DJs, TV hosts and novelty boy-band extraordinaire, “I Love You Boyz” are Donald Tong (left) and Jim Yan (right). They talk to June Ng about the art of satire and how to get goofiness to pay the bills.

We are both the only children in our families. Donald grew up in Hung Hom and was always worried he might become a triad. I was a Hong Kong Islander and my most remarkable experience was going to Mong Kok on my own for the first time.

People who live on the island share the same feelings—it feels more privileged to live on Hong Kong Island, and we think Kowloon is so far away.

It was destiny that we met each other and became partners. We’re like brothers now. There’s me and my retarded brother, Donald.

Sometimes you get along naturally with a someone, and sometimes you just can’t talk to certain people. That doesn’t mean you hate them. It’s all about compatibility.  

We’re two happy goofballs. But turning goofiness into a career is an art.

We take our references from many Japanese shows. Actually, there are a lot of Japanese values we can learn from.

They devote their entire lives to excelling in just one thing.

When we first started, we were amateurs. But we were lucky. We paved our way through all the amateurs and became experts.

In the past it was much harder to become a radio DJ. Now everyone can be a DJ with the Internet, even Longhair.  

People shouldn’t work in the same job for more than five years—isn’t it horrid to think that on the day you die, you could realize you’ve only ever worked in one place? That said, we’ve been DJs for more than 10 years.

Radio is different. It’s not a nine-to-five job and it’s so diverse. We cross-dress and stuff. But imagine being an accountant; there must be a million terrible things in your job you don’t want to do. 

We’re idols and quite influential ones at that. We want to be role models and we won’t do anything bad—that’s important, considering how many idols are corrupt these days.

Our craziest fans claim to be our wives. They send us letters saying they’re waiting for us to come home for dinner.

If you have to really pursue a girl to get her, then it’s not worth it.
People who are mutually attracted to each other will get the signal. Couples shouldn’t be together just because one person is being extra nice to the other.

We don’t have any racial preferences when it comes to dating—but in terms of sexual fantasies, Japanese girls would be preferred.

In Hong Kong we have so many legislators, but they only come out when something happens, and then they pretend to be prophets and say, “I saw that coming.”

Hongkongers are the most evolved species in the world. We’re so adaptive to change. Once we’ve gone through one disaster, nothing can scare us. People still buy stock, even after they’ve been through
a massive market crash.

It would be nice to get into politics and set up some new legislation. For example, there should be a ban on men jogging in the park topless. It’s gross.

Or maybe we should forbid banks to open in Central. The problem with Hong Kong is that everything is so centralized. It’d be better to have more even development in all districts.

The basic principles of show business haven’t changed throughout history. If you’re really, really handsome, people will be a lot more tolerant of you.

Edison Chen will make a comeback for sure. It’s only the grown-ups who think the nude photos were gross. Maybe kids will see him as a hero and after 20 years, they’ll be doing the same thing as him.