Dr. Jason Leong’s Ride With Caution sees the comic delve into a range of topics both timely and timeless, riffing on anti-vax sentiments, middle-aged cyclists, and growing old.
Story
Introducing himself to the stage at the Singapore venue, to enthusiastic applause and welcome, Dr. Jason Leong opens his special, Ride With Caution, by satirizing the politicians’ comic talents.
Thereafter, the comic takes on the subject of aging and having children. Dr. Leong then moves on to the absurdity of middle-aged men cycling without underwear.
Leong talks about his initial success as a comedian meeting the abrupt and seemingly hopeless wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, struggling with the new avenues to continue his career, and juggling family life along with it.
The comic then harps on the Malaysian part of his audience that always bugs him with redundant questions. He then jokes about getting scammed in the past and wishing harm upon the backstabber.
Leong ends Ride With Caution with jokes about the Chinese and their love for pork; a story about harmony in spite of religious, and racial tensions; defying dogma to entertain the small joys of the world.
Positives
Dr. Jason Leong covers a comprehensive list of topics, some of which may be aloof and crude for the sake of it, but also contains some crucial subject matters.
The comic satirizes politics and addresses racial and religious discord, as well as the curbing of freedom of speech in Malaysia.
Negatives
The delivery is drab despite Leong putting visibly significant physical energy into his act. The jokes, with the exception of a couple, don’t land well, or at all.
The anecdotal comedy is rife with accounts that neither inspire hilarity nor manage to engage in the slightest. Jokes like the “Venn diagram” one are so stale and overused, one would expect it from a Twitter image reply under a heated thread, and that would actually be funny.
The socio-political comedy is dull, with no incisive or fresh commentary being made, as elements of the genre are used as clutches to deliver a tirade of unfunny jokes.
Jokes on Malaysians seem to be just disparaging remarks delivered inside a vacuum, while self-deprecating jokes also come across as trite, eventually tying up to Leong’s leitmotif throughout the special — the damn cyclists.
The jokes on the middle-aged cyclists that ditch underwear for better aerodynamics get old quickly and before long, become dreadful reminders of the consistently unfunny affair that is this standup special.
Verdict
Dr. Jason Leong: Ride With Caution is a standup special that delves into a range of subject matters with jokes that seem like they need to be tested out in comedy cellars before finalizing the draft.
Bereft of the funny and the fun, the laughter tracks seem suspiciously edited in during post and carry an energy awfully inconsistent with the visuals of the masked audience laughing mildly to not at all.
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