“Muslim comedian” to some the phrase is a misnomer. Like healthy kebab, or reliable train.
And yet, all three are not only present, but growing and flourishing in the UK.
And we’ve come a long way from the aunties, the cousin-marriages, the spicy food and the accent … oh God … the accents … (excuse me while I have my Apocalypse Now style flashback).
The truth is there are a growing number of Muslim stand-up comedians planting themselves into the general public’s conscious. I mean, Shazia Mirza was on The Jonathan Ross Show! Can you get any more mainstream than that? And though some wear the label of ‘Muslim’ more publically or aggressively than others, there has always been great pride in the community at large in celebrating their experiences.
Now once upon a time you’d have to seek us out. I remember my first solo show. Sixty-five brown faces staring back at me at the Leicester Square Theatre Lounge. My ‘Aatif Nawaz’ posters sitting uncomfortably between John Bishop and Ricky Gervais, It felt like an anomaly, a mistake, a token inclusion. But now … we’re everywhere. We’re on TV, we’re on the radio and we’re even in adverts flogging cheaper car insurance. Gone are the days where antiquated rules like ‘only one brownie and one woman per line up’ were pillars of the UK stand-up comedy circuit.
There was a time, perhaps as recently as 3 years ago, where I’d seldom get booked on a line-up with another Muslim comic because of the long held belief that our material would be “samey”. Apparently it’s all terrorism and fried chicken with us lot.
But the truth is Muslim comedy and indeed the comedians identifying themselves as Muslim have upped their game tremendously. The standard of material, delivery, timing and subject matter has risen markedly in recent years. The sophistication of Muslim-themed comedy has been equally triggered by audiences demanding a higher calibre of comedy. They’re sick of the stereotypes, sick of the hacky material. They want something new and something fresh and by Allah, we’re going to give it to them.
British Muslims in particular have championed so many of our performers that it’s easy to see how mainstream recognition followed. In the past 3 weeks, Guz Khan has launched his own BBC Three Comedy Feed, Bilal Zafar has been nominated for Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Fringe, Tez Ilyas is being acclaimed for his BBC Radio series, Imran Yusuf is a weekly presence at The Comedy Store in London, Sadia Azmat is preparing a new show, Nabil AbdulRashid and Mani Liaqat are about to be on a new TV show and yours truly has a sequence of sell-out shows to perform.
The future is bright for Muslim comics. But then again, so is the present.
Aatif Nawaz is a British-Pakistani stand-up comedian currently touring his brand new comedy show ‘AATIFicial Intelligence’. He’ll also be performing on the MLE Live! stage at MLE 2016 in Manchester 29th and 30th October!
www.aatifnawaz.com
IMBD: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4702108/
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