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No joke! Harith Iskander and Michael Veerapen are experimenting with a genre called musical comedy.

Funnyman Harith Iskander and musician Michael Veerapen experiment with a new theatrical genre at the PJ Laugh Fest.

COMEDIES can span across many mediums and as one of Malaysia’s leading stand-up comedians, Harith Iskander is renowned for his brand of slapstick.

Rrrrrolling tongue and expressive face aside, the cherubic humorist is now experimenting with something he calls musical comedy.

Teaming up with jazz musician Michael Veerapen, the pair will present Don’t Drop The Baby next week at the PJ Laugh Fest.

“When I started doing stand-ups 21 years ago, I was experimenting. It worked. At that time, there was only Instant Cafe Theatre and Rafique Rashid. So, we’ll see if this works. This is the first in the world! We didn’t do any research so I’m just saying it until someone else comes along and refutes this,” said Harith in a recent interview.

The initial idea for a musical comedy came about when Harith was doing the narration for the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra’s Peter And The Wolf.

“A narrator is almost like a musical instrument. You have to narrate according to the music’s highs and lows,” he added.

Later, the idea resurfaced when he directed Lat: Kampung Boy Sebuah Musical in 2011. That sparked the idea of putting a soundtrack to his stand-up routine. However, he was clueless as to how to go about it so he called Veerapen, who was the music director for Lat, and had collaborated with Harith previously.

Also present at the interview, Veerapen explained, “We’ve both got similar minds and ideas. Lat was a real challenge for the creative team because there were so many people involved but it was a success. So every new venture is a challenge.”

Harith added, “This time it’s only the two of us. Although he’s just a few years older, we have many common things we remember from school despite growing up in different states.”

Instead of getting someone else to open his show, Harith decided to do it on his own. The duo has been rehearsing these past two months to perfect the musical.

“I’ve performed at the PJ Laugh Fest with Douglas Lim the past three years, but we split this year. He wants to do his own show. He doesn’t want to open for me anymore!” joked Harith. “People ask me if I’m going to be singing. Errr ... yes, this is a musical!”

While Veerapen is tasked with composing the music, what else does he do?

“Harith sings really well, but I don’t sing and I can’t sing,” said Veerapen.

I shoot him an incredulous look. How can musicians not sing? They can at least keep pitch, I argue. Ask him why, prodded Harith. Then Veerapen blurted out the truth.

“When I was young, I used to have an angelic voice before it broke. My dad loved to hear me sing falsettos and he would insist I sing while my sister played the piano.

“I could have been in the Vienna Boys Choir! One day my friends came to ask me for a game of badminton and they saw me (singing). They started poking fun and laughed mercilessly. I was so traumatised I never sang again,” he confessed.

However, Harith offered, “Let’s just say Michael will have a microphone during our show.”

Musically, it’s not all jazz, says pianist Veerapen, who’s played in rock and pop bands but enjoys jazz.

“It’s not just jokes-song-jokes-song. It blends together and is like a play – there is a beginning, middle and an end. The music augments the jokes. It’s about myself and the fact that I have a son. Unlike my previous shows, this is sort of a theatre piece with stand-up elements,” revealed Harith.

“I used my son’s (Zander Xayne) picture in the Don’t Drop The Baby poster to attract people because babies are ultimate attention grabbers. You can’t just put two old fellas in there! Having said that, Zander does feature a lot in the musical.”

Incidentally, the name for the show came about while the duo were doing a publicity photo shoot and Zander was getting restless in Harith’s arms. The photographer, as Harith remembers, kept saying, “Careful, don’t drop the baby!”

The 90-minute show will incorporate songs, dances, visuals and magic.

Veerapen added, “We’re charting new ground. If it works, we can expect others to go into the genre.”

Now in its third year, PJ Laugh Fest, kicked off on May 15 and will conclude on June 9. Among the remaining highlights are Sticks, Stones, Broken Bones (theatre, May 23-26), Silly Cinema (film, May 24), Funny Fables (children’s book reading, May 25-26), D’Arranged Marriage (storytelling, May 30), Men In Tutus (dance, June 6-9) and The Talkative Turtle & Other Stories (children’s theatre, June 7-9).

● Don’t Drop The Baby plays from May 27-29 at PJ Live Arts, 2A-3, Block K, Jaya One, Section 13, No. 72A, Jalan Universiti, Petaling Jaya, Selangor. Showtime: 8.30pm. Tickets: RM60 and RM80. For more information, visit tix.my or call 017-228 9849 (2-BUY-TIX).