★★★★
Nazeem Hussain’s return to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival marked the return of one of the city’s best comedians. Hands down, give him another handful of years and he could easily be headlining a festival of this size and calibre. His current show, Basic Idiot, is the work of a Helpmann Award-winning, Netflix special-having comedian, sure, but it’s also a representation of one of the country’s best comic minds operating at peak ability.
The show is deeply personal and confronting in ways that never make the audience reach for their collars awkwardly. For Hussain, this hour of comedy focuses on his experiences as a new father, and the discussions and observations he has made since the birth of baby Issa.
As a new parent, Hussain discusses coming to closer terms with the types of people who the rest of us might have a passing annoyance with; we’re talking anti-vaxxers and those who believe children have to be raised a particular way. In a show highlight, Hussain takes the audience through all the different religious practices he plans to raise his child through. As ridiculous as it comes across, the observation that a non-parent, in particular, can comfortably dictate to parents how to raise their children, is equally so.
For any person of colour (raising my own hand, here), Hussain’s anecdotes about his Sri Lankan mother, his Muslim upbringing and journey as a Muslim living in Australia, will be relatable on some level. The point of difference with Hussain and the rest of us in the audience is that he is a person of colour in Australia in the interesting position of retaining a popular public profile.
Audiences have been following his career from spots on SBS, to his own show on Channel 7, Channel 10’s I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! and more recently, his own Netflix special. By the time Hussain walks out onto the stage at the Melbourne Town Hall, the crowd already knows what they’re in for. Still, he handles his stage with humility, allowing for space to be filled with the slight awkwardness of a comedian testing jokes and feeling his way through. This, ultimately, makes the show and its punchlines even funnier.
The crowd itself is diverse, which is great. A mix of ages and nationalities, Basic Idiot audiences are coming to a show where they can feel comfortable laughing at themselves. Hussain doesn’t hold back, poking fun at Indians as much as he does white people, putting the laugh spotlight on his mother who, in a hilarious part of the show, assumes her son to be gay because of his relationship with his best friend. No one is safe when in the sight of Nazeem Hussain, but the humour isn’t delivered maliciously or with the intent of getting any one person offside. His observations are intelligent, on point and delivered with flair.
The jokes in Basic Idiot are plentiful and Hussain’s timing is great. Timing that keeps the comedian relatable and familiar, even though he’s taken this show right around the country. Hussain may still be navigating unchartered waters as a new parent but as a comedian, he’s proved with this show that he’s got the game well and truly on lock.
High Point: The story of the Halal expert employed by I’m A Celebrity… definitely stood out.
Low Point: I did feel like some in-between joke moments of ‘figuring it out’ lost some of the people sitting around me, mainly men who wanted to get back to the bar.
Crowd Favourite: Hussain’s story of travelling with his mother and sister to a wedding in Colombo… I won’t ruin it, but it had our audience cracking up.
