7th Annual Humour Special: Michelle Chong

Sarong Party Girls - Asian women who prey on Caucasian men with deep pockets – are a long-standing fixture in Singapore’s humour landscape. It’s easy to milk guffaws from their fake foreign accents, their colonial hang-ups, and the many ways of nullifying their Asian genes via dyed hair, coloured contact lenses and fake lashes.

But it takes MediaCorp funnywoman Michelle Chong to breathe new life into this tired caricature. As a wigged-out interviewee with an affected slang named Barbarella, she’s a major draw for the parody “The Noose” on Channel 5.

The actress, naturally gifted in mimicry, also plays a host of other characters yet Barbarella is arguably the alter ego who made the deepest impression on Singapore’s national psyche. She even appeared at Singapore’s National Day Parade last year. In Michelle’s hands, Barbarella is less sexy schemer, more lovable ditz.

This scene-stealer wasn’t even meant to be a recurring character but fans and friends who adored Barbarella prompted Michelle to develop her, and the actress responded with “little actions like her signature wave, and speech patterns like how she rolls her ‘r’s and ‘l’s”.

Michelle stresses that Barbarella is a mesh of different attention-seeking wannabes. “Her speech mannerisms are inspired by my observations on how some Singaporeans speak differently in front of Caucasians.” Like some social climbers, Barbarella also has the habit of changing her middle and last names – from Chantel Thomas to Posh Beckham – according to her moods.

It’s as easy to credit Michelle for Barbarella as it is to credit Barbarella for the opportunities she’s given Michelle. “Playing Barbarella has gained me some recognition as an impersonator and a versatile artiste. She has opened another path for me.”

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