In a world as messed up as ours, it can sometimes be hard to find anything to laugh about – never mind if you’re a Muslim woman thinking about providing humorous release for the masses.
And yet, Sakdiyah Ma’ruf is just that: a hilarious Indonesian comedian intent on finding the light in adversity and releasing tensions across the globe via her unique comedic stylings.
Ma’ruf grew upwatching US-based comedians and decided to use the same medium to talk about issues plaguing her own country. Television producers have requested she censor her jokes, but Ma’ruf, who believes comedy mirrors a culture’s hypocrisy, has refused to be silenced. Thanks to her admirable defiance, Ma’ruf has been invited to deliver the Sesquicentennial Inaugural Chaser Lectureat Sydney Town Hall this month – an opportunity she could never have conceived of in her younger days.
“I participated in a school competition where they asked each class to perform a sketch and I ended up second place out of three contestants, and that was the beginning,” she remembers. “I never imagined becoming a comedian – I didn’t know why I was encouraged and motivated to participate in that contest, it was just meant to be I guess.”
Ma’ruf’s career has escalated rapidly over the last few years, ever since she drew inspiration from one artist in particular. “I saw Robin Williams live on Broadway in 2009 and it was a life-changing moment,” she says. “My whole life was passing before my eyes. I grew up watching Seinfeld, Full House, many US sitcoms without knowing that this was the path I could choose for my life.
“Watching Robin Williams performing, it all made sense to me. I had to try it out. The linguistic aspects of stand-up because I studied English, the rhetoric and the message hiding behind it, and all different kinds of performance relies on a single performer speaking in front of a large audience – it’s fascinating, it’s inspiring. I realised you can actually say those things out loud, offending all these people without being too aggressive or harsh about it. It’s beautiful in many ways. It’s not fine art, it’s not poetry, but it feels like poetry to me.”
With a set that focuses on largely controversial topics, mostly pertaining to Ma’ruf’s religion and the global perception of Muslims, the tone of her comedy looks to give a gentle poke to the irony of Ma’ruf’s position as an Islamic stand-up. “It’s largely ironic, because myself being Muslim, wearing the hijab is in itself ironic,” she says. “At the Chaser Lecture I’m not sure I can go too political, in the sense that I’ll discuss current issues, but I don’t think I’ll go down that road [too much].
“I’ll talk about things that are more personal. Because a Muslim woman in Australia, solo, in a hijab and joking, is in itself ironic. One of my favourite jokes to warm up, that I may or may not do, is I like to start out, ‘Thank you for having me, you have no idea what operations I have gone through in appearing before all of you – I shaved my legs, I got a haircut and you can totally tell!’ People cannot tell, because I’m fully covered! Irony.”
Ma’ruf’s brand of comedy certainly comes from an unusual place, making her a great fit for a Chaser event. “I think it’s diversity,” she says. “I couldn’t call myself unique, but I think if I’m looking at it from a global context, people are on one hand more accustomed to different voices, to diversity, but on the other hand, people are getting more divided.
“I would hope that one of the reasons they’re inviting me is because they consider me to be a medium for dialogue – how a Muslim women at a high-profile event with [a] more political tone in a way provides a privilege not only for me, but for Muslim women in Australia, Indonesia, the world; that they’re acknowledged as having a voice. And hopefully I’ll be able to bridge dialogue only by standing there.”
The Sesquicentennial Inaugural Chaser Lecture and Dinner, featuring Sakdiyah Ma’ruf, takes place onThursday November 17 atSydney Town Hall.
