8Y CHERYL
SAMSEE
The 23-year-old stand-
up comedian, now seen
on the comedy panel
show OKChope\is a
devil in a bow tie.
OK Chope! is a high pressute
job for See, who started on his
stand-up comic career four years
aglo when he was 19.
"This is a panel [made up of
people inl very different age groups
- Najip [Ali]'s in his SOs, Mike
[Kasem] and Vernetta [Lopez] are in
their 40s, Rishi IBudhrani]'s in his
30s and I'm in my 20s. So, I'm like
the millennial representative of the
show. The pressure exists for me
not so much as a young person, but
more as a stand-up comic. I'm like
a random nobody who has showed
up. So I've to prove that I deserve
the spot I was given."
He frequently gets mistaken for
a teenaEler,
"l still get carded when I buy booze.
Once, on Halloween, I went dressed
as the Riddler. I thought, 'Ah, this
is so cool. I'm a villain!' I came
in lto a party] and everyone went,
'Oh look, it's a leprechaun!' But
I won the costume contest that
night and my prize was a bottle of
champagne."
He isn't a comedian on demand.
"People ask me for jokes all the
time. I do get annoyed by that.
You want some free jokes? Go on
YouTube. Friends and acquaintances
know better than to ask me that,
but strangers do. l'd tell them, 'lf
you have $2 right now, I'll tell you a
joke,"'
He has a weapon against
hecklcrs.
"'Cos I'm small and demure, people
don't expect me to be as foul-
mouthed and evil as I am on stage.
I'm a devil in a bow tie. So when
people hear the things I say, they
get offended. There was a show
where we had a part-time actor [in
the audiencel. He was wearing a
singlet, so I said, 'Of course, you're
a part-time actor. lf you were a full-
timer, you could afford the sleeves.'
His face turned black, and he
started heckling me. He said things
like, 'Where did you get your clothes
from? lt looks like it's from Kiddy
Palace.' For the next three days,
he kept leaving hate comments on
my Facebook fan page. I'm keeping
them for future jokes. On stage,
I'd go, 'This is what happens if you
heckle me. I'lljust talk about you
in future.' lt scares people [and
prevents theml from heckling me."