Published on The Pun, 29 March 2010

Born in Egypt, brought up in Sydney and banned in Rockhampton, Akmal Saleh’s stand-up show It’s Not My Fault is based on extracts from his recently-published memoir, The Life of Akmal. Musings on being raised in the Coptic Orthodox Church, battling through ‘special English’ class as a new Australian, and the early days of his comedy career give us a CliffsNotes version of the book.

Akmal calls it like he sees it – and then ducks. His quip that ‘the Lebs took the credit for inventing felafel, and they also took my car stereo’ is followed quickly by, ‘It’s a joke, relax!’ No comment is out of bounds but he delivers his offensive japes in such a gentle, unassuming manner that this reviewer rather wanted to give him a cuddle.

Before his career in comedy took off Akmal was a taxi driver, and he has that cabby’s knack for telling funny stories about what are ostensibly shitty situations – being held up in a service station by a junkie with a butter knife; getting punched in the face by a woman at the Rockhampton Agricultural Show. Even in the grandeur of the Athenaeum Theatre he seems less the untouchable star on stage and more like a mate spinning yarns at the pub.

In fact, in one anecdote about the second smallest audience he’s ever performed to he describes just that. There were so few people at the gig that he sat down with them and did the show right at their table. When it was over they very kindly gave him a lift home. I can’t say I’m the least bit surprised.