SINGAPORE — We’re approaching the final furlong of what has been a very eventful SG50 year and it seems like Jonathan Lim will be having the last laugh in the latest instalment of the popular sketch show Chestnuts.

The actor-director-writer has crammed as much as he can into Chestnuts 50: The UnbelYeevable Jubilee Edition, which opens next Thursday.

“Oh my god, it was very hard to choose! It’s been such a crazy year, so much to keep up with,” Lim said, with a laugh.

But with a bumper crop of events happening on home soil, it also means this Chestnuts — which took a break last year — will be a “purely Singaporean” one.

“No Hollywood movies, no Hunger Games or Avengers and all that, no big touring musicals, everything is about Singapore and things to do with SG50,” said Lim, adding that he hopes this will give the show focus. “As long as you’ve lived here, you wouldn’t have missed any of it.”

So what has the Chestnuts team set its snarky sights on? There’s an Amos Yee “musical”; a sketch mashing up pastor Lawrence Khong’s magic show Vision and the trial of fellow pastor Kong Hee; a “face-off” between Dick Lee’s two National Day Parade songs (Home and Our Singapore); some South-east Asian Games-related moments; nudge-winks at the Pink Dot and Wear White movements; and even some General Election-related moments courtesy of a “game” played by a mix of different guests coming in at different nights.

“We wanted it to be right after NDP and we were hoping very hard that the GE would land before us and, haha, it’s perfect! We were all very excited when the dates were announced,” said Lim.

However, the tight time-frame between the election and the show’s opening has meant he has to play the GE segments by ear. “We kind of have to wait until the last minute to see what’s going to happen. I’m going to see the run on Monday, so I’ll only have the weekend to figure it out. Also, the mood (of the show) depends on how things swing on Friday,” he said, before adding: “It’s a shame we no longer have Yam Ah Mee (as electoral returning officer). I hope the new guy’s funny.”

Joining Lim onstage will be Chestnuts regulars Judee Tan and Dwayne Lau, as well as first-timers Faizal Abdullah and Joshua Lim. Another Chestnuts regular, Judy Ngo, won’t be taking part after having recently given birth to twins.

“But we’re borrowing her Golden Jubilee baby gift as a prop,” Lim quipped.

The show will also be devoting time to spoofing the slew of SG50-related musicals that hit the stage this year, including The LKY Musical and Singapura: The Musical.

“With The LKY Musical, there’s also Sharon Au, who made such big news this year for so many reasons; and Singapura was something that divided Singaporeans a lot. It was tricky to handle, but we found a fun and silly way to do it,” he said.

Writing about Singapura: The Musical — which becomes SingaPinoy The Musical in Chestnuts — was a bit “awkward” for Lim, who had been the dramaturg of the ill-fated production, but left before it opened after disagreements with its creative team.

“Looking back, it was a project that went astray. The simplest reason was they were really just dreaming of Broadway ahead of Singapore, which is okay if you’re doing a romantic story, but it was SG50 and it’s Singapura. They kind of misjudged the local audience. I warned them, that’s why I left,” he said, before segueing into the other musicals he’s set his sights on, which also includes Nanyang: The Musical and December Rains.

“In a Jubilee year where we should have had a string of amazing musicals, we didn’t: One was a dud, one was too straight-laced, one came and left without anyone knowing (Nanyang: The Musical). December Rains was closest to the mark — and it wasn’t even dedicated to this year!”

One of Chestnuts’ regular segments — its hilarious condensed survey of theatre shows for the year — is also special and upsized: He’s riffing off The Esplanade’s recent programme featuring 50 Singaporean plays and doing all 50 in chronological order “in as few minutes as possible”. Lim had asked the playwrights and directors to choose the lines they liked best and he proceeded to string them together. “You’ll feel something even if you’re not a theatregoer,” he said. “It’s like someone poking you with a satay stick 50 times — you’re going to get a response.”

With so many events in Chestnuts, Lim reckoned it’s the most daring edition they’ve done, and he’s still waiting for the Media Development Authority’s advisory. Seeing as no one is spared, there’s even a spoof of the regulatory board, too.

“It’s been a couple of years of very last-minute licences from them, like last year’s Dim Sum Dollies show. But I’m hoping we don’t get a harsh rating because it’s a show I would like younger people to see,” he said.

“But at the same time, it’s SG50 and each of the things (we’ve touched upon) may or may not set off alarm bells. Put them together and, well, it’s quite a bomb!” Mayo Martin

Chestnuts 50: The UnbelYeevable Jubilee Edition runs from Sept 17 to 27, 8pm, at Drama Centre Theatre. With 3pm weekend matinees. Tickets from S$45 to S$65 at SISTIC.