Riaad Moosa: My biggest struggle is that people overseas can't understand my accent

Riaad Moosa may be one of the most famous faces in SA comedy and has collected more stamps in his passport than we have on our Makro loyalty card, but the star told TshisaLIVE that it has not always been smooth sailing.

The comedian is one of four local acts that recently shot a performance for the upcoming Netflix Comedians of the World series. He joins Tumi Morake, Loyiso Gola and Loyiso Madinga on the special.

The series, which hits the streaming service on January 1, 2019, will showcase 47 comedians from 13 regions in 8 languages. It will feature a range of stand-up specials from comedians diverse in style, gender and ethnicity. 

Although Riaad was an old head when it came time to shoot his episode, having travelled to North America several times in the past, he told TshisaLIVE that he still faced the possibility that his audience wouldn't understand him.

He said that coming into the international game, his accent was one of his biggest challenges, especially in Canada.

"I had to connect with my audience and the biggest reason why I couldn't connect was because my accent is weird and people couldn't contextualise me. I would never feel as connected as I would in other places."

He said that he would be introduced as a comedian from Africa and would get looks as to why he was not black. 

"You say you are Muslim. You say you are apartheid classified coloured. You look Egyptian or Arab. Here I am Indian and Cape Malay, there I am a paradox."

He said that people struggled to understand his accent but related more when he did impersonations

"They understand my impersonations better than me. I am like 'must I talk like Mickey Mouse the whole time?' So, I knew that I needed to speak about my accent first. I am paranoid about my accent, so I address that and then just go into a few things about me."

Riaad said he was humbled to be part of such a big project and said despite it being shot for a global audience, local audiences would love the talent on show.