The Leicester Comedy Festival will be kicking off on Wednesday and ahead of the big launch, patron Eshaan Akbar sat down with HELLO! to discuss his upcoming comedy shows while joking that he was “uncancellable”.
When asked how prepared for his shows, with the first one taking place on Friday, the 39-year-old joked: “Not particularly because I’m in the throes of filming in a very busy start to my year. Leicester is always my first one as it helped start my career, I’ll always do my previews and try and get the get my materials in.”
The star’s new show will be dealing with political discourse, with Eshaan explaining: “I’ve been really obsessed with the idea of extending grace to one another. Society has forgotten how to see the goodness in each other. I think ultimately, it’s about extending grace to myself something that I tend to not do very well.”
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Eshaan is returning to the stage
He added: “I always describe politics as reality TV for people who think they’re intelligent and there’s this real sense that the way we discuss politics it alienates a lot of people. I think the reality on the ground for a lot of people makes them feel like politics can’t do anything and for younger people in the last 15 years, they’ve got the sense that government is incapable of changing anything in their lives. I think politics is under siege and when that happens, it becomes even more important that we extend grace to one another.”
The comedian describes his style of highlighting the fringe parts on either side of an issue going for “the worst people on both sides of the debate, and working my way back in to find that granular minutia of stupidness that ultimately feeds our decision making in our perspective and things”.
However, despite the rise of so-called ‘cancel culture’, he joked that he was “uncancellable” due to his reasoning that he would never “apologise” for a joke. “A joke is my attempt at trying to be funny and it might not work, but a single joke is not the entirety of my being,” he shared.
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Eshaan got his big break opening for Micky Flanagan
Eshaan is part of a force of diverse comedians who have found fame in recent years, and the star joked about the unintended consequences, teasing: ” It’s gone too far I think there’s too much competition and I don’t like this younger swathe of comedians coming up, because it means that I’ve got to work even harder to make sure I keep my place.”
On a more serious note, he added: “I’m very proud of my Asian background and it makes me very happy to see younger Asian people, having the audacity and the quality to want to try and do this as a job. It gives me even more faith in the UK as a country that something like that is possible and it makes me even more deeply believe in the goodness of everyone. It’s a testament that black and brown comedians are making an influence.”
Eshaan is also partially deaf, and while he’s quick to make sure his background or deafness doesn’t define him, he shared the joy he felt when other deaf people saw him succeeding. “I don’t think about it actively. I’m just there as a person just trying to be funny and if people find some value in whatever characteristics they see in me that’s fantastic,” the Sex Education star said. “Those bits have been an incendiary central part of my existence. I’ll just be out there doing comedy and someone will message me saying: ‘I noticed your hearing aid and I’m nervous about my hearing aids, and you’re just so confident’.”
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The star opened up about his passion for food
It’s not just the comedy world that Eshaan is making waves in, as the star made his acting debut last year in Sex Education, and the star hinted this wouldn’t be the last time that we saw him on screens, although revealed that getting acting work wasn’t as easy as he’d hoped. “I thought once I got Sex Education, roles would be flying through the door, but it doesn’t quite work like that,” he jested.
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It’s not just screens where fans might see Eshaan as the star also revealed a passion for cooking and that he would be exploring this in a new series. Speaking about the passion, the star shared: “I’m interested in both the history of food and the emotional connection we have with food. My mum passed away 10 years ago and she was the central part of my relationship with food. I realised that all the food we eat, and when we eat is linked to our emotions and it’s the one activity I do outside of comedy where I find a bit of solace.”
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