Oh, my papa!
Comedian Kuah Jenhan rolls back the years with a tribute to his father.
ONE of the many things comedian Kuah Jenhan remembers about his late father was the love he had for pizza.
“My dad thought of pizza as luxury food, so we’d only have it for special occasions. Growing up, whenever we ordered pizza, he’d pray for the delivery man to be late. Back then, if the pizza was not delivered on time, we’d get another one for free,” recalled Kuah in an interview in Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
Over time, Kuah added, more and more people could afford the pizza fix. But for his dad, pizza was still something that reminded him of special occasions.
“And that’s how dad remembered my birthday. Whenever he saw me eating pizza, he’d assume it’s my birthday. In one year, I think I got about 25 birthday wishes from him,” he noted.
Kuah’s father passed away three years ago, but his quirks and memories live on.
For this upcoming Father’s Day, Kuah will present stand-up comedy inspired by his late father in Like This, Like Dad. The one-hour show will be staged at the Theatre at PJ Live Arts in Jaya One, Petaling Jaya this weekend.
He said the audience can expect comedy derived from subject matter that is real and personal.
“It’s a sentimental tale told by a comedian. I realised after my father left, that I’m actually a lot like him.”
To everyone’s surprise, Kuah believes he’s a recluse just like his dad. He described his father as a very quiet person, who was not very good at talking to people. His father also rarely attended his shows, and Kuah figured it was because his dad was scared to see him do badly on stage.
“I guess, to him, I was a quiet homebody, who didn’t seem like someone who could go on stage and perform. Even though he’d have probably heard that I did a good show, he would never say anything about it. It’s a typical Asian family thing; if I did something wrong, he would scold (me). And even if I did something right, he would also scold and ask why I didn’t do it sooner!”
Later, Kuah found out that his dad had always talked about his shows, but not personally to him.
“After he passed away, we had to clear out some stuff and found a bunch of my posters in this cupboard. Dad must have kept all of them, though I’m not too sure how he managed to get them (probably, he stole them from somewhere).”
At his late father’s wake, Kuah realised another surprising thing about his father.
“His friends who came to the wake said my father used to go to the morning markets with a poster of my show. There, he asked them ‘why my son so quiet at home but can be so good on stage?’ That is one question he never asked me.”
Kuah revealed he always wanted to do a stand-up comedy show about his father, but he needed time to open up about it.
“Comedians have to honest or else the audience can tell you’re making up your story. I can’t talk about something so personal and close to heart until I’m ready to see it from a different angle. You can’t joke about it until you have accepted what happened and see the funny side to it.”
Despite the deeply personal subject matter, he assured us that Like This, Like Dad will be “a nice one-hour show with a lot of laughs.”