Malaysia's top comedian Harith Iskander enthusiastic about winning Funniest Person in the World

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia's top comedian Harith Iskander (pix) was over the moon with joy and grateful to the thousands who had voted for him in the Funniest Person in the World competition.
Since winning the stand up comedy competition organised by the Laugh Factory, a pioneering comedy club based in the United States, Harith's phone has been ringing non stop.
"My phone has not stopped ringing with messages of congratulations. I'm grateful! Thank you Malaysia!" he said in a Facebook post on Saturday.
Harith said the competition had provided a platform for him to fly the Malaysian flag on an international platform.
"It's time to put comedy from Malaysia on the world map. The Minister of Tourism and the ministry also supported me in a big way. They covered my flights and accommodation which was a great help! I proudly wore the Tourism Malaysia shirt on stage to show my gratefulness," he posted on his Facebook page.
Having started his career as a comedian 26 years ago, he said that it was a tough journey having to compete in the semi-finals with comedy giants such as Brazilian Murilo Couto and Michael Mittermeier from Germany.
He aimed to unite Malaysians through comedy, and now, he can unite the world with his brand of Malaysian humour.
Harith was also grateful to both his fans and the media for giving their full support.
A total of 89 comedians from 56 countries took part in the international competition, which began in August, with the best comedians chosen via online voting.
The top five competed in a head-to-head final in Levi, Finland on Dec 8, with viewers from all over the world watching the event, which was streamed online.
After a 24 hour online vote, Harith was declared the winner with a total of 3,832,654 votes, beating out Katerina Vrana from Greece, Mino Van Nassau from India, David Kilimnick from Israel and Alex Calleja from the Philippines.
Aside from the title Harith also takes home a US$100,000 (RM444,845) cash prize.