When did you first realise you're funny?

I probably first realised as a kid. We were playing baseball, and I was making all the girls laugh in between the innings and I was making all the other players mad. So that was it, then I knew.

So you decided to pursue it because you thought it would get you girls later on?

I think that's the main motivation for most men, at the end of the day, no matter what. That's what it comes down to. We want to make more money, we want to do well, we want to be seen more, we want to have more exposure, we want to be the best in our field, because the better we do, the more we make, the better quality of women we'll get, the more options we'll have. It comes down to the basics. I guess not many men will admit it.

How do you make your comedy universal?

I just talk about my life and I think people can usually meet me halfway and relate to it. I'm a human being just like everybody else so topics I touch upon are pretty much things people can understand. I'm not just making things up here, I talk about my life. That usually does it?

Do you ever find that you get somewhere and people just don’t get it?

Sometimes I'll have to explain it and then they get it. Sometimes it will take that extra second. It's my job to let them know what I'm talking about, explain it a bit. If I'm in South Africa and I talk about a TV show in the 'States that you guys don’t get, well that's nobody's fault; I'll just talk about the TV show and explain it a little bit. The burden's on the comedian to make that happen.

Do you do any research before you come or while you're here?

Yeah, usually I hang out for a bit, I always come in a little early — I was the first guy to land here out of this group. I always make sure I come early to get over the jet lag and figure things out and sit down with the kitchen staff here at the hotel, the concierges, I read the newspapers, ask the producers what the hot topics are.

So has anything surprised you while you've been here?

to be honest, the xenophobia thing really got me for a second, and then I started understanding it, speaking to the people that were based here. I don’t agree with it but it made me understand what was happening. Living in North America you just don’t get that kind of thing happening. We get other forms of it — racism exists everywhere. Discrimination exists everywhere.

With that in mind, is there anything you wouldn’t touch on in your comedy?

I've been known to not have a filter. I'm probably the last guy who has any kind of moral compass when it comes to things like that. The last time I came to South Africa, I had an old joke about Aids and it did really well — which they loved — but people couldn’t believe I went that far and talked about it. When I'm back home, I have different topics I go on to. It depends on the show as well. This show I'm going to keep it very Top 40 and light and fun.

Why do comedians always do airline jokes?

We fly so much. Even I said I don’t want to do airline jokes because everybody else does, but I've been flying so much the last year, most of our lives end up getting spent in airplanes. And you always have to write about your life, so that's where our lives get spent most of the time. There's so much material I didn’t know there was. Like the looks you get, especially when you look like me. I look Middle Eastern, so after 9/11 it's not really fun to see a guy like me walk on the plane — I'll be the last person walking on the plane or sitting in the first class cabin which is very close to the pilot. *laughs*

Do you feel a pressure to be funny in your day-to-day life?

Yeah, there are times when people go: 'Oh, you’re a comedian, do something'. When you’re not on stage, you need to turn it off — you need time to chill back and be human as well. It could become annoying if you're always trying to be that guy.

Is there a real different between who you are normally and the person on stage?

I think it’s an amplified version of myself on stage. It's me embellished, to the tenth power. So you get me, but you get a silly and bigger version of me.

What's the best way to deal with hecklers?

Never get angry, that's the first thing, because you'll lose your crowd. Never ignore it completely, you have to deal with it and just move on. But do it in a way where you're sort of making fun of the person, but you're bringing them into the group and you're laughing together. There's a fun way to do it and there's a nasty way to do it. so stay away from the nasty and you'll keep your crowd and the heckler will stop heckling and actually become your friend.

What makes you laugh? And what was the last thing you laughed at?

It's nothing specific — funny's funny. It's one of those things that you never decide — you can't decide something's funny. Usually your mind and your body tell you it's funny because you're laughing. The last thing that really made me laugh is this new film 'Kung Fu Panda'. I didn't want to watch it, but my sister begged me to see and I told her 'I hate animation, I don’t want to go'. Finally I gave in &8212; and it turned out to be one of the best times in a movie theatre in my life.

What are your interests outside comedy?

Usually I play ice hockey back in Canada, otherwise I love music so I go to a lot of concerts. Those are the two things: sports and music.

How does the Indian community in Canada compare to South Africa's?

I've been to Durban — I thought I was in India for a second. Back home, in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and all the big cities in North America there are big neighbourhoods that are becoming very mainstream to the point where you'll go cinemas and there are all the regular American movies and there are always one or two Bollywood movies. You guys have that too. It's becoming one of things where we're really spreading out. I don’t think people are noticing but we're invading, we're taking over, we're just putting our pieces together and we're just going to attack with one shot. On TV there's just going to be a Bollywood movie, that's going to cut to intermission in the middle and we're going to say 'attack' and that's it. *laughs*