SAAD HAROON - FUNNY MAN

Report filed by Adil Ahmad (Editor, Octara.Com) for Octara.Com Issue 18, January 2015

Splitting sides and awakening minds is Saad’s stock-in-trade, as he goes about making people happy and bringing a smile to their face. Black Fish, Shark, Agency are brands that he has launched in the realms of
improvisational comedy, brands that have withered and waned as Saad has sought his fortune as a
stand up comic, going solo with the Saad Haroon brand that has taken him and his infectious sense of humor
overseas, landing him in New York City with an agent in Los Angeles. Unbelievable career progression
coming in great leaps and bounds, some would say.

But for those who have known him in the early days of his career, which started some ten years ago, Saad’s has been an inevitable natural progression given his drive and talent, steeped in a mind that is wide awake and brimming with emotional intelligence as he goes about establishing an instant rapport with his audience of varying shapes & sizes, sex, and age.

New York! New York!

Saad has been in New York for the past two years, settled there with Saba, his wife of five years whom he
met and fell in love with in Karachi. He was here recently, wintering in mild and sunny Karachi while New York froze over, when I caught up with him over the phone for a quick update. TCS Connect and Octara.Com were amongst the first magazines to carry tales of the Saad phenomenon that had taken Karachi by storm in the form of Black Fish at the turn of the century in 2004. So it was a special pleasure to
talk to the precocious young man again who is now all of 37 years of age, with the maturity of added years
refining and making more weighty his communication as I discovered in our twelve minutes chat over the phone.

Diversifying the Family Business

“So far so good,” says Saad. “Back then ten years ago the plan was to engage with the family business, but I
got completely into the grip of comedy, and knew that was what I wanted to do, to the initial alarm and
concern of my family. It was about doing what you were passionate about doing, and I was passionate about
theatre and film and television and comedy, so I had to be true to my calling.” Saad has spent the last few years travelling around internationally. He was in Sydney very recently for a show. He performed in England at the Southbank Center, and had a few shows in Karachi. “Where ever I am required to go I pack my bags and head out to make people happy if I can. I have different people in different places to facilitate me. I produce my own shows, and function as manager, performer, writer and producer all rolled into one, wearing whatever hat I need to wear at whatever time. In this digital age it’s all via email. To be an artist you have to be sure you can do the management side of it as well, and balance your budget and market yourself. Hopefully one day my work will reach the scale where it’s too big for me to handle myself.”

Have you leveraged the social media to gain a higher profile? “I have a presence on Twitter and Facebook,
and try and work on videos. But I am a man of the stage at heart, and facing a live audience in the hall is what I live for.” Are the silver screen and the small screen an option in your foreseeable future? “They are, and I am working on a few projects, so fingers crossed! Let’s see what happens.” You don’t want to give us a sneak preview into what might be cooking? “Nope! I’d rather do it than talk about it at this stage, but hopefully you’ll see me soon. The timeline for the transition from the stage to the screen is what, a year? “That is for the powers to be to do decide, and not me.”

Nurturing Talent

Have you developed an understudy? “Not specifically, but I work with a lot of young comedians in Pakistan. I just performed with this talented young group called LOLwallay, and I worked with them and helped train them in some small way. So, yes, I do what I can in that regard. I am going to Dubai now and having a workshop for young aspiring comedians there in standup comedy.”

Gallavanter & Galvanizer!

How’s the love life been treating you? “I’ve been married for five years now to Saba, and she is a lawyer in New York, and is the more stable one in the relationship! I’m the gallavanter and she’s the galvanizer! We met in Karachi, and it’s only recently that we’ve moved to New York. Right now we’re dealing with the move from Karachi, and hopefully the future will bring with it additions to the family.”

Jogging in Central Park NOT an option!

What do you do in the way of staying fit and healthy? “Not so much while in Pakistan where I am quite lazy.
There’s a lot of food to be eaten and a lot of relatives to visit. But I do love exercising and workout in the gym mostly. I am a bit of an extremist. When I work, I work hard, and then when I relax I’m in front of the television, being a big TV addict.” Is jogging in Central Park an option these days? “No it’s not! It’s mostly freezing there these days!”

Telling the Tale

In your content do you present the South Asian story? Or is it more universal? “It’s about human nature,
and the South Asian story is an integral part of who I am. It’s about me growing up in Pakistan, my family, and my life. I have done take-offs on the Pakistani conundrum. In Pakistan I can get away with just about anything, but in the USA and I have to re-taper my writing. It’s a different pallet, and so a different kind of comedy.”

Saad has thoroughly enjoyed Karachi’s mild and sunny winter season. He has been eating out a lot and over the past couple of days succumbed to the Karachi belly. Hopefully he’s long over it by now. Pakistan’s very effective ambassador-at-large rides again! His many journeys destined to take him higher and higher, Inshallah.