Ali’s sketches receive almost 3 million views every month. PHOTO: FILE
If you think comedian Danish Ali strolling around the hall at Telenor Bridal Couture Week 2015 with a megaphone in his hands and an embellished dupatta on his head or perched on top of a tree outside the venue is insane, well, think again. His followers generating a monthly approximate of 3 million odd views from his sketches might disagree with you, slightly.
Almost a week ago, this young comedian flew to Lahore to shoot a two-part TBCW sketch. Having only recently ventured into this new market for entertainment content on the social media, Ali made quite a name for himself, so much so that at the moment he is working on as many as six videos for different brands. “There are some on beauty products, some on phone culture, some on internet, some on transportation and so on. We try to keep the humour relatable and original at the same time,” Danish tells The Express Tribune.
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With companies beginning to realise the value of viral content, these new methods are helping many like Danish monetise their content. “All the brands I am working with have given me a lot of room to flex my comic muscle. They’re smart that way because the end product is 100% original that generates an organic response.” Obviously, there is only a certain limit that one can go to and that self-censorship in content almost becomes natural. However, that is not the case with Ali who calls himself a family friendly comedian. He says, “I like reaching out to everyone so that means my content has to be above these things yet corporate-friendly so that families can watch it. That’s how I like it as well.”
Ali shot a sketch at the recently concluded Fashion Pakistan Week in Karachi. Within days it was all the rage on Facebook. “I was at home in my night suit eating a bag of chips very slowly when I got a phone call from a famous photographer who was a fan of my work. He was like, ‘Hey would you like to come make a funny video at the fashion week?’ I took a quick look on my shirt which had a ketchup stain on it and on my shalwar, then another towards my camera and lastly on a lizard on the wall and went: yeah! The rest is history,” he recalls.
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About whether hosting red carpets really is his thing, he says, “If someone invites me to host, I’ll be there early in my best suit. I love performing live! What better moment to catch celebrities off-guard and ask them a really ridiculous question in garb of a serious conversation. They wouldn’t know what hit them and I’d love that! We actually got some great footage with some known faces this time around so can’t wait to share that.”
Besides working with corporate sponsors, Ali is also working on a university comedy tour which will feature live stand-up comedy performances. Furthermore, a TV show is also in the works.
Ali feels although it might have been all fun and games for the audience, he is a total control freak and takes his work very seriously. “Every time you release a funny video, you cater to between half a million to a million eyeballs. That’s a lot so I have to control every sound and every expression.” Whenever Ali is off the clock, he experiments with the most random things in order to churn up good material. “Oh wait you were asking for pet peeves, control freak see.”
Published in The Express Tribune, December 21st, 2015.
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