KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — Being crude on social media can garner you hoards of fans.
Case in point: Harvinth Skin whose jokes fly pretty close to the bone.
The YouTuber has been posting comedy clips since 2014 on his SkinTv channel, which began with two in-your-face skits #YouKnowYoureIndianWhen and #YoureNotMalaysianIf.
The humorous cultural take between the two races has been dissected further in his work.
He plays to his strengths and has built a solid following — more than 160,000 Facebook fans and 36,000 YouTube subscribers, with most recent uploads hitting the 100,000 mark.
Like most reputable performers, the magic is in his expressions, and Skin has one expression in particular he can credit for his rising fame.
Skin is most popularly known for his use of a word that describes female genitalia in Tamil, also considered deeply unflattering in context.
His application of the term has created more admirers than it has haters, who make their presence felt online.
“People are behind their computer screens just waiting to attack. I think they call themselves ‘the woke generation’,” said the Kajang artist, 24.
“They have lost themselves in trying to find fault in everything.”
With increased attention has come stronger criticism. Earlier this month Skin took issue with comments that suggested the funnyman was solely to blame for youngsters picking up his catchphrase.
This quote was made on his next video titled “I’m sorry”, a 13-minute monologue where Skin tackled the topic over on his SkinVlogs account.
“I wouldn’t put out something by mistake. If I put something out, it’s because I want to put it out,” Skin told Malay Mail.
As with all comedians, the material has to hit the mark. Each joke, or script in Skin’s case, has the ability to lose favour or win over more viewers.
What he did next was a potential career-destroyer — he came up with a two-minute cartoon clip exploring the origins of the word.
It was Skin’s best work, his most hilarious output by some distance, and no surprise, his most virally successful to date.
Skin, who confessed he was terrible when he attempted stand-up, said he felt no qualms about publishing videos that might offend an Internet audience.
“The only pressure I feel is if my content is enjoyable. Every one of my videos has backlash. I encourage it to a certain extent.”
The purpose behind it is to up Malaysia’s relatively safe comedy game, he said, playing with language in a way that brings something new to the table.
“I’m just bringing some edginess that Malaysian humour really needs.
“(Backlash) makes me feel like I’m really pushing the boundaries — that’s really what I want to do.”
Skin doesn’t just live online nowadays. His talent has brought him emcee and presenting work where he meets fans.
His videos have spread regionally and over in India.
Despite a background in marketing, he said the biggest obstacle he has had to overcome performing on social media is learning “that I can’t offend too many people”.
Skin’s plan now is to get out and put on a live show, albeit not a stand-up routine as “those memories are too painful to revisit”.
Harry who?
If you are on Facebook and in need of a laugh look no further than Harry Kok Siew Yok — half puppet, half human — or that’s at least what he claims to be.
Harry, 42, comes from Batu Gajah, Perak but now resides in Cheras where he takes care of his mum.
He is unemployed, in pursuit of love, happiness and money.
Besides that, he has a bad gambling habit and dreams of meeting AirAsia boss Tan Sri Tony Fernandez.
He displays a trait of dark humour and on the rest of the days he behaves like a typical Malaysian — making a fool of himself along with an accent that brings smiles to our faces.
He joined Facebook and Instagram last July and has amassed 75,000 likes on the two platforms.
The “people” behind Harry said they’ve had the idea for years but were only able to make it a reality last year.
“I grew up watching, easy to watch, straight up humour that you find in The Simpsons, Family Guy and American Dad but I also liked the idea of taking that narrative and mixing it with reality.
“The idea that a puppet comes to life and experience the very struggles of a typical Malaysian is simply perfect,” they said.
On social media, Malaysians already have Skin and Luqman Podolski to cheer them up and the producers believed a similar concept would not have worked.
“A puppet is the best way to truly stand out and engage with the audiences in a way that’s never been done.
“Harry is a true metaphor of what a Malaysian is. He makes mistakes, unapologetic, has enemies, runs into trouble with the police and is longing to find a girl. No one is perfect and Harry embraces those flaws.”
Despite the fame, Harry’s habits are not earning him enough for a living.
“A lot of what you see is not paid. We’ve just been signed by a company a few months ago who’s been really helpful.
“But I’m not going to lie I definitely want to be making money.”
