Nazeem Hussain prepared to reply to the backlash from his new comedy series
NAZEEM Hussain is ready to face his critics head on. His new sketch comedy series, which features some familiar faces, will launch on Channel 7 next week and Hussain is preparing himself to respond to the backlash.
Confidential
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NAZEEM Hussain is ready to face his critics head on. With his new sketch comedy series Orange Is The New Brown launching on Channel 7 next week, Hussain is prepared for some backlash.
“Comedy is hard to get right. It is very subjective,” he says.
“People don’t watch drama the same way they watch comedy.
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“When they watch comedy, they either love it or hate it. So I am ready … my Twitter thumbs are ready to go and I am going to reply to everyone. I should probably have an auto reply though linking to the next episode.”
Hussain has courted controversy throughout his stand-up and television comedy career.
While he was a contestant on I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!, Orange Is The New Brown is a much bigger comedy platform than his previous work on SBS from where he says the public often referred to him as the “Muslim comedy guy”.
The series will launch on Seven on November 8 at 8.30pm and will see Hussain perform in various skits alongside familiar faces including Sigrid Thornton, Tim Minchin, Gary Sweet and Firass Dirani.
One of the segments will see Hussain surrounded by sari-clad women trying to impress as The Indian Bachelor.
“You expect hecklers as a stand-up comedian,” he says. “As a comedian you are naturally trained for that kind of thing. I have copped criticism my whole career. You get all sorts of bigoted stuff aimed at you, so I am used to sifting through what makes sense and what doesn’t.
“You can’t not take on criticism though.
“If something is not funny and overwhelmingly people tell you something isn’t funny, you have to take that on board.
“Comedy only survives if people are laughing. It is hard to do but you have to not take it to heart though.”