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Kylie Knott

It has been 10 years since Malaysian comedian Dr Jason Leong swapped his stethoscope for the stage. “I’ve never regretted it once,” he says.
“I think I was unhappy as a doctor, not because of the nature of the job but because of the bureaucracy and the politics. Plus, the wages were low and the workload very heavy.
“When I reflect on my life now, I think, ‘wow, this is amazing’. You get to make people laugh, even for just one night. I go home happy, they go home happy – it’s a magical career.”
Leong’s latest live show, Dr Jason Leong: Why Are You Like This?, has toured Australia and New Zealand and lands in Hong Kong on June 8, before heading to Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia.












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A post shared by Dr Jason Leong 🇲🇾 (@drjasonleong)



It comes hot on the heels of his 2023 Brain Drain tour and his performances at Canada’s Just for Laughs comedy festival and the Laugh Factory in Hollywood.
Leong has been on a dream run since 2013, when he became the first Malaysian to win the Hong Kong International Comedy Competition.
His biggest comedy coups are two Netflix specials: Dr. Jason Leong: Hashtag Blessed, released in 2020, and last year’s 2023 Dr Jason Leong: Ride with Caution, filmed in front of an audience in Singapore.
Finding fresh material is never a problem, he says in a video call from Australia.
“I’m a father, so there’s a lot of material there, and my wife lives in Australia – she is a nurse at the Royal Perth Hospital – so there’s a lot of stories about Malaysians living in another country.”


Being on the road is also a rich source of inspiration, he says, but being separated from family for long stints is no fun.
“I do a lot of FaceTiming with my family – it’s tough because my daughter is now four but she won’t always be tiny.”
As a young student in Malaysia, Leong was often the class clown. “In secondary school, I was always cracking jokes in class,” he says. And standing in front of an audience came naturally to him.
“I joined the debate team, I joined public speaking competitions and I was always an emcee for school events, so I was a natural on the mic. And I liked listening to my own voice – a narcissistic trait is useful for stand-up comedians.”
Canadian comedian Russell Peters, who rose to fame on YouTube with his “Somebody Gonna Get Hurt, Real Bad” routine – and who was the first comedian to get a Netflix stand-up special – was a major inspiration, says Leong.

“That clip went super viral and it allowed Asians to know that ‘hey, we can be funny too’ because, [back] then, comedy was a very alien thing to Asia.
“When I quit my job, I think I was 29, I didn’t tell my mum – I just told her that I’m going on unpaid leave for three months and then slowly, three months became six, six became nine, nine became 12.
“My mum is not stupid – she knew what was going on. One day, she said, ‘Hey, Jason, you’re not going back to your job, are you?’. And I said, ‘No, I’m not going back, I’m going to be a full-time comic’. And that was that.
“By then, my career was stable enough and my mum could see that I was happier and more fulfilled,” he says, adding that the trend among Asian families of pressuring their children into certain occupations deemed prestigious is changing.

Also changing is Hong Kong – mostly as a result of a national security law passed in 2020 that gives authorities the power to punish people for crimes ranging from secession to subversion. Leong is not perturbed.
“It is not just in Hong Kong where there are certain sensitivities. Even in Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, India – every land has its own. There are many pathways to comedy, so one doesn’t always have to be political to be funny,” he says.
The question of what is taboo cannot be avoided when political correctness rules and the threat of being cancelled – vilified by the public – hangs over comedians.
Last year, Leong felt the wrath of social media, not as a consequence of one of his stand-up acts but for supporting Singaporean comedian Jocelyn Chia, who came under heavy online fire for making jokes about Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, which went missing in 2014 with 239 people on board and has not been found.

Leong calls it the comedian’s curse. “There will always be people who may not find you funny, who may take offence … every comedian must deal with that.”
His advice to young comedians starting out is to “just be authentic to yourself and speak your truth”.
Dr Jason Leong: Why Are You Like This? June 8, 8pm, Convention Hall, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Wan Chai, Tickets: HK$780 (US$100), HK$580, HK$480 from hkticketing.com


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Performing arts in Hong Kong

Doctor-turned-comedian Jason Leong on quitting medicine, the fear of being cancelled and where he gets his material from

Malaysian comedian Dr Jason Leong was “unhappy as a doctor”. Photo: John Cafaro

Malaysian comedian Dr Jason Leong talks to the Post about being “unhappy as a doctor” and where he gets his material from. Photo: John Cafaro

Leong says standing in front of an audience came naturally to him. Photo: Bohm Presents 

Leong was the first Malaysian to win the Hong Kong International Comedy Competition, in 2013. Photo: John Cafaro

Dr Jason Leong: Why Are You Like This? lands in Hong Kong on June 8. Photo: Bohm Presents 

King Maker V winner Lyman Heung quit school to follow his dance dreams – now he gets to do it every day

Dancer Lyman Heung photographed in Diamond Hill. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Lyman Heung, a dancer who won King Maker V, is presenting a new dance show called Unspoken in Hong Kong until May 12.  Photo: Nickyjai

Heung performing Cheetah by Jackson Wang in King Maker V. Photo: Nickyjai

Heung performing at Plaza Hollywood in Diamond Hill, Hong Kong, in 2001. Photo: courtesy of Lyman Heung

Before winning King Maker V, Heung worked as a ballroom dance instructor. Photo: courtesy of Lyman Heung

Heung (left) performed in the NBC special One Night Only: The Best of Broadway. Photo: courtesy of Lyman Heung

Heung (right) with Rosa Maria Velasco and German Cheung Ming-yiu. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Heung (in white) rehearses with the Unspoken team. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Heung rehearses with Summer Tai. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Unspoken is centred around a man dealing with grief from losing his wife. Photo: courtesy of Lyman Heung

A scene from Unspoken. Photo: courtesy of Lyman Heung

Unspoken follows the protagonist as he remains stuck in the day of his late wife’s death. Photo: courtesy of Lyman Heung

A comedian ‘very, very excited to be in Hong Kong’: meet Tom Segura, a ‘normal’, ‘sane’ stand-up who knows rest of the world is neither

Tom Segura, who describes his comedic style as observational, will perform in Hong Kong on January 8 at Kitec in Kowloon, and says he is “very, very excited” to be returning to the city. Photo: Getty Images

A poster promotes “I Need You to Kill”, a film by J. Elvis Weinstein that includes Segura’s previous visit to Hong Kong.

Segura and his wife, Christina Pazsitzky. They perform separately, in their own individual styles, and one is always at home with their children. Photo: WireImage

Segura’s first stint in Hong Kong was at TakeOut Comedy Club in 2013. Photo: Tom Segura

Segura in a still from “I Need You to Kill”.

Once ‘a shy kid’, now he’s a comedian on Netflix: Amit Tandon on clean comedy, family and Hong Kong

The stand-up comedian Amit Tandon on his journey from shy kid to family man, to landing the first Hindi solo comedy on Netflix. Photo: Amit Tandon

Indian comedian Amit Tandon in a still from a movie-based comedy show in which he portrayed Bollywood stars of different eras. He recalls being shy as a child. Photo: Amit Tandon

Amit Tandon in a still from a comedy show in which he portrayed Bollywood stars of different eras. After graduating, he worked in the petrochemical industry, did an MBA, and became a business analyst. Photo: Amit Tandon

Tandon with his wife, Sonal, and their son, Amal, and daughter, Sanvi. Photo: Amit Tandon

Tandon in a still from a comedy show in which he portrayed Bollywood stars of different eras. He performed at his first open mic event in 2010 in Delhi. Photo: Amit Tandon

Tandon is known for his clean comedy. Photo: Amit Tandon

Tandon’s “Family Tandoncies” was the first Hindi-language solo comedy show on Netflix. Photo: Amit Tandon

DJ records covers of Anita Mui song, other Cantopop hits to remind the world of Hong Kong’s musical influence

Techno DJ Olivia Dawn Mok, aka Xiaolin, is recording contemporary covers of Cantopop love songs by stars including Anita Mui to remind the world of Hong Kong’s musical influence in the 1980s and 90s. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

The front of the first release of Xiaolin’s Moods for Love three-part project. It is the DJ-producer’s adaptation of Anita Mui Yim-fong’s 1987 Xin Ai (Searching for Love). Photo: Sound Metaphors, Berlin

Mok has always been nostalgic for 1980s and early 90s Cantopop. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Mok, aka Xiaolin, is a Hong Kong-based techno DJ and producer.

The back of the first release under Xiaolin’s Moods for Love three-part project, covers of a 1987 Anita Mui song. Photo: Sound Metaphors, Berlin

‘Funny, not clean’: comedian Jim Gaffigan on ‘weirdo’ expats, gratitude and spending the pandemic with his children

US comedian Jim Gaffigan performs in Hong Kong on April 3. He finds material in everyday things from religion to food and family, he says. Photo: Live Nation

Gaffigan performs during the Festival of Families in Philadelphia in 2015. Photo: AFP

Gaffigan onstage during the 2018 Grammy Awards in New York. Photo: AFP

Lifestyle

Entertainment

Jason Leong ‘was unhappy as a doctor’ and liked listening to his own voice – so when he won a comedy competition in Hong Kong, he made it a full-time thing
The Malaysian comedian talks to the Post about where he gets his material from, backlash from social media and his advice for aspiring stand-up comics


Malaysian comedian Jason Leong, back in Hong Kong for a live show, talks to the Post about being ‘unhappy as a doctor’, quitting medicine for the mic, and where he gets his material from.
