22-year old Hannan Azlan wins 10th Annual Hong Kong International Comedy Festival!

STAND-UP comedian, actor, musician and writer Hannan Azlan won the 10th Annual Hong Kong International Comedy Festival on Saturday. 

Beating out competitors from around the world including first runner-up Benjamin Quinlan (Hong Kong / Australia) and second runner-up Garron Chiu (Hong Kong / USA), the 22-year old Malaysian based in Ampang nabbed HK$40,000 (RM21,538) and a comedy tour in the United States as part of her win.

Prior to her onstage stand-up debut in 2015, Hannan has been active in theatre and music. Her original song “I’m Frightened by a Lot of Things but that Shouldn’t Stop Me from Trying, Right” took home the Audience Choice Award and ended up in third place at Short + Sweet Malaysia last year, while her work in stagings such as Theatrethreesixty‘s Love and Information and Kuala Lumpur Shakespeare Players‘s Shakespeare Demystified: The Merchant of Venice have been very well-received.

In fact, since The Daily Seni‘s previous coverage on Hannan, she has also starred in the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPAC)‘s Shakespeare’s Sonnets as well as performed alongside Malaysian comedy legend Joanne Kam at Live House.

Hannan’s win marks the second time a Malaysian has taken the Annual Hong Kong International Comedy Festival by storm. In 2013, Malaysian doctor Jason Leong won the competition and went on to become one of Malaysia’s most popular stand-up comedians.

Only nine out of thirty shortlisted participants made it to the finals of this year’s competition. Hosted by international comedy star Paul Ogata, the event was held at Hong Kong’s Cyberport Conference & Exhibition Centre.

Read more about Hannan from our previous coverage and make sure to congratulate her (or book her now) via her website! Image sourced from .