Born and raised in Klang, Harresh A.U. is one of the hottest new faces of Malaysian comedy. His stage name A.U are initials of his parents name – Asohan and Usha.
Harresh in his element at Merdekaraya.
Source: Facebook/photaigraphy
Inspired by his father’s antics during his childhood, he takes up the mic every night for his shot to the top. Despite growing up in poverty, his father always made sure the household was never void of entertainment.
Every night, Harresh would watch Seinfeld episodes with his father and at the end of each episode, his father would perform an impromptu stand-up routine to entertain the whole family. This prompted Harresh to become interested in performing, “As a kid, I was like, what was he doing? How did he have so much charisma? I wanted that power”, he said.
Harresh had to overcome more than his fair share of pain and tragedy. He accounts the loss of his younger brother to cancer as “life-changing” and endured continuous bullying and fat-shaming because of his figure despite his friendly and lovable nature.
Oftentimes, he would reflect on his own thoughts when he found himself being afraid of dark-skinned Indians, of whom were the majority of his bullies. Despite all this, he says that he considers most of the events in his life as a blessing and has made him who he is today.
Harresh discussing material with veteran comedian, Phoon Chi Ho.
Source: Ikmal Rozlan
Harresh dabbled in stand-up by performing in various comedy clubs and is a regular at The Crackhouse and The Joke Factory.
His influences are a mixture of local and international comedians such as Harith Iskander, Kavin Jay, Prakash Daniel, and Jonathan Atherton. Harresh was quick to point out that he did not start getting consistent laughs until at least eight months into performing which continued as he opened for famous local and international headliners.
Harresh was one of the opening acts in a show for Singaporean actor Gurmit Singh who plays Phua Chu Kang in the hit TV series.
Source: Instagram/ Harreshers
To make ends meet, Harresh works at a local gym during the day while managing as many performances as he can at night. He considers being selected to be on Astro’s Komediri and iFlix’s Oi Jaga Mulut as his first big break in comedy.
More recently, Harresh has been organising his own comedy shows around Klang Valley with his fellow up-and-coming comedians.
He states that he is taking matters into his own hands as he is tired of competing with other comedians to impress bookers for limited club spots. He envisions his growth in comedy as something that is not limited to merely live performances but through various mediums such as books, comics, videos and other avenues.
His main goal is to reach the top of the comedy world and to take his fellow comedians along with him.
With passionate youth like Harresh leading the charge, Malaysian comedy surely has a bright future on the global stage!
*Featured image sourced from Facebook/photaigraphy and The Sun Daily
