EGYPTIAN-born comedian Akmal Saleh has spent decades making Australians laugh and is bringing his special brand of comedy to Ipswich – but the path has never been straightforward.
“When I started, I was the only brown comedian in the whole country. I was scared of that, I thought, ‘Oh, this is going to be bad’,” Saleh said.
“Believe it or not, Arabs weren’t as popular as they are today.”
Saleh arrived in Sydney with his family at the age of 10 and grew up in Punch Bowl. He discovered comedy in the mid-1990s, initially as a way to survive socially and creatively.
“I used to go and watch a lot of comedy. I used to watch it religiously,” he said. “Finally, I thought maybe I should get up and have a go at this. I was really, really, really scared. I thought I’m not going to be able to do this, it’s too hard, I’m too ethnic. After my first time, I got addicted and it all started from there.”
Since then, Saleh has become a household name, performing at festivals, hosting radio programs, and appearing on television shows including Thank God You’re Here, and I’m A Celebrity – Get Me Out of Here.
Despite his television success, he says stand-up remains his comfort zone.
“I’m most comfortable with the solo stand-up – everything else I do, I do to help the stand-up,” he said.
His breakout moment came on Thank God You’re Here, where he beat out established comedians Glen Robbins and Frank Woodley in his first appearance.
“Before Thank God You’re Here, I was relatively well known. I could do little clubs or the Comedy Store and kill it.
Then I did Thank God You’re Here, and suddenly I was doing 700-seat venues and filling them. It transformed my entire career.”
Even comedy veterans have bad nights, and Saleh recalls one unforgettable flop.
“When I was young, I got offered to go on the road with male strippers from Canada called Body Heat. I came out before the strippers, and you could see the disappointment on women’s faces.
“One night in Wangaratta, within a minute they started yelling, ‘Boring! Boring!’ Then they started throwing plastic cups of beer until I was drenched.”
Ipswich audiences will get a chance to see Saleh live when he takes the stage at the Ipswich Civic Centre on November 1. True to form, he teased what fans might expect from the show.
“That’s Pauline Hanson territory, isn’t it? What was my agent thinking! Maybe it’s time to go back to being called Peter.”
With a career spanning three decades, Akmal Saleh continues to prove that laughter, much like life, is about evolution, timing, and never being afraid to take the stage – even if the crowd throws plastic cups of beer.
