Pointing out the funny side of life
“I love the kolo mee! It is the only reason why I come to Sarawak,” said an excited Kavin Jay during his visit to Kuching, Sarawak. “I would rate Sarawak food as kolo mee number one, kolo mee number two and Sarawak laksa number three.” However, his next visit to Sarawak on October 30 will be to tickle the kolo mee out of Kuchingites as he performs onstage at Chemsain Auditorium, Kuching.
Kuala Lumpur born and bred, Kavin’s style of comedy leans toward things that annoy him, but he also mentioned that his family gives him enough material to perform on stage, “When my family talk about old stories during family reunions, I am like yes, that is a joke right there”.
One example he shared: “My mom bought a mobile phone and she would SMS all the time. Her name is Welma Theresa Fernandez which is a beautiful name. The only problem is she likes to leave her initial at the end of the message. So, I would get weird messages like ‘God loves you. W.T.F.’ She doesn’t get it but we just like it and laugh.”
The funny grumbler’s background
Kavin, growing up in a conservative Asian family setting, was a smart but rebellious student fromyoung. “I have always wanted to go to art stream, but my teacher pulled my ear and dragged me to science stream. I also did not have the support from my parents to go pursue arts.”
To his parents, there were only four career choices: “Lawyer, Doctor, Engineer, and Disappointment,” but as a young boy, 39-year-old Kavin wanted to take up culinary arts, as he wanted to be a chef. Nonetheless, the little Asian boy managed a scholarship in engineering to the UK.
It was his time in the UK that inspired him to become a stand-up comedian. “There, I watched a lot of comedy shows and when I came back, there was not any because that time, we only had two comedians (Harith Iskandar and Joanne Kam) and their shows were every three months at best.”
That was when Kavin decided, “Aiya, I do my comedy show lah. How hard can it be?” — But he failed miserably, “Yes, it was hard. 13 years ago I put on a comedy show with 150 friends. Put them in a pub, and get onstage with my cousin. We told jokes, I did very badly. I did not know what I was doing. I was just telling statements I thought were funny. But the audience was like, where are the jokes?”
Nonetheless, a resilient Kavin never stops improving himself, and until today, he admitted that he is still improving himself. He advised those wanting to perform stand-up comedy that while recognising your voice and your sense of humour is easy, what is vital is to search for the happy medium.
“You need to find a happy medium where everybody is happy — where you enjoy telling the jokes and the audience enjoy listening to the jokes — that is the hardest part because you need to know what kind of audience you are performing to. He further elaborated that a happy medium is actually a platform where the comedian’s sense of humour coincides with that of the audience’s.
When asked whether he has given up on his choice as a full-time comedian, Kavin gave a resounding “Yes!” and exclaimed that he has given up many times, “I always say I want to quit, but I will always come back next week.”
The father of one said that the problem with performing onstage is that it is strongly affected by the mood of the performer, especially if the last show was concluded badly. “I keep telling myself maybe I should not do comedy but next week, I’ll try again, it works and that pulls me back in.”
Apart from that, the level of confidence in him plays a role, “Whenever my confidence is low, I quit comedy. But I always find myself going back again.” Kavin shared that he overcame the difficulty by constantly doing it. “At the end of the day, if you have a good day, it will help lift up your spirit and confidence.”
Check Kavin out on Netflix as he hilariously rants about his childhood and his days in the UK while undergoing his studies. He is also on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) under the moniker @kavinjay.
