Mark Lee was a rambutan seller, Gurmit Singh slept in a bank: Singapore’s comedians reveal their first part-time jobs

When Suhaimi teased him about not passing his O-Levels, the ever-witty Lee fired back: “No, I don’t want to pass, not that I didn’t pass. Because I know in the future, I will be a very popular celebrity, so I don’t need to study. I didn’t want to waste my mother’s [money on] school fees.”

For Singh, his first part-time job he took on at just 11 years old was also helping his father out.

His father worked as a “bank jaga”, or a bank security guard, and Singh recalled that he would sometimes sleep at the bank as part of the job.

On Saturdays when banks operated half days, Singh would head down to look for his dad. His dad would hand him a full set of keys before heading home to rest, leaving him in charge of locking up the bank and waiting until night, when the family would return, have dinner together, and sleep there.

“[You could] sleep anywhere you want in the bank, so we slept next to the safe lah. The next morning we would all have breakfast, then the whole family would go away and I would be alone. I watched TV the whole day, until at night, my father come back, I give him back the keys, and Sunday night I go back home,” he said. 

Like Lee, he didn’t get paid for that job. 

Unlike the others, Singh’s path into showbiz began almost immediately. While serving national service, he joined the Music & Drama Company. He started his stint as a backup dancer after and was talent-spotted at his first job, a Haw Par Villa in-house musical that he attended on the very day he collected his IC after ORD. 

Watch the full episode on YouTube. 

This story was originally published in 8Days.

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