"Comedy in SL saved my comedy career in a way," as he puts it. "In Pakistan there just weren't enough venues to get the regular stage time a comedian needs to practice his craft." That's where Second Life comes in, since it enables live-streamed audio performances. More from Sami:

I got an excellent e-mail from Sami Shah, the Australian-based comedian who used to perform stand-up in Second Life , but fled Pakistan and is now becoming a rising star in his adopted country: He credits SL for giving him a venue and a start where he could build and practice his craft:

"Standup comedy is not like music or the other performance arts; it needs a live audience at all stages (rehearsal, fine tuning, performance). Lacking enough places and audiences in Karachi, performing in SL gave me the regular gigs I needed to get better, even if they were virtual. The beauty of SL those days was that after awhile you stop noticing that you're in an club made of prims with avatars dressed like dragons and cat's with giant cocks. After a while, they just become audiences and the club is just a club.

"I performed in SL for over a year. Even debuted a small weekly news satire show on SL's stages which then transitioned into a real world TV show for a while (an SL first I'm sure!)"

I wondered if still performs in SL, but as it turns out, no longer: "I stopped going in when I found myself without as much free time as I had prior to having a child. Plus, SL started lagging severely on my old machine and I spent too much time staring at grey blobs. I now mostly check in once a year. Just out of curiosity when I remember to. Log in, walk around, suffer some lag and then leave. Still, it shall always have a treasured place in my heart!" Still, if you see Sami Shah perform on stage in Australia and beyond, know he got his start a chimpanzee in a post-nuclear wasteland.

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