You may have known Cantonese comedy star Jim Chim from his days as a mime artist. You may remember his breakout movie role as a painstakingly earnest film extra in Pang Ho-cheung’s hitman comedy, You Shoot, I Shoot. You may have been one of the 200,000 audiences of his series of one-man comedy shows. Or you may have donned one of the million T-shirts sold under his worldwide Cheer U Up campaign. Arguably our most popular theatre artist working today, Chim will next be trying his hand at filmmaking, by writing, directing and starring in a romantic comedy about a salesman suffering from narcolepsy.

 

But before that, there’s still Planet of the Lang Mo, an updated rerun of his hugely popular play He is Kong Girl She is Kong Boy, which takes Hong Kong’s gender stereotypes to their most hysterical extremes. Pairing his extravagant performing persona with director Edward Lam’s intuitive understanding of our contemporary culture, the new production has incorporated the summer’s hottest pop culture phenomenon, lang mo – amateur models who spin the heads of many a geek with their tender years and generally scanty clothing.

 

As we sit down for a chat, I bring up the subject of the promotional flyer of his new show, on which he strikes five poses as a cute-faced, mini-skirted lang mo. I laugh at his outrageous portraits, candidly, before my face is frozen by Chim’s claim that none of them were, indeed, Photoshopped.

 

 

… get people all turned on, right? [Laughs.] You may treat this as part two of He is Kong Girl She is Kong Boy. With it, we’re not just hurling invectives; we’re investigating a core issue in the city. To love, to be loved, to be inept in love, and to be desperately looking for love: these are states of being that are common to everybody. Lang mo, as we say, are only trying to get our attention [and be loved].

 

To me, lang mo are another form of female geeks. They have to communicate with and relate to the world through their photo albums, [a form of] virtual imagination.

 

Exactly, exactly. ‘Lang mo invading Earth’ [the direct translation of the Chinese title] is a shocking incident. As a result, the geeks have become geekier, and they now have to rely on the cuddly cushions [with lang mo images printed on] to find themselves. I parody them by introducing ‘slappy cushions’ [in this production], which people can buy, take home and slap as much as they want. [Laughs.] As a mutated [species], lang mo are a threat to the human rule on Earth. They appear suddenly in this alien form, but if you ignore them, they invade your ideology and change your [moral] bottom lines.

 

As sex is such a taboo in Hong Kong, lang mo are in a great position to challenge that. With their [sexy] photo albums, they’re giving you an acceptable [version of] Playboy, a ‘porn book’ that leaks through the cracks of the censorship system. They’ve mastered our system, mutating into [what they are right now].

 

I think it’s… high and low at the same time. [It’s] low [taste], but laden with subtle metaphors and symbols about the society. [For example,] they say Britain’s Got Talent, I say ‘bitches got talent’. We’re saying that everyone, male or female, is a talented bitch. Some may dismiss us as merely playing on puns, but there are deeper meanings behind it. It’s therefore down to how the audience perceives [our work].

 

As long as they don’t feel compelled to thumb their noses when they see me, I think it’s good enough for me. It’s even better if I can give them a positive sensation. I don’t expect my audience to see me as an artist high up there. I feel like I can enter their lives – just don’t turn me into a cuddly cushion.

 

Or ‘slappy cushion’. [Laughs.] I want them to enjoy and share life with me, like friends. I don’t want to be Andy Lau and live his stressful life. I just want to bring inspiration to people, and at the same time, experience life as an ordinary person.

 

He is Kong Girl She is Kong Boy: Planet of the Lang Mo runs from Thursday 8 to November 1 at APA’s Lyric Theatre. Performed in Cantonese.