On Aug 30, 1990, a young man called Harith Iskander was convinced by his friend Marina Mustapha to go on stage at the lobby lounge of the old Subang Airport Hotel (where she worked in public relations and marketing).
Since nothing was going on at the hotel that day, she told him: “Why don’t you go on stage and tell them your funny stories?”
At that time in Malaysia, stand-up comedy was non-existent, and the only people who were familiar with it were those who studied abroad or who somehow got their hands on VHS tapes featuring stand-up comedians.
Harith himself said: “I knew about it because I had watched Eddie Murphy’s [1983 stand-up television special] Delirious, a VHS tape somebody smuggled from the United States years earlier. I watched it repeatedly.”
So on that fateful day, he got on stage and told his funny stories, not realising that it was the beginning of something new, not only for himself but also the Malaysian comedy scene.
Harith has since gone on to be a star on TV (with the comedy show Jangan Ketawa), stage (both solo and with Instant Cafe Theatre) and film (Anna and the King), had a massive show in Bukit Jalil in 2014 called To Know Malaysia Is To Laugh Malaysia, and hosted his own talk show Obviously Harith Iskander.
He also runs a comedy club called The Joke Factory, with a restaurant Joke & Lok.
“I am growing an audience here,” he said. Essentially he is providing a two-fold service, growing the live stand-up comedy scene, as well as promoting more and more local comedians.
He also has his own webisodes featuring guests that range from activists, politicians, MMA fighters, CEOs and other famous people.
At the time, there were other artistes who were doing comedy shows, but they were not performing stand-up comedy per se. “Onstage, with a microphone, telling stories about oneself did not exist then.”
Harith said that when he was performing at corporate events, people were initially confused by what he was doing, but laughed at his jokes.
Back then corporate dinners usually featured fashion shows, singing and magic shows.
“So I was educating the audience as I was performing. I would say the majority of people only knew about stand-up comedy after 2005, when broadband was accessible. Along with it came YouTube. You could download videos.”
The first official open mic night was organised around that time in the Changkat Bukit Bintang area in Kuala Lumpur by Time Out magazine.
“A group of [college kids] that included (current comedians) Andrew Netto and Kevan Jay organised a show at Actors Studio, and they invited me. They were literally ‘fresh off the boat’.
“I watched them and [invited Andrew] to open my corporate shows, exposing him to a wider audience. That was how the scene began to grow.”
Today, the stand-up comedy scene is growing, with more and more new local faces.
“That is why they called me ‘the Godfather’. Not that I started it, it was because I was doing it when nobody else was,” Harith said.
“I was very happy to finally get to watch stand-up comedy. It was fun and it was good. When you are the only one doing something, you end up becoming complacent. The younger guys coming up kept me on my toes.
“I like the idea of competition. It kept me going and pushed me to achieve better things.”
Harith said it took a while for him to come up with his own distinctive style. He admits he was initially influenced by Murphy’s storytelling style before he found his own voice.
“To find your own voice in stand-up comedy could take five to eight years. That’s just how it is.”
To other young up-and-coming comedians, Harith advises them to be authentic.
“By authentic, I mean don’t tell a story that doesn’t have any connection to you. When you talk about yourself or something that resonates with you, the audience feels it.”
We were talking about his ‘Asian vs Hollywood Horror Movie’ YouTube video that went viral, when he told me the story of a Korean lady who attended one of his live shows.
“She had been [living] here for ten months. After the show she came up to me and said that she had watched my YouTube clips when she was in Korea. Someone had put Korean subtitles on my horror story. She then sent me a link, and there were 1.2 million views.
“She told me her friends had been sharing [it] for the past two years and laughing.”
Hadith was surprised at the response. “I didn’t plan out this joke [in the] hope that it would appeal to a Korean or an American market.
“If I find it funny, then there are people out there who will find it funny. That is the beauty of any form.”
Harith said he plans to do a big show to commemorate his 30th anniversary as a stand-up comedian. “My goal with that show is to [introduce] the second and third generation, and let them experience what it is like to be in a big show.”
When asked if there is anything he would like to change when it came to his career, Harith said: “I could have gotten a better manager. When my wife started managing me in 2011, my career went into an upswing. I was managing myself for 18, 19 years. She does it better because she is smarter. You can never underestimate good management.”
