Headline February 03, 2017/ ''' TALK -COCK- TEAR '''

''' TALK -COCK- TEAR '''

'THE BALL NO QUESTION makes of ayes and no-nos,

Left or right, forward and backwards, as strikes the player goes,

BUT He, who has tossed thee onto the field,

Only Almighty God, for sure, knows

From the work of the great master: thinker, astrologer, astronomer, and one who gave the World the first Islamic Calendar. Omar Khayyam.

Very, very few, World Leaders are big readers, but some have definitely been boon for sales of *dystopian literature* states Ron Charles. And adds, that amid our thirst for-

Adult colouring books and stories about missing girls,  some grim old classics are speaking to us with new urgency. 

Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, Aldous Huxley's  Brave New World and Margaret Atwood's  The Handmaid's  Tale  have all risen up the latest paperback list.

 But by far the greatest beneficiary of America's newly piqued national anxiety is  George Orwell's  1984.

ODDLY, censorious attitudes now come out from government watchdogs, but the army of online commentators among the general public.

Even the mild-mannered Yeo's performances as a guest headliner, and at his own monthly show, Comedy Kampong in Bugis, have faced the wrath of Facebook's keyboard warriors-

Brickbats that he puts down both to inherent Asian conservatism and the late development of  stand-up.

''I get heaps of angry comments from people who clearly don't understand that the content is  light-hearted humour, instead of a serious lecture,'' he rues. 

*I ask him why Singapore has been slow to embrace stand-up*.  

''Singaporeans err on the side of caution in terms of what they say in public, and it's hard to be funny when walking on eggshells. 

Many people still view comedy way too seriously, taking offence at jokes that, by definition, weren't meant to be serious in the first place,'' Yeo says.

''It's ironic to see the cognitive dissonance, where Singaporeans claim they want freedom of speech  -but then, when they hear controversial opinions being expressed, they turn around, file police reports, and ask the authorities to get involved, [as with]  the Amos Yee saga.

Conservative Asians need to learn to stop being  ''speech Nazis'' . Free speech is meaningless unless it also protects controversial viewpoints.''

These are sentiments that would resonate with Channa, the feistiest of all the new comics, yet she's quick to pint out the ethnic makeup of the crowd.

''Watching the stand-up scene evolve in the past five years, the interesting change has been the racial demographics of the audience,'' she says.

''In any scene, if the locals  start filling up a room, you know you're moving in the right direction. [Now there is] almost a 50-50 ratio of Singaporeans and expats.''

The diversity of the local scene has taken many other surprising new turns. Channa,  like her husband Budhrani, is a Singaporean-Indian; whip-smart, risque-

Sam See  is one of a small number of openly gay comics who stole the show as he hosted a recent  Talk Cock session, interacting brilliantly with a gaggle of drunken Indian spectators.

Late last year, a Philippine laughter club, the Clowns and Cronies  -Pinoy Comedy Bar opened on Mosque Street. 

*Vestiges linger of the old reliance on painting broad racial brushstrokes*.

The most popular visiting comics, Canadian-Indian Russell Peters and American-Japanese  Paul Ogata, bring their outsider-on-the-inside perspective to sell out arenas and clubs with scattershot skits on Asia and Asians.

Orion Perez, a dapper Filipino, channels a vast array of international accents to hilarious effect; the irrepressible  Fuzz's act centres on his Malay identity.

The important difference now   -as with Budhrani, Yeo and Channa  -is that race is no longer used as an end in itself, a prop for reinforcing division, but as a vehicle for affectionate digging and, just as often, self mockery.

The Honour and Serving of the latest ''Operational research on Nations and Societies* continues. Thank Ya all for reading and sharing forward. And see you on the following one:

With respectful dedication to the Leaders, Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya all on !WOW!   -the World Students Society and Twitter-!E-WOW!  -the Ecosystem 2011:

''' Strolls '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless