Meet Shafi: The blind comedian changing how Dhaka laughs
Shafayat-e-Rabbi Wazed doesn't ask audiences to feel sorry for him. Instead, the Dhaka-based corporate professional and stand-up comedian invites them to laugh at the exact things people usually try to ignore.
"I love my insensitive jokes," he says. And it is not an apology.
Four friends and no filter
His comedy starts with his friends. There are four of them, and the way they speak to each other would alarm an outsider. Nothing is off-limits, and nobody takes offence.
According to him, that is how you find out who shares your wavelength. The people who do not get it simply do not stay.
That group taught him his first rule of comedy before he ever stood on a stage. If you can laugh at yourself first, you can say almost anything.
Much of Shafayat’s material is about his blindness. The difficult part is not writing those jokes. It is making sure the audience knows they are allowed to laugh at them. He addresses it early in a set, and once the room relaxes, he says it gives him access. From there, he can take the set wherever he likes.
Other comedians watch faces. Shafayat works from sound and from knowing his city.
Dhaka crowds, he explains, are not all the same. The set list depends on the area. “I change my setlist to the demographic and area I am performing in,” he says.
His comic heroes are not who you might expect. Indian comedian Ravi Gupta is near the top of the list, for humour he describes as unhinged but requiring some education to catch. He also enjoys comedians who perform in regional dialects.
When the room does not follow
His worst nights are not about hostile crowds. They happen when a joke sits slightly above the room, when the audience does not catch the reference and silence follows. He admits his standards are high. He rarely finds anything funny unless it is clever.
Heckling does happen, though it usually comes from friends in the audience. Among young men, he shrugs; that is just how affection works.
Can comedy be taught? He does not think so. It has to come from inside a person, and it is learnt on stage, not in a classroom.
Confidence is the whole engine
Ask Shafi where his confidence comes from, and he does not perform false modesty about it. He knows his humour sits a notch above the room, and he has made peace with the fact that not everyone will catch it.
It shows in how he talks about the arrogance question, too. A little of it is fine on stage, he says, so long as the material backs it up. It is not swagger for its own sake. It is closer to a working method: know exactly what you are doing, do not apologise for it, and let the joke do the rest.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Looking back and forward
If he could start again, he would start making content sooner. Videos and reels are how most people discover comedians now, and he is building that side of his work through his YouTube channel and social media.
His advice for young comedians, including anyone who has had to face more obstacles than most, is not to be shy. A little arrogance is fine, he says, if you have the material to back it up.
Where to find him
Shafi's reels and stand-up clips are on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram under "Shafi Unseen". You can also find him personally on Facebook as Shafayat-e-Rabbi Wazed and on Instagram as @shafayaterabbi.shafi.
Photo: Courtesy
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