Nazeem Hussain’s Birthing Suite Crisis Inspired ABC Comedy
Comedian Nazeem Hussain says a panic in the birthing suite after his first son was born in 2018 inspired Separated at Birth, his first scripted series, which he wrote for ABC and based on his own life.
Australian comedian Nazeem Hussain says an existential crisis in a birthing suite after his first child was born in 2018 inspired Separated at Birth, his new ABC comedy series. The "What the hell have I done" moment became the seed of the show.
Hussain wrote the series himself. It is his first full scripted narrative show, and it draws on his own life.
A comedian out of his comfort zone
The interview took place during filming at the Albanian Mosque in Melbourne's inner north. Hussain joked about a journalist standing in the men's section of the prayer hall. "You're going to scare all the readers," he said.
Behind the jokes, he admits he is nervous. He is used to stand-up and sketch comedy, where every awkward moment ends in a punchline.
"I've been outside my comfort zone since day one on this," he said. "This is the hardest thing I've ever done: telling a story that is worth telling and worth listening to and investing in."
The show is a comedy, but he describes it as a sincere look at new parenthood, "dysfunctional" families and the wider community that supports them.
What happened in the birthing suite
Hussain plays Sameer, a wayward new dad whose wife dumps him in the birthing suite after their first child arrives. The character sits much closer to Hussain's own experience than his earlier work.
"I had a bit of an existential crisis in the birthing suite, holding my [first] kid," he said. He remembers looking at his son and thinking about providing for him with money earned from jokes.
"What the hell have I done with my life? How did I get here? I've got to be funny for the next 18 years, minimum," he said.
He also feared repeating history. "Am I going to end up like my own dad who abandoned me? Like, is that in my wiring?" he recalled thinking.
His eldest son was born in 2018, and Hussain separated from his wife that year. He faced the prospect of single fatherhood and began workshopping the show a year or two later. He has since remarried and has three more children.
Set pranks and a different Sameer
Hussain made his name confronting white Australians on the street in Salam Cafe and Legally Brown. In those shows he played Uncle Sam, full name Sameer Iqbal Muhammad Salahhudeen, a caricature of perceived Muslim extremism.
Nina Buxton, whose credits include Heartbreak High and Dog Park, directs Separated at Birth. Hussain says he still finds ways to unsettle the "serious actors" on set.
In one scene, his character shows a photo of the new baby on a phone. Hussain swapped the image between takes.
"Every take, it would be someone else: Jeffrey Epstein, Bill Cosby, possibly Donald Trump," he said. When viewers see the actors' faces before the cut to a sweet baby, he added, "just know that they're looking at Jeffrey Epstein."
