Did you know that Singapore comedians Gurmit Singh once slept in a bank, and Mark Lee sold rambutans while still in school?

SINGAPORE: Long before they became some of Singapore’s best-known comedians, Gurmit Singh, Mark Lee, Koh Chieng Mun, and Suhaimi Yusof were earning pocket money and helping their families through a string of ordinary jobs.

The four stars looked back on those early days in a recent episode of the YouTube series Comedian VS special, where they swapped stories about their first part-time jobs before all the fame came under the spotlight.

Their memories ranged from selling fruit around HDB estates to helping guard a bank overnight.

Their early jobs started at a surprisingly young age

Koh Chieng Mun said her first part-time and full-time jobs were both teaching piano. She began teaching at just 14 after earning her Grade 8 qualification, receiving S$30 a month for four lessons.

Her fellow comedians jokingly questioned whether anyone so young should be teaching, but Koh explained she had been playing the piano since she was five and already had the qualifications needed.

Mark Lee’s first “job” started even earlier. He recalled helping his father sell rambutans around HDB corridors when he was about five or six years old. Carrying baskets of fruit, he would call out to neighbours in Hokkien to attract customers.

Lee’s work didn’t come with wages, though. His father kept the earnings, leaving Lee to laugh that he had simply been free labour.

After completing national service, Lee worked at a chee cheong fun stall in Taman Jurong. He also joked about failing his O-Levels, saying he had convinced himself he would become a popular celebrity one day and didn’t need more schooling.

Family businesses and sales jobs helped pay the bills

Suhaimi Yusof said he worked at his granduncle’s nasi padang stall along Arab Street while he was still studying, earning S$17 a day for early morning shifts.

After applying to Mediacorp and waiting two months without hearing back, he took a job selling vacuum cleaners at Thomson Yaohan in Thomson Plaza.

Suhaimi shared that commissions mattered, so much so that he once persuaded a customer who didn’t want a vacuum cleaner to buy 15 bottles of shampoo instead, earning himself a little extra commission.

Gurmit Singh’s weekends were spent inside a bank

Gurmit Singh’s childhood story stood out for a different reason. His father worked as a bank security guard, and Singh said he began helping him when he was about 11.

On weekends, Singh’s father would hand him the keys after the bank closed, and the family would return later to spend the night there.

The family would sleep beside the bank’s safe before leaving the next morning. Singh then stayed alone until his father returned in the evening.

Like Lee, Singh wasn’t paid for helping out either. His move into entertainment, however, came much earlier than the others.

During national service, he joined the Music & Drama Company before being spotted while performing in a Haw Par Villa musical shortly after completing his service.

Success rarely begins with a glamorous first job

The stories resonated because they sounded familiar to many Singaporeans who helped in family businesses, took holiday jobs or worked while studying.

They also show that even some of Singapore’s biggest entertainment names started with ordinary work, proving that humble beginnings don’t limit where someone can end up.

Looking back, those early experiences seemed to give each comedian plenty of life lessons and, years later, plenty of material for a good laugh.