Comedian Irene Ang, 39, is back with a vengeance. She is set to draw killer laughs with her latest stand-up show, The Return Of The V, happening from Wednesday to Sunday at Movida, St James Power Station.

But you better get your tickets quick: the first two nights of the five-night run are already sold out.

Following a successful run last year with The V Conference, the 'V' in this year's title stands for villains and victims.

Ang, best known for her role as the plucky Rosie Phua in the television sitcom Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd, will spoof figures who have made the news recently.

So audiences can expect to see caricatures of headline hoggers such as actor Edison Chen and former National Kidney Foundation chief T.T. Durai.

Actor Chua En Lai, whom she dubs her 'male twin', will join in the no-holds-barred 90-minute show, which is directed by Beatrice Chia-Richmond.

Ang says: 'The news gets so depressing these days. I wanted to give people something to laugh about and be entertained. But between the laughs, there is thoughtfulness and poignancy.'

The veteran performer started doing stand-up about eight years ago and finally ventured into her first full-length show last year with The V Conference.

'One of the hardest things to do is to stand up in front of a room full of people who sit there and expect you to make them laugh,' she says.

While she is a natural in front of the camera, a scathing review from her very first theatre foray in 1999 made her think twice about stepping back on stage.

Ang played an Ah Lian character called Fanny Wong in her stand-up show Forever Salah!, which was part of Action Theatre's Stand Up For Singapore! Series.

She says: 'I was very comfortable with being on television - I was born to be Rosie Phua. But the bad review for the theatre role I played was a huge blow to me. It took a long time before I was prepared to take on more stage work.'

She finally purged the demons that dogged her with her show last year. She got audience members to crush photocopies of the review and throw it away.

These days, she busies herself with hosting work - 'I have hosted over 400 events in my life' - and with her artist management agency, Fly Entertainment, which she set up in 1999.

But doing stand-up is at once the most exhilarating and nerve-wracking experience, and it remains close to her heart.

She warns: 'Things would be risky in the show. We will say stuff that people are thinking about but do not dare say.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Nov 4, 2008.