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SINGAPORE: It's rude.
"The Vlee Conference" is rude but also wickedly funny.
There is just no other suitable way of describing the show, which saw comedy queen Irene Ang and her co-stars Chua Enlai, Brendon Fernandez as well as Shane Mardjuki engage in a slew of outrageous sketches parodying the major events in Singapore over the past year.
Whether it is the flooding of Orchard Road, the activities of a certain lustful Singapore director, or the expensive Youth Olympic Games, the merry quartet made fun of them all.
"The Vlee Conference" is rated R(18) for good reason. Some of the material is not for the faint of heart, with generous doses of foul language and sexual references evident throughout the two-hour show.
Fortunately, it is done in (relatively) good taste and always in good fun.
For all its overt sexuality, cussing, cross-dressing and some rather crude jokes, calling "The Vlee Conference" lowbrow entertainment is a mistake.
The audience is often made to think and read between the lines to get the joke, though if you have lived in Singapore for some time, you will naturally get it.
The stand up comedy segment by Ang was a riot. Many members of the audience doubled over laughing as she outlined the insanely funny things she would do for Singaporeans, if she became president of the island state.
However, the highlight of the show is definitely the sketch about a fictional joint bid by Singapore and Malaysia to host a World Cup, where the leaders of the two states engage in a no-holds barred war of words, each determined to claim his country is superior.
The laughter and applause barely subsided from one leader's witty remark before it flooded the club all over again after his counterpart's equally sharp comeback.
Still, like all comedy shows, some punch lines will miss their mark.
There were sections such as the one featuring the returning character Guan Yin Ma which hinged on the audience's ability to understand the Hokkien dialect. I don't understand Hokkien very well and did not manage to catch any subtitles, so a number of jokes just went over my head.
The "Men in Black" sections that parody a local cable television company were also a bit of a hit and miss. A few were knee-slappingly funny but the rest did not make much sense at all.
All in all, "The Vlee Conference" is worth watching. There are few things better than having a good laugh after a long day, and enjoying a free drink to boot.
"The Vlee Conference" runs till September 12, 8pm daily at Zirca.
- CNA
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