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

Mark Lee was a rambutan seller, Gurmit Singh slept in a bank: Singapore's comedians reveal their first part-time jobs Under One Roof actress Koh Chieng Mun was a piano teacher while Suhaimi Yusof helped out at his granduncle’s nasi padang stall along Arab Street. Before Gurmit Singh, Koh Chieng Mun, Mark Lee, and Suhaimi Yusof became familiar faces on screen, they had surprising day jobs, just like the rest of us. In a recent episode of YouTube series Comedian VS, the four local comedians gathered to share about part-time gigs they took on while still in school in a hilarious, no-filter kopi session. Yes, way before they starred in Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd, Under One Roof, and Police & Thief. Getting the ball rolling, Koh, 65, shared: “[My] first part-time job and first full-time job were the same. I was a piano teacher.” She then revealed that she had already started teaching at just 14 years old, and was paid S$30 a month for four lessons. “At 14 you taught people piano? You scammer ah!” Lee, 57, exclaimed. Turns out, Koh had started playing the piano at just five years old. By 14, she had already achieved Grade 8, making her fully qualified to teach. Lee’s Police & Thief co-star, Suhaimi, 56, then shared that while he was still schooling, he worked part-time at his granduncle’s nasi padang stall along Arab Street, earning S$17 a day working from 6am to 1pm. When it was time to find a full-time job, he applied to Mediacorp but did not hear back for two months. In the meantime, he worked as a vacuum cleaner salesman at Thomson Yaohan, the department store that used to be at Thomson Plaza. Suhaimi humorously added that he was always keeping an eye on the commission, revealing that he could earn an extra 20 to 50 cents from selling shampoos on top of his regular sales. “An auntie came, she didn’t want to buy the [vacuum] machine, so I told her to buy shampoo and I made her buy 15 bottles of shampoo,” he chuckled. Lee again, quipped: “Another scammer.” Lee, meanwhile, revealed that he started his first part-time job when he was only “five to six years old”, a revelation that left the rest shocked. “I stayed in HDB, so I helped my father sell ang mo tan (rambutan). We carried the ang mo tan, then we went along all the corridors and shouted [in Hokkien], ‘Ang mo tan, anyone wants to buy ang mo tan?’” he recalled. His customers were mostly aunties and uncles living in the estate, but Lee also admitted he was free labour. “Got no pay, because father take mah,” he said matter-of-factly. For anyone who has ever been roped into helping with a family business as a kid, we’re sure this sounds all too familiar. After completing his national service, Lee went on to sell chee cheong fun at a stall in Taman Jurong. “I passed my N-Levels and failed my O-Levels. Then after army, I was about 18 years old [when I started working],” he revealed. 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. For more 8Days stories, visit https://www.8days.sg/.