QUICKFIRE wordplay is one of the hallmarks of a top getai host. And veteran TV
actress Liu Ling Ling showed just why she is so well-regarded when she foiled
with director Royston Tan at a press conference for 881 last week.

The rotund performer, 43, cracked up the audience of reporters and business
associates of the film when she asked Tan the reason for casting her in two
supporting roles, when there were other prettier actresses to choose from.

When Tan replied: "You have inner beauty", the plump Liu quickly retorted in
Hokkien: "Oh, you like me? You like pui tee bak (fatty pork)?"

However, in one-to-one conversation, the performer leaves her outrageous
onstage persona behind and assumes a quiet demeanour. She listens to your
questions intently, and gives them much thought before replying.

She says: "The performer's life is a sad one. In front of the audience, you
have to be happy, but who knows the tears and sweat behind the glitz and
glamour?"

Liu, who has been in the getai industry for more than 30 years, plays two roles
in 881 - a seamstress who supports the Papaya Sisters on the road to stardom,
and her twin sister, the Goddess of Getai, who blesses performers with success.

She sees a lot of her own past in the Papaya Sisters' story.

Like Big Papaya, Liu also faced resistance from her mother, a former opera
singer, when she wanted to go on the getai circuit at the tender age of 12.

"There are all sorts of people on the scene - some with not so good
background," she says. "Which mother would let her daughter hang around with
that kind of crowd?"

But Liu, who is married with no children, feels it is her calling to entertain
people. "I feel alive every time I go onstage. If people laugh at my jokes, I'm
happy, too."