Atlanta-based comic Zain Sharif braves the stage in love for comedy and performing – WABE

On the “Metropolis Lights” sequence “Talking of Comedy,” Atlanta’s funniest locals share insights on the perks and perils of their career. Zain Sharif is an Atlanta-based comic who loves standup and considers it a reduction from the extra specialised space the place he reduce his enamel – ensemble improv work. “Ultimately, I used to be like, ‘I like comedy and I like performing, however how do I do it with out these different individuals?’” recalled Sharif. However he attests that standup isn’t for the faint of coronary heart, or for these afraid to fail their option to success: “Getting good is painful. It requires loads of bombing,” he mentioned. “That’s what standup is: simply bombing a bunch of occasions and attempting too not be dangerous. And when you do this lengthy sufficient, you would be good.” 

Taking cues from universally acknowledged comedian legend Ralph Waldo Emerson (“To imagine your individual thought, to imagine that what’s true for you in your non-public coronary heart, is true for all males – that’s genius”), Sharif harvests his most private and explicit moments for his finest materials. “The extra I do standup, the extra I notice that these little moments in life that you simply assume belong solely to you, or are distinctive to you, are literally essentially the most relatable. And so, the deeper you’ll be able to go into your self, the extra commonalities you’ll be able to draw together with your fellow human,” Sharif advises.

In a featured clip, he pokes enjoyable at himself, an upbringing he considers “pampered” and his lack of sensible expertise, whereas praising his immigrant mother and father who succeeded in America by means of arduous work and willpower. “If there was a aircraft crash, and 10 of us survived, the chief would get up. He’d be like, ‘All proper, if we’re gonna make it by means of this, all of us gotta stick collectively. I must know what expertise every of you has….’ I’m simply within the again, like, ‘Um, when you present me like a triangle, and also you give me two of the angles, I received you on the third.’”

Sharif shouted out an Atlanta scene he finds supportive, numerous and out-of-the-box artistic. He additionally namedropped native impartial comedy present producers Hissy Match Comedy and Fifth Place Comedy, nice purveyors of pop-up comedy occasions throughout city the place comics each new and seasoned check out their materials. Zain Sharif is on Instagram at @zainsharifcomedy, and his official web site is www.zainsharifcomedy.com.