Saad Haroon, the first standup comedian in Pakistan to perform shows in English and create English comedy shows, is finalized in the Top Ten participants for the international comedy contest, World’s Funniest Person.

The contest World’s Funniest Person is being organized by the renowned Hollywood nightclub the Laugh Factory. The owner of the club, Jamie Masada, had traveled across the world, holding comedy festivals, to find 20 candidates for the show.  

From these 20 participants, Saad Haroon was selected amongst the top ten, who performed on Monday, 20th October  2014, at the Laugh Factory for selection for the final show. The final show will be held in Las Vegas, at the Laugh Factory’s sister club, on the United Nations Day, 24th October 2014. 

Saad Haroon has successfully created Pakistan’s first ever improvisational comedy troupe, BlackFish. He is also the creator for the popular Pakistani show The Real News and the video sketches of Burka Woman. 

Other semi-finalists for Monday’s show included Mustapha El Atrassi from France, Ishmo Leikola from Finland, Vittorrio Leonardi from South Africa, Nitin Mirani from UAE, Archie Bezos from Spain, Vivek Mahbubani representing China, Tiffany Haddish from USA, Waddah Swar from Saudi Arabia and Lioz Shem Tov from Israel.

The 5 finalists will be selected based on the judge’s scores and from the audience’s online voting.Current voting status marks Ishmo Leikola as first, Mustapha El Atrassi as second and Saad Haroon as third in position.

You can watch the show and vote for your favorite comedian here.

The winner of the World’s Funniest Person will be awarded $10,000 along with a paid US comedy tour.