The mrbrown show
Encyclopedia
the mrbrown show is a Singapore
an podcast
with the slogan "Singapore's Favourite Podcast". The weekly episodes (Though episodes were released every weekday originally) consists of lively, satirical audio skits and occasional interviews with guests, as well as original songs. The show lampoon
s current affairs or recent events in a light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek manner, with the skits delivered in a range of accents, prominently including Singlish
. Each episode is tinted with a strong local flavour, even those that use global events as their focus.
and his co-host Mr Miyagi. The duo started out with limited equipment such as an iPod and a plug-in mic bought from iShop. The two would almost always begin the show with their trademark greeting, which is actually part of 'the mrbrown show' musical start:
With the inclusion of new members and departure of Mr Miyagi from the show, the greeting has since changed and is no longer regular, but the format of the show remains somewhat the same.
In 2006, the Persistently Non-Political Podcast series, an almost-daily special aired during the 2006 Singapore general elections, became a national phenomenon
. In particular, Episode 6 – a satire on the James Gomez saga – saw over 60,000 downloads. (now over 250,000) The Bak Chor Mee Episode, as it is popularly known, spawned new local catchphrases, and even a computer wallpaper
as well as T-shirts featuring a pork liver mascot. Another notable spoof in the series was Jedi Elections Special, which featured audio clips from the various Star Wars
movies spliced together with original dialogue, providing a tongue-in-cheek analogy of Singapore's political state.
Even more recently, the mrbrown show featured a podcast titled A harmless Podcast, parodying Prime Minister
Lee Hsien Loong
's National Day Rally Speech after PM Lee commented on his Bak Chor Mee podcast. The podcast set an audio clip of PM Lee saying "mai hum" (literally "no cockles
" in Hokkien
) to the music of "My Humps
" by The Black Eyed Peas
. Other events that became the show's eventual fodder include U.S. President George W. Bush
's second visit to the nation, Integrated Resort
bids, the 2006 International Monetary Fund
and World Bank
visits to Singapore and the GST
increase in 2007. Happenings in the education scene such as the revision of the local Trim and Fit program and the sudden pulling out of the University of New South Wales Asia from Singapore were also spoofed. Events of national importance, particularly those that show the government in a less-than-flattering light have also been the target of the show's spoofs. A recent example is the escape of Jemaah Islamiyah
leader Mas Selamat bin Kastari
from a detention centre in Singapore.
During the festive season leading up to Christmas in 2006, the show consisted of original spoofs of famous Christmas music
, including White Christmas
(Big Bonus), Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
(Rudolph The Red-Nosed Mousedeer), Winter Wonderland
(Gambling in an IR Wonderland) and Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
(Casino Is Coming To Town). These were mostly based upon current affairs previously but differently covered in the show's other podcasts, and were sung by members of the team themselves.
Mr Miyagi, the show's former co-producer, left the team in October 2006 to pursue other interests. With these changes also came the team's acquisition of a working recording studio of their own, with state-of-the-art equipment similar to those employed by radio stations. The show is sponsored by various companies and advertisers.
The show went weekly in January 2008. Also occurring in 2008, Eva Tang Hsiang-yi, from National Cheng Chi University in Taiwan, presented a paper at the Conference on Convergence, Citizen Journalism & Social Change held in the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, entitled "Surviving on the Edge in Singapore: Mr Brown's Satirical Podcasting Finds a Way Out". The podcast is now more irregular, with an average output of two-three episodes a month.
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
an podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
with the slogan "Singapore's Favourite Podcast". The weekly episodes (Though episodes were released every weekday originally) consists of lively, satirical audio skits and occasional interviews with guests, as well as original songs. The show lampoon
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
s current affairs or recent events in a light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek manner, with the skits delivered in a range of accents, prominently including Singlish
Singlish
Colloquial Singaporean English, also known as Singlish, is an English-based creole language spoken in Singapore.Singlish is commonly regarded with low prestige in Singapore. The Singaporean government and many Singaporeans alike heavily discourage the use of Singlish in favour of Standard English...
. Each episode is tinted with a strong local flavour, even those that use global events as their focus.
Origins
the mrbrown show was created in March 2005 by satirical blogger and then-journalist mrbrownMrbrown
Lee Kin Mun , aka mrbrown, is a Singaporean blogger well known for his social and political commentary amidst Singapore's tight media restrictions. Affectionately known by many as Singapore's "Blogfather", mrbrown is one of the more notable bloggers in the Singaporean blogosphere. His podcast...
and his co-host Mr Miyagi. The duo started out with limited equipment such as an iPod and a plug-in mic bought from iShop. The two would almost always begin the show with their trademark greeting, which is actually part of 'the mrbrown show' musical start:
mrbrown: Hello and welcome to the mrbrown show once again, this is mrbrown...
Mr Miyagi: ...And this is Mr Miyagi. (Music continues)...
With the inclusion of new members and departure of Mr Miyagi from the show, the greeting has since changed and is no longer regular, but the format of the show remains somewhat the same.
the mrbrown show today
The show is now a weekly podcast that can be downloaded free-of-charge from the official site listed below. The podcast has a large following in Singapore, with some episodes seeing over a hundred thousand downloads.In 2006, the Persistently Non-Political Podcast series, an almost-daily special aired during the 2006 Singapore general elections, became a national phenomenon
Phenomenon
A phenomenon , plural phenomena, is any observable occurrence. Phenomena are often, but not always, understood as 'appearances' or 'experiences'...
. In particular, Episode 6 – a satire on the James Gomez saga – saw over 60,000 downloads. (now over 250,000) The Bak Chor Mee Episode, as it is popularly known, spawned new local catchphrases, and even a computer wallpaper
Computer wallpaper
Wallpaper is an image used as a background of a graphical user interface on a computer screen or mobile communications device. On a computer it is usually for the desktop, while for a mobile phone it is usually the background for the 'home' or 'idle' screen...
as well as T-shirts featuring a pork liver mascot. Another notable spoof in the series was Jedi Elections Special, which featured audio clips from the various Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
movies spliced together with original dialogue, providing a tongue-in-cheek analogy of Singapore's political state.
Even more recently, the mrbrown show featured a podcast titled A harmless Podcast, parodying Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Singapore
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore is the head of the government of the Republic of Singapore. The President of Singapore appoints as Prime Minister a Member of Parliament who, in his opinion, is most likely to command the confidence of a majority of MPs.The office of Prime Minister...
Lee Hsien Loong
Lee Hsien Loong
Lee Hsien Loong is the third and current Prime Minister of Singapore. He is married to Ho Ching, who is the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Temasek Holdings. He is the eldest son of Singapore's first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew....
's National Day Rally Speech after PM Lee commented on his Bak Chor Mee podcast. The podcast set an audio clip of PM Lee saying "mai hum" (literally "no cockles
Cockle (bivalve)
Cockle is the common name for a group of small, edible, saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs in the family Cardiidae.Various species of cockles live in sandy sheltered beaches throughout the world....
" in Hokkien
Min Nan
The Southern Min languages, or Min Nan , are a family of Chinese languages spoken in southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan, and southern Zhejiang provinces of China, and by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora....
) to the music of "My Humps
My Humps
"My Humps" is the third single by The Black Eyed Peas from their fourth album, Monkey Business. It samples a section of the song "I Need a Freak" by Sexual Harassment, as well as the 1989 song "Wild Thing" by Tone Lōc and "It's Automatic" by Freestyle. Released in 2005, it reached number three in...
" by The Black Eyed Peas
The Black Eyed Peas
The Black Eyed Peas are an American pop group , formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1995. The group includes rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap, and Taboo, and singer Fergie. Since the release of their third album Elephunk in 2003, the group has sold an estimated 56 million records worldwide...
. Other events that became the show's eventual fodder include U.S. President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
's second visit to the nation, Integrated Resort
Integrated Resort
An integrated resort is a resort with a wide variety of leisure and entertainment attractions, all housed in one resort property. The first known integrated resort began in early 1980s in Malaysia, when Resorts World Genting was developed from a single hotel with casino facility to a variety of...
bids, the 2006 International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
and World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
visits to Singapore and the GST
Goods and Services Tax (Singapore)
Goods and Services Tax in Singapore is a broad-based value added tax levied on import of goods, as well as nearly all supplies of goods and services. The only exemptions are for the sales and leases of residential properties and most financial services...
increase in 2007. Happenings in the education scene such as the revision of the local Trim and Fit program and the sudden pulling out of the University of New South Wales Asia from Singapore were also spoofed. Events of national importance, particularly those that show the government in a less-than-flattering light have also been the target of the show's spoofs. A recent example is the escape of Jemaah Islamiyah
Jemaah Islamiyah
Jemaah Islamiah , is a Southeast Asian militant Islamic organization dedicated to the establishment of a Daulah Islamiyah in Southeast Asia incorporating Indonesia, Malaysia, the southern Philippines, Singapore and Brunei...
leader Mas Selamat bin Kastari
Mas Selamat bin Kastari
Mas Selamat bin Kastari , an Indonesian-born Singaporean, was for more than a year Singapore's most-wanted fugitive after escaping from detention on 27 February 2008. The search for him has been described as the largest manhunt ever launched in Singapore...
from a detention centre in Singapore.
During the festive season leading up to Christmas in 2006, the show consisted of original spoofs of famous Christmas music
Christmas music
Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music normally performed or heard around the Christmas season, which tends to begin in the months leading up the actual holiday and end in the weeks shortly thereafter.-Early:...
, including White Christmas
White Christmas (song)
"White Christmas" is an Irving Berlin song reminiscing about an old-fashioned Christmas setting. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the version sung by Bing Crosby is the best-selling single of all time, with estimated sales in excess of 50 million copies worldwide.Accounts vary as...
(Big Bonus), Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer is a fictional reindeer with a glowing red nose. He is popularly known as "Santa's 9th Reindeer" and, when depicted, is the lead reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve. The luminosity of his nose is so great that it illuminates the team's path through...
(Rudolph The Red-Nosed Mousedeer), Winter Wonderland
Winter Wonderland
"Winter Wonderland" is a winter song, popularly treated as a Christmastime pop standard, written in 1934 by Felix Bernard and Richard B. Smith . Through the decades it has been recorded by over 150 different artists.-History:...
(Gambling in an IR Wonderland) and Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
"Santa Claus is Coming to Town" is a Christmas song. It was written by John Frederick Coots and Haven Gillespie, and was first sung on Eddie Cantor's radio show in November 1934....
(Casino Is Coming To Town). These were mostly based upon current affairs previously but differently covered in the show's other podcasts, and were sung by members of the team themselves.
Mr Miyagi, the show's former co-producer, left the team in October 2006 to pursue other interests. With these changes also came the team's acquisition of a working recording studio of their own, with state-of-the-art equipment similar to those employed by radio stations. The show is sponsored by various companies and advertisers.
The show went weekly in January 2008. Also occurring in 2008, Eva Tang Hsiang-yi, from National Cheng Chi University in Taiwan, presented a paper at the Conference on Convergence, Citizen Journalism & Social Change held in the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, entitled "Surviving on the Edge in Singapore: Mr Brown's Satirical Podcasting Finds a Way Out". The podcast is now more irregular, with an average output of two-three episodes a month.
Team
The team of those who provide voice work and editing for the podcast often changes, mrbrown being an anchor member. The team has included scriptwriters and comedians, and also often includes artists who work at Imaginary Friends Studios who work on the podcast during their breaks.Trivia
- The mrbrown show is notable for referring to the Singaporean government as 'The Gahmen'.