Hello, is your air-conditioner running?

Greetings and salutations, fellow stargazers! This is May Seah, your Showbiz Sista, bringing you a reason to keep watching MediaCorp TV Channel 8 after The Ultimatum ends its run. It’s a wonderful bromance between Zheng Geping and Christopher Lee. Male friendships are in fashion, after all.

In My Buddy, Chris plays an honest – or, if you like, simple – worker in an air-conditioner servicing company, and Geping plays his irresponsible buddy who is always getting into trouble and needing to be bailed out. Yes, it’s Jeeves and Wooster, Channel 8 style.

Watch them get into all kinds of hilarious predicaments as they uphold the all-important bro code. It also stars Aileen Tan, Carole Lin, Koh Yah Hwee, Eelyn Kok and Ng Hui.

“My role is honest to the point of being a little stupid,” Chris told Showbiz Sista. And he’s enjoying it. “If every day you play an Ah Beng, or a prince, or a rich person, it’s boring. Not every actor has the opportunity to try out different roles. And it’s fun! Even we laugh when we watch the show. Everyone had really great chemistry with everyone else.” That’s right – no great bromance would be moving without the sparks.

For Geping, it’s a chance to clown it up while Chris plays his straight man. It’s not always easy unleashing your funny side, but Geping has a secret stimulant: Beer.

“Before every scene, I have to make myself hyper. Sometimes it takes a little bit of beer. Or chocolate. I love chocolate. I can eat a whole box. Then there’s coffee. Coffee starts my engine. If that doesn’t work, the last resort will be beer! But I have to be very careful with it because if I drink too much, I’ll turn red. It’s good blood circulation!”

What happens if he has chocolate, coffee and beer all at once? “No, no, no,” Geping protested. “You will become very heaty.” All the same, Showbiz Sista thinks that for the sake of art, he ought to do a little experimenting.

You’ll also get to see Aileen Tan play a “very loud, very colourful” getai singer – the stepmother of Chris’s character. “When you look at my appearance you can tell right away that this is quite a funny lady,” Aileen told Showbiz Sista with a giggle. “But because of copyrights, I couldn’t sing more than eight words of any song. Most of the time you’ll hear me doing vocal exercises in the show rather than singing a full song!”

Aileen loves to sing, and even does cruise liner gigs once in a while. “If I had the opportunity, I would rather be a singer than an actress,” she confided. “If you are a successful singer, your voice will be there forever. People will never forget you. Like Teresa Teng and Fong Fei Fei. But I think I should have started young, at the age of 16 maybe. People won’t buy my albums now!” Well, Showbiz Sista thinks she shouldn’t speak too soon.

Catch My Buddy starting July 8, weekdays at 9pm on MediaCorp TV Channel 8.

Showbiz Sista, signing out. Live long and pop corn!