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00:06Nazeem, hello. Hello, Virginia. How are you? I'm really well. Well, this is a lot of fun
00:11because you're one of our most important comedians. Don't laugh. No, I love being called an important
00:18comedian. Well, because you say that you want to make the majority feel like the minority
00:24for one hour. That would be something that is in my mind. And I wouldn't normally want
00:29to let other people know about, but here we are. Too late. I mean, yeah, I think it's fun
00:35if you can kind of flip a dynamic. It's not that I go out looking for controversial issues
00:41to talk about. Like, I want to make people laugh. I want to have a good time. But comedy feels
00:47like the only tool I have at my disposal to make sense of this ridiculous world we're
00:52living in at the moment. Well, I'm looking forward to seeing you in action, Nazeem.
00:56Can't wait. Okay, bye. Bye.
01:01I'm Virginia Trioli and I've spent my life paying attention to creative Australians and
01:06wondering what is going on in that wild mind of theirs. In this series, I'll showcase artists
01:14and performers at the peak of their powers and tell the story of their triumphs, their stumbles
01:19and why they make the glorious work we love so much. Donuts for Nazeem Hussain. Nazeem Hussain
01:27is one of the biggest stars of Australian comedy, whose provocative shows have won international
01:33acclaim.
01:33Ross, let the house just go now or we're coming in. Sir, please remain calm. For more than two
01:40decades, his audacious stand-up and sketch comedy has held up a mirror to society, revealing
01:46uncomfortable but hilarious truths. That's not even an insult, calling someone un-Australian.
01:52Like, everywhere but Australia and Bali is un-Australian. Don't you reckon?
02:03I'm thrilled to be unashamedly celebrating the art of making, because we are a country
02:09of so many brilliant, creative types.
02:23Hey. Hey, hello Nazeem, how are you? Good, how are you? Great to see you here. You're
02:28about to go in there and wow an audience. Well, that's the plan. I hope they've studied
02:33the refund policy, because there is none. So we're heading to the powerhouse here. Have
02:40you played this joint before? This is honestly one of my top five venues in Australia. Oh
02:44really? It is beautiful, it feels like a treat, and the acoustic, everything's great about it.
03:01What's your pre-show prep? The aim is to try and be chill, but I inevitably pace a lot and
03:08look at my notebook and feel like I need to cram more and more jokes and ideas, but in theory,
03:14just be chill and just act like I'm not thinking about the show.
03:26Hello, hello, hello. There's a lot of white people. Honestly, I did not expect this amount
03:38of white. Bloody hell. Come on, white people, go. Makes it not. All right, all right. Not
03:43bad, not bad. A lot of confidence, a lot of white pride in that. Woo! Brown people makes
03:48it not. I like that ratio. That is good. All right. I'll tell you a bit of personal news,
03:54everybody. I just became a dad, everyone. We had a baby boy. We named him Yusuf. Yusuf
04:01Muhammad Hussein. Now, we named him that because we're trying to save money, if I'm honest.
04:05Disneyland's expensive. No way he's getting on a plane with that name. So...
04:11Unazim, that was a solid hour of race jokes. Everyone gets skewered and yet every person
04:17there is absolutely laughing their guts out, including me. How do you manage that?
04:22I think it's more just about moving the camera around and just sort of just letting everyone
04:27feel a little different. For me, making a joke is effective when there's tension to pop.
04:32Like when there's a bubble of expectation or people don't really know where something's
04:37going. You know, if there's a joke about brown people and white people are laughing, they
04:40get self-conscious and then it goes both ways. Everyone's sort of looking at each other,
04:44figuring out like whether, you know. So I feel like... Is it okay to laugh?
04:48Is it okay to laugh? There's a lot of thinking going on. It's race jokes within race jokes within
04:53race jokes. Which is a complicated and tricky little thing to land. It doesn't always land.
04:58A lot of the writing happens on stage and... Oh really? Yeah and I think it kind of has
05:03to because, you know, you might have an idea that's funny and, you know, you can only figure
05:08it out on stage in front of an audience and find out whether they're going to laugh.
05:11And meanwhile, I can't sleep. Like, I'm wide awake. My friends are like, just get noise
05:15cancelling headphones. Listen to white noise. That'll help you sleep. So it's alright.
05:19What's white noise? Like, Coldplay? Do you mean? And um...
05:23You can ask almost any comedian, where's the line? Where's the line that you won't cross?
05:28I don't know if I can... I don't know if that matters to you.
05:30That might be how it comes across. Like there's a, you know, there's a veneer of like, I don't care.
05:35I'll just say anything. But I am very conscious to not make fun of people who are routinely humiliated
05:40or do it in a way that doesn't like, bring them in. Yeah.
05:43Because the audience will let you know it doesn't feel nice. Like it feels like a bully up on stage.
05:48Yeah, there is definitely a line. I think there is a responsibility if you've got a microphone.
05:52He comes at it from his own perspective, which is really important.
05:56I suppose for him in a very small venue, it would have been 50 seats maybe.
06:00I remember me and my wife were the only white people in the crowd.
06:04I was watching people I felt who hadn't laughed that hard in Australia before,
06:08in terms of that they had some comedy made for them.
06:12And I was like, oh, this is how white people feel every day.
06:16And it made me realise just how important representation is.
06:20I found something called brown noise. Have you guys heard of brown noise?
06:24It's like a real thing, yeah.
06:25I found a three and a half hour track and I put my noise cancelling headphones on
06:30and I pressed play and I said, welcome to brown noise.
06:33And then it was just my mum's voice. You should have been a doctor.
06:36You should have been a doctor. You should have been a doctor.
06:40I feel like the better I get at comedy or the more I do it,
06:43the more comfortable I am with, like, playing the room.
06:46And so, yeah, like, if they're laughing, I just keep going.
06:51I'm not too, I'm not shy to, to milk something dry.
06:54You smell that?
07:13Oh, my goodness.
07:14Nazeem was born and raised in Melbourne's Burwood,
07:17the middle child of Sri Lankan migrants.
07:20It's a surprise, like a kinder surprise.
07:22Oh, my God, look.
07:23Oh, yum.
07:25A background rich with inspiration for his comedy.
07:30This is the food that gets you into trouble when you're an immigrant kid.
07:33In primary school, I remember, like, opening my lunchbox
07:35and kids were like, what the hell is that?
07:37And I was like, nothing. Just close it and put it away.
07:39Veggie white!
07:41Veggie white!
07:44I'm stuffed.
07:46Absolutely delicious.
07:47And a nap.
07:54Nazeem, who's this cheerful, happy little kid in this picture?
07:58The only brown in the village.
07:59I think that's me, yeah.
08:00I think it's just me at kinder.
08:02I think I actually wanted to be a firefighter for a very short period of time.
08:05Most kids do?
08:06Yeah, and then my mum was like, no, a doctor or a lawyer.
08:09That's it.
08:10Well, I want to bring your mum straight into the conversation.
08:12Here she is.
08:13And that's you there and your sister and your dad.
08:16Mm-hmm.
08:17Because she is central to, of course, your life, but also your comedic life.
08:23Yeah.
08:23She's sort of like a comedy origin story, really, your mum.
08:26She kind of is.
08:27I think, like, you know, she sort of represents, like, a bigger version of me, you know?
08:31Someone that's navigating between two worlds, who doesn't know how to keep things in.
08:39Doesn't really navigate the subtlety that well.
08:45And that's me.
08:46I'm just all out.
08:47She effectively raised us, you know, my dad left when I was about five or six.
08:51So, yeah, single mum, you know, having to work several jobs, navigate a different culture,
08:57trying to raise us as good Muslims with a Sri Lankan identity.
09:01So, she really dialled up all aspects of her personality.
09:05Isn't there a story about her pulling in the former Premier, Geoff Kennett, to the aid of her children?
09:10Yes.
09:10My sister was getting bullied, so my mum took matters into her own hands.
09:13Of course.
09:13Just went straight to the principal.
09:16The principal didn't really have an intention of resolving the thing.
09:18My mum then got in the car, drove straight to the local MP's office,
09:22who at the time was Geoff Kennett, Premier of Victoria.
09:25Had no appointment, just walked in with her hijab.
09:28She saw Geoff, walks into his office.
09:30The receptionist chased my mum.
09:31My mum locked the door behind her, spoke to Geoff Kennett.
09:3545 minutes later, walks back into the principal's office with Geoff Kennett by her side.
09:39Geoff's like, just do whatever this woman says, all right?
09:41And then the bullying stopped.
09:42So, you know, you can't wait for people to do things or say things for you.
09:46You know, you've just got to front foot it.
09:48So, you're a kid who's getting bullied and learning to have a smart mouth to deal it back.
09:54Yeah.
09:55Very early on with kids that would make jokes about me, I'd give it straight back
09:58and then they would, you know, everyone would laugh at them.
09:59Sometimes they would cry, but they would never mess with me again.
10:02The laughter that I'd get when I'd tease someone back, that was like a weapon.
10:06So, it's just like, I wasn't trying to find the hypocrisy.
10:08I was trying to find the laugh.
10:09So, do we see this as the beginning of your comedic voice?
10:12Probably.
10:14Now that, you know, we're digging into that part of my childhood.
10:19The kid who made his bullies laugh was on the cusp of becoming a confident young comedian.
10:25Community television offered him a defining opportunity.
10:28We've got a new coffee maker.
10:31Well, I tend to like making tea more than coffee, but...
10:34Four years after 9-11, while studying law and science at university, Nazeem and some fellow
10:40Muslim friends put together a show on community television called Salaam Cafe.
10:45This is surely not a permanent appointment.
10:47What are you, criticising my tea without even tasting it?
10:49Yes.
10:50Yes, I am.
10:51Salaam Cafe was a huge moment in my career.
10:54It's probably where, um...
10:55Well, it's where television started for me.
10:57A bunch of friends, including Waleed Ali, Susan Carland, just talking about Muslim life.
11:01I think, in a way, the show came about because, you know, it was post 9-11.
11:07We were in the news a lot, Muslims.
11:08Yes.
11:09Not for good stuff.
11:10Surprise.
11:11And it sort of came from this frustration about, like, let's just do a show that...
11:16Let's be on TV as people that we know.
11:19But I had no filter.
11:20I'd just say anything and do anything, and then you'd get feedback.
11:23So I learnt that, like, oh, there's an audience out there that don't all like you,
11:26and you're going to hear from them articulately.
11:29And so we would get these angry emails from people, from Muslims, saying that we shouldn't be
11:34making fun of the religion, which we weren't, I think.
11:37I don't know.
11:38And then non-Muslims were like, stop trying to make Muslims not look like terrorists and
11:43pretend that you're not.
11:44We know what you're really about.
11:45So you couldn't win.
11:46And so through that experience, I sort of learnt to develop a thick skin, I guess, like
11:50that you can't convince everybody.
11:52It is day one of the race for Camden, and I'm going to Camden to meet the people, to
11:56press the flesh, the halal flesh, to see what makes them tick in a non-explosive type of way.
12:02It was in these early days of Salaam Cafe that Nazeem created what was to become an enduring
12:08character in his comedy, Uncle Sam.
12:10We are here in Camden, which will soon become a slam-dam.
12:16Tell me about the origin story of this particular character.
12:19We were like, we need a segment.
12:20Tomorrow we've got the deadline.
12:22What are we going to do?
12:22I was like, let's just go to Frankston and just interview some, some bogans, you know.
12:27So we just went down there and I just started acting like an uncle and just getting all these
12:30crazy responses and we aired that and it went nuts.
12:44The character comes from just like many uncles that I've grown up around.
12:48They just have this like beautiful view of the community and faith and they just want
12:53to share it with people.
12:54So at a time when people were really like freaked out about Muslims, this is probably
12:58when I enjoyed playing that character the most.
13:01He's written to be as kind of guileless and almost to be daffy, like a daffy uncle.
13:07But what's he trying to do?
13:08Turn Australian, you know, Sharia, right?
13:11Actually trying to introduce Sharia law into Australia.
13:13And that's the gag.
13:14I think the fact that Uncle Sam is quietly spoken and quite polite amuses me.
13:20And he walked down the street and he would talk to Australians who would patronise him
13:23and not realise that he was ripping the piss out of them.
13:27It's just the most perfect satire.
13:30Well, I think this is where this very, this man who's very dear to you, Amir Rahman, comes in.
13:36How old were you when you met each other?
13:40Teenagers.
13:41I think like we would go to Muslim community events and you know, when everybody else was
13:44trying to take things seriously, we were not taking it seriously.
13:49You were sitting up in the back making jokes.
13:50And so it was kind of fun to meet someone who was also just as irreverent.
13:55Well, you put together the show that ended up being your breakthrough moment, the two of you,
14:00which is Fear of a Brown Planet.
14:02What's your name?
14:04In the pink?
14:05Victoria.
14:06Victoria. Nice to meet you, Victoria.
14:07I'll take you on a date, Victoria.
14:09Candlelight dinner.
14:10I'd be sitting here gazing at you.
14:12You'd be sitting there gazing straight back at me.
14:16And my mum.
14:19I was probably the more, well, definitely the more palatable of the two of us.
14:23Like, I was sugar and he was spice.
14:25You know, you either like him or you're like, I can't do chilli.
14:27So he was, yeah, it felt really exciting to be able to say your thoughts on a microphone
14:34to people that clap with you and laugh and it just felt really good for us.
14:43After their early success in Australia, Nazeem and Amer took Fear of a Brown Planet to the
14:49tough judgements of the Edinburgh Festival.
14:51We got a one-star review this morning which said amongst other things that we were racist
14:59and that we weren't good enough comedians to write about coming from immigrant stock.
15:05First couple of weeks, it was brutal.
15:08I think it was a one-star review, I think.
15:10It was a one-star review.
15:11We had like...
15:11I can see, I can see you, you still feel it.
15:14I still feel it.
15:14It's just like, oh, it's so...
15:15I've got so much to say about reviews but like some...
15:18The worst reviews are the ones that actually make sense and you're like, oh, you're right.
15:21You're right, yeah.
15:22Oh, I hate you though.
15:23Totally.
15:23Why'd you just tell everyone?
15:24Yes.
15:25You know, sometimes you need that pressure to cut the crap and just get straight to the...
15:30Yeah.
15:30...to the funny bits.
15:32So, I think it was good.
15:33The second half of the run, there was an improvement and suddenly we sort of like,
15:38started to figure out what made the show good and funny and yeah, people started coming.
15:43What were you learning?
15:44So, what do you learn when you do stand-up night after night after night?
15:48It's getting yourself away from the sort of easy laughs.
15:52Yes.
15:52That makes you a better comedian.
15:54So, let me get this right.
15:55So, for white people to go out and enjoy the company of other white people, for that to happen...
16:03You need to intoxicate yourselves, is that...
16:05In order for that to happen, is that...
16:13While Nazeem's comedy career was taking off, he was working as a tax accountant at PWC.
16:20But his dual life was about to come to a head.
16:24You called yourself a tax accountant Batman.
16:27Yeah, yeah.
16:28Tax accountancy by day?
16:29Pretty much.
16:30Literally.
16:31And what, by night?
16:31Comedian.
16:32Yeah.
16:33I was walking to gigs with my suit on and my shirt and I'd be taking my suit off on
16:39the
16:39way sometimes.
16:40Just like Batman.
16:40And literally going on stage with, like, suit pants and a shirt.
16:43Like, oh, if I take off two buttons, it kind of looks casual.
16:46Definitely very different worlds.
16:48When you're at PWC, you get an extraordinary opportunity from SBS.
16:52Yeah.
16:53So I sort of said, why don't we just pitch this idea to SBS?
16:56You know, because that would be the exact show that I'd want to do.
16:59Not thinking that they would say yes, and then they said yes.
17:01And I was like, oh, crap, but I got a job.
17:03Well, you said, like, should I go?
17:05What'd they say?
17:06And so I was like, look, you know, SBS have offered me this TV show,
17:09but PWC is number one for me.
17:12That's just, you know, I'll say no.
17:14He's like, wait, wait, they've given you your own show.
17:15I'm like, yeah.
17:16He's like, you've got to say yes, you idiots.
17:18Like...
17:18Did you need to hear that?
17:19I think I did.
17:20That is a great thing to be told.
17:21It was a pretty, like, it gave me a lot of comfort.
17:23Well, I've got some Legally Brown here, the SBS show.
17:27And in this particular scene, white man dancing.
17:31So, Matt O'Kine goes searching, almost in a sort of a furtive,
17:37drug deal-y type way, to be taught how to dance like a white man.
17:42And what ensues is a cringing, juicingly accurate representation
17:47of what it is like.
17:49But, of course, in that kind of, you know, reverse racism way
17:52that you love to do.
17:54You want to dance like a white man?
17:58Watch and learn.
18:08He's sweating.
18:09I actually pulled a neck muscle doing this.
18:14Yes.
18:15Notice his intense sex face, and how his feet are constantly out of time
18:18with the music and the rest of his body.
18:21It's like poetry.
18:23White sneakers.
18:26And then some Riverdance.
18:27The Riverdance.
18:29Yeah!
18:32Damn!
18:33I swear you guys were white the way you were moving just then.
18:36So, what's the challenge of sketch comedy when you're doing that?
18:39So, when you're doing something like Legally Brown on SBS
18:41and you're having to churn it out, you're working in a team, I guess?
18:43Yeah.
18:43Working with other writers?
18:44Oh, it's like, it is so much more, I would say, in many ways
18:48more difficult than stand-up.
18:50Because?
18:51Well, you need to write the sketch as well.
18:52So, you've got to have a good team of writers, good comedy actors
18:56or comedians.
18:56You've got to have people that edit well and know how to get the
18:58timing right.
18:59You've got to be able to say the things that you want to say
19:02and not be told off by the networks.
19:04And if one of those elements falls over, like, it's just not funny
19:07and the audience doesn't know why.
19:10He's one of a rare breed of comedian who can do stand-up
19:13and sketch comedy.
19:15There are a lot of comedians who can only do one or the other
19:17and he can do both seamlessly.
19:19Yes.
19:29Nazeem's comedy career can be hectic and unpredictable.
19:33So, he seeks out ways to find focus.
19:36Yeah, yeah, yeah.
19:37Like that.
19:38Like that.
19:39Oh!
19:42Very good.
19:45Jiu-jitsu is this old martial art.
19:48There's so much order.
19:49There's a way things are done.
19:51There's respect.
19:51There's a hierarchy.
19:52So, it's the structure of my life where everything else is chaotic.
19:58Jiu-jitsu has completely upgraded my life.
20:02Like, I'll go every morning at 6.30 and it's almost getting bashed
20:06every morning.
20:08There's something about, like, being physical where you are grappling
20:11to not get choked out or have your arm snapped off.
20:14That, it's like it unlocks the creative side of my brain.
20:17And for the rest of the day, I kind of ride that wave.
20:25As a comedian who plays with risk, Nazeem's not afraid to make
20:30himself vulnerable.
20:33In 2017, he took a bold step by appearing on
20:37I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here.
20:39This powerful exchange was highlighted by the network as a key
20:44and highly emotional moment of Nazeem sharing how the aftermath
20:48of the Lindt cafe siege affected his family.
20:52So, that was horrific.
20:53And it was very frightening for a lot of people.
20:55And my sister then texts me and she says,
20:56Nazeem, she goes, I'm scared to wear the hijab home
20:59because I think people are going to attack me.
21:00And then throughout the day, that hashtag started trending.
21:02I'll ride with you.
21:03Non-Muslims were volunteering to sit with Muslims
21:06and make them feel more comfortable.
21:07And then she then messaged me later on going, no, you know what?
21:10I now feel comfortable and safe knowing that my fellow Australians
21:14are willing to stand up and support me on public transport.
21:17Yeah, that was nice.
21:18And that made me...
21:20It actually made me cry when that happened
21:21because that man wanted to divide Australia.
21:25He wanted us to turn on each other.
21:26Oh, he was a lunatic.
21:27But what he did instead was make us come together.
21:29The fly-on-the-wall style of the production
21:32lent Nazeem's very personal story
21:34an air of authentic self-revelation
21:37that struck deeply with his castmates and the viewers.
21:41It was a turning point.
21:44It changed a lot of things for you, didn't it?
21:46That kind of show.
21:47I felt like I didn't need to do any more, like, explaining.
21:50Like, I sometimes felt like to do a punchline,
21:52do a joke about whatever,
21:54I'd have to first prove to the audience that I'm with you
21:57and that, you know, I love Australia too,
21:59but this is something that I'm a bit annoyed with.
22:01And then, you know, then you can get to the funny.
22:03But after that show, people were like,
22:04oh, we know this guy we love, we know where his heart's at.
22:06So I could just get straight to the punchline.
22:08They know what I'm...
22:08Isn't that interesting?
22:09It sort of kind of ploughed the field.
22:11It just made it so much easier to tell jokes.
22:23Ordinary Australians can smell and see an underdog.
22:26Our government still hasn't got the message.
22:28I reckon what might overwhelmingly pressure them
22:30to stop funding this genocide is maybe
22:32if we all just did something small,
22:34just started ozifying the way we said Gaza.
22:36Instead of calling it Gaza, we started calling it Gaza.
22:38Then Australians would be like, oh, shit!
22:40Gaza's in strife! Quick!
22:42Someone call up Bunnings!
22:43Let's organise a sausage sizzle!
22:46Your comedy has referenced Palestine, Gaza and Israel
22:50from day dot, right from the very beginning.
22:52Did the events of October 7 make it harder for you
22:56to want to do comedy around Palestine and Gaza?
23:00Yeah, it was definitely something that I didn't walk into,
23:03you know, without thinking or overthinking.
23:05And I took a lot of guidance and advice from people I trust,
23:09people who I know understand the landscape.
23:12It's one thing that I always do.
23:14I don't just speak first and think second
23:17when it comes to big issues like that.
23:19So I'm lucky to be around some clever people.
23:21In 2025, Nazeem released an excerpt from his totally normal show
23:27as an online special.
23:29Do you reckon we should make jokes about Israel tonight?
23:31Yeah!
23:33All right.
23:33Called jokes about Israel for 12 and a half minutes.
23:37It's now become one of his most watched online clips.
23:41Israel doesn't let anybody leave.
23:43They control everything that comes in.
23:44Food, water, medicine, electricity.
23:46It's like being in a relationship with R. Kelly, you know?
23:52Does that punchline justify the speech?
23:57Well, you had that repeated refrain where you say,
24:00did the punchline justify the speech?
24:02I found that really fascinating to watch a comedian
24:05clearly having to walk an absolute tightrope of,
24:08I'm here to tell jokes,
24:10but I'm here telling jokes about something that matters to me deeply
24:13and is an incredibly serious subject and divisive subject.
24:17Obviously, merely mentioning Israel or Palestine or Gaza is heavy
24:20and people are immediately tense.
24:22Then the jokes are like, not surface level,
24:24but they're easier to digest.
24:26Yeah.
24:26And it starts to get a little harder to maintain
24:29the veneer of comedy around it.
24:30Yes, yes.
24:30And so by the end of that routine, effectively, like,
24:34I'm laying on a punchline,
24:36but it's almost just like to serve the mechanical purpose
24:38of justifying what I've just said.
24:40You might not necessarily be setting out to change minds,
24:42but have you ever had any Jewish or Zionist supporters
24:48come to you and say that you've changed their mind?
24:51Oh, I've had a lot of Jewish people tell me
24:54that they love what I'm doing and support me,
24:58and I've had people really kick up a fuss in the show,
25:02who have come to the show.
25:03Within the show?
25:03Yeah, yeah.
25:04When I get on the Israel material.
25:06Right.
25:07But to be honest, I feel like when there's someone in the crowd
25:11that does or says something and, you know,
25:14I've got the mic, it really brings the audience together.
25:17So it actually improves the show.
25:18Right, so...
25:19It really gets the energy back up at the 50-minute mark.
25:22I think it's great that he covers all those subject areas
25:25because, you know, a lot of people put them in the too-hard basket.
25:28I mean, to some degree, I do, if I'm honest.
25:30I think it's outside my specialty.
25:33People understand Naz has an understanding of that situation
25:40to be able to talk about it.
25:42If someone else did that heavy-handed
25:44and didn't have an affinity with it, we wouldn't accept it.
25:48It's his resume that says this material is safe in his hands.
25:55I went to a rural country town here in Queensland called Capella
25:59and I got to the hotel.
26:00There was a middle-aged woman standing there named Barbara.
26:03Bleached blonde hair.
26:04She had a cigarette hanging out of her mouth
26:06and she was holding my set list
26:08and at the bottom I had in big bold letters,
26:10jokes about Israel.
26:11She looked really pissed off.
26:12She was like, is this yours?
26:13I said, yep.
26:14Are you a comedian, are you?
26:15Yeah?
26:16I said, yep.
26:16My name's Akmal.
26:18And, um...
26:20So she gives it to me.
26:21As I'm walking off, she goes,
26:22Oi, Akmal!
26:23I said, yeah.
26:24And she puts a white fist in the air and she goes,
26:26Free Palestine!
26:30And that just blew my mind.
26:33That's how you know that Israel's gone too far
26:36when even Bogan Queenslanders are like,
26:39nah, I'm with the Arabs on this actually, yeah.
26:45Anyway, that's how I met my wife.
26:48So...
26:55So what's been the most unexpected response?
26:57Oh, I had a Palestinian guy who came to my show.
27:02He's an artist.
27:02He's from Gaza.
27:03And then afterwards he came out and he said,
27:05Yeah, I haven't felt like laughing, um, you know,
27:08for the last couple of years.
27:09And so, yeah, that was something that really mattered to me.
27:12Yeah.
27:15That's a good answer.
27:16Oh.
27:17Hmm.
27:18I understand how words can hurt,
27:21also how words can have real-life implications.
27:24Um, but I guess if I did have an intention,
27:27it would be that my comedy brings us closer together
27:30and makes us understand each other more
27:33as opposed to, like, create a wedge where we're pushed further apart.
27:38Listen, you guys have been great.
27:39Thank you so much for coming.
27:40I appreciate you coming out.
27:40Thank you. Thank you so much.
27:41Thank you so much.
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