BOOK
REVIEW Can
Asians be funny? The
Curious Diary of Mr Jam by Nury
Vittachi Reviewed by Kent Ewing
HONG KONG - Author Nury Vittachi became a
local hero in this city when - at the peak of the
global panic over SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory
Syndrome) in 2003 - he scolded Western journalists
for their hysterical coverage of the outbreak in Hong
Kong and boldly predicted that
the disease would wind up killing fewer people
than the common cold.
He was right.
These days, however, Vittachi is better
known in Asia - as well as in certain Asian
patches of the West - as a humorist whose satire
sometimes lands him in trouble with thin-skinned
politicos in a region where many of the
powers-that-be are accustomed to the fawning
praise of state-run media and where skittish
self-censorship creeps into the so-called "free"
media.
For
example, was it just a coincidence that Hong
Kong's leading English-language newspaper, the
South China Morning Post, gave the popular
columnist, fond of poking fun at the Chinese
leadership, the boot in 1997, the year in which
the city reverted from British to Chinese rule?
Occasional setbacks in his up-and-down
career have not caused Vittachi to lose his love
of comedy, as his latest book, The Curious
Diary of Mr Jam, clearly demonstrates. A
compilation of his thoughts during the financially
calamitous year of 2008 - much of which the
diarist spends struggling to find work as a
humorist wholly unappreciated by the rich and
powerful - it is described by the author as "a
novel for legal reasons," but it is really a
collection of Vittachi's observations on
everything from world leaders such as former US
president George W Bush (he is not a fan) to
family life (with a wife and three children, he
considers himself something of an authority) to
the nature and culture of humor itself (why, he
frequently wonders, does no one - not even Asians
- believe Asians can be funny?).
At 336
pages, this book may be about 100 pages too long,
but it nevertheless goes to prove - albeit on a
hit-and-miss basis - that one bald, middle-aged,
five-foot-four-inch Sri Lankan who is fond of
pseudonyms can be very funny indeed.
Although the narrator of this diary goes
by the name of Mr Jam - other names have also been
changed to protect both the innocent and the
guilty - the quirky photo on the cover and the
lightly sardonic voice throughout is 100%
Vittachi. This is fiction in name only.
Mr
Jam, a professional humorist fallen on hard times,
begins his diary - much of which is taken from the
online diary on Vittachi's website - by
introducing himself as a modern-day
vidushak, or Asian jester, and the jokes
and kooky experiences follow in droves, as do the
comical slights the author must endure as he tries
to convince agents, publicists, journalists and
his audiences that an undersized, English-speaking
Asian man can be funny.
In one entry, Mr
Jam records how a skeptical reporter asked him to
provide proof of the subversive humor that has
earned him a reputation as a troublemaker, and the
author obliges with a story evoking Vittachi's
downfall at the Post in 1997, which was also the
year in which China's paramount leader, Deng
Xiaoping, died:
"I tell her I wrote a
daily humorous commentary under the pen-name Lai
See in a newspaper for many years. One day, the
top story was the Chinese government denying that
the leader of the country had died. The official
spokesman said: 'His health is normal for a man of
that age.'
"So I wrote in my column that
the 'normal' state of health for men aged 92 was
'dead.'"
Unimpressed, the journalist
responds: "That's not THAT funny."
But, of
course, it is pretty funny - as are many of the
other anecdotes and one-liners that fill Mr Jam's
diary.
On the failure of so many people to
understand his brand of humor, Mr Jam writes: "I
wonder if one can get medical help for people
suffering from a severe irony deficiency."
And then there is his reply to a
journalist who has called him from Canada to ask,
among other things, why some Asian cities have
such low crime rates: "Murder is not halal," he
replied.
A very amusing exchange goes on
for two pages, concluding with Mr Jam's open
invitation to the journalist, a woman, to visit
the region, with this proviso: "But remember not
to let us glimpse your girdle. We may be driven to
uncontrollable sexual depravity."
In
addition to lots of zingers like this one, the
diary contains brief accounts of Mr Jam's speaking
engagements at schools and before business groups
that want to be entertained while members wine,
dine and network, humorous (and not-so-humorous)
lists such as "Unwritten Rules of the Road for
Drivers in Asia." Vittachi even throws in some
lame "knock-knock" jokes.
Anything that
remotely passes for humor goes in this diary, and
not all of it works, so there are a number of dead
spots, but just as the reader is about to give up
something genuinely funny and interesting pops up.
The book reads like what it is - an often
random compendium of drollery that Vittachi makes
time for when he is not engaged in more serious
humorous pursuits - namely, the delightful series
of novels he has written, The Feng Shui
Detective, which focus on the crime-fighting
exploits of detective C F Wong.
Vittachi
is also the founding editor of the Asia Literary
Review and founder of the Hong Kong International
Literary Festival, not to mention the author of
numerous children's books.
In other words,
he is successful in every way that his struggling
alter ego, Mr Jam, aspires to be.
The
Curious Diary of Mr Jam by Nury Vittachi.
Blacksmith Books October 2012. ISBN:
978-988-16139-2-9. US$14.95. 336 pages.
Kent Ewing is a Hong Kong-based
teacher and writer. He can be reached at
kewing56@gmail.com Follow him on Twitter:
@KentEwing1
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For
example, was it just a coincidence that Hong
Kong's leading English-language newspaper, the
South China Morning Post, gave the popular
columnist, fond of poking fun at the Chinese
leadership, the boot in 1997, the year in which
the city reverted from British to Chinese rule?
