Saad Haroon

Last updated

Saad Haroon
BornPakistan
Medium
  • Stand-up
  • television
  • film
  • writing
Education University of Massachusetts Amherst
Years active2001–present
Genres

Saad Haroon is a Pakistani comedian, actor, and writer. He is known for being the creator of the first ever Pakistani improvisational comedy troupe "BlackFish" in 2002, and was the first Pakistani stand-up comedian to perform in English in cities across Pakistan in his tour "Saad Haroon: Very Live", in 2008. Haroon created and hosted the first ever English-language comedy television show in Pakistan, called The Real News, in 2007.

Contents

Early life and education

Saad Haroon was born in Pakistan. [1]

He attended University of Massachusetts Amherst in the United States, graduating in 2001. He returned to Pakistan soon after the September 11 attacks, a very dark time, and decided to use comedy to make people feel happier. [1]

Career

Saad Haroon is a comedian, actor, and writer in Pakistan. [2] [3]

Improv and live shows

In 2002, Haroon created BlackFish, Pakistan's first improv comedy troupe, which was chosen to represent Pakistan in an international youth theatre project called "Contacting the World", held at Contact Theatre in Manchester, England, in 2004. As of August 2004, the eight members of the troupe were: Haroon; Umar Rana; Sanam Saeed; Sami Shah; Cyrus Viccaji; Ishma Alvi; Faris Khalid; and Yasser Salehjee. [4] [1] Haroon stepped down as director of BlackFish in 2005 to pursue other projects, but continued to work on other projects with Contact Theatre, including World Wide Jam around 2006. [5] He performed at the Dubai Community Theatre in Dubai in 2007. [6]

Haroon then created another comedy troupe, called SHARK. [7] In 2008, Shark became the first improv troupe to tour Pakistan and perform longform improv. [8] SHARK's tour included performances in Karachi, Islamabad, and Lahore, where audiences throughout Pakistan witnessed musical forms of improv comedy and a longform improv structure known as "the Harold" for the first time. [9] SHARK's lineup included Haroon, Danish Ali, Umair Pervez, Jaffar Ali, Daniyal Ahmed, Sohaib Khan, and Sana Nasir. [10]

Haroon was the first Pakistani stand-up comedian to perform in English in cities across Pakistan in his tour "Saad Haroon: Very Live", in 2008. [11]

Haroon was the creator, co-writer, and director of We've made contact; a half-improvised, half-scripted original format play created for the British Council's "Connecting Futures" project, performed in Manchester, England.[ when? ] [12]

TV

The Real News was Pakistan's first ever English-language TV comedy show in Pakistan, created and hosted by Haroon and launched in 2007. [1] [13] [2] Created and hosted by Haroon, the show pokes fun at current news events using political and social satire. [13] [14]

Haroon's video sketch was selected by Conan O'Brien as part of the opening monologue for his talk show Conan. His sketch was about how people in Pakistan enjoyed O'Brien's talk show. [15] [16]

Other activities

As of 2007, Haroon was arranging open mic nights, featuring aspiring comedians, writers, poets, and other talented enthusiasts. [17]

In 2011, Haroon became a star on the Internet with is parody of the Roy Orbison song "Oh, Pretty Woman", titled "Burka Woman". [18]

Recognition

In October 2014, Haroon was voted the second funniest person in the world, securing 59,213 votes in the Laugh Factory competition. [19] [20]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Rehman, Kashaf (13 April 2024). "Meet Saad Haroon, comedian who took a chance on laughter being the best medicine for Pakistan". Arab News . Retrieved 15 July 2025.
  2. 1 2 Parhlo (29 October 2014). "The Story of Saad Haroon, the Second Most Funniest person in the World and Pakistan's Pride!" . Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  3. ↑ "Asap.ap.org". Archived from the original on 11 February 2008. Retrieved 8 February 2008.
  4. ↑ "Fish out of water". Dawn. 1 August 2004. Archived from the original on 5 September 2008.
  5. ↑ "World Wide Jam". Contact Theatre. Archived from the original on 14 October 2007. Retrieved 8 February 2008– via Ruffle.
  6. ↑ Rashed, Fariha. "Theatre: a mirror of social issues". Archived from the original on 22 October 2007. Retrieved 11 April 2013. performed at the Dubai Community Theatre in Dubai with the tag line 'Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World? Set Your G.P.S on Saad Haroon'
  7. ↑ Barry, Leila M. (3 December 2015). "Seriously funny – Saad Haroon in profile". Aurora Magazine. Retrieved 15 July 2025.
  8. ↑ "Saadharoon.com". Archived from the original on 11 January 2009. Retrieved 8 April 2009.
  9. ↑ "Thegreenkaleidoscope.com". Archived from the original on 18 January 2009. Retrieved 8 April 2009.
  10. ↑ "Sonyarehman". Archived from the original on 13 February 2009. Retrieved 8 April 2009.
  11. ↑ INSTEP Magazine Archived 7 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ↑ "Performing Arts - British Council Pakistan". Archived from the original on 2 December 2009. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
  13. 1 2 "Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan". Archived from the original on 30 January 2011. Retrieved 9 November 2007.
  14. ↑ "How Pakistan's Satirists Poke Fun, Politically - washingtonpost.com". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on 14 September 2019. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  15. ↑ Ansari, Hasan (19 March 2015). "Saad Haroon's sketch aired on Conan O Brien's talk show". The Express Tribune.
  16. ↑ "Saad Haroon sends love to Conan O'Brien from Pakistan". Dawn News. 19 March 2015. Archived from the original on 17 March 2020. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  17. ↑ "The Second Floor » t2f events". Archived from the original on 18 August 2007. Retrieved 8 February 2008.
  18. ↑ Mir, Saima (23 January 2011). "Pakistan's first TV satire show". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 July 2025. the 33-year-old...
  19. ↑ "Saad Haroon is the second 'Funniest Person in the World'". The Express Tribune . Archived from the original on 30 October 2014. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
  20. ↑ "Results of world's funniest person". IBN Live . Archived from the original on 5 November 2014. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
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