Banking on toilet humour

If home-grown comedians Mark Lee and Gurmit Singh could have their way, they would make movies together every year.

Lee, 45, says in Mandarin: "Every Chinese New Year, people look forward to seeing a Jack Neo movie.

Maybe Gurmit and I should make movies around December every year, so that audiences can have something else to look forward to on the calendar."

He was speaking to Life! alongside Singh, 48, at a joint interview to promote their third movie collaboration Everybody's Business.

The new film, which opens in cinemas tomorrow, is their second collaboration this year, following Kelvin Sng's hit local flick Taxi! Taxi! in January, which made $1.45 million at the box office.

Says Singh with a laugh: "It's amazing that we're not sick of each other yet. And I think it's great that even though we are being paired together again, we are always creating something new for audiences. We don't just do the same thing over and over again."

The duo's first film together was back in 2001, in the football comedy-drama One Leg Kicking.

In their latest comedy Everybody's Business, the two play civil servants working at the new Ministry Of Toilets, whose job is to go around Singapore checking on toilet hygiene as well as come up with new ideas on how to improve it.

Singh plays the straitlaced, no-nonsense one, while Lee is the more outspoken brown-noser who is unafraid of bullying others to get his way.

Lee says that if they had switched roles, the film "would not work as well".

"Our roles really suit us because they are pretty much how we are in real life. Gurmit is very principled and I like to bully people at the workplace," he adds in jest.

"No, but more seriously, I think it just goes to show that even though we're both comedians, we offer different types of comedy performances. That is why even when telling jokes in general, there is no rivalry between us.

"Sometimes, I will think of a good joke but I will ask Gurmit to say it instead, because I think it's funnier if he says it. Other times, he'll do that for me. It's a perfect partnership."

Despite the language barrier between them - Lee speaks mostly in Mandarin and Singh in English - the two displayed easy chemistry at the interview, often poking fun at each other and finishing each other's sentences in a mix of both languages as well as a smattering of Hokkien.

Media observers often describe them as each other's counterparts on the two main local TV channels, Channel 5 and Channel 8.

Both are comedians and the go-to TV hosts in their respective languages.

But the two actors point out that amazingly, nothing ever gets lost in translation between them.

Says Singh: "We just get each other. Maybe it's also because we share the same hobbies and we progressed through life at the same pace, but we just really understand each other with no problem.

"We don't always see each other all the time but as soon as we get together for work again, we immediately pick things up from where we left off."

Both have a reputation for sharing a love for fast cars, and both consider themselves family men.

Singh has three children: daughter Gabrielle is 15, son Elliot is 11 and his younger daughter Mikaela is nine months old.

Lee also has three children: daughter Calista is five, son Maksonn is one and baby daughter Calynn is three months old.

Says Lee with a laugh: "Everyone knows that Gurmit and I have good chemistry but he needs to stop being so competitive with everything that I do.

"Even when it comes to our baby's strollers, we have to compete and one-up each other."

Singh adds: "Yes, next up, I think I will also get a pet dog and 'beat' Mark."

Without so much as a pause, Lee quips: "Never mind, then I will buy a dinosaur."

Everybody's Business opens in cinemas tomorrow.

yipwy@sph.com.sg

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