Anand Chulani seems ecstatic. Grabbing a chair with one hand, the comedian performs a kung-fu move with the other and seems ready to jump into one of the IFC's decorative pools during a lunchtime photo shoot. 'My energy level is only three out of 10 now,' he says. 'When I'm in workshop, I'm 10.'
Chulani's not joking; he's literally full of bounce. At the Kowloon Cricket Club on Saturday the 32-year-old danced, jumped up and down, and played an alien with 50 excited eight- to 12-year-olds in an energy-packed workshop he says is aimed at helping them develop self-confidence.
'I hope kids can bring laughter to their parents and families during these challenging times,' says the Los Angeles-based comic and former writer for TV series such as The Simpsons and Life on a Stick.
Chulani has hosted more than 100 such workshops for rich and poor youngsters and Fortune 500 executives across America. Now he has been invited back to Hong Kong - where he lived briefly as a child and where his grandmother, uncles and aunts have been based for 20 years - to host seven workshops at venues ranging from Ronald McDonald House to sessions for stressed-out adults at the Yoga Room in Sheung Wan tonight, and at the Aberdeen Marina Club on Saturday. His three-week visit is timely, he says.
'Right now people's stress levels are going through the roof because of the financial pressure. Fortunately, laughter costs nothing to create.'
Sanjna Melwani agrees. She has brought her 10-year-old son to the KCC workshop so he can learn how to take life easy in increasingly stressful, competitive times, says Melwani, adding that her son is 'a bit serious sometimes'.
