M'sians need to embrace more humour: Harith
Published on: Wednesday, March 14, 2018
Kota Kinabalu: Malaysians need to embrace more humour into their lives albeit all the negativity splattered over the social media.And Harith Iskander is on a zealous mission to promote the funny side of Malaysians through his #kitaOK Live Comedy Tour 2018."The tour is a chance for me to look back at what makes Malaysians funny," he said, Tuesday.
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"The best way to overcome all issues is to laugh at ourselves."Unfortunately, he said, nowadays Malaysians live on the social media - dictated by their mobile devices."And when you look at the social media, you can see some people are unhappy, angry about almost everything."If we look up, away from our devices and talk to people, yes, everybody has issues and problems, but if we can laugh together, we are actually OK.
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"Things are not as bad as what we see on the social media."We can still cooperate and live together...we are a great nation," he said.
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Having won the Laugh Factory's Funniest Person in the World 2016, Harith has been spending more of his time abroad the last two years."I will be performing in Kota Kinabalu on March 15 as part of my nationwide #kitaOK Live Comedy Tour...I love performing in KK."For the tour, I am covering seven cities across Malaysia - Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru, Penang, Melaka, Kuching, Kota Kinabalu and the final show will be in Labuan."It is my first nationwide live comedy show in 10 years."Hopefully I will get to reach as many people as possible."For the last two years, I have been concentrating on international appearances after winning the world competition in 2016."So this year, I am bringing my comedy back to Malaysia."Harith said the show will be looking at what is it like being a Malaysian from a humorous point of view."Even though it is a specifically written show, I will customise it according to the location of my performance to offer something special for the people in that particular city as well."It will feature two opening acts...there will be a band and visual graphics to complement each show."It is not only just a man with a microphone," he said.He added, the shows will be apolitical in nature as "instead of dividing everyone, you need laughter to bring people together."Meanwhile, Harith said he looks forward to see more comedic talents from the State who can make it big nationally and internationally."East Malaysia, as everybody knows, has a large pool of talents."And I noticed one of the comedians from Sabab who are currently climbing up the ladder is Mad Sabah…he has a good potential."I understand that most newcomers have the fear of not being able to do it."But, if you really want it, you just have to take chances and do it...go and find a place or a show to perform."If I am around, they can always come to me and I am ready to give them some advice."Known as the Godfather of Stand-Up Comedy in Malaysia, Harith also won Asia's Best Stand-Up Comedian Award 2014 by Top 10 of Asia Magazine.He is also the curator of the biggest stand-up comedy festival in Asia, the Kuala Lumpur International Comedy Festival which was held twice in 2015 and 2017.Since 1991, Harith had performed live at hundreds of shows and entertained thousands of people with his unique and original materials.In October 2014, he became the first Malaysian stand-up comedian to hold a show in a stadium.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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