There's something about ..... “他来自江湖”

This is a TVB cantonese comedy serial produced 1988, starring Stephen Chow and Alex Man.

Bought the VCDs recently to keep myself and my wife entertained at night and also to relive those memories.

What to do, due to the TV station merger, there aren't that many good shows after 11pm. You either get a china production drama on Channel 8 or a China production drama on Channel U. No spelling error here.

Suddenly all the good taiwanese variety shows are either canned or move to a different timeslot all together. I believe this is a cost-cutting move or either that, they are fullfilling a niche market for the super-high number of chinese nationals either working here, rooting up here or prostituting here. (of course at 11pm, the latter group is probably contributing to the GDP growth of Singapore)

Anyway, back to the show. I've watched this about twice prior to buying the VCDs recently. Those times I believe is the late 80s and the early 90s, during the pre- era of LD players.

How times have changed. In the show, you actually see the Hong Kong of the 80s, the lives we also lead in the 80s and how these actors have changed over the years.

The handphone they used in the show are the first generation handphones... you know those handphones that double-up as hammer. Also, pagers were the norm back then as well.

Another thing I realised from watching the show is that "Chuo Dai Di" or "Big 2" is also being played during those days. You kinda assumed that this game has at least 17 years history and probably originated from Hong Kong.

I remember back in those days, Alex Man was The Actor. And Stephen Chow had then just started his brand of humour "Mo Lei Tau" and was gaining some prominence.

And of course we now know Stephen Chow is now The Actor, more successful and wealthy than Alex Man of the 80s.

And Alex Man best show to date, must be the TCS produced drama "Golden Pillow". It was so good, it makes history in Singapore as the most watched-for-its-absurb-storyline-that-make-everyone-cringed. His mandarin was like Alan Tam singing chinese songs in the 80s. You can't really fault him. It's TCS fault when they think any good actor would be able to act half their age.

Stephen Chow.... I've watched all his shows, even the bad ones of the 90s. It's the same brand of humour repeated over and over again in different scenarios and settings. But you still want to watch it. You just knew how the joke will start and how it will end, but you still want to watch it. But when you have that same formula with interesting storyline like his last 2 movies, you strike jackpot.

When you are a comedian, acting half your age is funny. And that is the mark of success.