ONE is famous for playing a flamboyant, cross-dressing Mandarin-speaking heartland aunty. The other is a cosmopolitan theatre-trained stage actress who has made her mark portraying a series of foreign caricatures on TV.
Dennis Chew and Judee Tan are co-hosts of the new Channel 5 variety series Small And Beautiful. Tan - who hammed it up as North Korean correspondent Kim Bong Cha on the popular Channel 5 satirical skit show The Noose - told The New Paper: "Both of us can be quite crazy together!"
Small And Beautiful sees Chew (as his alter ego Aunty Lucy) and Tan explore small, quaint eateries and lifestyle retail outlets which are off the beaten track. It currently airs on Tuesdays at 9pm.
Tan, 30, and Chew, 38, first got to know each other while acting in the stage musical 881. Even though they didn't share any scenes, it didn't stop them from bonding very quickly and becoming steadfast friends off the set.
Tan said: "Our (communication) 'frequency' is very similar - in fact, you could say we're almost telepathic.
"It's also my first time hosting a variety show, but Dennis has been such a big help, passing on his considerable experience in hosting (other variety shows)." Chew joked: "She is a very versatile and natural actress. But she's not as pretty as Aunty Lucy and she doesn't have a 36E bust (like me)."
As Small And Beautiful is Chew's first hosting gig on Channel 5, he had to brush up on his English, which he described as poorer than Tan's.
He said: "I'm a very Chinese-educated person. So when I speak English, it's a bit like how it was learning it in kindergarten - I have to think about what I want to say in Mandarin, then (laboriously) translate it to English."
Nevertheless, he still rates his English ability as "average", and is grateful to his fellow deejays in Y.E.S. 93.3FM for helping him with the language.
The fact that much of the dialogue on Small And Beautiful was improvised and unscripted probably didn't help Chew either.
Gaffe
But Tan said: "When we made a gaffe, we usually just rolled with it and continued as if nothing was wrong, which sometimes made for a more entertaining scene."
Unlike Chew, Tan has to portray a different character every week, including foreigners from Korea, Thailand and the US.
She said: "My best friend is YouTube. I watch a lot of videos of different nationalities to get a feel of how to portray characters from different countries.
"This is especially so when I want to emphasise certain more prominent aspects of national stereotypes (for comic effect)."
Chew sees his character as a suitable foil for Tan's madcap personalities.
He said: "I feel that Channel 5 needs someone like (Aunty Lucy) - someone who is kind-hearted, vibrant and tells no lies!"
Tan admits to having been rather bored of Singapore, but her latest project has changed her mind. She said: "On (Small And Beautiful), it feels like I'm rediscovering Singapore."
This article was first published in The New Paper.
