Limmy is the GOAT!

Hasan Al-Habib picks his comedy favourites

Hasan Al-Habib is back at to the Edinburgh Fringe with his second hour, Stuck in the Middle (East) With You. Here he picks his perfect playlist of comedy favourites...

Chappelle - Black Bush

I hate my stand-up described as edgy or dark, but looking back at this playlist has made me realise me how far I have to go before I truly know myself.

Maybe being raised by two (really just one) of the most aggressively divorced people on earth, combined with the cruelty of Iraqi humour, influenced my tastes more than I realised.

Take Chappelle’s Black Bush sketch: a catastrophic war based on erroneous information and nakedly for profit presents half the premise, the White House being run by African Americans the other.

‘Oil? Who said something about oil? B****, you cookin?’. Consider the establishment skewered. Shamefully, it’s as relevant as ever today.

Who Is America? Jason Spencer

Sacha Baron Cohen was a childhood hero of mine. His comedy exposed the inherent prejudices that many choose to believe don’t exist, here costing Georgia State Representative Jason Spencer his seat.

And what discipline! How on earth did he remain in character as Spencer charged towards Cohen’s ex-Mossad character with his bare buttcheeks as a countermeasure against ISIS. Legendary.

Bebe Glazer’s best lines

‘Anyone can heal. You’re better than that. You’re an entertainer!’ In an alternative universe, this is what my Mum told me upon hearing I was considering a career in medicine instead of comedy. Bullet dodged!

Frasier is the greatest sitcom of all time. There’s a reason it’s so beloved by comedians. There are so many scenes I could choose, and David Hyde Pierce’s and Kelsey Grammer put on masterclasses in acting every episode.

But my favourite character was a recurring cameo, Harriet Sansom Harris as Frasier's agent Bebe Glazer. She had that ability to elevate innocuous lines of set-up to steal the show in pretty much every scene she was in.

Limmy: She’s had her kicked in

So many of my comedy heroes are Scottish: Boyle, Bridges, Connolly. But Limmy’s the GOAT.

Now a full-time Twitch streamer (his PGA Golf Tour streams got me through writing my oncology PhD thesis), he’s written some of the greatest sketch comedy ever.

Limmy’s also written a hilarious book about how to do a comedy sketch show, but I always found it remarkable that he didn’t mention anything in it about acting. He’s brilliantly natural, and understands human beings, how and why we say things, which underlies so much of his razor-sharp comedy.

Curb Your Enthusiasm: Greg and his sewing machine

I watch this clip every few months or so. The incredible acting from the child, the unsaid, the said and that unforgettable reveal.

Ultimately, it’s a reminder that if there’s anything people say you shouldn’t write about, that’s exactly what you should be writing about, thank God.

Thank God?! Thank Hasan!

Extras - Were you masturbating? (outtakes)

It’s controversial but I’m definitely not alone in thinking Extras was even better than The Office. Aisha Amanduri and I do our own double act, 2 Muslim 2 Furious, with its third hour at the fringe this year (Sharia? I Hardly Know Her!). We know we’ve written gold when a bit has us corpsing like Gervais and Merchant in this scene.

There’s something so beautiful, as writer/performer partners, at being unable to contain your laughter when delivering your own work, it’s magical.