Sami Shah (born 24 August 1978) is a Pakistani-Australian stand-up comedian, writer, improvisational actor, and radio presenter.
Shah co-wrote We’ve Made Contact, a half-improvised half-scripted original format play for the performance in Manchester.
[5][6] His 2007 solo Karachi show spared nobody, aiming at mullahs, Pakistani culture, advertising agencies, local and international politics and various groups of people.
[11] Shah and his wife, psychologist Ishma Alvi, moved to Australia with their young daughter in 2012, partly because of the lack of freedom allowed to women and girls in Pakistan.
He also describes himself as a "serial blasphemer", and embraces the freedom he has in Australia "to talk openly about the major issues that need to be addressed in Islam".
In it, he discussed topics like radicalisation, free speech and the hijab with moderate Muslims, Islamic preachers, ex-Muslims and Islamophobes.
[27] As part of the ABC First Run initiative to produce comedy podcast programs, Shah was commissioned to host a new show called Laughing Dead.
Notable guests on the show include Maz Jobrani, Andy Kindler, Claire Hooper, Alexei Sayle and Luke McGregor.
[28] In December 2017, Shah was announced as a co-host of Breakfast with Jacinta Parsons on ABC Radio Melbourne, replacing Red Symons.
In one episode, he speaks of the fear he felt of a possible fatwa being issued against him as an apostate, or being pursued by extremist ISIS supporters, likening it to fear felt by certain individuals in minority groups in Australia who have been hounded in the media by right-wing commentators and politicians and on social media by internet trolls, or even persecuted by death threats.
In two bonus episodes, he talks to conservative commentator Andrew Bolt and lawyer and anti-racism advocate Nyadol Nyuon.
[citation needed] In September 2017, he appeared in season 1, episode 2 of Australian comedy show Get Krack!n on ABC TV.