Abbas Wahab’s “Dialed In” Comedy Special: A Review
September 19 saw London comedian Abbas Wahab return for a stop in his “Dialed In” to a delighted crowd at Aeolian Hall. The born and raised Londoner of Sudanese descent began his comedy career 10 years ago after leaving an engineering career in the Detroit automotive industry. Since then, he’s worked on developing his craft as a comedian and has also branched into acting in television and film, featuring in “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” and M. Night Shyamalan’s “TRAP”.
“Dialed In” finds Wahab two years after his last tour “No New Regrets”, following a profound period of change. Since 2024, he’s returned to Toronto after a stint living in New York City, become a father to 2 children, and has increased his audience as a comedian through his forays into comedic social media content and booking his first leading role in Final Boost, an upcoming film by director Mark Corless.
“Before you have a kid, your life is singularly focused on yourself,” he explained in an interview with Antler River Media, “Now, when things don’t go exactly as planned in the career sense, I’m not sweating it so much. I just think of it as “it’s not my time yet”, whether it’s A, B or C”.
Opening for Wahab were comedians Jordan Policicchio, hailing from Sault St. Marie, & Abdullah Usman, writer and producer for CBC. Policicchio told tales of his life as a married man and growing up in an Italian-Canadian household. Usman’s set hit close to home for much of the crowd, focusing on his own experience of moving with his family at age 14 from Pakistan to St. Mary’s, Ontario and the modern struggle of trying to find love while navigating the expectations of immigrant parents.
Wahab’s new work blends the particular experience of trying to walk off the beaten path as an immigrant in Canada with the strange and sometimes nonsensical circumstances that are found while trying to maintain that delicate balancing act.
All three being children of immigrants, the comedians present the cultural adaptation process in honest and humorous ways. How life in Canada creates a reality that provides children with life possibilities and paths that would be very difficult, if not impossible, for them to have in their countries of origin; while it forces parents to confront different perspectives, situations, and go against their traditional standpoints. It demonstrates how “The Canadian Dream” can change from one generation to the next. At the same time, it shows the universal struggle of each generation trying to understand the next, burdened by their distinct norms.
With the Dialed In tour, Wahab brings a thoughtful and worthwhile comedic reflection, showing that despite all the differences we may experience, life is the same for us all: living in respect of the past while “dialed in” with our individual present.
