How did you end up on the show?
I studied engineering and became a freelance web designer. I met Rosie [John Winyu’s sister Rosie] when she and John had just started iHere TV. After Rosie and I got married, I started to help out with technical things. I just got more and more involved until I became Por Mor.
How was the character created?
We were talking about the red and yellow shirts and the joke was they both have a sacred figure to predict the future. Rosie asked me to act as this surreal, cartoonish character. I put on this white shower coat from our honeymoon, sunglasses and the big necklace was someone’s vintage belt. John loved it, so we decided to keep him.
How does Por Mor play off John?
He says what John can’t say. Having more than one person helps tell the story, given how Thai politics are so divisive. Even if we’re on internet TV, where there’s more freedom, we still have to be careful. Our topics are sensitive even if we present them in a humorous way. John is a celebrity; people can misunderstand what he actually means. But me, I’m nobody, what I say is just funny, despite the hidden message.
Have you ever pissed anyone off?
Receiving negative comments is expected on the internet. In every episode, we know our jokes will upset some people. We have to see the joke from a 360-degree angle, consider the risks… Sometimes we even vote on whether to keep a joke. It’s like an acrobatic act; people love it when we take risks, but everyone is waiting for us to fall.
Last year you had a bit of a cat fight with Leena Jung.
Personally, I was surprised. It started with the fact that we teased her in one of our shows. She was really pissed off. We were just having fun, and we couldn’t believe she’d go after small fry like us, but in the end we had to apologize. We did a song for her, as a sorry message, she said it was funny and accepted our apology. I kind of admired her at this point. People need to be much more open to criticism.
Why is the show so popular?
It was new to Thailand. We’ve been doing Jor Khao Tuen for almost six years now but we don’t see anyone else doing what we do. That’s how our popularity grows. It’s hard for mainstream channels to do things like us. We’re exercising our political rights and making difficult terms and situations easier to understand. People support that.
What’s your take on the current politics in Thailand?
We never learn. If you think the elected government is not good, let people know how bad it is instead of having someone who think he’s better come reset the system. Thai people were taught that we’re better. We have to study here, graduate here and so on, as we believe that it will make us better than others. In fact, this makes us weak. The ruling class takes advantage of this to gain power. This crisis would not happen if Thai people realized that no matter who we are, scholars or farmers, every vote is equal.
