Richard Low Is Surprised Many Young People Know Him As “Limpeh”; Will Continue Playing The Character As Long As People Want Him To

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When we think of local actors who are really fluent in Hokkien, the first to come to mind would surely be veteran actor Richard Low.

It’s why acting in new Mediacorp dialect drama Whatever Will Be, Will Be was a cinch for the 71-year-old, who plays a financially-troubled Big Sweep ticket seller in the show.

Once you hear his oh-so-familiar Singapore-accented Hokkien, you would instantly be reminded of Richard’s iconic Limpeh character in Jack Neo’s 2002 comedy I Not Stupid.

So when 8days.sg met Richard backstage at Whatever Will Be, Will Be’s roadshow at Toa Payoh HDB Hub — the event drew a massive crowd of around 3,500 — we couldn’t help but ask the actor to say Limpeh’s iconic line just for us.

Jumping straight into character, Richard said: “It’s Limpeh’s business if he wants to say the word “Limpeh”, since when do you have the right to comment on Limpeh?”

“You rarely get to hear “Limpeh” act this out to your face, but now I’ll say it to you,” he chuckled as he snapped out of character, his face beaming with pride.

However, while we absolutely adore hearing about Limpeh, Richard humbly acknowledged that there might be people who’ve already gotten “sick of it”.

After all, it’s been two decades.

It’s why he’s been diligently keeping up with trends, like Tiktok.

“As an actor we need to keep learning new things in order to keep up with the times. We need to change otherwise we’d stagnate and reach a bottleneck. If we learn new things, it will help better and add new elements to our performance,” he said.

RICHARD: I feel like I’ll only be able to try these things if I do it with the young ones. If I do it by myself, it might only appeal to the older generation. The youngsters have really goofy ideas and people seem to like it, so I need to learn from them.

And only the young people are familiar with these social media stuff. I don’t know how to edit to make it more interesting (laughs).

Do you actively scroll through social media for inspiration or do you just play along when the younger artistes ask you to appear in their videos?

I’ll scroll through Douyin and sometimes we can adapt the ideas from there. Usually the younger ones will approach me to do videos with them and I’ll cooperate. I do contribute some ideas as well.

Do you think filming such videos is fun or do you secretly judge the younger actors?

Initially I’d ask: “Huh, why must we do that?” but eventually I realised the end result is better when I just listen to them. I end up trusting them 100 per cent!

Having worked with so many young stars, is there anyone that you see a lot of potential in or really want to work with? 

I think Herman, Zhai Siming really have potential. They’re really natural. Recently I worked with Richie Koh — I’m not saying this only because he won Best Actor (laughs) — I think he’s very natural too. I really like [his acting]. Whatever Will Be, Will Be was the first time we worked together and I can feel that he’s very real.

You’re known for your Limpeh character in I Not Stupid. Are you worried that the younger generation have no idea who Limpeh is?

I won’t worry about it but I’m surprised to know that many young people, some who weren’t even born when I was acting as Limpeh, also know about this character.

But there’s one thing I need to take note of, which is that different people have different preferences. Some really enjoy hearing me talk about Limpeh, but some might get sick of it and ask: “Can you do something else? Why is it always Limpeh?” Some people may find it irritating that I keep repeating those lines.

I think maybe they used to like it and replayed it so many times, and now find it annoying. Then there are those who have never heard it before and might like it. So if the situation calls for it and there are people who want to see the character, I’ll continue doing it.

The third instalment of I Not Stupid is in the making now, will we get to see Limpeh appear in the movie again?

[Director Jack Neo] did ask me to appear in the movie and I only have one day of filming. He said he might want to recreate the Limpeh scenes but the lines aren’t decided yet.

I don’t know how he intends to do it. He often gets new inspiration while we’re on set. Then again sometimes Director Neo may change his mind. Maybe I won’t even appear in the end. (Laughs) 

Were you very touched when he approached you to reprise your role after two decades?

When I was younger I would get very touched every time I was given a role. Now I feel that this is my job. If someone gives me a role I’ll just be happy and think: “Oh, I have a new job I need to focus and do it well.”

In case Richard really appears in the new instalment of I Not Stupid, here’s the iconic Limpeh scene we were talking about: