Comedians Douglas Lim, Joanne Kam and Shamaine Othman share their take on navigating the line between tragedy and comedy
Recently, American-born comedian Jocelyn Chia received a backlash of criticism on social media for a viral video clip of one of her stand-up comedy segments in a New York comedy club, in which she joked about the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 in a set about the Malaysia-Singaporean relationship. The Tik-Tok video sparked much controversy, prompting criticism from various individuals, including the Singapore High Commissioner to Malaysia Vanu Gopala Menon, to even protests by some groups in Malaysia. Despite the criticism, Chia has remained unfazed, even poking fun at the incident on her social media pages.
“Comedians will find the humour in tragedies. Always have, always will,” she wrote in a Twitter post recently in response to the ire. While some have argued in favour of Chia, saying that her comments were taken out of context and that her brand of humour is more suited to Western countries like the US, others have branded her stand-up comedy segment as highly insensitive and distasteful.
How can comedians navigate the lines between comedy and tragedy, and are some topics indeed ‘off-limits’ when it comes to comedy? Tatler hears from Malaysian comedians Shamaine Othman, Joanne Kam and Douglas Lim on tackling this balance from an Asian standpoint.
Douglas Lim
“Just like anything, comedy has its time and place–at a comedy club or show, in a sitcom, comedic film or even at a stall among friends. Jokes will often be well received provided: the audience is prepared to laugh, and the performer has no ill intent or malice. When comedians put their jokes and routines on the internet, it gets tricky,” says Malaysian comedian Douglas Lim, who recently performed at Melbourne International Comedy Festival's 2023 Opening Night Comedy Allstars Supershow.
“You know the expression, ‘It’s ok until it’s not ok’? Yeah, not very helpful, but unfortunately, it’s true. I believe comedians need to be more aware and exercise good judgment regarding the mass online audience. Of course, I think we should be able to reject content that we dislike. And if such content is constantly being done by a creator, we should obviously be able to reject or cancel him/her. I am concerned about the way we do it, though.”
Asia's Most Influential: Douglas Lim on the Serious Side of Funny
"I don't believe we should try and destroy someone we've cancelled. I think that's immature and reflects badly on us. And let’s be honest; there is a niche for almost anything now. So we can reject and cancel and scream and boycott and threaten a performer all we want. This performer will still find an audience. And there's nothing we can do about it. So why not just shake our heads and watch something else? Or do some good deeds? Or have some cake."
