2016 has been an eventful year. A lot of pop culture icons passed away, most recently Princess Leia herself, Carrie Fisher. But in its wake, the local social media landscape has also given rise to some unexpected but much needed comic relief.

In this article, I shall be listing three of my favourite things to have emerged out of Malaysian social media this year. If you missed out on any of them and their work, I would highly suggest you Google them and have a look at what they’ve done to make 2016 slightly more bearable.

1. Luqman Podolski

The rise of The Podol and his partner-in-crime AdibAlexx started from their six-second videos on Vine (#RIP). They have since leveled up to minute-long videos on Instagram, and with Luqman’s Instagram profile recently amassing one million followers, there’s no doubt that this duo has struck a comedic chord with the Malaysian masses.

They keep viewers entertained by making fun of WeChat users (budak wicet) with a liberal helping of silliness. They also occasionally post original songs too.

One particular song, Myvi, got them a performance spot at Malaysia’s biggest independent hip-hop show Raising The Bar. Go to Luqman and Adib for bite-sized accessible comedy that pokes fun at everyday Malaysians.

2. IjaiCool

If puns were a currency, @ijaicool would be one of the richest people in Malaysia. He’s been running his hilarious Twitter account for years, but I only became aware of him earlier this year. He makes puns ranging from pop-culture references (one that comes to mind was that Usherlamualaikum one. I’m still giggling. You have to check it out, if you haven’t already) all the way to day-to-day interactions with his wife and children.

His clever wordplay and family-friendly demeanour makes him a breath of fresh, positive air amidst the cloud of negativity that often hangs over social media.

Oh, he’s a huge Liverpool FC fan too, so expect digs at all the other teams competing in the English Premier League in his tweets.

3. Hxsm

Twitter artist @hxsm would not be listed as the most visually stunning artists of the digital age, but he certainly is good at pointing out the absurdities of everyday Malaysian life.

The webcomic artist consistently produces simple and funny, yet insightful pieces illustrating why certain reactions of the larger Malaysian public often seem ridiculous to him and to others.

It’s light-hearted fun that would make any participant of Malaysian society reflect on themselves and their daily conduct. Oh, and puns. There are lots of puns to be had, too.
This account, however, is not for the faint-hearted. Consider yourselves warned.

As we move into 2017, I would like to remind myself as well as you readers to not take life too seriously.

A healthy sense of humour is needed to get through life with minimal stress and maximum enjoyment.

Sure, we may differ in certain points of view, but we could all use a good laugh every now and again, even at ourselves because let’s admit it: we can be pretty ridiculous at times.
Let’s go into 2017 accepting that, and understanding that it’s perfectly fine.