Showbiz tales and the BIGBANG effect with Patricia Mok

Video: Tan Shi Qi

What has Patricia Mok been up to lately? The actress’ contract with Mediacorp expired in 2012 and she has since been “doing the things that I like” - including filming movies and more recently, taking on her first stand-up comedy role with Happy Ever Laughter.

During her segment, Patricia let on that she will be telling stories that have never been mentioned - including the answer to whether or not she’s gone under the knife, along with discussing the link between three male artistes and plastic surgery. “The people I choose to talk about are all famous - what’s the point in talking about someone that people don’t know about, right?” she declared with a cheeky glint in her eyes.

Director Hossan Leong, who has been weaving the 11 comedians’ (including Patricia) segments to form a cohesive show, shared with Toggle, “Oh, I think Pat really has a knack for this - she’s so used to being an actress that she just needs to break the barrier between acting and storytelling and she’ll be great at stand-up comedy.”

Photo (left): Channel 8

Acting, however, is something that Patricia shared is already a part of her. “I’m an actress and even when I’m talking to my friends, I tend to act scenarios out instead of just talking about it to them,” she chuckled. “My character in Holland V was supposed to be very meek and wasn’t supposed to have any big body movements."

"I really had to control myself but there was once the cameraman told me that while most of my body was keeping very still, that he could see my toes wiggling non-stop as I said my lines. I didn’t even know that I was doing that - I’m just someone who needs to move to express myself!” she added with a grin.

While the 44-year-old has a comedic streak, she admitted that she doesn’t laugh easily at jokes. “I don’t find many jokes funny, but sometimes there are situations that are just too funny not to laugh at,” she explained. “I remember when I was filming Holland V, Jeanette (Aw) had a line that went something like, ‘You’ll be able to poop smoothly after eating papaya.’”

Patricia continued, “For some strange reason, she burst out laughing halfway through and did it so many times that the director came down and asked her to take it seriously. She started laughing again in the take after that though - I think it was because it was getting late!” Patricia continued. “I met up with her recently and we talked about that incident again - she still can’t figure out what was so funny!”

Photos: Ann Kok/Instagram, Patricia Mok

When asked about her and fellow celeb Ann Kok’s love for Hallyu kings BIGBANG, she gushed, “I really think BIGBANG has a huge effect on people. Ann and I were never close, but I was asking around for help with ticketing during their first visit here and a mutual friend told me that Ann was also a fan and would be getting tickets. We met at the salon after that and talked about everything BIGBANG.” The pair even went to Seoul earlier this year to watch the group’s concert and attend their exhibition.

“Not only did I go with Ann, but also a fan! I couldn’t get tickets from the official site so I was asking around for spare tickets when a fan told me that she could help (...) we ended up going for the trip together and we’ve become friends since!” Patricia continued.

With the quintet set to enlist for their mandatory military service in the near future, the diehard fan forlornly mused, “The next time I’ll be able to see them perform together will likely be in five years - by that time I’ll be almost 50, but I’ll definitely brush off my light stick and find a way to attend.”

Happy Ever Laughter will run from October 26 (Wed) to November 6 (Sun) at the Esplanade Theatre and is rated M18. Tickets are priced from S$58 to S$200 and are now available on SISTIC.