HK: Let’s start at the beginning – how did you get into comedy in the short-form video format?

SC: I’ve been working on and off for years since I was a teenager. I worked in all types of industries: F&B, auto-parts, selling cars, spare parts, selling pens – any job you can think of, I’ve tried. During COVID, I realized everyone was at home just watching stuff online, so I thought, let’s do something here. 

I told my Mom I wanted to create content and she said do it, but structure yourself to do it right. I wrote myself a work schedule: wake up, research, record, lunch, edit, break, and so on, — a super detailed schedule like I was an employee of an org. The second I wrote that schedule, I stopped creating videos. It’s just not my process to do things this way. It has to come from a fun place.

HK: Do you remember the first time you thought this could be a career?

SC: In one of my very first Tik-Tok videos, I’m making churros and doing a bunch of different accents. I made 50 cents, which are still in my Tik Tok account I think – and I was on cloud nine. I felt like my blood turned to fuel. I felt like I could really do this. I told my uncle, someone I have always looked up to – still do – and he was like “what are you doing, you made 50 cents? That’s it?” He really thought it was a joke, and deep down that absolutely crushed me. Despite that, I told him “It’s 50 cents today… tomorrow, it will be more.”

HK: It’s hard to go from a follower mentality – which can be so comforting to all of us – to an individualistic, leader mentality. Completely defining your own vision.

SC: At one point I was like – eff everything. I was working in sales & consultancy and then marketing. I had some creative liberty, and I was traveling a lot, but it didn’t feel right. It can be super tough – corporate life can be so challenging in so many ways. At some point, I realized that I had been “following” my whole life, but everyone who had been leading me was doing their best. I didn’t hold any grudges when I finally took the leap. They did their best, but now it was my time to listen to me. So, I just quit. I left at the worst possible time, financially.

HK: Your skits often show a lot of characters responding to authority; our instinct to be quite servile. We try to beat it out of us, but there is something in us that really wants to please authority. Maybe it’s cultural.

SC: I don’t know that it is that cultural: it’s such a human thing to avoid confrontation at all costs. Having any disobedience to a superior is an ultimate form of confrontation – it’s linked to our very animalistic survival instinct. Someone firing you is the same as kicking you out to the streets. It’s in our genetic code to want to belong and be safe, and to avoid the extreme confrontation that will result in us losing our shelter and livelihood. It comes from wanting to be accepted safely.

HK: I don’t want to de-mystify your writing process too much. You’re creating a canon with all your characters, one that’s yours to indefinitely explore. A world that’s comfortable for us to enter – like a favorite sitcom – and then we watch how things change in those familiar surroundings. You’ve been laying bricks and easter eggs for years, which makes us all tune in.

That was not a question…

SC: It’s okay.

HK: I’ll ask questions, now. Your writing seems to come from a very phonetic, auditory place. I was curious to see if you had any musical influences that inspire you.

SC: I have a diverse palette – I like music from most genres: heavy metal, classic rock, pop, R&B, hip-hop. I sit most comfortably in the soul/ hip-hop/ R&B/ jazz space. I also love a Latin influence – I love salsa, bachata – I can listen to it for hours. Bossa nova – Joao Gilberto is one of my favorite musicians – I went to my friend’s house in the 5^th grade and his mom was playing his music in the kitchen and I was like “what is this gold in my ear?”.

My father was very musical. He played the drums and played a lot of rock music in the house. I grew up listening to classic rock like Deep Purple and Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix and Prince. My older sister was listening to a lot of Sean Paul, the kind of 2000s stuff that was popular at the time. I actually loved all of it.

I love music that I don’t understand. Makes my neck hairs stand if something sounds amazing, but I don’t understand it. My dad taught me how to play drums and guitar. I always loved creating music, even for fun. I love the Cartoon Network music maker games from the 2000s.

HK: Do you find that this influences your performance? Gives you a sharper ear?

SC: Accents are music to me. When people ask me how to perfect an accent, I tell them to think of it as a song. Memorize the lyrics and the inflexion. I really want to learn Malayalam and Tamil, because they’re so melodic. People make fun of the languages, cos they sound different to them, but I tell people to play close attention to just how melodic they are. How complex and nuanced.

HK: Dubai is so diverse; endless sounds and accents that can inspire material, I wonder if it gets overwhelming. Do you get sensory overload, and need some kind of sensory deprivation? You can’t be ideating all the time – you’d get so burned out. What are your rituals to clog your ears and mind and unwind?

SC: 99% of the time I’m oblivious to what’s happening around me.

HK: That’s surprising to me.

SC: I can’t sit down and write. I store everything in my mind as dialogue, as an idea that I can just pin to an imaginary board and take down and move around and use as needed. I do a lot of observation and regurgitation, but it happens very organically. It breaks itself into different parts when I’m performing it, I let the improv take over. To the question of sensory deprivation: I love to game. I’m a big gamer: role-playing, first person shooters, storyline, strategy. That’s how I switch off.

I also like cooking and working with my hands. I pour my soul into my food. I love fixing things around the house. I like those little breaks away from my phone. I like driving. I have my own production agency I started with a friend — so much of my business is on my phone. It’s hard to stay away from it, it’s always ringing, but I do my best to give myself those breaks. I also love playing sports, never fails to make me feel better. I like spending time with my dog… I just like having him around.

HK: Do you enjoy solitary time?

SC: I don’t have any issues being alone – I recently traveled to the Maldives alone, barely used my phone – no FOMO. I can spend a lot of time with myself, but that’s not what makes me happiest. I like to share things. I think we should all try a little bit harder to be a part of something bigger than ourselves – and that’s when we bring out the most in ourselves.

Back to my struggle of writing, I would like to write more. Can you share tips on the 3 points around writing I struggle most with the most: starting, continuing, and stopping.

HK: I think the hardest one is starting. You’ll have no trouble stopping – you’ll have a good instinct of knowing when something is good and done. A tip that helps me get started is to open a fresh word document, date it, and write the specific topic header. Delineate from writing something targeted vs. brain dumping vs. journaling. Those are all very different, and come from a different place. Know your audience. And then just throw stuff on the page, doesn’t have to be chronological, you can re-shuffle and edit it later.

You do it with your characters, there’s an arc there. For instance, it’s so funny when the antagonists break down and show their vulnerability. I love that you chose to put that into the characters.

SC: I like giving sympathetic angles to the absolute asshole characters.

HK: I’ve been reading biographies of creative figures lately, and something I’m always surprised by is how deliberate they were in creating their image and the mythology surrounding their work. As you’re building your career, do think about self-invention or self-mythologizing at all?

SC: Such a big part of doing comedy for me was because I wanted to find a way to be myself. I wanted a job that would pay me to be me. But not everyone will love you. One quote I always think of is “you can be the sweetest peach on the tree, but not everyone loves peaches”. I really take that to heart because I f*cking love peaches. I almost got a peach tattooed on my arm.

HK: Might send the wrong message – not very contemporary. Or too contemporary.

SC: I just love peaches, so much.

HK: Can’t say I’m a huge fan. They’re so fleshy.

SC: You haven’t had a good peach, then. A good peach is firm and juicy, not fleshy. It’s like a true fruit: it’s light, it’s refreshing. I think the peach is the fruit of God.

HK: I think the avocado is the fruit of God.

SC: Avocados are vegetables in my mind.

HK: Because they’re green?

SC: Because they’re green. To answer your question – my opinion of myself matters to me. Other’s people opinion of me does not matter all. So, no – I don’t think at all about any sort of self-image or the myth around the work. It’s also too much effort: if I try too hard to create an image, I’ll be stuck to that image. That’s exhausting and boring. I change all the time, why would I commit to the image? I would rather just commit to myself.

I’m kind of the same with my characters – I don’t plan out their evolution, I let it happen. When people pleasers crack, it happens unpredictably. The only character I do plan for is Persian Prince. He’s a bit more methodical than others. I have to reverse engineer him a bit.

HK: Last question – we ask all our interviewees. What do you have for breakfast?

SC: Usually some form of eggs. I like them in between a scramble and an omelette. I dice some onions, garlic, and chop in some chili. I sauté those and let the flavors infuse. Then I’ll crack a bunch of eggs in the same pan and lightly fold them together until they’re super soft or fluffy. No oil, no butter. Eat them with toast, and a tiny bit of spring onion or dill if I’m feeling fancy.

HK: Coffee?

SC: I recently cut back on caffeine, but I like Turkish coffee or a single shot espresso. If I’m feeling like a fancy ho, I’ll do my own version of a latte: 2 shots of espresso, oat milk, and agave or date syrup. Hot or iced. It’s delicious.