Hasan Al-Habib was born to Iraqis who ‘moved to Birmingham after deciding Baghdad wasn’t dangerous enough’. He studied for a PhD in ocology at Cambridge, primarily to perform with Footlights comedy troupe. He was rejected several times, which he ascribes to a lack of diversity, although he did eventually get to perform at some of the ‘smokers’ gigs. He took a show to the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe Festival called FootDarks to showcase ethnic Footlights members.In 2022, he was a finalist at the Chortle Student Awards and the following year he won the B’ham Comedy Festival Breaking Talent Award. He made his solo Edinburgh Fringe show debut in 2025 with Death To The West (Midlands)