Bryan Wong reprises beloved character in City Beat Rewind with Kym Ng, feels his age catching up during filming

After close to three decades since Bryan Wong and Kym Ng played the beloved characters Zhi Ji Lai and Miss Tan in local variety show City Beat, they are reprising their roles again.

In City Beat Rewind, Miss Tan still has her spectacles and catchphrases such as "Chong tou zai lai (Start from the beginning again)" and "Shen me dou hui (Know everything)", while Zhi Ji Lai remains the uncle with a paunch, moustache and Cantonese-accented Mandarin.

Bryan told AsiaOne in an interview recently: "Reprising the role [of Zhi Ji Lai] is kind of fun, but at the same time we're asking ourselves, how did we do it then?"

The 55-year-old local actor-host recounted he used to spend about 12 hours filming each episode of City Beat in the 1990s, working together with Kym, Sharon Au and Lina Ng to play different characters in the skits presented in the show, which gave recommendations on food and recreational places.

"I can't help but compare, the last time I put on the moustache and fake tummy, I played the character for an entire day and at the end of the day after filming, I could still go and sing karaoke with them into the wee hours of the night," he recounted.

"For the new City Beat Rewind, Kym and I were still filming for a good 10 hours, playing skit after skit, but oh my god, I am not just mentally but also physically tired. Age is not just a number, but a reality."

City Beat Rewind is a 10-episode micro-entertainment programme featuring senior Zhi Ji Lai (Bryan) and property agent Miss Tan (Kym) as the latter introduces him to active ageing in Singapore through fun and engaging interactions at Active Ageing Centres and in the community, while discovering health management, caregiver support and community resources. They also learn practical ways to prevent frailty, eat well, as well as stay mentally and physically active.

Age aside, Bryan told us he was really happy to be working with Kym again to reprise their characters for the show.

He shared: "We started reminiscing the times when we were filming this show [all those years ago] and it brought out a lot of memories."

He added it was a nice feeling to be able to present this programme to audiences who had grown up with them over the years and to know that it brought back good memories for them.

Looking at the episodes that are now released, Bryan shared: "When I saw the end product with all the effects added to it, [I feel that] it is something old but presented in a current manner.

"But the two characters stay true to their core in terms of their pattern of speech and movements. Fortunately, it's not so difficult for me to reprise the role, because back then it was a young me playing an old man, and now it's an old man playing an old man."

City Beat Rewind is now available on Mediacorp Redian TikTok account, Mewatch, as well as Mediacorp Entertainment YouTube channel.

Bryan's new drama Keep It Down will premiere on Oct 19 on Mewatch and Channel 8, airing weekdays at 9pm.

The series tells the story of urologist Tang Yijun (Paige Chua), who struggles with physical intimacy after a traumatic encounter in the past with serial exhibitionist Ong Khe Hui (Bryan).

She works closely with psychotherapist Zac Lee (Romeo Tan) and gynaecologist Lam Weikang (Desmond Tan), trading insights on interdisciplinary cases. After navigating treatment and surgery with Weikang who is diagnosed with testicular cancer, Yijun finds her friendship with him gradually developing into something more.

By a cruel twist of fate, Khe Hui becomes Yijun's patient after he is diagnosed with life-threatening penile cancer. As she suppresses her trauma to operate on and provide him with professional care, Khe Hui realises that Yijun is one of his former victims and launches a medical malpractice lawsuit against her.

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