Channel 5 launched its new programme entitled Calefare on Aug 9, right after the “live” telecast of the National Day Parade 2008.

Calefare had an extensive pre-show campaign that asked “Do you Calefare?” and “How do you spell Calefare?” With all the hype and an auspicious premiere date, UrbanWire marked our calendars and caught the premiere of Calefare.

The first few minutes were excruciating to watch – Gurmit Singh walking in zig-zags around a set and hitting himself with random things around him. We were as shocked as he is in his picture on Calefare‘s blogsite.

Let us introduce you to the Calefares.

 

Andy Lau Hong (Gurmit Singh)

The name itself makes us cringe. Why the name? We don’t know yet but it will be revealed in the episodes to come. He has been in the industry as a calefare (a bit-role actor/extra) for the past 15 years and he wastes no time telling the tale of his career. “When the local TV Station started offering drama classes back in the 80s, I signed up,” shares Andy. *Music comes to halt* You can guess that he wasn’t successful.

Joleen Wee (Fiona Xie)

Joleen is the wanna-be emo chick who’s still bobbing her head to the groove despite the fact that her large red earphones “was like switched off 2 minutes ago.” Speaking. like. this, we wonder how long we can take Fiona’s monosyllablic answers and almost-dead tone. Oh and did we mention that she makes up her own words? “Cooleration,” mumbles Joleen. Her personality reminds us of Raven from DC Comics Teen Titans, who gives one.word.answers.and.one.toned.answers.

Yawn. Next!

Hamsome (Benjamin Heng)

“Hi, I’m Hamsome,” smiles Hamsome as he introduces himself to Joleen. Yet another weird name so you can predict all the ‘bad jokes’ that comes soon after. (Note to parents: This is why you can’t pick a random name for your newborn baby.)

Our favourite scene of Hamsome is when he slaps the lead actor back after being slapped while filming a Japanese Occupation scene. “He hit me!” screams Ben. “He’s supposed to hit you!” yells an exasperated Gurmit.

We shake our heads.

Sanjay Chabra (Vadi PVSS)

Sanjay is a Bollywood actor with 600 films under his belt. A thick Indian accent in tow, he tries to tell the other calefares what to do. Andy flares up and throws every “Shahrukh Khan, Kublai Khan, Gengkhis Khan and Chaka Khan” back at poor Sanjay’s efforts to help him. We’re not amused by the heavy stereotypes that Sanjay carries.

Lay off the accent and the Bollywood typicalities, please.

What people are saying about Calefare

While many on the Calefare forum were unfamiliar with some of the cast, Autowil shares “I know who’s the Indian guy!! He’s the guy who appears on M1 Commercial.. Mumbai dah, India!”

Just to set the record straight, it’s pronounced as KEL-LER-FARE. Sethfann said on the forums, “I doubt Calefare will ever match up to the British comedy, Extras, much less rhyming with Carrefour.”

Goodiegenie considered the comedy hilarious but as for the “impersonation of Indians – oh my goodness, you are asking for a lawsuit… Indians don’t talk like that , it’s a false impersonation of Indians and most Singaporean Indians don’t talk like that.”

 

Catch the second episode of Calefare on Channel 5 on Aug 19 at 8pm. Following episodes will be aired on Tuesdays, 8pm.