It works: you simply can't imagine the glowering Lee brandishing a spice rack on kids TV. His films exude an infectious good humour, a characteristic he cultivated 22 years ago to escape being called the new Bruce Lee and establish himself as the ultimate martial arts actor.

He has, after all, spent the past two decades playing up to the camera as bumbling figures remarkably skilled in acrobatics and kung fu, becoming Asia'a number one celebrity and winning an MTV lifetime achievement award in 1995 in the process. The incongruity is delicious.īut then, maybe Chan's irrepressible appearance on the Saturday morning kids TV programme SM:TV isn't that strange. He's known throughout the world as an invincible martial arts action hero. Soon he will be the man with the prizes at spoof game show The Spice is Right, making the production crew laugh with his cheeky display of nail-painting kits and toy karaoke machines. The kids in the audience wish he was still dancing jelly-legged beside Spices Posh, Baby and Sporty, and wonder when the next basket of sweets is coming round.

In between getting her to feel the hole in his skull, punctured when a stunt went near-fatally wrong, and laughing over his fear of horses, he relates how his parents nearly sold him at birth for £120. J ackie Chan, introduced as the world's 'biggest and bestest movie star' grins as SM:TV presenter Cat Deeley whizzes questions light as frisbees at him.

Jackie chan film record takes