THEN & NOW: Life of music and great laughs

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Douglas Lim then.... and now

Malaysians are getting a lot of Douglas Lim these days.

This year, he has tickled audiences pink as one-third of the Malaysian Association of Chinese Comedians in the stand-up comedy Infernal Affairs (the Chinese New Year edition).

He has also been the stingy but likable Frankie in the musical Lat Kampung Boy, about iconic cartoonist Datuk Mohamed Noor Khalid (Lat). And most recently, he played Doug, the DJ star of the Dama Orchestra musical production In Perfect Harmony.

While Lim is best known as a stand-up comedian and actor, he started his showbiz career as a singer, songwriter and composer.

Lim took part in Asia Bagus in the early 1990s, performing his own material. That was the year popular singer, actress and television personality Amy Mastura won.

Lim, who turned 34 on Oct 11, started writing songs when he was 16 and studying at Sekolah Menengah Victoria Institution in Kuala Lumpur.

Greatly inspired by rock star Jon Bon Jovi whose songs he finds “very poetic”, Lim also enjoys musicals such as Miss Saigon and Les Miserables.

Lim graduated from the Teachers’ Training College in Bandar Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur, with a degree in the Teaching of English as a Second Language (TESL) in 1997.

A year later, he starred in the popular television series Kopitiam, which marked his entry into show business. Its producer, Ng Ping Ho, allowed Lim to put his musical talent to good use, and he came up with several songs for its soundtrack, most notably the theme song, Empty Decorations.

Lim also wrote the script for subsequent episodes of the series. He has also penned and composed songs for television series such as Each Other, Table For Two, Ghost and Realiti.

He also does voiceover work for television advertisements. Lim is “very much at home” with acting and stand-up comedy and has no regrets expanding to theatre, television and film in the last four years.

In a recent interview, Lim said: “I’ve become a great fan of acting, especially comedy. American comedians such as Mitch Hedberg, Lewis Black, Ray Romano and Dmitri Martin are my inspiration. Music is very much a part of me, and I’ll continue to create good music for local entertainers.”

Lim describes himself as a not-so-serious and fun guy. “What you see is what you get,” he said.