No joke, it’s seriously not funny

KUALA LUMPUR: The woman who courted controversy during her stand-up performance at a comedy club has been roundly criticised for putting on a religion-laced act that was not funny.

Malaysia’s two best known comedians, Harith Iskander and Douglas Lim, made it clear that the woman’s act did not reflect stand-up comedy.

Harith said the actions of a woman who took off her headscarf and baju kurung on stage at a comedy club was “painful to watch”.

“More importantly, there was nothing funny about what she said or did.”

In the 54-second-long video, the woman unexpectedly starts taking off her headscarf and baju kurung, revealing a mini skirt and spaghetti-strap blouse underneath, before yelling out a greeting with an expletive to the audience.

The Tiktok video ended without showing the rest of her act.

Harith said not all stand-up comedy was funny to everyone, as each person has different tastes, leading some to feel offended by certain jokes.

He said, however, that he judged it by the intention of the comedian, and the aim of stand-up comedy was to make people laugh.

“Her intention was to shock and offend. And she has shocked and offended.

“Therefore, she was not doing stand-up comedy,” he added.

Meanwhile, Lim described the woman’s actions as irresponsible.

“The ‘performer’ (if I can call her that) intended to shock, insult, and enrage, and I consider it an act of sabotage by an irresponsible person,” he said in a video posted on his Facebook page yesterday.

Lim also came out in support of the Crackhouse Comedy Club in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, saying the controversial performance seen in the viral video was an exception rather than the rule.

“The Crackhouse is not a breeding ground for such rude performances as it is a place where budding comedians and professionals try their best to tell jokes to make people laugh.

“They have been operating there for eight years and I have performed there many times, but I have never seen anything like this before,” he said.

In a statement posted on Facebook, the comedy club said the individual in question and her partner were banned from the venue immediately following the performance.

“The Crackhouse Comedy Club strongly condemns the contents of a now-viral TikTok video showing an individual allegedly insulting Islam during an open mic show on our premises,” it said in the post yesterday.

Police secretary Deputy Comm Datuk Noorsiah Mohd Saaduddin said the woman had been remanded for three days and was currently being held at the Brickfields police headquarters.

The case is being investigated by the Bukit Aman Special Investigation Unit under the Penal Code for causing disunity and spurring hatred among the people, as well as under the Communications and Multimedia Act for misusing network facilities.

The Federal Territories Islamic Religious Department (Jawi) conducted their own preliminary investigation into the viral video of the woman’s routine, which allegedly insulted Islam.

Jawi director Datuk Mohd Ajib Ismail said the preliminary investigation was carried out by its enforcement division.

Under the Syariah Criminal Offences (Federal Territories) Act 1997, those found guilty of insulting or causing contempt against Islam can be fined up to RM3,000 or imprisoned for up to two years, or both.

Deputy Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Jalaluddin Alias said the government would not tolerate any activities deemed offensive to sensitivities on reli-gion, race and the country’s sovereignty.

“DBKL has conducted further investigations into the licence of the premises concerned and taken immediate action to temporarily suspend its operations,” he said in a statement.