Fahim Anwar is fa-HIM
Photo courtesy of Fahim Anwar on Facebook
In 2013, cartoonist and creator of Dilbert, Scott Adams coined the phrase "talent stack." The concept explores how our unique interests and talents contribute and influence one another. A quick Google AI overview describes a talent stack as "the idea of developing a variety of skills that complement each other to make someone unique and sought after."
Adams calls this process of complementary interconnection "taking [books] off the shelf." Other people may have a similar stack as you, but the weight of how they influence one's life may vary. Ex. Not everyone who has a passion for music actually understands how to play music. There are passionate listeners-only, DJs, punk musicians, classically-trained musicians, savants, and beyond.
I will stretch slightly outside Adams' concept to make the following point: if you have unique books in your cultural stack your craft, art, point of view, and more generally ... life become richer as a result.
So what the hell does this have to do with Fahim Anwar?
I would argue Fahim's talent and cultural stacks make him one of the funniest motheryouknowwhatters working in comedy right now.
Even as I searched for comedy clips and specials to link, I got side-tracked…
Before comedy, Anwar was an Stress Analyst (aerospace engineer) at Boeing. Lucky for him (and us) he hasn't blown any whistles. He grew up in Seattle, WA in a Muslim, Afghan family and spent his early years on stage performing in musicals.
This is the cultural stack that I referenced earlier. His career as an engineer is palpable in his air-tight joke structure while his early comfortability on stage allows him to effortlessly flow and find the funny. These talents compound and combine with his immigrant background to voice a brilliant, yet silly perspective on societal norms, American WASP culture, religion, and other Stuff Fahim Works On.
Comedy elitists reference Greg Giraldo (RIP) when they speak of intellectual comedians. And so I will too! Giraldo's background in law and lawyerdom is often cited as a source of his comedic wisdom (if there is such a thing.) I would argue the same for Anwar.
I would be curious to learn about Fahim's writing process but I'd venture to guess that it is only amplified and intensified by his left-brain talents as an engineer. If my father (who is also an engineer) has taught me anything in life, it is that everything is a system. DIY projects. Relationships. LEGO. Careers. Of A Down. Etc. The inputs and variables change but system-based thinking can be applied almost anywhere.
Even comedy.