Sugar Sammy, A Stand-Up Who Stands Out
It takes some serious balls to joke about arranged Indian marriages- especially in front of an audience in Dubai. Or to do a schtick in Saudi Arabia about how the Arabic language is so hard to understand, that it needs to buy a vowel.
But not to Sugar Sammy- the master of ethnic comedy. Some may call it dirty jokes; he calls it the facets of life.
“Look, there’s reason men think about sex every 52 seconds,” jokes the 30-year-old comedian born Sam Khullar to Indian immigrant parents. “I’m not gonna deny it, and just be a clean comic. It’s sort of like denying the fact that life is clean or life is dirty- you have to address both. So I’m an in-between type of guy.”
And it’s that persona which has put the Montreal native on a Just for Laughs-sponsored Canadian theatre tour, which to Sammy is like the ultimate rite of passage as a stand-up comic.
“It’s all been club acts for the last few years,” explains Sammy, who was voted as ‘the funniest comedian’ by the Montreal Mirror three years in a row. “But everyone knows that the next big step for comics is doing it in theatres. And to add on the fact that it’s Just for Laughs, it’s really awesome.”
Sammy agrees that he’s come quite the long way since his days aspiring to become a comedian at eight-years-old while watching Eddie Murphy’s Delirious. “After that, I straight up told my mom, that’s what I wanted to do.”
Adds Sammy, “I’ve always loved African American comedy, guys like Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence, Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock. I used to always watch ‘Def Comedy Jam’ whenever it was on. Friday nights, I would even refuse to go out with my friends, just to watch the ‘Ali G show’ at midnight at home.”
And although a comedian isn’t really the typical profession that parents aspire their kids to become, the life at home was a perfect training ground.
“My whole family is full of jokers,” says Sammy. “It’s such a great environment to thrive in. We’re always messing around, and I’ve always been running my material by my parents, my brother and my sister.”
But Sammy’s first chance to rock the mike on stage would only come when he was 19- an unpaid gig at a student fundraiser at McGill University. Addicted to the comedy drug, the adolescent then decided to seek bigger outlets, which eventually led to open-mike nights at Montreal’s Comedy Works club where he became a regular.
And then in 2004, Just for Laughs- the mecca of all comedy festivals- came to recruit.
“They wanted to book me, and that’s when I started planning my steps,” says Sammy of Just for Laughs. “My foot was in the door, and I knew for sure I wanted to do that for a living. So I just laid it all out, planned it all out, and now I’m gonna try and follow it.”
But not many people could have for-seen the plan involving Sammy using the world as his audience. Literally. Last year the comic went on a world tour to 13 different countries. Five different continents.
“We really went all over, it was exciting,” Sammy recalls. “We toured for 11 months, South Africa, the Middle East, Dubai, the US, the UK, Australia. I love touring and finding new audiences. That’s how it’s been for a while now, haven’t been home for more than a month or two per year.”
And just like after his first taste on stage back at the student fundraiser, he’s again still looking for more- in this case, another Continent to leave in gut-busting laughter.
“Haven’t done South America yet, but we’re working on that.”
“But everyone has NBC and CNN, so even the furthest places around the world understand what I’m talking about. It’s not like they think I’m some guy coming to the village bringing them fire,” jokes Sammy.
Though the biggest question seems to be, how do you take on a world audience? Well that’s where the comedian’s four languages come in. You read that correctly. Meet the funniest Quadra-lingual, ever.
“It definitely helps me take on a more global perspective,” says Sammy, who can speak English, French, Punjabi and Hindi.
“My reaction time is a lot better in English, but I’ve been working at getting the other languages up to speed. Yet, I can adapt my act to all four.”
Even more strange is his fondness of audience hecklers.
“I love them,” says Sammy. “Most comics hate it, but I can’t get enough of them. I love incorporating the crowd into my set. I know my material, I rehearse, edit it, so to have that fun with the crowd, that’s my reward with that show.”
But Sammy gives an explanation to his different persona as a comedian- whether it be his raunchy comical shtick, his love for the international scene, or his quirky mentality all together.
“I try to stand out, rather than blend in,” says Sammy. “My dad tells me every day ‘Don’t listen to anyone, do what you want to do, and follow your own path.’ And because I do that, I’m totally in charge of my career.”
“So all the things I do- including the way I market myself- are different from the traditional style of being a comic. And I think that’s gonna help me be the best comedian I could be.”
