There's something about Saad Haroon that makes you want to smile, cheer for him and keep clicking on the 'Vote' button when he's among the finalists in an online voting poll. Saad cracks clever jokes, is ever-willing to poke fun at himself and anybody who's attended his shows knows that he's an absolute whiz at improvisation.

Sauntering casually on stage, he'll suddenly corner an audience member and proceed to grill him or her with a series of hilarious, on-the-spot questions. Ten years into his career, Saad knows precisely how to have his audience in rollicks, pack in the punches without offending and most importantly, he's nailed the one characteristic that's imperative to a comedian's career: he's just so likeable.

It is for perhaps for this reason that when Saad ranked amongst the finalists in the Laugh Factory Funniest Person in the World competition, it created an absolute furore on local social media. "Vote for Saad Haroon" became a popular mantra, the message filtering down timelines all day long, tweeted and then re-tweeted by an impressive number of Saad's friends, fans and quite a few people who just wanted to see Pakistan bring in the award.

Saad himself, zoning in on Pakistan from the far reaches of New York, would be up at all hours, thanking supporters and keeping a close eye on the vote-count. "I'd be online all night long because that's when everybody in Pakistan would be up," he recalls.

He might be the second funniest man in the world but Saad will always come first for Pakistanis everywhere

Much younger fellow comedian Ali Gul Pir, who worked with Saad in the early years of his career, and filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, a regular at Saad's shows, were effusive with their support — but so were a number of other hotshot celebrities who Saad didn't know personally.

Photo: Mohammad Farooq

Strings, Ali Zafar, Mahira Khan, Fawad Khan and Ali Zafar all urged their considerable fan-followings to vote, vote, vote now … and Pakistan voted, propelling Saad to a prestigious second-place with a respectable 59,213 votes.

The media mileage generated by his win has been considerable: he's been interviewed and featured on BBC as well as a plethora of international and local publications. He quips that he truly knew he was a 'star' when he made it to the pages of the Daily Mashriq Peshawar. "The bad news is: Veena Malik's son also arrived at the same time and totally stole my thunder," he joked online. Saad's truly a barrel of laughs.

Talking to Images on Sunday, all the way from New York, Saad mulls over what truly brought in the votes for him.

"A lot of people in Pakistan know my work — some of them come to my shows regularly, some remember me from the Blackfish days and there are others who recollect seeing me on TV as part of my show, The Real News. I do think that people also rallied for me out of sheer patriotism.

There's so much to our country, but it gets drowned out by a constant flow of depressing, morose news. The Laugh Factory polls were a way to show the world that there were other positive things happening in Pakistan."

Certainly, Saad put forth the fun, dapper side to Pakistan as he accepted his gold statuette for 'second place', dressed in a slick black sherwani.

"I wanted to wear something that represented my country and I think I was the best dressed comedian there, in my sherwani," he laughs. "I wore it when I accepted my trophy and I also wore it to the semifinals where we performed short comic routines in front of a panel of celebrity judges." This panel included comic bigwigs like Richard Lewis, Maz Jobrani and the Wayan brothers.

What kind of jokes did Saad pitch to his celebrity audience?

"I just had five to six minutes and I wanted to pack them in with a good, solid performance that showed comic versatility. My script veered from the silly and funny to the slightly edgy; personal anecdotes and one of my favourite stories on what happens when aliens come to Pakistan."

And the judges must have been floored for Saad got shortlisted amongst the five finalists who were then put to an online vote.

"There were so many people who were enthusiastic that I could win but then there was always that one skeptical critic who wondered, "Why? Why is he nominated? Is he making fun of us in the USA?" observes Saad.

"You're only as good as your next show and the pressure is all the more now. I am extremely happy and thankful, of course, that so many people stood by me and voted for me, but this is an erratic profession. It has its highs, when I have an intense, crazy schedule, and its low seasons, when there are less comic acts taking place. I am busy right now, with media interviews and working on my next comic act whenever I am free. I'll sleep when I die!"

He takes the criticism in his stride though — it's all in a day's work for a comedian who's worth his mettle.

Saad's quintessential brand of comedy has always peered at the ridiculous side to reality.

"Don't worry, be Pakistani," he's been known to proclaim, before launching into a laugha- minute joke spree, poking fun at the rampant car thefts in Karachi, making crazy wisecracks about terrorism, cocking a quirky eyebrow at desi weddings, reminiscing about life in a convent school, bursting into hilarious songs and leering eerily at a foreigner sitting in a show in Karachi. "We're watching you," he'd mock in an evil falsetto.

Occasionally, he'll make a joke that somebody may find offensive. "I once made a joke about marriages between cousins and some married cousins, sitting in the audience, got riled," he recalls.

Nitpicky online trolls were seen complaining that a comedian representing Pakistan in an international contest needs to speak in the local dialect. Quite an unnecessary criticism — how would the judges understand Saad if he broke into Pashto, Sindhi or even Urdu? Besides, comic acts in English have always been Saad's forte and he's never aspired towards anything else. "You can't please everybody," Saad shrugs. "Some people like to complain and others forget to leave their egos behind when attending a comedy show."

Saad's own ego is yet to inflate. One would have expected him to be basking in the attention and accolades of his win, but instead, he's working 24/7. "You're only as good as your next show and the pressure is all the more now," he says. "I am extremely happy and thankful, of course, that so many people stood by me and voted for me, but this is an erratic profession.

It has its highs, when I have an intense, crazy schedule, and its low seasons, when there are less comic acts taking place.

I am busy right now, with media interviews and working on my next comic act whenever I am free. I'll sleep when I die!" Saad's next Pakistani comic tour is due to take place this December while he's also wondering if the time is ripe to delve into television. His tryst with television eight years ago with The Real News was very successful and he's open to working with channels, provided that he does it his way.

"For me, at the end of the day, it's always been about the art of telling a good, original joke," he explains. "I am proud and happy of what I've achieved so far and I am willing to take it further, as long as I don't have to succumb to stereotypes or compromise on my work."

He's officially the 'Second funniest comedian in the world' — why should he have to change? Come next month, expect to be regaled by yet another bona fide Saad Haroon comic act, the riotous jokes, the corny songs, the candid humour that allows us to sit back and laugh even while surrounded by morbid realities. The laughter continues.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, November 16th, 2014