This was one of my favorite appointments in South-East Asia. I answered a call to Singapore in 2001 where Cream Media and Becker Entertainment were setting up a partnership. Various shows came out of it, including Hamish Cameron's Here's a Million, when Neil Wilson's idea to make a real life comedy based on the classic comic book character Mr Kiasu, by Johnny Lau, was put on the table. Mr Kiasu's cartoon persona was sort of like a Singapore Chinese version of Mr Bean. 'Always must win' was his motto and the comic situations were plentiful. Mediacorp picked up the show. Chew Chor Meng, a popular Singapore Chinese actor, was brilliantly cast in his first English speaking role as the bumbling though clever and greedy Kiasu. Daniel Ong, as Kiasu's cousin Kiasee, and Jaslyn Theen as Ai Swee, the love interest, were also popular figures. Catherine Sng, who was the original Singapore Girl, was perfect as the mother/aunt character. Chako Vadaketh was enormously funny as Sabo Singh, Kiasu's exasperated boss. Along with the great local crew we had, famous Australian comedy director Ted Emery (Kath & Kim) and a team of writers from the Vizard and D-Gen era came up to Singapore and the fun began.

As Post Supervisor and Senior Editor on the show's first season, I was also able to secure myself the job of composing and performing the original music. We had hard schedules and deadlines, but that period of time was really great fun. I remember Ted and I doing card shuffling sound effects in a small tent in my edit studio. Ted taught me a lot about how to cut for comedy and how to use the laugh tracks properly. I also got to direct a few segments. The show was a huge hit. The theme I composed for it was made available as a download for a mobile phone ringtone on the Kiasu website. It was quite a strange experience for me to hear my tune going off on handphones in trains and buses all over the city.