SINGAPORE : Kumar is fumbling with his lines.

It’s that part of the show where he announces certain house rules to observe. This includes no eating, no singing along to his songs, no unexpected yelps of pleasure when his hunky entourage struts onstage, no … He pauses.

But that doesn’t stop everyone at Tuesday’s rehearsals for the show Kumar The Queen from giggling. Not because the iconic drag queen of local stand-up comedy has flubbed his lines (he can easily whip out impromptu quips at the flick of a pinkie, anyway) but because, well, how can you not, even if you know what he’s going to say next?

Yes, many have said that after 15 years, Kumar has grown predictable - the same ol’ lines about aunties and ah bengs, the tongue-in-cheek jibes at the PAP and Chee Soon Juan (in equal measures, mind you), self-effacing comments about his Indian heritage, anything to do with sex …

So, why are we still laughing?

Is it because he’s a man wearing women’s clothes? In this day and age, surely not. Because he’s the only cross-dressing Indian man on this whole island with a ready bag of crass, sexist and racist punch lines at his disposal? Getting warmer.

Is it because he gets away with it?

Bingo. The man himself is very much aware of this.

“I know I’m walking a fine line and it’s all touch and go,” Kumar told TODAY during a break from the rehearsals.

He still performs regularly on Fridays and Saturdays at 3 Monkeys Caf
 at Orchard Towers.

“I’m thinking of the same things (issues, personalities) that the audience is. But I’m thinking out loud.”

“As long as I don’t make things up and don’t name names (it’s fine).”

Not that audiences are likely to remember who he took a jab at when they leave a show, whether it’s at a bar or a theatre. After all, it’s expected, remember? Instead, what will stick in their minds is that someone named Kumar did it.

Kumar, however, is a persona that has grown bigger than the person. Who cares what his full name is or how old he is (for the record, he’s 39) as long as he does what he does.

“If they see me in make-up, it’s no longer a ‘tranny’ or a ‘faggot’, it’s Kumar, lah,” he said, agreeing that to some degree he has pigeonholed himself.

“If I had given myself a (separate) stage persona, it’ll be easier for me to be different onstage and later come out of it and be Kumar. But it still works for me.”

Indeed, if it ain’t broken, why fix it? Kumar The Queen, which will be directed by Selena Tan, brings back he glam cabaret act from Kumar’s previous haunt, the now-defunct Boom Boom Room.

Lots of dancing, naughty innuendos, a trip to India and China - typical Kumar, but bigger.

When he started off in 1992, there ere too many restrictions: “I couldn’t wear a dress or a bra, couldn’t say this, couldn’t say that. At that time, people weren’t ready for it.”

“But they’re more ready for me now.”

Many have said that the novelty factor died long ago. He is now one of us - or maybe even an ideal. Through Kumar, we can poke fun at ourselves and authority, we can dress up and talk down, we can be weird or have - God forbid - a sense of humour.

Time’s up and he has to go back to work on his lines. But before that, he lets us in on another one of his many secrets to longevity.

“If you give s**t, you have to give s**t to everybody.”

The Queen has spoken.

WHAT: Kumar The Queen

WHEN: 5 to 7 Oct; 8 PM

WHERE: Esplanade Theatre

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Channel News Asia

If you thought art had an influence on life - well, think again. The spate of horror flicks this year set in hotels has not dented the hospitality industry.

First, there have been movies like Turistas and Hostel Part II in which unsuspecting guests in rundown motels meet gruesome ends. To add insult to injury, the acts are videotaped and peddled as snuff - as Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson find out in Vacancy.

Then, there are the stories set in haunted hotel rooms, such as the recent 1408 about a writer who survives a hallucinatory night in “an evil room”.

Not to be outdone, J-horror movie Apartment 1303 hurls residents off the balcony.

That’s reel life, but in real estate terms, such stories cut no ice.

Here’s the lowdown: In July, nine in 10 hotels in Singapore were fully booked up, with room rates averaging S$185 per night, up from S$136 just two years ago in the same month. This came on the back of a record 951,000 tourists, beating the previous high set last July by 4 per cent.

Little wonder then that when TODAY asked three hotels - Orchard Hotel, Meritus Mandarin and Parkroyal at Beach Road - if guests have specifically requested not to be put up in room 1408 or 1303, they declined comment. Understandably, with the Hungry Ghost month just over and Halloween round the corner, they don’t want to jinx their business.

But they’d do well to take a leaf from their counterparts in the United Kingdom and the United States, where appealing to people’s ghoulish imagination is actually a shrewd marketing ploy.

For instance, in conjunction with the release of 1408 in the UK, a contest was organized in which the winner got a twin-sharing room for two nights at the supposedly haunted Macdonald Berystede Hotel and Spa in Windsor.

In the US, haunted houses have become something of a cottage industry said to generate US$300 million (S$450 million) annually in revenue, according to a CNN report last year.

“Right now,” said Larry Kirchner, past president of the International Association of Haunted Attractions, “most haunted houses around the country are reporting 20 or more per cent increases than last year in ticket sales so far.”

In Hollywood, several supposedly spooky hotels are actually in the black, cashing in on their spooky reputation.

For instance, the Knickerbocker Hotel, which opened its doors in 1925, and has witnessed its fair share of tragedy and sightings of visitors from beyond. In 1961, MGM costume designer Irene Gibbons leapt to her death from her room on the 14th floor. And the ghost of illusionist Harry Houdini has been spotted.

After closing in 1971, the hotel reopened in the early 1990s with its art deco cafe now attracting regulars such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Sandra Bullock.

Perhaps there’s no such thing as bad publicity after all.

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Channel News Asia

MANILA : A senior Philippine official at the centre of a political storm over a botched US$330 million broadband deal with China faces impeachment by Congress after a complaint was filed on Thursday, officials said.

Two congressmen supported the impeachment complaint against the chairman of the Commission on Elections, Benjamin Abalos, who allegedly offered bribes to ensure Chinese firm ZTE Corp. won a contract to build a national broadband network for the Philippine government.

The complaint, filed by provincial politician Rolex Suplico, cited testimony at a Senate hearing on Wednesday by a member of President Gloria Arroyo’s cabinet who accused Abalos of attempting to bribe him.

“We want chairman Abalos impeached for culpable violation of the constitution, breach of public trust, graft and corruption,” said Suplico as he submitted the complaint at the House of Representatives.

Abalos, a close political ally of Arroyo’s, has denied he tried to bribe anyone or that he attempted to broker the contract for ZTE.

As a member of the independent elections commission, Abalos can only be removed from office through impeachment by Congress.

The rules of impeachment give the speaker of the House 10 session days to refer the complaint to a committee to decide whether or not to impeach. - AFP/de

Channel News Asia