In focus: Stand up guys

Published August 24, 2014
Saad Haroon, Saad Haroon photos: Mohammad Farooq
Saad Haroon, Saad Haroon photos: Mohammad Farooq

Many would say that having a sense of humour in a time of crisis is what helps you survive. For a country like Pakistan — caught between political chaos and Televangelists trying to stuff mangoes down people’s throats — nothing could have been more true.

But there are times when that laughter is kept in check by the omnipresent violence and increasing intolerance in the country. You slowly learn to retreat and stay quiet. Eventually, you find yourself not laughing at all. Does this disturb anyone enough for him or her to do something about it? Fortunately, yes it does.

“Karachi is something everyone has an opinion on.” — Akbar Chaudhry


The art of comedy is unpredictable but those who practice it say the rewards more than make up for the challenges


Junaid Akram
Junaid Akram

Saad Haroon, a standup comedian for over 10 years and creator of the popular video sketch called Burka Woman, states that there is an acute need for more laughter. “A lot of my jokes are about terrorism and being robbed,” he says. “Karachi gives you a lot of dark and grim stuff that you can use to show the lighter side of a particular situation.”

Akbar Chaudhry, another standup comedian who is now working with an improvisational comedy troupe called LOL Waalay is the newest comedian to join the likes of Haroon and Danish Ali. He has been performing for over six years.

“A standup comedy performance is a very personal thing but when you’re telling a joke, you’re drawing upon a common board of knowledge that you share with the audiences,” explains Chaudhry.

Haroon, who is credited with starting the first improvisational comedy troupe in Pakistan, called Blackfish, says you can’t get away with talking about just anything in the country. “When I first started doing this, my immediate desire was to bring in more laughter in a society that was sad and my second instinct was to bring in things that needed to be talked about,” he says. “But when you talk about things that people don’t like, they will be very vocal about it.”

“In Dubai, the worst thing that could happen is that you get jailed and deported. In Pakistan you can lose your life.” — Junaid Akram


“Sometimes event organisers don’t want you to talk about certain things and at the end of the day, you don’t want to tick people off because you never know who in the audience might belong to a certain political party or a religious group.” — Junaid Akram


While Haroon, Chaudhry and several other comedians are on the quest to find ways to make audiences see the lighter side of things, self-censorship is one issue that has almost unanimously plagued everyone who has tried his/her hand at this medium.

Akbar Chaudhry
Akbar Chaudhry

Junaid Akram, who started as a standup comedian in Karachi, has now moved to Dubai. He, however, has yet to consider standup comedy as a full-time job.

“In Pakistan, you can’t talk about sex,” says Akram, explaining the need to self-censor. “You can’t talk about politics. Sometimes event organisers don’t want you to talk about certain things, and at the end of the day you don’t want to tick people off because you never know who in the audience might belong to a certain political party or a religious group.”

Akram recalls how he was forced to leave the stage once at a performance when someone in the audience reacted strongly to him making a borderline religious joke. “I have now narrowed it down to a point where I only talk about myself and make fun of my own miseries,” he says. “Nobody has anything on me and they won’t be mad if I only make fun of myself.”

While self-censorship is an issue that keeps the content of most of the comedians in check, it does not appear as the biggest problem in their list of concerns.

“My Photoshop skills have been greatly enhanced by my desire to illustrate humour.” — Akbar Chaudhry

While most of these comedians are known for performing in front of a live audience, there are other mediums that they have also taken to in order to expand their reach.

“I have dedicated a significant amount of my life to making memes,” says Chaudhry, commenting on how a number of comedians keep a strong presence on social media to maintain their popularity.

Akram also feels strongly about social media. “This friend of mine was after me to make online videos but I kept putting it off thinking who would ever watch them. But one day we made a video and it went crazy. We even got hits from Somalia,” he says, adding that he intends to blog about how YouTube changed his life.

However, Haroon feels that social media should be used with some amount of caution. “Social media is a new thing and it provides instantaneous gratification to a desire to be wanted. But does it serve a larger purpose for people who want to be known for their body of work? If you call yourself a Twitter artist, then yes, but if you call yourself a comedian, then no.” He feels the time spent posting on Twitter can be been better utilised writing jokes for a show, which is what eventually earns the artist his bread and butter.

“What you can’t do is resort to risqué content just to please your audiences.” — Akbar Chaudhry

From improvisational troupes and standup comedy to online videos and memes, what is the one thing that Pakistani comedians credit as being the single-most important factor in the kind of work they do? For many, it is content.

“The general comedian etiquette is to come up with an hour of content every year,” says Chaudhry. “What you can’t do is resort to risqué content just to please your audiences. You need to retain your integrity.”

Akram feels the same way and says that he always insists on getting the middle spot in performances so that he can gauge what content is working for the audiences.“The idea is to be very current and up-to-date. You need to read a lot,” he says.

“Fortunately, living in Pakistan you have a lot of funny news to work with so you’re never short of material,” Chaudhry adds.

Meanwhile, Haroon asserts that he doesn’t like spoon-feeding his audiences. “Sometimes people just want to hear a joke and not really think about it and that’s fine but I want them to meet me halfway,” he says. “One can always go to 9gag.com for that easy laugh.”

“I still have this joke where I tell people that I’m a comedian and they go like, ‘Oh, so what does your daddy do’?” — Saad Haroon

The rise in the artists’ individual popularity, however, does not mean that the comedy scene is blossoming in Pakistan. In fact, the reality is far from it. A number of aspiring comedians are still put off by the fact that pursuing standup comedy translates into giving up a steady stream of income whereas the volatile security situation makes planning for shows and events difficult.

Akram feels that it’s this lack of financial stability that stopped him from taking comedy up full-time. “It never paid me,” he says. “In fact, I had to pay my friends to attend my shows in Karachi. I kept at it because I knew that it was just the beginning.”

Unpredictable though as the scene might be, almost everyone who takes it up says the experience makes up for the challenges of pursuing the art. “My job is to make people laugh and make them feel like they can come out to a comedy show and be a part of something,” says Haroon. “It’s exhilarating. How many people can say that about their work?”

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, August 24th, 2014

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