Ishfaque Kamal: A barrister by day, comedian by night
Ishfaque Kamal strives to be a good comedian for his sanity, and a great lawyer for…money!
"People will laugh at you if you tell them this," everyone in Ishfaque Kamal's family said this when he told them that he wanted to be a comedian.
None of them could accept that a law graduate, who is on his way to becoming a Barrister, would work as a comedian.
"I realised then that whatever I wanted to do in life, I needed first to earn the trust of my 'neighbour aunties' because that is what Bangladeshi parents value the most," he joked about the situation.
However, not only did he pass the Barrister Training Course with flying colours, but also carved a niche for himself as a comedian.
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Today, some of the videos in which he has performed have received millions of views on various social media platforms.
Furthermore, his own Facebook page "Faque My Life", where he uploads multiple videos every week, is on the verge of reaching 90,000 followers.
The fact that this page has grown so popular in just five years is just one of many indicators of how successful he has been in making people laugh, which he has loved doing for as long as he can remember.
He said, "I've wanted to be a comedian ever since I was a child. I used to enjoy making people laugh, and it was also a source of comfort for me. Even in my darkest moments, knowing that I could make someone else happy made me feel better."
"I took my role as class clown very seriously because I knew deep down that I could blame it on my bad grades. With 'the F-word' as part of my name, I had little choice but to make jokes about it before my classmates did," he added with a smirk on his face.
However, Ishfaque believes that it was mostly fate that brought him fame, as the turning point in his career came only when he was able to meet the right people at the right time.
"Being a part of 'Daekho' for quite some time played a big role in making me a familiar face. But I wouldn't have made it to Daekho if I hadn't met Anthony Finton at the previous job I had before joining Daekho," he reminisced.
He added, "I wouldn't have made it to the previous job interview if my friend Adiba had not sent me the link to their post seeking content creators on Messenger on the condition that I give her half of my income for the first three months if I got the job! So, it all started with this post that my friend came across by chance. What else could it be if not fate?"
He also attributed a large part of his success to his time at Naveed's Comedy Club, which he joined after moving to Dhaka from his hometown Chattogram. This place, he claimed, was where his skills as a comedian truly progressed to the next level.
"I was fortunate to meet people like Naveed Mahbub and Ahmad Ashik. They were always there as mentors, doing everything they could to help me get better at what I was doing," he recalled.
When reflecting on how much they helped him improve as a comedian, he had a funny incident to share.
He said, "People loved me so much as a comedian that four of the six people who bought tickets to my first stand-up show were my friends who were only there because their other plans got cancelled and they couldn't find anything else to do."
On being asked if he plans to become a full-time comedian in the future, he replied, "Keeping comedy as my sole source of income would be like putting all of my eggs in one basket and getting on a roller coaster. So I want to strive to be both a good comedian for my sanity and a great lawyer for...money!"
"I want to show people that it is absolutely possible for someone to play a comedic character like Bablu, who I played in numerous videos of Daekho, one moment and then step inside the court and argue tirelessly on behalf of his/her client the next, and be exceptionally good at both," he concluded.
