KUALA LUMPUR: Comedian Muhammad Saiful Azam Mohamed Yusoff said when he first joined comedy group Senario, he received thousands of hate mail from the group's fans.
In a Harian Metro report yesterday, the 55-year-old artiste popularly known as Saiful Apek, said he was told by them to just focus on hosting entertainment magazine show 'Melodi', which he co-hosted with Fauziah Ahmad Daud then.
"I remember, at one time, I received two sacks of mail, most of which were hate mail. I remember shedding tears while reading them, which claimed I wasn't funny enough to be with the group.
"That was the first wave of 'circle of haters' which I had to deal with then, long before the existence of critical netizens on social media today.
"And that was probably how I learned to face haters on the internet now," he said.
That too had made him believe that talent alone is not enough for one to succeed in the arts field.
One also needed to be strong enough to face 'haters' especially on social media today.
Other members of the group which was established 28 years ago include Azlee Jaafar, Wahid, Lan Pet Pet, Ilya and Yassin Yahya.
Another former member, Hamdan Ramli passed away last June.