Sami Shah review – slick standup is ‘an atheist defending Islam from racists’
The Pakistani comedian riffs on prejudice, Isis and existentialism in a series of cynical routines
Seen it all before
Sami Shah. Photograph: Philip Gostelow
Brian Logan
Wednesday 6 May 2015 10.49 EDT
White audiences struggle to believe, says Sami Shah, that theres any such thing as a Pakistani comedian as if laughter is a western construct. Shah is visiting from Karachi via western Australia, where he migrated (he says) to escape terrorist attacks and random muggings at gunpoint. The developed worlds dangers shark attacks, casual racism, a weeklong run at Soho theatre hold little fear for him, he says.
Thats the schtick: Shah is slick and high-status, hes seen it all before and despite being only 36 is cynical about most of it. The least appealing section of his show describes his pushy parenting and disdain for everyone elses children. Theres also a section unconvincing, because the difficulty is exaggerated out of all proportion on how, as an atheist, he struggles to answer his five-year-old daughters existential questions.
At such moments theres another one about Isis being angry because theyre all so ugly Shah sounds a tad glib and insincere; his misanthropy seems an easy posture. Hes on more solid footing when he addresses his own experience of mutual racial misunderstanding. Theres a fine routine about the supposed higher value of white peoples lives, and another amusingly subversive from a white perspective when he takes for granted our agreement that serial killing is an exclusively white crime.
Its a short set, ending after only 45 minutes. And its not tailored to his London audience: a substantial section is conspicuously Aussie-centric. But when Shah tones down the wise-guy persona and comes clean about his lived reality an atheist forced to defend Islam from racists, as he describes himself at one point it makes you want to hear more.
http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/may/06/sami-shah-review-soho-theatre-london