Sami Shah

Writer

Sami Shah is a multi-award winning comedian, writer, journalist and broadcaster.

He began performing comedy in Pakistan in 2003, with the country’s first improv-comedy troupe, Black Fish. His first solo stand-up show was in 2005, and he has performed a new hour of comedy every year since, winning awards such as “Best Local Act” at the Perth International Comedy Festival and “Best Comedy” at Fringe World. He has performed multiple sold-out runs at comedy festivals across Australia, as well as in London’s Soho Theatre. A number of his stand-up comedy albums are available on iTunes and Spotify.

Sami has been a frequent guest on The Project, ABC’s The Drum, in addition to being a panelist on Q&A and appearing on Stephen Fry’s QI. From 2018-2020, he co-hosted ABC Radio’s Melbourne Breakfast program with Jacinta Parsons, presented ABC Radio National’s Saturday Extra, and produced and hosted multiple documentary series’ on ABC RN’s Earshot. He has spoken extensively on race, politics, free speech, religion, political analysis, and cultural commentary.

Sami’s autobiography, I, Migrant, was nominated for the NSW Premier's Literary Award, the WA Premier's Literary Award, and the “Russell Prize” for Humour Writing. Other writing credits include Boy of Fire and Earth (a critically acclaimed urban fantasy novel) and Islamic Republic of Australia (a non-fiction exploration of religious belief). He has also contributed multiple essays and short stories to various anthologies and collections, most recently the satirical Gadfly column for The Saturday Paper. He is the Ambassador-at-Large for PEN Melbourne.

 Transitioning into more narrative writing, Sami has created and hosted multiple podcasts, including Laughing Dead for the ABC and Beginners Guide to Pakistan for BBC Radio 4. He hosts a weekly satirical podcast, News Weakly, and is a regular contributor to The Chaser Report.

Recently, he co-directed and wrote The Missed, a crime noir series he created for Amazon’s Audible, which earned him an AWGIE award for Audio Fiction and a Australian Podcast award for Best Fiction podcast.

Sami is also developing a slate of other projects, including a new horror series Refuge, a documentary miniseries The Forgotten with Ed Morrish, and adapting his novel Boy of Fire and Earth into an adult animation series.

Sami’s Website: thesamishah.com

For enquiries regarding Sami Shah please contact us via email or on (02) 9319 7199.