Aamer Rahman

Aamer Rahman
Born (1982-10-17) 17 October 1982
Saudi Arabia
Spouse
Que Ali
​
(m. 2012)​
Comedy career
Years active2007–present
Medium
  • Stand-up
  • television
  • film
Genres
  • Observational comedy
  • satire
  • deadpan
  • sarcasm
Subjects
Websiteaamerrahman.com

Aamer Rahman (Bengali: আমের রহমান; born 17 October 1982) is an Australian writer and stand-up comedian of Bangladeshi descent, best know for his viral bits "Reverse Racism" and "Is it OK to Punch Nazis?."

Early life and education

Rahman's parents are from Bangladesh and moved to the Middle East.[1] Rahman was born in Saudi Arabia, and moved back and forth between Australia and the Middle East before returning to Australia when he was 13.[1][2][3][4]

Rahman attended Monash University.[5] He was an editor of the student newspaper, Lot's Wife, in 2002.[6] Although he graduated with a degree in law, he did not pursue a legal career.[7]

Stand-up career

2007–2013 (RAW comedy, Fear of a Brown Planet)

In 2007, Rahman's friend Nazeem Hussain entered Triple J's Raw Comedy Award open mic competition at the Melbourne Comedy Festival[8][9] After seeing Hussain compete, Rahman also decided to enter.[3][10] Rahman won the state final and went onto the national finals where he was voted runner-up in a performance that was screened on ABC Television.[7][11][12]

Due to the success of Raw Comedy they decided to develop their five-minute stand-up routines into a one-hour show,[9]Fear of a Brown Planet[10] - a play on the Public Enemy LP, Fear of a Black Planet.[8][11] Rahman and Hussain first performed Fear of a Brown Planet at the Melbourne Fringe Festival.[11][1][13] Prior this, Rahman had only been on stage three times for RAW.[14] In 2008, Rahman and Hussain were recipients of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Best Newcomer Award for Fear of a Brown Planet.[7][15]

Rahman performed extensively with Fear of a Brown Planet alongside Nazeem Hussain throughout the early 2010s.[7] [16][17]In October 2010, they took part in a one-off concert with Allah Made Me Funny at the Athenaeum Theatre in Melbourne.[18][19]

Their shows, including Fear of a Brown Planet Returns (2010) and Fear of a Brown Planet Attacks (2011), were staged at major comedy festivals such as the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Sydney Comedy Festival, Adelaide Fringe, and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.[20] [21][22][23] The duo also toured internationally, including performances across the United Kingdom, and released a recorded special of Fear of a Brown Planet Returns in 2011.[24][25]

2013–2016 solo career, quitting standup

In April 2013, after announcing the end of Fear of a Brown Planet Rahman performed his debut solo show, The Truth Hurts, at the Melbourne Comedy Festival to critical praise.[2][26][27][28][29]. In 2014, he performed "The Truth Hurts" at the Soho Theatre in London and was named as the one of the Guardian Newspaper's Top 10 live acts of the year.[30][31][32] Rahman had also been a regular contributor to Political Asylum, Melbourne's topical stand-up comedy night.[33]

'Can We Kick It?' (Web series) 2018

In 2018 Rahman produced a web series in New York featuring rappers, artists and comedians including Immortal Technique, Brother Ali, Hasan Minhaj, Aparna Nancherla, Akilah Hughes and Franchesca Ramsey.[34][35][36]

Return to standup

After being absent from standup for almost 7 years, Rahman returned to standup in 2024 to independently release the 'The Culture War Mixtape' addressing the genocide in Gaza.[37] [38]Rahman has stated that he was shocked by the lack of artists speaking on the issue, and felt compelled to return to the stage. The clips were released in a raw, mixtape style format rather than a full, polished comedy album. A number of clips went viral, including "The Only Democracy,"[39] and "Scratch a Liberal and a Fascist Bleeds."[40]

Comedy style

Rahman and Hussain perform alone before handing over to their comedic partner.[41] Rahman's comedy has been described as wry and subversive.[22]

Television and radio career

Rahman has written and performed for television;[42] he has worked on Channel 31's program Salam Cafe.[14] He has also appeared regularly on ABC Radio National and Triple J, Channel Ten's Melbourne Comedy Festival Gala, The Comedy Channel's You Have Been Watching,[43] ABC1's Tractor Monkeys,[44] he has written for season one of[45] Balls of Steel Australia,[46] and is currently developing projects for television.[43]

In 2011, Australian Story broadcast a documentary on the ABC about Rahman's and Hussain's lives in Australia as well as their debut performances in Edinburgh and London.[47] In 2017, he featured in an ABC and Chemical Media film called You See Monsters, about Muslim Australian artists fighting Islamic bigotry through creativity, satire and irreverence.

Other activities

Rahman is also a part-time youth worker[18] for the Islamic Council of Victoria,[48] and a graphic designer.[7][47] In November 2010, Rahman appeared in an advert for Oxfam Australia.[49]

Heritier Lumumba racism controversy

Rahman is a close friend of former footballer Heriter Lumumba and was publicly outspoken about Lumumba's claims of racial abuse during his time at the Collingwood Football club. Rahman appears in the documentary Fair Game discussing racism in Australian sport, particularly AFL, and the media's handling of Lumumba's claims.[50] Following Lumumba's appearance on The Project, Rahman published a viral thread on X detailing how he believed hosts Waleed Aly and Peter Helliar had colluded with Collingwood to cast doubt on the story.[51][52] This led to a public apology from Helliar.[53]

Views

In December 2014, in his Tumblr post "White Rapper FAQ", Rahman wrote "...A white rapper like Iggy Azalea acts out signifiers which the white majority associates with black culture – hyper sexuality, senseless materialism, an obsession with drugs, money and alcohol – as well as adopting clothing, speech and music – as a costume that they can put on and discard at will. It's a cheap circus act."[54] In January 2015, in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo shooting, he tweeted "As a random Muslim I'll apologise for this Paris incident if random white ppl will apologise for imperialism, drone attacks and Iggy Azalea."[55]

Personal life

Rahman is a Muslim.[9][15][56] In October 2011, he moved out of his parental home.[5] He currently lives in Glen Waverley, Victoria.[57][58] On 9 November 2012, Rahman married Que Ali.[59]

Since its inception in 2009, Rahman has been involved with RISE: Refugees, Survivors and Ex-Detainees – the only refugee organisation in Australia that is run and governed by refugees and ex-detainees. He has been active in visiting RISE members currently in community detention and has been vocal supporters of migrant worker rights. He has developed projects in RISE's Music & Arts portfolio. He has also been involved in RISE's youth development projects including the RISE Music & Arts Festival (2010 and 2011) and RISE's Cypher Hip Hop Project (2011).[60][61] He is still involved in activism, mostly around refugees and immigration into Australia.[30]

See also

References

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  3. ^ a b MacDonald, Leigh (29 July 2013). "Vulture Chirps with Fear of a Brown Planet". Vulture Magazine. Archived from the original on 6 November 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
  4. ^ Vranjes, Emilia (13 July 2011). "Muslims in the mainstream". Perth: inMyCommunity. Archived from the original on 4 November 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
  5. ^ a b "The Planet They're On – Transcript". ABC Online. 7 November 2011. Archived from the original on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
  6. ^ Monash University. Students' Representative Council; Rahmna, Aamer; MacNeil-Brown, Jessie; Leslie, Catherine; Ujvari, Danielle (2002). "Masthead". Lot's wife. Vol. 42, no. 1–13. Monash Student Association. doi:10.4225/03/580d449041ae1.
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  10. ^ a b Barker, Arj (7 November 2011). "The Planet They're On". ABC Online. Archived from the original on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
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  35. ^ ist (19 September 2018). Brother Ali: Hip-Hop for the Heart / CAN WE KICK IT Ep.4. Retrieved 6 April 2026 – via YouTube.
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  49. ^ www.imdb.com https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4893748/. Retrieved 14 April 2026. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  50. ^ read, Chris YoungSports Reporter·4 min (11 February 2021). "'Made it worse': Fresh furore over under-fire Waleed Aly interview". Yahoo Sports. Retrieved 14 April 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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  52. ^ "Comedian sorry for 'racism smear'claim". PerthNow. 3 February 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2026.
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  57. ^ "Monash boys' success with Fear of a Brown Planet". Waverley: Waverley Leader. 6 October 2010. Retrieved 1 October 2013.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
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  59. ^ "Our Patrons". RISE: Refugees, Survivors and Ex-Detainees. Archived from the original on 24 March 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
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