We adore them for their ability to make us giggle the night away – but things don’t always go smoothly for stand-up comedians. Here, Gwen Pew got the five superstars in The Comedy Club Asia’s upcoming Kings & Queen of Comedy Asia 4 to tell us about their most embarrassing moments on stage (and their favourite jokes!).
1 Oct 2013:
Jonathan Atherton
‘High school play. I played Julius Caesar and had to jump off a parapet to escape Egyptian soldiers. I was wearing sandals and a toga. What I wasn’t wearing was underpants… Let’s just say the play gave me a lot more exposure than I bargained for.’
Favourite joke? A guy walks into a bar and orders a bourbon and Coke. He says to the bartender, ‘I really shouldn’t be drinking this with what I’ve got.’ He then orders another and says the same thing. This happens two or three more times until the bartender finally asks, ‘Mate, what have you got?’ The guy replies, ‘A dollar fifty’.
Kumar
‘I’m always on stage but once I fell off. Talk about the naked truth.’
Favourite joke? Foreigners.
Danny Bhoy
‘I once hosted a show where a man came up to me at the interval and asked if he could get up on stage in the second half and propose to his wife? I obliged. What neither of us was banking on was her saying “No”. It was the most awkward moment I ever remember on stage. I still cringe when I think about it now.’
Favourite joke? A snail knocks on the door of a hotel and asks if they have a room for the night? The angry owner replies, ‘We don’t serve snails!’, then picks up the snail and throws it down the bottom of the garden. Two years later, there is a knock at the door and the snail says, ‘What was all that about?’
Imran Yusuf
‘I once thoroughly peed my pants. I emptied out my entire bladder and went on stage with a massive wet stain showing. Fortunately, I was five years old at the time and got away with it without too much embarrassment.’
Favourite joke? You have to come watch me live! (That’s not the joke…)
Sheng Wang
‘Once I had to take an impromptu two minute intermission in the middle of my set because I needed to pee.’
Favourite joke? Why did the bicycle fall down? Because it was ‘two tired’.
GWEN PEW 