Fond memories have resurfaced for friends and co-stars who had worked with the late comedy icon Moses Lim, who passed away on February 11. He was 75.
Director Jack Neo, who co-hosted long-running variety show Comedy Nite, shared a Facebook post mourning his pal and thanked him for being a great partner and mentor to their fellow cast members.
Comedians Mark Lee and Henry Thia, who worked with Moses on Comedy Nite for almost a decade, also expressed the same sentiments.
Mark, 56, told 8world that although rehearsals were tough, the set was always filled with joy.
“Moses da ge loved to eat, so there was always a lot of food on set. Everyone would take turns buying snacks, and we would eat while rehearsing,” he recalled fondly.
Mark described Moses as someone who never acted superior due to his seniority. Instead, he took great care to match the pace and energy of his co-stars.
“He knew that Hui Ge (Henry Thia) and I were newcomers at the time, so he would take the initiative to accommodate us. We felt very comfortable working with him, and he never put pressure on us,” he said.
After Moses was “semi-retired”, he occasionally returned to film English dramas.
He remained humble and open to feedback from directors and co-stars, and always strived to adapt to new production styles, revealed Mark.
Speaking about their last collaboration on 2016 dialect variety series Happy Can Already!, Mark said: “At the time, everyone noticed that he had lost a lot of weight. Sometimes, he would feel weak after standing for too long and needed a cane for support. But he still did his best to cooperate with filming and never wanted to trouble anyone.”
Besides the opportunity to glean comedic techniques from Moses, one of the most unforgettable memories for Henry, 72, on Comedy Nite was helping Moses “change clothes”.
“As he was quite big at the time, Mark and I would assist him in putting on period costumes. I even had to go around him twice just to tie everything properly,” he said.
Henry shared that he often kept in touch with Moses and would send him holiday greetings every year.
However, he had yet to do so this year as he was too busy promoting his new Chinese New Year movie I Want To Be Boss.
“I wanted to invite him for a meal, but I never expected him to leave just like that…” he lamented.