Khalid Hussein
From Tanzania
2 years in Hamburg
Stand-up comedian
Captain Khalid, you look like the life of the party! What got you into stand-up comedy?
“Life of the party” haha, I’ll take that as a compliment, I started off comedy 5 years ago back in Malaysia and the main goal was to make some pocket money. I couldn’t get a part-time job because they wouldn’t take me simply because I am black. It’s really funny that I’d apply for a job, get accepted but once I show up they’d say: “the job has been filled already” like all the time.My cousin Kent Malai thought I was funny, and thought I should try stand-up comedy, so I came up with some jokes and started performing at university events. Luckily, one of the biggest comedy promoters was at one of the events, he saw me, gave me his card and the rest is history!
Wait, your comedy show at Haus73 has free pizza?! Tell us all about it!
Yes my show serves free pizza, The main reason behind it was to bring fun stand-up comedy for German and English speakers as there is the stereotype that Germans have no sense of humor. Key word FUN, so we sometimes have poetry, acting or music to refresh the show. But hey, everything is fun when pizza is served, right? We always have professional to semi-professional acts from Hamburg, Berlin and visiting comedians from the U.K., U.S.A., Australia and we’re expecting some African and Asian comedians next winter.
The event is always on my page and there is even a student discount. For those eager to try stand-up comedy, they can just message me on my Facebook page and I always put them on, because we encourage anyone who’d like to give it a try. But this is not the only show I have! I have another English-language show called THE FUNNYFELLAS that comprise of me, David Hailey (U.S) Rachman Blake (U.S) and Dharmanda Singh (U.K) as the hosts. The show is already touring in German cities like Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Leipzig and we’re looking to build it bigger. All in all, another reason to start all these shows is to keep my visa, hahaha.
As an expert, how do you compare Tanzanian humor to German humor (if there is any… am I right?!)
Tanzanian humor is easy relaxed and unpressured humor, you can talk about literally anything as long as it’s funny, from being spanked as kids (very common in our culture), other cultures, politics, religion and people will be okay as long as it’s not disrespectful. We actually make fun of the dark moments like colonialism and it’s all good. But, here in Germany, hmm … as a comedian you have to be very careful, there are topics that you can’t touch: I talked about being spanked as a kid and everyone started feeling sorry for me, hahaha! Do you know how weird that is, like I tell a joke here people are like “Awwwh, it’s okay!” And in Germany you just can’t talk about the dark moments like Hitler or colonialism because people just get defensive and start feeling bad before you even do the joke, so the joke has got to be very well-crafted. But all in all, both Tanzanian and German humor share sarcasm and dark humor.
You like comedy and pizza as well? Join the club! Get in touch with Captain Khalid on Facebook or Instagram @captain_khalid
Photo credits: Fahad Fuad
HAMBURG CITY TIPS
Where do you love going on a rainy day in Hamburg?
‘Rainy day in Hamburg’, that’s almost every day in Hamburg! I think the Hamburg weather forecast reads: i t’s either a rainy day or it will rain later today. But to answer the question, I am so much of an indoor person and living in Schanze even makes it worse, but I do walks to the harbour on drier days.
Where can we find you on a Saturday night?
Well this is a tricky question. In the evenings I would be in Schanze for dinner, then from midnight on, the walk heads to anywhere we can dance. But as a precessional comedian, I am out of town in most weekends.
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