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'Akmal Saleh' (Arabic: أكمل صالح)(Coptic) AKMAΛ CAΛЄΧ) (born 1964) is an Australian comedian. He was born in Egypt and arrived in Sydney, Australia in 1974, aged 10, with his parents, where he grew up in Punchbowl, New South Wales. ^[1]

Contents

Background

Themes

Career

See also

Notes

External links

Background

Described as "thoughtful" and "quietly-spoken" in person, ^[2] he is a Coptic Orthodox Christian who describes himself as having had a religious upbringing which left him questioning, and indirectly led to his career in comedy: "I think for me comedy filled the void that religion left....When I heard the first Monty Python sketch, I remember thinking, wow, this really speaks to me." ^[3] Saleh has also attributed his comedy sense to his parents: "My father died when I was very young, but he was a very witty man with a quick mind." "My mother was neurotic and mad. I think the combination of those two turned me into who I am." ^[4]

Themes

Akmal Saleh's comedy routines frequently address and humorously defuse negative stereotypes in the general Australian community regarding Middle Easterners, although he eschews "wog humour": "Comedy...becomes wog comedy when that's all you talk about. You limit yourself, you paint yourself into a corner doing only wog jokes." ^[2]

Career

Akmal Saleh began performing stand-up comedy in 1990 under the English alias of "Peter"^[2] ("Boutros" in Coptic; "Akmal" is Arabic for "perfect" and "Saleh" for "goodness"). In the early 1990s he teamed up with fellow comedians Anthony Mir and Gary Eck. The trio performed their show ''All Aussies are Boofta'' to glowing reviews at various Sydney venues. This was followed by their ''Bound And Gagged'' show. Their third show, 1996's ''Hoot'', toured the Adelaide Fringe Festival, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. In 1999 the trio created the television show ''The 50 Foot Show'', which screened on the Comedy Channel in Australia. In 2001 Akmal was the voice of Jim in the popular childrens television show Tracey McBean. In 2002 they wrote and performed in the film ''You Can't Stop The Murders''.
In 2004, his Melbourne International Comedy Festival show ''Gullible'' was sold out at each performance. The show also toured the New Zealand Comedy Festival. His 2005 show ''Akmal Live'' premiered at the Sydney Cracker Comedy Festival. He has also appeared on numerous television shows, such as ''Rove Live'', ''The Footy Show'', ''The Glass House'' and ''In Siberia Tonight''. Akmal Saleh also appears regularly on the Australian TV shows ''Thank God You're Here'' , The Nation, and ''Big Questions''.
He also appeared on ''Spicks and Specks'' in October 2006. He professes to consider there to be "only one comedian in the world that [he] would pay to see, and that's deadpan American funny-man Steve Wright." ^[2]
In January 2007, Akmal began his radio career on Nova 937, Nova 100, and Nova 96.9 after trying out the job by filling in for Merrick and Rosso on their breakfast show while they were away on holidays. Akmal is currently doing the drive shift with Cal Wilson from 4pm to 6pm, replacing Bianca Dye who moved to the morning shift (9am - 12.30pm), in turn replacing Lizzy Lovette. On the 16th of July the syndication expanded to include Nova 919 in Adelaide.
On the 19th of February 2007 a lock of hair from Akmal's back was placed on ebay after some of
Britney Spears' (head) hair was sold for 1.27 million dollars. His hair sold for $18,100 and was bought by a man living in England.

See also

★ List of prominent Copts

Notes

1. Alexa Moses, “Goodness, the Wright stuff's a real motivator.” ''Sydney Morning Herald'', 18 July 2002. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/07/18/1026898880312.html. Retrieved 25 October 2006.
2. Moses, op. cit.
3. N.a. "The Big Issue and Akmal Saleh." Conversations » Features » The Big Issue and Akmal Saleh 13 July 2006. http://www.abc.net.au/queensland/conversations/stories/s1685952.htm?queensland Retrieved 25 October 2006.
4. Ben Wyld, “He's the bomb.” Sydney Morning Herald, 10 December 2004. http://www.smh.com.au/news/Arts/Hes-the-bomb/2004/12/09/1102182408143.html Retrieved 25 October 2006.
5. Moses, op. cit.
6. Moses, op. cit.
7. Moses, op. cit.

External links

★

★ The Akmal Show with Cal Wilson at ''Nova 100'

★ The Akmal Show with Cal Wilson at ''Nova 969'

★ Interview with Demetrius Romeo

★ DB Magazine feature

★ 25 March 2004 Sydney Morning Herald article on Akmal Saleh

★ 10 December 2004 Sydney Morning Herald article on Akmal Saleh