17/04/2026
As we sit at our desks on a changeable Friday morning we wonder if we have the most meaningless job in the world. Then our mind wanders back to yesterday evening with memories of the website designer who can't code, or the architect who designed an apartment which doesn't exist, and we realise we're gonna make it all the way through to 6pm when the beers flow and the weekend welcomes us.
Well, our weekend started early because we boarded the entertainment train last night and the carriage was full with an incredibly international crowd. "Mr And-where-are-you-from-sir" would have had a field day, and he might have finally found that nationality he always seemed to be looking for.
So, where to start? Let's start at the end because we usually start at the beginning, and we knew Sam See from the beginning, and he has really developed into an exceptional comedy talent. He's a comedy terrorist, dropping comedy bombs on all nationalities, races and religions. Nobody is safe from this pocket rocket of comedy. Five star entertainment, Six gear comedy.
Whilst our local comedy scene has been periodically pillaged in recent years, often by Sài Gòn, we seem to be doing a nice job tapping up the Singapore comedy contingent. Shahqil made yet another venture over from the Lion City, this time entertaining us as host, and he really is a natural in the role. We knew Shahqil from the beginning too and we're loving being part of his comedy journey. If anybody has a good marketing job available we might just be able to persuade him to move to Hanoi permanently (until Sài Gòn tries to lure him away of course).
The local comedy scene came onboard with some excellent support. We were pretty sure Jeremy was about to propose on stage as he dangled off the mezzanine to ensure his girlfriend (maybe soon-to-be-fiancé?) could get a good seat. Does that mean we might get a comedy stag party soon? John Burke returned from his 7-year comedy sabbatical to remind us just HOW LONG a sober weekend can be. Ray Nguyen kept true to his promise of offensive noodles. He really does have a Physics PHD you know, and his final paper was on the physics of solar cells, fascinating stuff. And finally our man Minh served up a healthy cocktail of religion and virginity, that ever so delicate balance between Belief and belief.
Thanks to you all. We had a great night and hope you did too. Still pretty sure we dismantled the comedy train last year but to return to a full house, well that was mighty fine. So we'll keep going for a bit. At least until the taxman or the cultural hawks target their prey.
Thanks to the Front Desk Team, most of whom are now swanning around in Hong Kong, Addis Ababa and Imperia Sky Garden, thanks to Minh and the Standing Bar: Team, thanks to Ricardo for being such a good sport, thanks to Caitlin, My and Cheryl for continuing to support every single show, thanks to the Weatherdude for promising us some fresh air. That's enough thanks for now.
We will be back. Yes sir, we will be back on Thursday 14 May with Adrian the Argentinian headlining, Vivaan Sef (yep, we pillaged Singapore again) as feature act, and Stefan Bobner flying in from Bangkok as your host. Truly international comedy.
Have a great weekend. Eat pies and stay dry. And keep supporting stand-up comedy ###
