Nazeem Hussain

Nazeem Hussain (born 21 April 1986) is an Australian comedian, actor and radio presenter of Sri Lankan descent. He is best known as one half of comedy duo Fear of a Brown Planet, along with Aamer Rahman and creator and star of comedy show Legally Brown.

Early life

Hussain’s Muslim^[1] parents grew up in Sri Lanka. After his parents got married they moved to Australia in the 1970s.^[2] At the time, his mother, Mumtaz Hamid, had never left Sri Lanka before.^[3]

Hussain was born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.^[4][5][6] He is the second child of three children.^[2] He has two sisters,^[7] his younger sister Azmeena Hussain,^[8] (born 1987) is a lawyer.^[9]

Hussain attended Melbourne High School. He graduated with a degree in Law at Deakin University.^[10]

Hussain started off performing comedy informally in his mid-teens.^[11]

Career

Stand-up

2004–2009

In 2004, Hussain met Aamer Rahman at an Islamic awards function,^[12] as a result of their support for asylum seekers and for anti-racism activism.^[13] They became friends and did youth work together in Melbourne.^[14]

In 2006, Hussain hosted the Allah Made Me Funny Official Muslim Comedy Tour featuring American comics Azhar Usman and Preacher Moss,^[10] which was then touring in Australia. After watching the show he realised that he could use comedy to speak about experiences that were specific to his Muslim identity.^[2]

In 2007, Hussain entered Triple J’s Raw Comedy Award open mic competition at the Melbourne Comedy Festival^[15][16] After seeing Hussain compete, Rahman also decided to enter.^[14] They beat hundreds of other hopefuls to reach the Victorian State final together. Hussain reached the Victorian final.^[17] Rahman won the state final and went onto the national finals where he was voted the runner-up in a performance that was screened on ABC Television.^[10][18]

Due to the success of Raw Comedy they decided to develop their five minute stand-up routines into a one hour show together.^[16] In five years, they established their own stage show Fear of a Brown Planet and sold out around Australia.^[13] Their name plays on the Public Enemy LP, Fear of a Black Planet.^[15][18]

Hussain and Rahman performed their first show in 2007 and their second show in 2008. They were then given a network development deal for a year and a half.^[19] In April 2008,^[12] Hussain and Rahman first performed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Rahman and Hussain first performed Fear of a Brown Planet at Melbourne Fringe Festival.^[18]

In 2009, Hussain and Rahman were among ten writers selected for an exclusive script-writing workshop hosted by UK indie film company Warp X, Screen Australia and Madman Entertainment.^[10]

2010–present

In 2010, Hussain and Rahman performed their follow up show,^[10] Fear of a Brown Planet Returns^[20][21] at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Sydney Comedy Festival, and the Adelaide Fringe Festival. In the same year, Nazeem performed in the Cracker Night of the Sydney Comedy Festival Gala, televised on The Comedy Channel, whilst Rahman performed in the Oxfam Comedy Gala televised on Channel Ten.^[22] In October 2010, took part in a one-off concert with Azhar Usman, Preacher Moss and Mo Amer (Allah Made Me Funny) at the Athenaeum Theatre in Paris.^[4][23] In the same year, Hussain performed at the The Falls Music and Arts Festival^[24] and Southbound.^[3]

During 2011, Hussain and Rahman performed their new show, Fear of a Brown Planet Attacks.^[25] In August 2011, they performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.^[26][27][28] On the way home from Edinburgh they performed an impromptu show in London,^[3] after a friend of theirs organised a show in Brixton^[29] with two days notice.^[30]

On 31 August 2011,^[31] Fear of a Brown Planet Returns DVD and Blu-ray was released, which was recorded at the Chapel Off Chapel in Melbourne^[32] on 15 January 2013.^[33] It features the “best of” material from their 2010 sell-out festival show, also entitled Fear of a Brown Planet Returns, as well content from their debut shows.^[34][35] In December 2011^[36] and December 2012, they performed on ABC2.^[37]

In April 2012, Hussain and Rahman played at the second show of the Melbourne Comedy Festival.^[38] In September 2012,^[30] they toured the United Kingdom,^[39][40][41] where they performed in cities including Manchester, Bradford, London, Birmingham and Cardiff.^[30]

In 2013, Hussain performed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival^[2][42] All Star Gala on Channel Ten and the Sydney Comedy Festival Gala - broadcast on The Comedy Channel. He also performed at the annual The Falls Music and Arts Festival and Southbound ^[33] and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow across New South Wales and Queensland, as well as in Hong Kong and Singapore.^[43] In October and November 2013, Hussain and Rahman performed at the Sydney Opera House, the Atheneum Theatre in Melbourne, as well as the Darwin Festival and the Brisbane Fringe Festival.^[44]

Television

Hussain has performed at the Oxfam Comedy Gala, broadcast on Network Ten^[45] and has also appeared as a panelist on the ABC’s Q&A^[46] and Network Ten’s The 7pm PM Project.^[45]

Hussain has written and performed for television^[47] In 2008, Hussain co-wrote and co-hosted Salam Cafe on SBS TV,^[48] which was nominated for a Logie Award in 2009.^[33] This included his character “Uncle Sam,” ^[49]

His other television appearances include Network Ten’s The Project, ABC’s Sleuth 101 and ABC1’s Q&A.^[32][33]

In 2011, Australian Story broadcast a documentary on the ABC about Hussain’s and Rahman’s lives in Australia as well as their debut performances in Edinburgh and London.^[29]

From 2011 to 2012, Hussain appeared on The Comedy Channel’s Balls of Steel Australia as Calvin Khan the Very Foreign Correspondent.^[40][50] His self-created character, saw his episodes achieve the highest ratings of the season and he returned in season two.^[42]

In May and June 2012, Hussain was part of a panel for NSW Reconciliation Council and Sydney Ideas forum in Sydney to discuss the topic “I'm Not Racist But…” along with Steve Cannane, Jennifer Wong, Benson Saulo and Helen Szoke.^[32][51][52]

In 2013, Hussain guest starred in the ABC1 comedy series It's a Date as Ashraf.^[53] He also starred and co-wrote the 10 part comedy sketch show Legally Brown broadcast across Australia on Monday nights on SBS,^[54][55][56] which included his character “Uncle Sam", "The Prince of Mumbai", "Imran Farouq" - the fake guru and "The Hollywood Arab". ^[57]

Radio

Hussain is a radio presenter for Triple J^[58][59][60] and has also regularly featured on Nova 100, ABC Radio, 3AW, 2UE and others radio stations.^[33]

Other activities

Hussain is also an outreach^[61] youth worker,^[10][32] he works in a law firm^[62] he works as a tax consultant,^[54][63] and in community service.^[3] Since 2006,^[7] he has been the director,^[4][32] volunteer^[61] treasurer and an executive of the Islamic Council of Victoria – the peak representative body for Muslims living in Victoria.^[64]

Hussain is also a patron of RISE: Refugees, Survivors and Ex-Detainees - the only refugee organisation in Australia that is run and governed by refugees and ex-detainees.^[11]

Awards

In 2008, Hussain Rahman were a recipients of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Best Newcomer Award for their debut show Fear of a Brown Planet.^[10][22][65]

In September 2010, Hussain received the 2010 Victorian Multicultural Commission Ambassador Award by the Governor and Premier of Victoria for showing an exemplary demonstration of leadership in the promotion of Victoria’s diversity.^[64] In 2008, he was awarded the Young Australian Muslim of the Year Award.^[3]

Personal life

Hussain is a Muslim.^[16][66] He can speak broken Tamil and he can understand Sinhalese.^[11] He lives in Burwood, Victoria.^[5][6]

See also

• Sri Lankan Australian
• Islam in Australia
• Islamic humour

References

External links