And on Saturday…

by Felix Cheong

HAVE you tried tempting Fate? Well, don’t attempt, no matter how tempting it is.

American TV personality David Gest did. The 62-year-old ex-hubby of singer Liza Minnelli was slated to tour the UK with his autobiographical musical show, David Gest is Not Dead, but Alive with Soul.

A cheeky title, no doubt, to give this minor, minor celebrity a minor, minor career boost. But if you’d bought tickets, you would have to settle for a séance instead.

On Tuesday (April 12), Gest was found, not alive but dead, in his hotel room in London. Scotland Yard is currently investigating the cause of death.

I guess wherever Gest is a guest right now, may his soul rest in peace.

Equally curious is Pakistani policeman Liaquat Ali, who had rolled the dice with Fate on Tuesday (April 12) by bringing a grenade as evidence into the courtroom. He was testifying at the terrorism trial of a man who claimed the detonator was too complex for him to operate.

In a move that would’ve made the bumbling Inspector Clouseau (of The Pink Panther series) proud, Mr Ali pulled the pin, reassuring the judge it was disarmed. It wasn’t.

That was the moment you could hear the pin drop. Boomz!

Thankfully, no one was killed. Mr Ali’s hand (and his reputation) was injured, while the judge literally fell off his chair.

For all his troubles, Mr Ali now has a case lodged against him – for mishandling evidence. Let’s hope he won’t blow this second chance at life.

Also on Tuesday (see, Fate plays its hand in threes), the lead singer of Irish band U2 must have had a blast telling the US Congress, in all seriousness, that comedy is the way to counter terrorism.

“Don’t laugh,” Bono said to the US lawmakers, “I am suggesting that the Senate send in Amy Schumer and Chris Rock and Sacha Baron Cohen.”

It’s a crazy idea but it just might work. Imagine Chris Rock defusing a tense standoff with wannabe shooters by firing off his machine-gun mouth. Or Amy Schumer blowing suicide bombers away with disarming jokes about her body.

Closer to home, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong would do well to enlist comedians like Gurmit Singh and Kumar in the G’s war on diabetes, unilaterally declared on Wednesday.

Tickling the funny bone must’ve also been at the heart of Ms Ho Ching’s photo of a monkey, with an up-yours finger, which she had uploaded accidentally on Facebook last Sunday (April 10). It was certainly an act of fate, right smack in the trench warfare between Dr Lee Wei Ling and her brother, PM Lee Hsien Loong.

Ho ho ho, never thought I’ll live long enough to see news about a monkey’s photo grabbing a “Top of the News” spot in The Straits Times (ST). What a way to remember the Year of the Monkey, no?

At TMG, we certainly believe comedy has a place too, which is why this column exists.

But for a troupe of si geena, columns exist only for them to climb, like monkeys, all the way to the rooftop. Why? So they can tempt Fate and take – no prizes for guessing – selfies.

Called rooftopping, this extreme form of urban exploration (euphemism for death wish) involves breaking and entering tall buildings like Swissotel The Stamford at a single bound. Stunts include hanging onto the ledge by one hand and balancing on the edge, with a fall of 70 storeys beckoning.

One rooftopper, interviewed by ST, says: “I am more scared of getting caught than falling down the building.”

I guess this is these youngsters’ equivalent of their monkey photos with an up-yours finger, daring Fate to catch them if it can.

Ah. To be young and so brain-dead.

And on Saturday… will take a break for a fortnight and will be back on May 7.

 

Featured Image by Guet Ghee Pang.

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The post And on Saturday… appeared first on The Middle Ground.

- Felix Cheong