A life in translation.
Across countries, formats and institutions, Sami’s work asks who gets to tell the story—and who benefits when everyone agrees not to laugh.
Sami Shah is a Pakistani-Australian writer, journalist, broadcaster, comedian and academic working across the places where public life becomes strange.
He began his career in Karachi as a journalist and English-language stand-up comedian, later creating a televised political satire called News Weakly. After migrating to Australia in 2012, he built a body of work that includes memoir, fantasy, non-fiction, columns, documentary radio, podcasting, audio drama and live performance.
He co-hosted ABC Radio Melbourne Breakfast, has made documentary series for ABC RN and BBC Radio 4, and has appeared on QI, Q&A, The Project, The Drum and stages in Australia, Pakistan and the United Kingdom.
Today he lectures in journalism at the University of Melbourne, hosts the weekly satirical podcast News Weakly, writes commentary and fiction, and curates OzAsia Festival’s Weekend of Words.
The through-line“Make difficult ideas legible without making them smaller.”
A career, approximately.
- 2005Performs his first solo English-language stand-up show in Karachi.
- 2008Creates, writes and hosts the television news satire News Weakly.
- 2012Migrates from Pakistan to Australia, settling first in regional Western Australia.
- 2014Publishes I, Migrant, later shortlisted for major Australian literary awards.
- 2017–18Publishes The Islamic Republic of Australia and begins co-hosting ABC Radio Melbourne Breakfast.
- 2022–24Releases The Missed; wins the Australian Podcast Award and an AWGIE for audio fiction.
- NowLectures, writes, hosts News Weakly and curates OzAsia Festival’s Weekend of Words.
What satire knows.
Sami teaches journalism and popular fiction at the University of Melbourne. His doctoral research at RMIT examines how satirical news podcasts reframe professional journalism, objectivity and credibility.
The research grows directly from practice: producing News Weakly, interviewing leading Australian satirists, and studying what audiences trust when a presenter openly admits to having a point of view.
University profile ↗