Susie Youssef talks about the inspiration for her comedy

COMING to Malaysian shores is Australia's largest comedy festival - The Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow. Organised by LOL Events, this roadshow features a cast of Australian and international star performers who have been handpicked by the Melbourne Comedy Festival to bring you two unforgettable nights of stand up, sketch, slapstick, and silliness.
On the line up this year is International sketch superstars the Pajama Men (USA) and Australian stand-up comedians Nath Valvo; Susie Youssef; Daniel Connell; and Penny Greenhalgh.
They will be performing at PJ Live Arts by Jaya One on July 27 and July 28 at 8.30pm. You can find out more on www.pjlivearts.my or lolevents.my.
One of the comedians to look out for is Susie Youssef a comedian, actor, writer, and improv artist. Susie is a regular on TV shows in Australia such as Whose Line Is It Anyway? Australia and a guest star in comedy series, Rosehaven.
She has written, performed, and produced comedy for stage, radio, and television in Australia and around the world. In 2014, she played the lead role in the Hayloft Project's award-winning play The Boat People.
Following a sold-out run at the Sydney Fringe Festival in 2014, Susie made her solo debut at the Melbourne and Sydney Comedy Festivals in her sketch comedy show Sketchual Chocolate. She returned to the comedy festival circuit in 2015 with Owl Eyes On You and in 2016, Susie made her Edinburgh Fringe and London debut in Check Youssef Before You Wreck Youssef.
In 2017, Susie continued to make audiences laugh with a new show Behave Youssef.
Susie has only been doing stand up comedy for five years now although she has been doing improv comedy much earlier. "I think stand up is the most terrifying of all types of comedy."
Improv comedy requires her to find other comedians she can work well with while stand up comedy is just her flying solo and trying to make people laugh.
Speaking about the difference between doing stand up comedy in comparison to other forms of comedy she has done over the years, Susie said, "With stand up comedy you don't get a second chance. It has to happen immediately. No matter what happens you only have one shot. It is a good thing and bad thing. When something goes wrong, you have to deal with it. When it goes well, it is really so exciting, it kind of has a different energy for the audience."
When asked what subjects are taboo when it comes to her comedy, she explained, "I stay away from very controversial topics. Most of my stand up comedy ideas come from my family and they are not terribly controversial. I think if you can handle any topic well and you are a master of your craft, you can handle pretty much anything. At the same time, you must realise that some people will be sensitive to any topic and that is something to be aware of."
Susie said that you can't control how people react. "At the end of the day, even if stand up is one-sided and you tell jokes that may or may not be sensitive, there are moments when you will offend some people. If they comment on social media, you have to decide at the moment if it is worth engaging or not."
Hecklers are part and parcel of stand-up comedy. "I think I have been very lucky. In all the times I had hecklers, I could turn them all into good stories that I can use for my comedy. Before I started doing comedy, heckling was the scariest thing in the world to me. Now I just try to deal with it and get a story out of it."