Kamal Ahmed (born 1966), usually called Kamal, is a Trinidadian-Bangladeshi American

comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing Amusement is the state of experiencing humorous and entertaining events or situations while the person or a ...

and former member of

prank phone call A prank call (also known as a crank call) is a telephone call intended by the caller as a practical joke played on the person answering. It is often a type of nuisance call. It can be illegal under certain circumstances. Recordings of prank pho ...

ing comedy group

The Jerky Boys The Jerky Boys are an American comedy act from Queens, New York City, New York, whose routine consists of prank telephone calls and other related skits. The duo was founded in 1989 by childhood friends Johnny Brennan and Kamal Ahmed. After Ahm ...

Early life and career

Kamal was born in

East New York East New York is a residential neighborhood in the eastern section of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, United States. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise, are roughly the Cemetery Belt and the Queens borough lin ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

and raised in

Astoria, Queens Astoria is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City borough of Queens. Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to three other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City to the southwest, Sunnyside to the southeast ...

& the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. His father, Manir Ahmed, a former

chemical engineer In the field of engineering, a chemical engineer is a professional, equipped with the knowledge of chemical engineering, who works principally in the chemical industry to convert basic raw materials into a variety of products and deals with the ...

, started the restaurant "Shah Bagh" in the East Village. This eventually led him to owning a string of Indian restaurants in an area that became "Little India". Kamal's mother, who was from

Trinidad & Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of Gr ...

worked for the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

. Ahmed's sister is also a chemical engineer that has worked for major

pharmaceutical A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and re ...

companies. Kamal took an early interest in music and has become an accomplished

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

player and scores many of his productions. Ahmed was a founding member of the jerky boys and co-starred with

John G. Brennan Johnny Brennan (born December 1) is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, and writer, known as the creator of the Jerky Boys, which released a series of prank phone call CDs, between 1993 and 1999. He appears as himself as a member of the J ...

in the

Touchstone Touchstone may refer to: * Touchstone (assaying tool), a stone used to identify precious metals * Touchstone (metaphor), a means of assaying relative merits of a concept Entertainment * ''Touchstone'' (album), a 1982 album by Chick Corea * T ...

comedy film The Jerky Boys: The Movie in 1995. He played ''Kissel'', a

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

veteran; ''Tarbash the Egyptian Magician;'' ''Curly G. Cradle-Rock'', and other characters on the Jerky Boys albums. Kamal appeared in "Punch", a 1994 episode of ''

Space Ghost Coast to Coast ''Space Ghost Coast to Coast'' is an American adult animation, adult animated comedy talk show created by Mike Lazzo for Cartoon Network and hosted by a re-imagined version of the 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Space Ghost. In contrast t ...

''. Tensions began to develop between Brennan and Ahmed while shooting the Jerky Boys film and their collaboration deteriorated further during the production of ''

Big Money Hustlas ''Big Money Hustlas'' is a 2000 American comedy film directed by John Cafiero as his feature film debut. The film, a homage to exploitation films of the 1970s, focuses on a streetwise San Francisco detective who tries to take down a New York City c ...

'', where Ahmed appeared in a cameo. In 2000, Ahmed released a solo album, ''

Once a Jerk, Always a Jerk ''Once a Jerk, Always a Jerk'' is the debut solo comedy album by prank call artist Kamal Ahmed, former member of the Jerky Boys. The album was released in 2000, shortly after Kamal's departure from the Jerky Boys. The album was released by th ...

.'' Kamal has made multiple television and radio appearances on

Late Night with David Letterman ''Late Night with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on NBC, the first iteration of the ''Late Night'' franchise. It premiered on February 1, 1982, and was produced by Letterman's production company ...

Late Night with Conan O'Brien ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien. NBC aired 2,725 episodes from September 13, 1993, to February 20, 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and music ...

and

The Howard Stern Show ''The Howard Stern Show'' is an American radio show hosted by Howard Stern that gained wide recognition when it was nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from WXRK in New York City, between 1986 and 2005. The show has aired on Howard 100 a ...

. He has acted in, and directed several films, including
LAUGH KILLER LAUGH
', completed in 2015. and in 2022, Kamal released his first mini-series, ''Crash the System'', which was distributed on steaming media platforms worldwide.

Filmography

, Ahmed has directed 6 full-length films and 1 TV mini series.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmed, Kamal 1966 births Living people American people of Bangladeshi descent American people of Trinidad and Tobago descent American male comedians Place of birth missing (living people) Prank calling Comedians from New York City 21st-century American comedians