Latest / 987 The Shock Circuit / INTERVIEW: RISHI BUNDHRANI

Transcript

INTERVIEW: RISHI BUNDHRANI · 987 The Shock Circuit

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Finally, we've got our friend here in the studio. Let's go, Sonia.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: It's 7. Give it up for one of our funniest
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: men in the studio. So funny he made Minister Shanmugam laugh.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Say hello to Rishi Baja.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Welcome. You need to add that to your resume.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: I don't know how that fits into any comedy club
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: comedy festival. I'm going to like some comedy club in
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: the US. Oh, he made the law minister, home affairs
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: minister laugh. They're like, OK, get him out of here.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: In the US it will be a different story and
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: different intro. But here in Singapore, my friend, yes, I
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: caught that episode before we even get to why you're
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: here today. We were catching.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the questions for Minister Shanmugam, was it vetted or
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: you just asked him on the fly like that? Well,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: especially the Amos Yee question. Well done on that, by
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: the way.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: Uh, so, well, I can, full disclosure now that it's
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: all out. The Amos part was kind of thrown in
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: very late, like when he showed up, uh, but some
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: of the topics were, uh, kind of with his press secretary.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: They're like, hey, you know, are these topics OK?
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: Uh, but when he showed up on set, he's like, Rishi, uh,
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: can we just talk without the script? I prefer to
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: go impromptu. And I'm like, Hey, that's a compliment. That's great, man.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Thank you. I mean, that just means that I've been
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: vetted by multiple layers of ISD and government for years,
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: and
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: I will not
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: be surprised. Like
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: all of us sitting there.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: I mean, come on, the fact, we all did the
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: parade together, you don't get to that level of clearance.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: I wouldn't even say talent.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: Let's say clearance level is quite high for us, right,
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: because all our backgrounds are checked. No, but he was
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: a great guest. I mean, I was very pleasantly surprised
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: because I was told so many things that, you know,
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: very strict or you know, very stern banter so much,
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: but all, all, all, all I mean fake news, bro.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: I want people who say that, man. No, but,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: but
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: were you at all nervous in that situation because it
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: can be nerve-wracking
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: a little bit, but uh, OK, I mean, I mean,
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: it was, it was pleasantly surprised. He was, he was
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: very disarming from the start and I think very open
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: to discuss a lot of things. Yeah.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: I will
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: say one of my fondest memories of him is that
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: he actually sent me an email to say when I
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: had my wisdom teeth.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: I don't know who told him or who reminded him,
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: but he also went through multiple lay Rishi, how are
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: you my friend? It's good to see you in the studio.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: It is
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: very good. It's great to see the wonderful work that
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: both of you are doing and I'm happy to see
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: you grow from strength to strength. Very, very happy, very,
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: very proud to be a part of the small part
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: of this, this journey. Sounds like a proud dad.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: I know this sound like we are.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Suddenly it sounds like we're on live broadcast right now.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: Like code
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: switch so far.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: Sorry, sorry, sorry.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: So it's a talent. So you're busy with the Rishi report.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: You're busy doing a part for Singapore football which we
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: see plenty of in the stadium. Yes.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: We were the last time I saw you was
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: the Bangladesh.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: Yes, yes. What a good night, beautiful night of football, uh,
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: and yeah, right.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: Now it's prepping for this upcoming show, man. Uh,
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: can I say the title? we were talking about this
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: is the 3rd,
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: right? It is.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: It's a show called Make a, and it's, it's been
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: one of my most unique solo shows,
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: inspired by the unintentional star of your social media page,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: your dad.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah man, you know, we've got to keep his ego
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: in check. Is he,
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: is he? That's what he asks me every day.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: What are you agent
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: that's
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: my hustle.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: No, I mean this story is loosely based on his life,
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: my father's life, right? And I always make it clear
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: to say on any interviews that it's loosely based in
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: case he comes chasing me for royalties or cards or
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: like not fully yours I know half of it is yours,
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: but
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: Uh, it's, it's something that I've been playing with and
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: toying with for a while, and, uh, I remember sitting
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, maybe like 12 years ago,
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: and I saw that we in Singapore maybe a bit
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: limiting with our comedy genre, right? When we talk about
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: stand-up comedy, everyone is like, oh, stand there, talk, tell
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: a joke. But when you go into this global field,
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: you see all, so many genres, there's like sketch and
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: improv and storytelling and, and, uh, you know, so many
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: different variety.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: And I've started having the genesis of this idea that, that, hey,
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: you know, maybe I can combine some of these elements
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: and try something different, untried, untested in Singapore, and that's
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: how Can I Make Your Soup Ma came up.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: So was it, was it scary then the first time
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: that you did this when you staged this show? I mean,
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: I'm sure the worry is like will people connect? Will
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: people laugh?
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: I got very lucky because the first iteration of the
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: show was actually uh a project supported by the Esplanade
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: for this Indian festival of the Arts called Uts back
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: in 2022.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: They came to me and say, hey, Rishi, you know,
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: do you have an idea because, you know, we've been
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: wanting to work with you on something and I'm like, actually,
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: I do. It's something in development, it's something new, fresh,
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: never tried before, and they're like, actually, you know what,
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: let's go for it. So I gotta give full props
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: to them for taking a chance on this back in 2022.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: Then in 2022, people knew of your comedy. They knew
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: who you were all thanks to the happily ever laughter
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: kind of shows and all that you have. Wasn't 2022,
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: right, right. Yeah.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: So I mean, I did have a stand-up comedy audience
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: and I had been acting as a in a theater
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: for a while before that, but um.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: This was an opportunity for me to kind of blend
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: some of those genres together because this is kind of theatrical,
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: kind of stand-up, kind of improv, kinda, kinda interactive, kind
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: of music.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: Uh, and that's why I have so much fun with
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: it because it's just me playing with the audience and
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: telling them, uh, uh, I think, a good story over
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: about 80
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: minutes.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: So for those who are familiar tail?
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: This has actually been my dad's craft, my, my own
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: father's craft for like, uh, more than 40 years now, uh,
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: since he came to Singapore as a kid, and part
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: of it is, you know, the story that I tell.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: Uh, and the reason I talk about being a tailor
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: is that, uh, the worlds of being a comedian and
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: a tailor kind of cross, because in a way, I
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: went into the family business, right, dealing in material. Uh.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: This is my dad says this kind of weird shit
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: all the weird stuff all the time, right? So he
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: goes like, you know, we are cut from the same cloth,
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: you know.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: And you know, while we are on the topic of music, right,
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: like can I mention Michael Jackson?
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: I
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: did,
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: right?
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: So, you know, the movie just came out, we were
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: talking about it and the first ever concert I went
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: to was, uh, Michael Jackson in Singapore, and my father
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: brought me.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: And for those of you who, who maybe were not aware,
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: the first night of the concert, actually, Michael Jackson fell
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: sick and he didn't show up. So it was like
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: 60,000 fans at the National Stadium, uh, you know, kind
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: of going, Michael, Michael, and he didn't show up. And
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: I remember my dad saying,
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: Ah yeah, MJ took MC, you know, I mean, it
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: was silly joke and I didn't get it back then,
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: but I'm like, wow, this guy is actually quite funny,
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: you know, maybe there could be a character created around
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: his personality, and that's how the show was born. He
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: genuinely believes that.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: He was, you know, I ask him, you know, sometimes
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: I pitched this joke about the show to him, and
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: I'm like, uh, Dad, what do you think? He's like, ah,
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: to me, not very funny. I'm like,
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: What?
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: Does it make you panic when he says that?
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: No, because he's not the paying audience.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: He's giving you the Joe Jackson treatment, tough treatment. He
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: doesn't want your head to get too big. Yeah.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: Keep your ego in check,
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: boy. Yeah.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: Will he make a special appearance on stage, or has
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: he done so?
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: Ah, that's,
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: that's the big question mark. Again, that's something he always says, Hey,
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: you know, am I a part of the show, you know,
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: I'm like, you know, we can discuss it, you know,
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: to get your people.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: Well,
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: OK, full disclosure for people who watched it before. There
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: is a small appearance potentially. OK,
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: OK. So Rishi is here to share more about the
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: third staging of Can I make you a suit? Yes,
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: loosely based on is there loosely.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: Got a very interesting question here from username Mujio on TikTok,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: and I hope to ask this to you live on
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: air as well. Let's go for it. Will Rishi ever
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: do a comedy show with the lovely wife, Ms. Sharul Channa?
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: Oh
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: wow, Mujio, is that the name?
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: Uh, Mujo might be a new viewer, a new fan
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: or a new audience member, because yes, Cheryl and I
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: have been doing dual shows, but we only do it
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: once every 5 years because that's all the marriage can
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: handle we can't, we can't overdo it.
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, anyone who's an attached person can understand,
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: you know, if you work together, you live together, the
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: dynamic shifts,
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: yeah,
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: cannot do too much stuff together.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: So with, with both husband and wife being amazing stand-up
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: comedians and comedians, I mean, whether on screen or not,
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: do you all bounce the jokes off each other and
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: run it by?
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: Sometimes, yes, I think maybe some, uh, I, uh, we
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: both have very different styles. I'm a very private writer.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: I like to like write the stuff and then I
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: bring it to a, yeah, and then I bring it
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: to a real audience because I get very affected by,
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: I'm very, yeah, maybe I'm very affected by my wife.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: Like,
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: even if she loves it, then I'll be like, wow,
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: this is great, and then I carry that overconfident energy
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: into the crowd. And if she doesn't like it, I'll
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: be like, oh man, maybe I'm not good enough and
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: I carry that negative energy. So I was like, maybe
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: I just do it on myself, on
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: my own.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: I, I think very much I'm an introverted, overthinking, uh, comedian.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: Do you think that has helped you be a better
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: comedian or or
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: not? Well, I think maybe your personality is, uh, stand-up
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: comedy in my view is the search for your truth,
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: who you really are. And I was told this very
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: early in my career because, you know, I used to
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: think when I started out, it's about writing good jokes,
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: and that's it. It's a part of it, right? But
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: I went to the LA Comedy Store for the first time.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: I did a three-minute open mic.
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: And I was like this first person from Singapore doing
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: it there and you know, it was a
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: I did my jokes, right? 3 minutes, I got off,
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: the booker comes to me and say, hey, are you
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: that kid from Singapore? I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. I
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: was like, OK, you know, I see you got jokes,
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: but can I give you some advice? I'm like, sure,
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: that's what I'm here for, right?
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: That we're not looking for the person who can do
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: the most number of jokes in 3 minutes. We're looking
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: for someone who can show us who they are while
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: being funny in 3 minutes. And that was a game-changer, right?
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: Because you're gonna see 8, 10 comics on a line-up
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: show in a night, right? You're not gonna remember everybody's jokes,
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: but if you've got something about you that connected with people,
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: that's what they'll remember.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: OK, so here's the secondary question for you. If you're performing, say, overseas,
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: how do you then connect with that audience? Because I, I,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: I often find like some overseas comedians and they're big names,
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: they come to Singapore, but some may understand our society,
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: some may not, and I just wonder how you
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: connect.com,
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: if you've got
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: very unique viewpoint and you've got your own people around
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: the world. Like, you see, some of the, the Malaysian
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: comics do really, really well, uh, like a friend of mine, Dr.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: Jason Leong, amazing, right? So he started off getting a
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: lot of support from Malaysian communities or Asian communities overseas
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: and then it kinda, you know, grew from there and
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: they told their friends and everything, and then his genre
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: became a bit more universal and now he's selling out,
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: you know, theaters abroad.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: Uh, maybe the disadvantage of Singaporeans that we don't have
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: so many people overseas, so I can't take a purely
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: Singaporean show. It has to be tweaked
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: or the next Singapore Day celebrations in London or what
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: you know.
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: I was there for Singapore Legal Day, yeah man. I'm
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: just expanding my network of lawyers.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: In case I get into trouble.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: I just make sure that I know lawyers all over
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: the world in case someone comes to cancel me, uh,
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: but yeah, I think, uh, part of it is you
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: just want to be universal. You find a universal truth that,
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: you know, human beings connect on and, uh, you, you
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: kind of roll with that.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: No, just one more time, plug the show. Where can
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: we catch it and when is it happening?
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: This is
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: happening from the 20th to the 24th of May at
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: the Wild Rice Theater at Funan, uh, and the tickets
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: are available on Ticketmaster. And the biggest thing I'll say
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: is that, uh, if you show up for the show,
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: you might be the one person who I measure up
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: for a suit live on stage.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: Right, lah. OK. My next event I'll wear the suit
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: that he makes for me.
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: I bro,
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: keywords. Thank you so much for being here. It was
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: so good catching up. Um, we should do this sometime
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: outside of a work environment that seemed too short. I felt. Yeah,
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: 15 minutes is not enough, man. We haven't seen this
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: guy for quite some time already. Exactly.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: No, good luck, folks. Really, really appreciate it. Thank you.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: Alright, see
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: you again very soon.