The Noose is a Singapore news satire sitcom produced by Mediacorp Channel 5, the country's English language channel. It was also one of the most popular Singaporean local sitcoms after Under One Roof, Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd and Police & Thief.
The name of the show plays on the words The News. The show satirises socio-cultural and political issues in Singapore as well as newsworthy local and regional incidents involving Singapore.
The show has received recognition both locally and internationally. It earned a nomination at the International Emmy Awards 2011 in the comedy category. The cast has also been nominated and won awards and commendations at the Asian Television Awards.
Contents
Overview
The Noose is a parody of local news programmes such as News 5 Tonight, with fictional news reports and a presentation mimicking that of the actual news bulletin. For example, every episode of News 5 Tonight begins with a CGI clock indicating the time, while every episode of the first two seasons of The Noose would spoof it by displaying the time using something more mundane, such as a plastic clock hanging on a wall or an alarm clock. At the beginning of every episode, there is a candid disclaimer, voiced by Andre Chichak (portrayed by Alaric Tay), telling the viewers that the stories are not true, most notably by using the line 'Believing us is like believing that...' (e.g., believing that drinking a certain energy drink (Red Bull) makes you fly).
Each episode stars Michelle Chong, Chua Enlai, Alaric Tay and Suhaimi Yusof, with various actors and actresses as newscasters, field reporters and interviewees. The names of characters and issues highlighted in various sketches are often a caricature or parody of a newsworthy incident of the week or are puns on various colloquialisms spoken in Singapore.
Cast and characters
Chua Enlai (Seasons 1– )
Alaric Tay (Seasons 1– )
Suhaimi Yusof (Seasons 2– )
Judee Tan (Seasons 4– )
Michelle Chong (Seasons 1–5, 7– )
Siti Khalijah (Seasons 7– )
Kayly Loh (Seasons 9– )
Gurmit Singh (Season 1)
Personalities spoofed
Waffles Boo (Woffles Wu)
MC Teedoh (KF Seetoh)
Gor Kak (50 Cent)
Leonard Dhua Bin Chee (Leonardo da Vinci)
Kelvin Kong (Kelvin Tong)
Sudah Anandas (Subhas Anandan)
Sam Tamales/Sam Talames (Mas Selamat)
MC Kena Hammer (MC Hammer)
Lady Yahya (Lady Gaga)
Ling Pan Pan (Pan Lingling)
Reese Low (Ris Low)
Robert Downer (Robert Downey Jr.)
Ban Ki Sun (Ban Ki-moon)
John Lemon (John Lennon)
Goh Choon Fung (Goh Choon Phong)
Conan Schwarzenegger Ismail (Arnold Schwarzenegger)
Ecuador Saverin Singh (Eduardo Saverin)
Bukit Brown (Mrbrown)
Sezailee Skali (Sezairi Sezali)
Lance Ah Song (Lance Armstrong)
Ashlee Heesham (Ashley Isham)
Kim Kah-Da Xian (Kim Kardashian)
V Mundramsoothy (V. Sundramoorthy)
Production
The third season began airing on 1 June 2010. The fourth season began airing on 8 March 2011. The fifth season began airing on 27 December 2011 and features topics such as the Mayan Calendar and doomsday and other relevant current issues.
A sixth season began airing on 2 April 2013, aligned with the renumbering of Mediacorp news programmes. Chong did not return to the cast for the sixth season due to a disagreement between Mediacorp and her.
A seventh season began airing on 1 April 2014 (April Fools' Day), with Chong returning to the show as part of the cast and writer for the show.
In 2015, the eighth season was set to be the last season due its lowest ratings but ratings had dropped among Channel 5's programme.
In 2016, a theatrical production, The Noose And Kakis … 11 Months Of Fresh Air, based on the TV series was produced, featuring the original cast and staged at the Mediacorp's building. The production was partly an effort to renew another season, the ninth season. on TV.