“If you don't have something clever to say, don't say anything.” Etch those words into the stratosphere like hieroglyphics.
Rishi Budhrani is squinting at the sun, as a dented can of Coke Zero is subconsciously subjected to various degrees of tension between his hands. The power that mantra inspires within him cannot be understated. Even as those words leave his lips, their truth takes hold of him. With brows furrowed and arms tense, the 38-year-old considers their import, measuring his whole life by the length and breadth of their meaning.
Whether or not you're inclined to think of one's trajectory as following the design of destiny, the conclusion is ironclad: Budhrani was built for this. This being comedy. Not the slip-on-abanana-peel-and-fall-on-your-bum kind, but the incarnation of it that puts you on stage, where you're facing an intimidating expanse of seats—armed only with a microphone and the truth you speak into it.
Truth. It's how Rishi Budhrani became one of the most sought-after stand-up comics in Singapore, with a blast radius that includes Malaysia, Hong Kong, the United States, Australia, India and Sri Lanka—not forgetting stints on Comedy Central and Netflix. In all the excitement that surrounds his various accolades as a comedian, actor and host, Budhrani is quick to redirect the conversation to the beating heart behind all his success: his longstanding passion for being true to his muse and rendering it in a voice that is uncompromisingly his own.
His brand of storytellingobservational comedy with a nuanced air of provocation (touched with a glint of profundity and delivered with a disarming ease that illuminates lived experience)—recently brought him to the forefront of local consciousness when he co-hosted this year's National Day Parade, and planted the flag for Singapore-born comedy. This elevation in profile was made even more tangible by his physical transformation into a newly bodied man, one he's
