30 Facts About Azhar Usman

Azhar Muhammad Usman was born on December 23,1975 and is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, and producer of Indian descent.

Azhar Usman is a former lecturer, community activist and lawyer and has been referred to as the "Ayatollah of Comedy" and "Bin Laughin".

Azhar Usman is best known as one third of comedy trio Allah Made Me Funny.

In December 2020, Marvel Studios announced that Usman had joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe, agreeing to play Najaf on the cast of the studio's Ms.

Azhar Usman was born in Chicago, Illinois, to immigrant Indian Muslim parents.

In 1993, Azhar Usman graduated from Niles West High School in Skokie, Illinois.

Azhar Usman co-founded an Internet startup, then practiced law, and then started performing stand-up comedy.

Azhar Usman chose not to practice law after graduating from law school.

Azhar Usman turned down six-figure salary offers to pay himself $35,000 working for his own dot com.

Azhar Usman then folded the dot-com business and started practicing law briefly as a solo practitioner, whilst doing stand up as a hobby.

Since 1996, Azhar Usman had a friend who was an amateur comic and he would take him to a comedy club in Minneapolis.

Azhar Usman started performing stand-up comedy in early 2001, a few months before September 11, initially as a hobby.

Azhar Usman has performed in many major cities in the US as well as in over 20 countries on five continents.

Azhar Usman has performed in 23 countries on five different continents.

Azhar Usman has played original sketch comedy characters for MTV Networks, E4, and he was the creator and star of his own short-lived, semi-scripted, alternative web comedy show Tinku's World.

Azhar Usman performed at Global Peace and Unity Event in the ExCeL Exhibition Centre in London.

Azhar Usman has shared the stage with comedians including Dave Chappelle, Jim Gaffigan, Russell Peters, Todd Barry and Mitch Hedberg.

In 2008, Azhar Usman produced a short film, The Boundary, which was selected as a finalist by the HBO Short Film Competition, and aired on that network several times.

Azhar Usman appeared in the critically acclaimed, independent feature film Mooz-lum in 2011, starring opposite Roger Guenveur Smith, Evan Ross, Nia Long, and film legend Danny Glover.

Azhar Usman appeared in several documentaries as himself, including It's My Country Too: Muslim Americans, Me and the Mosque, and STANDUP: Muslim American Comics Come of Age.

In February 2017, Azhar Usman appeared in the recurring role of Kkyman Candahar in the Amazon original series Patriot, created, written, and directed by Chicago screenwriter and producer Steven Conrad.

Azhar Usman returned the following year to reprise his role in the second season of the show.

In December 2020, Azhar Usman was cast in an undisclosed role in the Disney+ streaming series Ms.

Azhar Usman brags about the growth of Muslim America to people who don't care.

Azhar Usman is an artist and an activist and was a co-founding board member and director of The Nawawi Foundation, an Illinois non-profit dedicated to contemporary Islamic research and private Muslim think tank.

Azhar Usman serves as an Arts and Culture advisor to the Inner-City Muslim Action Network in Chicago.

Usman wrote a one-man show titled "Ultra American: A Patriot Act starring Azhar Usman" and premiered it at Silk Road Rising in Chicago in September 2016.

In May 2017, Azhar Usman appeared on comedian Pete Holmes' podcast You Made It Weird, for a wide-ranging interview that covered many topics.

In 2010, fellow comedian and legendary standup icon Dave Chappelle remarked: "Azhar Usman is untouchable, he's like a comedian from the future," after a show at The New Parish in Oakland, California.

Azhar Usman has opened for Chappelle over 40 times since first meeting him in 2005.