making fun of Malaysia or touching on a sensitive issue like MH370?
Complain or bitch about her all you want, Chia seems to be pretty smug and pleased with all the attention she has been getting from the world these days. So as we try to close this chapter on the great publicity week of Jocelyn, we tried to be helpful and come up with a dossier of comedy material from Singapore and Malaysia she can use.
Some things you can joke about in Singapore and Malaysia
Malaysia trying so hard to upkeep a modest image
Malaysia will ban a comedy house for allowing one of its comedians to strip on stage, but not ban child marriage. SMH.
1000 ways to die in Malaysia
Trying to walk in KL is pretty much a death wish because you either fall into a hole or get kidnapped at a construction site.
Malaysians’ obsession with Sajat and her life
Malay men will hate on transgender celebrities but catch them on Twitter dark side going “ada lagi slot tak?”.
Where the heck is Jho Low?
Will Malaysia build the LCS first or find Jho Low? We’ll never know.
The way Singapore wants to claim dishes and food
From nasi lemak to bak kut teh, these neighbours just can’t stop squabbling about food. Turn off your water supply then you know, Singapore.
Singaporeans are bad drivers
Goes to Penang Bridge (with your BMW Club nonetheless) once and get fined – or always clashing with cyclists, physically and emotionally. Tsk tsk.
Crazy rich Singaporean real estate
Yeah we’re pretty aware about the ‘crazy rich Asian’ tag but the real estate industry in Singapore is something else. From promoting land under a million dollars where you can’t actually build a house to ridiculous ‘creative’ videos promoting condos, it’s a property-crazy city here.
Singaporeans cannot deal with climate change
During Singapore “winter” (temperature is rainy and cool and nothing beyond 25°C), several people were spotted in North Face puffers and wearing parkas.
Singapore politicians on social media
Do we need to read fanfic of the deputy prime minister? No. But why are some of the politicians deliberately uploading cringey thirst traps on their social media. Now we’re sad and scarred.
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