People don’t get jokes easily in this country: Junaid Akram

Junaid Akram's wit and unique way of perceiving society has made him a social media star

The comedy entertainment industry is extremely niche in Pakistan, and Junaid Akram is shaking up the way we see entertainers.

For the social media star, no topic is too controversial as his videos feature him talking about his experiences in the country and the way he perceives the society he lives in.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Akram said he got into comedy because at one point he felt he needed to voice out things he felt – for him, it wasn’t enough to talk to his friends, he needed a bigger platform.



“There comes a point where everything starts to look funny in life,” jokes Akram.

With no prior experience and only his natural wit and unique way of perceiving the world, Akram took part in an open mic at T2F in 2010. The founder of T2F, the late Sabeen Mahmud proved to be a great support for him by providing him with a stage.

For him, the empowerment that comes with being on stage is what he enjoyed. Even though stages are few, Akram still finds a way to perform enough.

Akram moved to Dubai for work and in hopes that he could take this comedy further. But for him, a 9 to 5 job was equal to slavery and the decision to move back to Pakistan was only natural.

To reach out to a larger audience, Akram uses social media. He is most popular for his videos which feature him in front of a camera just speaking about different topics. These are the type of videos he enjoys doing the most because he enjoys the ‘laziness’ of it. No editing and cutting – he just has to record and upload.

A recurring theme in his videos is the political and social commentary. But with his fame, came great responsibility; a lot of people followed him and he had to be careful about what he said.



“People don’t get jokes easily in this country and I was not happy with terms of expression. Now I’ve been put on a pedestal. Now I can’t even do a borderline crass joke because people assume I can’t ever swear.”

In his earlier videos while Akram did use crass language and swear words, in the last few years Akram has accepted the responsibility that came with his fame.

He moved towards more relatable topics and his ‘rants’ made waves. Soon he found himself being flooded with requests for topics that people wanted him to make videos on.

With his social media fame, Akram also faces people getting offended over his personal views. However, he’s not too worried.

“What I’ve learnt, being a Pakistani and being in the entertainment industry, is that people forget. Give it three days and people forget everything. We’ve gone through the worst scandals with Meera and Veena Malik and what has come of it? So now, whenever I say something that backfires, I just sit back and watch Netflix and let this die out. And it eventually does.”

Continuing the conversation about threats from different people, Akram also mentions attacks on his social media accounts feeling that someone is trying to silence his voice.

Speaking about his famous catchphrase ‘Khalli Karao’, Akram says it was completely random. ‘Khalli’ is an Arabic word that means ‘to just let it go’. Living in Dubai for a few years, Akram picked up the word and it became a part of his vernacular. He then used it in one his videos without thinking too much of it – for his Pakistani audience, however, it was something completely new and people picked up on it.

“I started getting to know from my friends that students and people in Pakistan have started using this phrase commonly.”

Speaking about his latest initiative which included giving away books for free, Akram’s main focus is on education and critical thinking, believing it to be the “only thing that can lead us out from the dark ages we are in”.



“We don’t have individual opinions. It is easy to tweet that we aren’t happy with what is happening but it is very difficult to do something. We expect someone else to come and save us from. But it is up to us to change something. We aren’t taught to be empathetic. People park their cars in the middle of the roads and go buy roti, not caring that it’s causing traffic. So if I have a certain amount of following, I feel that I have a responsibility to do my part.”



Akram also laments the lack of resources catered to education and children in the country.

“There are 75 TV channels in the country and not one is dedicated to science or education or for children. Do we, as a society, have nothing to do with these things?”

Sticking to his commentary, Akram plans to continue with stand-up to create a culture of dialogue and comedy, hoping to create a proper industry. He also wants to use his platform to shed a light on the positive aspects of Pakistan.

"As a society, I wonder, where are we heading? I want people to be able to have their own opinions. Right now we are a herd of sheep. We need to play our individual parts to create an empathetic society, and that's what I'm doing through my platform."