Meet The Expats: Hong Kong comedy troupe setting the internet on fire with hilarious skits
A Hong Kong-based comedy troupe are rapidly gaining new fans after their latest skit became an online sensation.
The Expats have enjoyed huge success with their hilarious take on Hong Kong-mainland relations in a new video, which sees them take on the guise of the “Hong Kong Volunteer Border Patrol”.
Filmed in Clear Water Bay near Sai Kung, the dim-witted duo patrol the beach dressed in military fatigues as they endeavour to track down mainlanders, seemingly unaware of the inherent irony of their mission.
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The video has been viewed more than 40,000 times just one week after it was uploaded to Facebook – making it the troupe’s most successful online video to date.
Illegal Mainlander Apprehended by Hong Kong Volunteer Border Patrol#Mainlander #HKVBP
Posted by The Expats on Tuesday, March 1, 2016
The series’ main actors are Boris Burgess, a 27-year-old Australian filmmaker, and Dave Bridges, a 34-year-old American voice-over artist, who have been living in Hong Kong for more than 17 years between them.
They met through work three years ago and dreamt up the idea for the project, after (in their words) they realised many expats in Hong Kong “take themselves too seriously”. They formed a partnership with Jalal Afzal, a 22-year-old film editor and Hongkonger whose family originate from Pakistan, and The Expats was then born.
Speaking to the South China Morning Post, Burgess said he felt there was a need for a “voice to satirise and make fun” of expat life in Hong Kong.
Aussie Expats Fight Racism in Hong Kong!Subscribe: http://bit.ly/1scMy6GPosted by The Expats on Monday, March 2, 2015
He said: “People are so busy in Hong Kong – you have the business people, the actors, people making money.
“I think people here take themselves too seriously. Part of the Australian humour is to make fun of yourself and your mates.”
He continued: “There was a not a lot of expat comedy here. You need that voice to satirise and make fun of things. We thought YouTube and Facebook would be the best format for it because you can be a little bit more subversive.
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“We satirise the idea of the expat as the misfit. Maybe they are escaping their past and they create a new life for themselves elsewhere.”
Bridges believes the popularity of The Expat’s latest video suggests it successfully satirised Hong Kong-mainland relations, but he insisted that anyone who is offended by it has misunderstood the irony.
Bonza! What a ripper! 1000 loikes on The Expats Facey page!
Posted by The Expats on Wednesday, March 4, 2015
He said: “It is a common theme in Hong Kong – the tensions between locals and mainland Chinese.
“I’m not worried about people taking it as racist. Whether or not we should is a different story. There are always people who take things the wrong way. Making fun of racism can be funny. But our characters are not racists – they are just really ignorant.”
Afzal, who has also starred in the series, agrees it mocks rather than celebrates racism.
He said: “No matter what you do, someone is going to find a loophole. We’re finding the cleverest way to offend people.”
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Other skits in the satirical series feature Trent and Jim-bob calling out apparent racists on Hong Kong’s streets and supposedly promoting gender equality among locals. Burgess and Bridges also take on new personas in their spoofs of expats living on Lamma Island, as they berate tourists for ruining what they see as their home.
Lamma islanders, Shane and Chad, discuss the politics of island life. #theexpats #newepisodes #thelammaislanders
Posted by The Expats on Thursday, October 9, 2014
A final popular sketch mocks the French – the fastest-growing expat group in Hong Kong – in an imagined “How to be French” masterclass.
The troupe has said they plan to continue making the videos but for now they will remain a side project to their day jobs.
Burgess said: “It would be amazing if it went beyond Hong Kong. It would be great to have a television series and maybe a film.”
