By Jillian French – Contributor

On March 14, the Ogden Glass Lecture Series hosted comedian Ali Hassan in Bandeen Hall for a night of lighthearted laughter and serious reflection on his new memoir, Is there Bacon in Heaven? Hassan, who is Montreal-raised, is well-established in Canadian comedy, hosting Laugh Out Loud on CBC and touring his stand-up comedy. During the lecture, Hassan walked the audience through his comedy career, highlighting his journey as a cultural Muslim and the difficulties of articulating identity. 

Origins of his book

“I was just going on stage and complaining about my children… my son, who was four at the time, had a lot of questions about Islam.” His son’s questions made him feel cornered. As a cultural Muslim, he explained, “I’m not a practicing Muslim… I’m a freelancer. They call, they say ‘we need you at the mosque’, and I say, ‘well, I was hoping to work from home today’”, he quipped.

Hassan said that he noticed that when he started talking about the religion in his comedy shows, audience members started to wait at the end “just to make a human connection.” They approached him to express their surprise or excitement about different aspects of Islam. These topics became the focus of his one-man shows, and later, his memoir.

A series of bad decisions…

In his reading, Hassan also delved into how his identity as a cultural Muslim developed alongside his professional career. He jokingly described his journey as a “series of bad decisions with good outcomes.” After quitting his career in IT support, he found a passion for food. He thus went on to work as a caterer, chef and cooking instructor, and later added radio broadcasting to his list of odd jobs.

The two passions culminated in an offer to judge at Toronto’s Ribfest – a weekend extravaganza of pork. Although the festival clearly hadn’t done their research on Muslim food restrictions, Hassan accepted the invitation. As he suffered a belly full to the brim with 16 delicious ribs, he realized  “why pork [was] banned in [his] religion.” With the new title of “Muslim celebrity rib-judge” under his belt, Hassan went on to pursue broadcasting and stand-up, launching his comedy career.

A pork-eating Muslim

Hassan shared with the audience that he has since never been more comfortable with his identity. While he doesn’t mind the reputation of a pork-eating Muslim, he admits that kids make this balance difficult.

“How can a guy who judged at rib fest credibly talk to his kids about being a Muslim?” He expressed the difficulty of articulating this intricate identity to his kids: “If you’re really lucky, you fall in love with the path that you’ve carved for yourself. The challenge is, you can’t just share the path you’ve carved with your kids.”

Comedic writing

When asked about moving from the stage to the page, Hassan admitted that it had proved more difficult than he had anticipated. In stand-up, the audience expects comedy every few seconds, and stories are told primarily for entertainment; whereas in comedic writing, there are pauses and reflections, and stories are told to build on a larger theme. When his editor asked him to articulate the larger message behind his stories, he remembered that it was never something he had asked himself. “I tell stories to entertain. . . . I found it very, very challenging.” He challenged himself to find a balance between lighthearted humour and serious reflection, adding that “it’s ok to talk about stuff that’s sad….that stuff happens in life.” This ultimately created a memoir that he felt was for himself, more than for anyone else. “[When] you’re honest with yourself, and you make something you love, eventually people tend to love it as well.”

Is there Bacon in Heaven? 

In his memoir, Hassan settles on universal themes of “parenting, having a parent, and identity”. During the event, he highlighted how comedy and writing both draw from deeply personal relationships with identity. At the end of the talk, he concluded that “[he] really started to enjoy this idea of humour and heart, and was able to create something with both.”