Azhar Usman

Azhar Usman is a standup comedian, actor, writer, playwright, and producer. He is one of Chicago's top standup comics; CNN called him "America's Funniest Muslim," and Georgetown University identified him as "one of the 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World." In 2010, standup icon Dave Chappelle–for whom Azhar has opened over 50 times–commented "Azhar is untouchable. He's like a comedian from the future." He is a paid regular at the prestigious Comedy Cellar in New York City, and hosts a monthly standup show at his home club, Laugh Factory Chicago. As the co-founder of the international comedy showcase "Allah Made Me Funny–The Official Muslim Comedy Tour," he toured over 20 countries, on five continents. His comedy has been profiled/reviewed by over 100 major world media outlets including The New York Times, BBC, The Guardian, NPR, Al-Jazeera, and Fox News. Azhar guest stars in Amazon Studios' new big-budget, original series Patriot (created and written by Steve Conrad), and has appeared regularly on television and film. He served as a comedy writer for Hasan Minhaj's speech at the 2017 White House Correspondents Dinner. Additionally, Azhar contributed comedy material that appeared in the following Netflix original standup specials: Hannibal Buress' 'Comedy Camisado' (credited as Creative Consultant), Hasan Minhaj's 'Homecoming King' (credited as Creative Consultant), and Dave Chappelle's 'Age of Spin' (Uncredited). In the Spring of 2017, he appeared on Pete Holmes' popular podcast "You Made It Weird," where he announced that he is in development on his first ever one-hour standup special (with Hannibal Buress attached as executive producer and Ramy Youssef directing).