Side-splitting outing with comedian Burr

IT'S common for travellers to do their research on the Internet before they visit a foreign country; in Singapore for instance, they might want to Google beforehand to learn that Sim Lim Square sells iPhones with contracts drawn up by the Devil and rat meat is not a steamboat delicacy.

Likewise, Bill Burr is already clued in about the ins and outs of our Garden City even before he has set foot here. "I have heard that Singapore is beautiful, the people are friendly and that it is really clean," the American stand-up comedian says, via an e-mail interview, "I also know that you can get caned (so) I'm going to try and avoid that."

The subject of corporal punishment here was in fact a topic the 46-year-old brought up in an episode of his popular and ongoing weekly Bill's Monday Morning Podcast after he watched a video of a prisoner getting whipped online.