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Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor is suing comedian Harith Iskander over a stand-up routine that compared her to mythical ghosts like the pontianak and pocong. Rosmah claims the joke defamed her, damaged her reputation and amounted to body shaming. She is seeking an unconditional apology and damages.
Whether she wins or loses the lawsuit is for the courts to decide.
The more interesting question is this: when did name-calling become comedy?
Pontianaks are not scary
Every horror movie tells us to fear the pontianak, pocong and toyol. But at 50, I've realised the scariest things in life don't float - they walk.
The truth is, ghosts don't scam you. Ghosts don't abuse power. And ghosts don't betray your trust. People do.
So when I heard about Harith's joke, my first reaction wasn't outrage - it was disappointment. Not because I'm suddenly Team Rosmah. Far from it.
I'm talking about comedy.
Joking that someone looks like a ghost feels less like stand-up comedy and more like something I'd expect to hear in a school canteen.
But Harith isn't alone.
Spend five minutes on social media and you'll find people calling Rosmah "The Penguin" from Batman. The internet has never struggled to find new ways to describe people's faces and physique.
If calling someone names behind a keyboard is cyberbullying, and calling someone names to their face is bullying, what do we call calling someone names on stage, under a spotlight, with a microphone and hundreds of people laughing?
Art?
Here's the thing.
If someone behaves like a devil, then make that the joke.
If someone abuses power, steals, lies, bullies others or displays breathtaking hypocrisy, that's comedy gold.
Behaviour deserves scrutiny. Appearance doesn't.
Even if someone genuinely resembles a cartoon character, a ghost or the devil himself, I don't think that's where the joke should begin and end.
That's not satire.
That's not social commentary.
That's just name-calling with better lighting.
Body shaming is the instant noodles of comedy. It’s cheap. Fast. Convenient. It fills time.
But nobody mistakes it for fine dining.
The comedians I admire don't simply make people laugh. They reveal something.
They expose hypocrisy.
They hold up a mirror to society.
They make us laugh because we recognise the truth, not because we recognise someone's face.
That's craftsmanship.
Douglas Lim did exactly that in his recent Vital Stats tour. He found humour in our politics, our government, our culture and our contradictions. The audience laughed because they recognised themselves.
Pointing at someone's appearance and waiting for laughter?
That requires eyesight, not insight.
Don’t set the bar too low
Comedians often ask for artistic freedom. I believe they should have it. Comedy must be free to challenge authority, question society and offend when necessary.
But artistic freedom should never become artistic complacency.
The easiest joke is rarely the smartest one.
If the biggest laugh of the night comes from mocking someone's appearance, perhaps we've set the bar too low.
Comedy is an art.
Art should punch higher than the face.
It should punch ideas.
Fa Abdul (fa.abdul.penang@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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