Political Jokes Aren’t Challenging Anymore

By A Rahim Khan – 

— Saad Haroon, Comedian

Starting this month, Pique taps into Pakistan’s funny bone in a three-part series interviewing its veritable kings of comedy, who have come to represent, in many ways, a new generation of comedy in the country, one that gets its inspiration from politics, feudal lords and the occasional  inebriated audience member.

Famed for his Black Fish and Shark improv comedy troupes, Saad Haroon has been in the comedy trenches for years, perhaps even having dug them out in the first place. He marked his 10th anniversary this year with a whole new stand up show in Karachi.

Firstly, how did you get into comedy? What’s your background?

I moved back from college in the States and around that time Nine Eleven happened. There was a lot of doom and gloom in the air and I thought about doing something happy, something different. And comedy it was. Basically, I wanted to uncross my comedy legs and show people what I’ve got. In fact, a lot of the new shows I’m doing nowadays, especially to mark my 10th  anniversary are about my early days and how I got started.

You’ve been doing comedy for nearly a decade now, how tough has it been to break through?

Well for one, I have a bunch of grey hairs. When I was starting out, I didn’t know where comedy would lead me, and to be honest I still don’t know where I’ll be but the biggest thing a comedian can do is throw caution to the wind. If nothing else it gives you self belief and can possibly save you from the doldrums of a zero bank balance. You have good days and bad days, but it’s a compulsion at the end.

What was your family’s reaction to your intended career?

Initially, I was working for my father and the family business, just doing comedy on the side at weekends. But I was tilting towards doing it full time. Of course the sound of this put my family through different phases of denial, fear, shock and terror but eventually as things worked out for me, they came to accept it.

Would you say you pioneered improv and stand up comedy in Pakistan?

No, not really. The fact that we were doing it here in Pakistan made it novel but comedy has always been here. Of course, if I had the good fortune of influencing people, I’m glad about that, we’d all like to be remembered in some way but I don’t need any other titles. Honestly, we just make people laugh

What was your first show like?

Back in school I was a horrible student and I guess because I was bored I took part in a play once. I had a funny role in it and I did well but what surprised me the most was that I was good at it. I think that was my first real stab at comedy and what struck me at the time was that here was this thing that I was good at and it had nothing to do with school!

What has been your worst heckle ever?

I really haven’t been heckled yet, people say stupid things on stage but it’s my job so that’s ok. There was this one time though but that wasn’t heckling, that was unnecessary participation. When doing improv, we rely heavily on the audience. Of course, you definitely don’t do a breathalyser before they come up on stage. So at this one show, this inebriated woman comes up and we’re doing this game that requires everyone to stand still. But this lady is moving parts of her body that aren’t suppose to move! She wasn’t playing with herself but by herself. Then after a while she lit a cigarette. It is a moment that no-one will ever forget.

When was the last time a joke of yours fell flat or the show was a dud?

It happens all the time. Sooner or later people barrage you with all kinds of emotions on stage and this affects you but you go ahead and keep at it. Failure is a contact in this career.

It seems that all of the present stock of comedians, yourself included, are coming out from Karachi, why do you think that is?

I don’t think it’s just Karachi. There was Islamabad, Lahore. Everyone was sort of doing their own thing. I guess because we started doing it here, it sort of worked out. People have YouTube now and there’s easy access (actually not with the ban), but back then when we got 4000 hits, we’d be scratching our heads saying, are there even that many Internet connections in the country? I don’t know, I started it because I was bored and unhappy; it was a selfish driven thing.

Do you think it’s expected of a comedian to be political?

I used to end my shows with something political, people loved it. But over time I grew kind of weary of it because if you look at my show now, it’s all cultural because it offers richer subject matter and as a comedian I felt I was depriving myself of good stuff just for the sake of some laughs at a Zardari joke. People want something new, they’ve been hearing these political jokes for the past 40 years but often enough they’re not given an option for anything else, it’s just what the TV channels want them to watch, like Humsafar.

And really, we comedians don’t have to make fun of politicians anymore because they do that themselves. A Rehman Malik joke isn’t a joke, it’s a quote.  Political jokes aren’t challenging anymore. I mean, when politicians don’t see themselves on these satire shows, they honestly wonder what’s going wrong? But comedians need to realise that they are taking advantage of us because if they’re OK with how we’re making fun of them, we’re doing something wrong.

Having seen your comedy, one has often felt that the quality of the jokes really depends on the type of crowd present; if it’s a little low brow the comedy suffers, do you think that’s true?

If the audience wants to have fun, we will. But the corporate shows are hard to do because there’s a vested interest; if they’ve paid for their ticket, they’ll want to have fun. But a lot of the times I think they let themselves down. They expect art to be instantly gratifying, and when it’s not, they criticize it and by doing that we kill it. Even the elite are killing it; they understand what we’re all about but still don’t help out. Art isn’t really understood here and that’s why it’s not doing very well, not for any other reason people maybe offering — like Talibanization etc.

Comedians, like Russell Peters for example, often stick to their best jokes, milking them for all their worth, while others, like Louis CK tend to come up with fresh material in every show, how hard is it to come up with new stuff? Where do you place yourself?

Well Russell Peters has moved on from the initial material but then he did that after touring the shit out of it for seven years.  And then you have Louis CK who’s able to come up with new material in nearly every show,  and it’s amazing that he can do it but that might not have been the case initially. Look at Seinfeld (Jerry Seinfeld ofSeinfeld fame). After the show he quit. Each comedian has their own thing. As for myself, I flip between improv and stand up, so for me it’s been a little easier. I wish I could spend more time on my stuff but it’s often quite a painful process, the writing.

How sacred is a comedian’s material? How would you react to someone using someone else’s jokes?

That’s just blasphemy. You shouldn’t do it. It’s sad. I’m not sure if anyone has done it with my stuff but I do remember this one comedian who did it here with some Mitch Hedberg stuff. I told him not to do it. He lied to me about the ownership. Then he started bitching about me. Apparently, people get fulfilment from bringing others down. For me personally, even if it rhymes with someone else’s joke, I’ll cut it out.

Why English comedy, why not Urdu?

I have asked myself that. Comedy in English or Urdu? But the thing is I love to travel and because of this I wanted to perform for different audiences and for that I’d have to stick to English. Of course, I appreciate Urdu comedy but I wanted to be that comedian who tours the world. I wanted to be the comedian who takes Pakistan to the world, instead of the other way round.

You’ve performed abroad many times, how does your material change? Do you think you’re given more artistic freedom abroad?

I think the comedy I do is similar. But there’s definitely stuff that people won’t get here or there. They have their own sensibilities but the cultural baggage nearly always is the same; as long as the cultural element is in the routines, they’ll laugh. Identity is not a marker.

As to more artistic freedom, I don’t do the ‘anything goes’ stuff that you might see Western comics perform. I have been accused of being culturally insensitive in the past but then again it’s my job to test how far you can push the limits, I will certainly test them.

What are you presently doing and what’s next in line?

This show that I’m currently performing has been on my mind for the last six months and I’ll be busy with this for the next couple of weeks. I do have some stuff in the pipeline but I usually don’t talk about them, so…

But regardless of being a comedian I like to think of myself as a storyteller, and I desperately want to do film. Just have to decide.  It’s this whole commitment thing, you know how it goes.

The writer is an art critic based in Islamabad