Malik Elassal – Success, no matter what field you are in, can sometimes be attributed to a twist of fate, a turn of events, or even destiny. That’s what happened to Calgary-based comedian Malik Elassal at last year’s Just For Laughs festival.
During the final Friday night of the festival, one of the shows in the festival’s prestigious showcase New Faces series, this time the New Faces Canada show, was about to take place at the historic Monument National theatre on St. Laurent Boulevard, where many members of the comedy industry attend to scout out who will be the next big names in comedy. Malik was on that night’s line-up, with everything hanging in the balance for the next path his career would take solely based on how his set would turn out in front of that industry-laden audience.
But a fire at the Monument National hours before show time practically put a wrench in those plans. Would this opportunity of a lifetime for Malik and the other Canadian comics on that line-up be scrubbed, which would mean “wait ‘till next year” time? However, miracle of miracles, a last minute decision would save the day. It meant that the New Faces Canada show would move to another venue, which was the nearby Club Soda. This move meant that the show that was originally scheduled for the time slot there – Pete Holmes & Friends – would be substituted in favour of the New Faces show.
I should know. I was at Club Soda on that fateful Friday night when Holmes stepped onstage to make the announcement regarding this change in plans (Holmes would remain the host for the evening, only with a different set of “friends”). Instead of feeling disappointed, I was kind of glad about this last-minute change. In the 37 years that I have attended the festival, I have never seen a New Faces show … until this golden opportunity fell upon my lap and those of the rest of the full house crowd at Club Soda.
And during that show, Malik’s set (especially the routine about his unsuccessful attempts of getting new converts to Islam) was the highlight of the show. When I wrote my wrap-up column of my favorite highlights from the 40thanniversary edition of the Just For Laughs festival, I deemed Malik as my “discovery of the festival”.
“That was a crazy turn of events. As it was happening, I automatically shut down. I tried to remain positive, but I just walked away, sat on a park bench, smoked cigarettes and did a lot of moping,” said Malik during a recent phone interview. “I wanted to get out of this sour mood, and I was feeling more inward; however, as the day progressed, I thought to myself that I shouldn’t let the fire rattle me, just work with it, and do what I can.”
The end result of his appearance at the New Faces Canada show at its “new” venue of Club Soda worked out for him. He got to connect with many industry people, got himself a manager, and is also one of the 14 up-and-coming Canadian comics appearing on the third season of the series “New Wave of Comedy”, which can now be seen on the CBC Gem streaming service.
“I always knew I wanted to do comedy, so in 2015, I called a Calgary club called the Laugh Shop, and told the person on the phone that I wanted to come to the club and put on my own comedy show; however, I quickly realized that’s not how things work,” he said. “So I went through the ranks and did my due diligence. Then I went to Yuk Yuks for their pro am development night. I thought I would go onstage, tell a joke and expect the audience not to laugh at it. But they laughed!”
During Malik’s due diligence period in Calgary, he performed at the Calgary Comedy Festival, was honoured as Calgary’s best comedian and appeared at the Grindstone Comedy Festival in Edmonton. Although a good part of his material deals with growing up as a Muslim in western Canada, that subject matter doesn’t dominate his routine.
“When I do my stand-up routine I would like to talk about myself, and that’s the prevalent thing in my head. I did go to Islamic school and have a lot of Muslim friends, but I wouldn’t solely define myself as that,” he said. “I do believe it’s important to talk about the Muslim experience and what it’s like for my family. But I also like to talk about what’s going on the world today, as a sort-of ‘state of the union’ type of stand-up routine. It’s like my life and the bigger topics affecting the world intertwining with each other. And that crazy thing is that I didn’t realize that people are paying attention to what I have to say.”
Now Malik is taking his comedy career to next step in the aftermath of that unforgettable Friday night at Club Soda last July. “That was a definite boost for me. As a result, it opened a lot of doors for me, I got in touch with a lot of important people, and it got me thinking of my future in a different kind of way. In fact, I will soon be moving to New York City so I could continue on my next path. It’s a dream come true.”
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