For somebody who has been in the comedy scene for five years and performed at least a 100 shows all over the country, Ahmed Shariff has always felt the need to have a side job. Clean comedy remains his area of focus and he seems to be winning at the game, despite what he thinks! In a tete-a-tete with the funny guy, we get an insight into his struggles, interests and what got the 31-year-old to the position he currently holds in the scene…
At the age of five, Ahmed aspired to be an action hero and idolised Bruce Lee and Arnold Schwarzenegger. “I don’t idolise body builders anymore. But comedy happened when I saw a picture of Sanjay Manaktala in a newspaper and went on to try my hand at it,” he reveals. And unlike a number of others, Shariff practices clean comedy.
He explains, “I don’t use swearwords or focus on heavily sexualised content as corporates request clean comedy. It’s very easy to get cheap laughs with cuss words but a master comedian will come up with funnier things by being clean. A useful lesson taught to me by Jeeveshu Ahluwalia.”
He will be performing on December 21 at the Hard Rock Cafe, alongside some of his contemporaries. And despite having successful specials, he prefers multiple comedian lineup shows!
Like most of his contemporaries, Shariff too is inspired by personal incidents. “It’s just the narration of incidents with opinions and observations on things in an interesting manner,” says the master comedian, making it sound simple!
But alas, that’s not all. He has a side job and feels that comedy cannot be depended on, alone. “I have always had a side job. Business is good, but even the biggest comedian has no guarantee that you will get gigs next month. Juggling is not that difficult,” admits Sheriff, who doubles as an engineering freelancer, so time off is easier.
And what does his family have to say about his stint in the field? “My parents would rather have me be an engineer, but I guess it’s cool as long as I’m earning sufficiently. Also, incase my comedy career stops for some reason, I always have a back-up,” says the comedian who goes to admit that he does deserve to be booed on stage, not once but several times. and has even been attacked by somebody who got offended by a joke!
“A guy got offended and tried to physically assault me. There wasn’t much I could do but sulk, and to this day, I regret not being able to use my martial arts skills on him,” he smirks in conclusion.
