'His recent works haven't shown much improvement': Mark Lee jokes he hasn't been giving Jack Neo feedback on his movies

Even if the other party is one of Singapore's most well-known directors, Mark Lee isn't afraid of making brutal jokes at their expense.

In a video uploaded to YouTube yesterday (Aug 25), Malaysian contestant Jeff Tan interviewed Mark Lee as part of his performance in the competition The Star Voice 2022 and local director Jack Neo took a 'bullet' out of the blue.

Jeff, 29, asked the 53-year-old veteran actor and Love972FM DJ if he would "give feedback" if he happened to watch a bad movie by Jack.

“Are you referring to Ah Girls Go Army?" Mark deadpanned, poking fun at the latest movie franchise by his mentor, Jack.

Mark continued: "For Jack's films, we have to be honest with him. So you'll find that his recent works haven't shown much improvement — that's because I've been holding back on giving feedback."

Jack, 62, and Mark are very close friends in real life. Jack's team and Mark also recently got together to create Geylang, an action-thriller featuring seedy themes.

Mark also jokingly explained his stance: "I don't know how to bootlick. I've only tried to bootlick those who have helped me in my work, such as Rebecca Yap or those in higher positions than her. You can't get by without currying favour them because these people like to listen to flattery."

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S7jguDiG-U[/embed]

The Star Voice is a competitive reality TV show that pits multiple talents against each other for the grand prize — being a radio DJ in Mediacorp. 

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Rebecca is a veteran in the radio broadcast industry and is currently Mediacorp's Lead for Chinese and Malay Audio, making her Mark's boss. She's also a judge in this competition.

Jeff's interview with Mark took place in the grand finals as part of a comedic performance to test Jeff's skills as a radio DJ.

As Jeff concluded the interview, he also asked Mark for a tip on how to be good at flattery. 

Mark is no stranger to sycophancy despite his claims that he doesn't "know how to", however, and gave advice to Jeff on how to be a bootlicker.

"The most important part of flattery is understanding what your target likes to hear," Mark said. "Once you understand this, then the target will simply be dancing in your palm."

Fire Henry Thia for insurance issues?

Responding to a separate question on who he would be the closest to firing in his company King Kong Media Production, Mark quickly said that it would be veteran comedian-actor Henry Thia.

Mark explained: "Henry's already 70. When he films a show, there's a lot of insurance that we can't buy because he's too old. It's so troublesome.

"Also, at 70, he should be looking to retire," Mark added. 

"As for Marcus Chin, he's just one year younger than Henry. But even up to this point, he still has market value, so he's still earning money for the company."

That's not to say that Henry isn't turning a profit for the company, Mark clarified. However, the 69-year-old Marcus still holds more value in his eyes.

The interview with Mark is just one of the performances Jeff had in the competition. In a back-and-forth between Jeff and Yes933FM DJ Kenneth Chung, Mark found himself roasted by both.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjfWRZFcpTU[/embed]

"I wrote a special letter to my idol — I need to hand this letter to Mark," Jeff began. "It says, 'I've watched Comedy Night since I was young. If I've any bit of humour in me, it's because I've watched this show. To me, you're Singapore's king of comedy!'

"Mark, please help me hand this letter to Henry!"

Jeff eventually won The Star Voice 2022 and earned himself a one-year contract as a radio DJ with Mediacorp.

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khooyihang@asiaone.com