Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Seriously Not Funny

Have you heard about the new Astro's talent search show, Alkisah Raja Lawak ASTRO? Hosted by Sharifah Shahirah, the judges are A.R. Badul (Head Consultant), Jalil Hamid and Datuk Jamali Shadat. Sabri Yunos is one of the judges as well, I heard. The show's aired every Saturday night on Astro Ria (Channel 4).

So you haven't? Hehe okay you don't miss a thing.

I've been wanting to watch the show since it first started on Astro Ria, wondering how funny the contestants gonna be, or won't be. I even put reminders on my cellphone to watch the show, but still I always have something else to do on Saturday nights (English Premier League games obviously). Anyways, luck must be on my side when I got to watch a rerun last night (maybe it's not luck).

Well.

The show sucks. BIG TIME.

First, the whole idea to find our very own Raja Lawak through a talent search show might be considered creative and "fresh" to a certain degree, but how could we give such title to a person when the contestants ability (if you may), are judged by only 3-4 veteran judges? Namely A.R. Badul, Jalil Hamid, Sabri Yunos and Datuk Jamali Shadat. 30 potential comedians/groups will be selected. After that stage, who knows how are they gonna do the elimation. SMS? I don't know how old are the other judges, but the Head Consultant, A.R. Badul (or real Armaya Aman Ramli) is 57 years old (born 2 November 1949). The other judges are at least 40 years old, with the oldest should be Datuk Jamali Shadat.

In Malaysia, and I'm sure it applies to every other country as well, we have different ideas of what constitutes FUNNY and NOT FUNNY.

Some consider Senario to be funny. I don't.
What about Gitu-Gitu Apek? Pi Mai Pi Mai Tang Tu? Jangan Ketawa? 2 + 1? Awie Records? Eh wait the last one is a scary series, not comedy.

Some Americans think South Park and Family Guy are on the extreme side, and not funny at all. I think both series are brilliant hehe.

Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld or Ali G? When Americans declared Chris Rock as the funniest man in America a few years ago, can we argue that? In my opinion, such title is definitely acceptable for Chris Rock. What about the funniest people in our country? P. Ramlee, Aziz Sattar, S. Shamsuddin, Saiful Apek, A.R. Badul, Afdlin Shauki, Maideen, Pi'e, Jalil Hamid, Wahid Senario, Accapan, OS, Hamid Gurkha, Datuk Jamali Shadat, Sabri Yunos, Lan Pet Pet, Shamsul Ghau Ghau, Mazlan, Azlee or Rashid Sidek (you should watch Cinta 200 Ela)? For young kids nowadays, perhaps they could relate more to Saiful Apek's jokes than P. Ramlee's. As for me, I can't stand Senario's jokes (at all), but I see many pakcik-pakcik & makcik-makcik honestly think their jokes are funny like hell. And there's nothing wrong with that, of course. We all have different standards and expectations in what constitutes funny, perhaps depending on our different upbringing, different background, different culture, different thinking, etc.

Back to the topic, how could Astro lined up veteran judges (A.R. Badul, Jalil Hamid, Datuk Jamali Shadat. Sabri Yunos) to award a title of "Raja Lawak", based on their sole judgement and standards? Should a younger person be in the line up as well? What about Saiful Apek? And someone even younger than him (if we have such person)? The title gonna be given to a person, whose ability to joke, is determined by some veteran comedians who have different approach and thoughts on what makes people laugh. That's not fair, don't you think? Yeah yeah I know we shouldn't be over analyzing, the most important point is comedians make people laugh. Yea of course the judges make people laugh, sometimes, but only apply to a certain group of people only. I don't get it when Datuk Jamali Shadat makes "funny" kids voices over and over again. What's up with that? How long is he gonna keep doing that? Did you guys watch Hilmi Gimik's so-called performance? Do we want him to be our Raja Lawak?

My bro Dik Man is by far the funniest guy I've met, in my book. He's the actual Raja Lawak in my heart. And he's not even trying to be funny, my friend. Pure genius.

just my 2cents at 10:24 AM |

---