Ho Ho Hong Kong (2025)

20/02/2024

We rarely post about our podcast, Ho Ho Hong Kong. It has been running for over 4 years, and it's a really fun listen. It's hosted by comedians Vivek Mahbubani - Comedian 棟篤笑 and Mohammed Magdi , produced by Backstage Comedy and it's available on all podcast platforms for free. Every week we chat about what's happening in Hong Kong, the drama, the whacky stuff, and what makes the city we call home so unique 🌇🇭🇰

The podcast has consistently been in the top spots on the Apple Podcasts standup charts in Hong Kong, which makes us very happy and proud of the work we do.

If you haven't listened before, check it out! 🎧
Apple podcasts: https://t.ly/3F5z3
Spotify: https://t.ly/tvSSN
Direct listen/download: https://hohohk.podbean.com/

25/04/2022

#102 - The reality of Shanghai lockdown with Jorge Castellanos

Apple podcasts: https://apple.co/3vdfk2j
Spotify podcasts: https://spoti.fi/3MrS1r3
YouTube: https://bit.ly/3vdSLdP
Direct listen/download: https://bit.ly/3LikQpO

Shanghai is still under arguably the world's most strict Covid lockdown since the pandemic began. Some residents have been locked inside their apartments for over 50 days. Amid news of food shortages, internet censors taking down posts of frustrated citizens, Shanghai residents are keen to have their voices heard.

We talk to Jorge Castellanos, standup comedian based in Shanghai. Jorge owns two businesses, he's married to a Chinese citizen and has been in lockdown in over a month now.

Support us to keep making the show by joining us on Patreon where we post weekly bonus eps every Thursday. This week we talk to Jorge in Shanghai about the "other" stories we heard of about the Shanghai lockdown, why he's not willing to leave Shanghai just yet and what his day-to-day life under lockdown is like https://www.patreon.com/hohopod

19/04/2022

#101 - When is the best time to donate your organs? With Dr. Krishnaa Mahbubani

Apple podcasts: https://apple.co/3rwWEbd
Spotify podcasts: https://spoti.fi/3xzRPC3
YouTube: https://bit.ly/37qXyiR
Direct download/listen: https://bit.ly/3rXdUHd

Family drama alert! Vivek's sister made it to Hong Kong literally a few minutes before her PR expired, we take the opportunity to catch up with her with one simple goal in mind: Understand what she does for a living.

Dr. Krishnaa Mahbubani tries her best to dumb it down to us, and before you judge us, here's one of her bios:

Krishnaa completed her PhD in Chemical Engineering at Cambridge University, and after a period there as a Post-doctoral scientist, moved to the Department of Surgery as a research associate and is applying her engineering expertise to develop methods to extract tissue resident lymphocytes, and design a single semi-automated tool to extract the lymphocytes efficiently. Her other interests are in the fundamentals of cryopreservation, with a focus on understanding the relationship between ice nucleation and post-thaw cell viability.

Join us on Patreon for weekly bonus eps every Thursday. This week Mohammed plays a game show host and tests the Mahbubani siblings' bond with some really fun questions https://www.patreon.com/hohopod

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/3va7Hbn

Buy us a coffee/chai latte: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/hohopod

12/04/2022

#100 - Special outdoors episode at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Park

Apple podcasts: https://apple.co/3Mf0RZp
YouTube video: https://bit.ly/3O7DMcz
Spotify podcasts: https://spoti.fi/3uxczbJ
Direct listen/download: https://bit.ly/3uvFUDc

We made it to episode 100! Yup, we can't believe it either. For the 100th episode, we pack our equipment and head to Sun Yat-sen Memorial Park in Sai Ying Pun. We riff on everything happening around us at the park, chat to a couple of people, Vivek Mahbubani - Comedian 棟篤笑 gives an update on his sister's dramatic journey to come back to HK from the UK before her PR expires, and we launch our YouTube channel!

Join us on Patreon for weekly bonus eps every Thursday. This week in a special video edition, we chat about our favorite childhood memories, and who would be our dream guests to have on the podcast https://www.patreon.com/hohopod

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/3va7Hbn

Buy us a coffee/chai latte: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/hohopod

Leave us a review: (please!) https://www.ratethispodcast.com/hohohkpod

28/03/2022

#98 - Hong Kong to cut quarantine for inbound travelers to one week, where is everyone going?

Apple podcasts: https://apple.co/36VVDlT
Spotify podcasts: https://spoti.fi/3wDgC7M
Direct download/listen: https://bit.ly/3tKv3Vz

As of April 1, Quarantine for travelers coming into Hong Kong will be cut to 1 week, which means we can probably start making plans for some summer travels! We chat about our favorite travel destinations, share some fun traveling stories and what would our first trip ideally look like.

Check out the episode wherever you get your podcasts and if you're enjoying it, please share with a friend!

22/03/2022

#97 - The government is set to ease the restrictions. What would a ”relaxed” Hong Kong look like?

Apple podcasts: https://apple.co/3N7uPzF
Spotify podcasts: https://spoti.fi/3qqZ9vc
Direct download/listen: https://bit.ly/3ueRIbL

HK CE "feels" like Hong Kongers' tolerance for the harsh anti-epidemic measures is "fading" .. after more than 2 years. So she said they would review the policies and ease up some of the harsh measurements over the next few days. We try to jump the gun and predict what would the new "relaxed" HK be like.

Join us on Patreon for weekly bonus eps every Thursday. This week we chat about cancel culture, internet warriors and priorities gone out of whack https://www.patreon.com/hohopod

Buy us a coffee/chai latte: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/hohopod

15/03/2022

#96 - Hong Kong spent 150 million HKD on an emergency alert system that almost gave everyone a heart attack

Apple podcasts: https://apple.co/3I3wJxj
Spotify podcasts: https://spoti.fi/3tVr9Ih
Direct download/listen: https://bit.ly/3Jc6q9N

This week on HK shenanigans, the government decided to use their swanky emergency alert system (which reportedly costed 150 million HKD) to send everyone in the city an emergency alert to their mobile phones. Was a rogue Russian nuclear missile on the way to kill us all? Did someone escape their 5-star staycation at the luxurious resort of Tsing Yi isolation facility? Is there a hamster on the run?

We also get into our HK pet peeves, why Vivek hates the outdoors and why we don't fact-check anything we say.

Check it out right now on your favorite podcast app, and if you're enjoying it, please consider supporting us on Patreon for 5$ a month, you get extra weekly bonus content and a few other goodies, and you get to support two struggling comics to continue to do what they like to do during these difficult times!

09/03/2022

#95 -Hong Kong hits a new peak of over 50,000 Covid infections in one day, and why you shouldn’t lick the MTR door?

Apple podcasts: https://apple.co/3sLKQ62
Spotify podcasts: https://spoti.fi/3Clpe3J
Direct download/listen: https://bit.ly/35QovLI

It's week 3 of no guests allowed in our studio thanks to Covid precautions and restrictions, and we go all out on this one. We discuss everything from bananas to weird fruits that no one is buying, the new "The Batman" movie (no spoilers!) and HK hitting a new high of over 50K Covid infections in a single day to the lady who decided to give the MTR door a nice wipe with her tongue*, a cool hack we discovered at the HSBC ATM machine, flossing and a lot more general HK absurdity.

*No microphones were licked in the making of the cover photo.

Join us on Patreon for weekly bonus eps every Thursday. This week we share our favorite online games, apps and activities that we have been playing with our friends while we're all isolated in our respective homes. https://www.patreon.com/hohopod

Buy us a coffee/chai latte: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/hohopod

02/03/2022

#94 - Everyone in Hong Kong is jumping ship!

Apple podcasts: https://apple.co/35rYkLk
Spotify podcasts: https://spoti.fi/3vwPPJD
direct download/listen: https://bit.ly/3tpgrtk

Hong Kong just saw the highest number of its residents ever leave over the course of a week, over 27,000 residents, locals and expats left with one-way tickets with no plans to return. With the government doubling down on its Covid zero policy, mass testing is about to roll out, we're still here trying to deal with whatever is coming our way. Vivek Mahbubani - Comedian 棟篤笑's sister is trying to come back from the UK with no luck, Mohammed Magdi can't leave as moving his dog out of HK has become extremely costly, and somehow the world just gotten a whole lot worse with Russia declaring war on Ukraine. We go through it all.

Join us on Patreon for weekly bonus eps every Thursday. This week we share our different ways to find motivation through the mess that is Hong Kong at the moment https://www.patreon.com/hohopod

Buy us a coffee/chai latte: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/hohopod

21/02/2022

#93 - Why is Hong Kong handling the Covid situation so badly?

Apple podcasts: https://apple.co/3sTsdfw
Spotify podcasts: https://spoti.fi/3p1InCe
Direct listen/download: https://bit.ly/356STRD

Under the current restrictions, it's illegal for us to have a guest in our studio (Vivek's living room), so we take this opportunity to discuss what went wrong with Hong Kong's handling of the pandemic.

There has been a lot of frustration and confusion in the community about how badly the Covid situation is being managed, we try to understand why that happened, how we got there and our insane ways to stay sane during these difficult times.

If you're enjoying the podcast and you'd like to support, you can leave us a review on Apple podcasts/Spotify podcasts. You can share the episode with a friend, or you can buy Vivek Mahbubani - Comedian 棟篤笑 and Mohammed Magdi a coffee/chai latte here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/hohopod
Or you can join us on Patreon for weekly bonus eps every Thursday. This week we go through the timeline of all Covid-related events in Hong Kong since the beginning of 2022 and we give our comments on each event, including the crowd pleaser: "the infamous birthday party" https://www.patreon.com/hohopod

Ho Ho Hong Kong

20/02/2024

25/04/2022

19/04/2022

12/04/2022

28/03/2022

22/03/2022

15/03/2022

09/03/2022

02/03/2022

21/02/2022

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