'Adults' star Malik Elassal: Calgary-raised comedian, actor and writer is Canada's new comedy sensation
For decades, comedy has been considered one of Canada's greatest exports, including notable talents like Eugene Levy, Martin Short, Catherine O'Hara and the late John Candy. Adding to that legacy is Malik Elassal, who stars in the popular new show Adults (on Disney+ in Canada, Hulu in the U.S.), created by Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw (The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon).
Making the move from Alberta to the U.S., incredibly skilled in hysterical stand-up comedy, with moments from his sets going viral, Elassal is set to be another of one Canada's comedy legends. And what makes Adults a great introduction for many is that the show really showcases each cast member's unique comedy strengths.
"We all come from these different places, but when we come together there's something between all of us," Elassal told Yahoo Canada. "Amita [Rao] is an improviser. Lucy [Freyer] was an actor in Juilliard. But then when we come together, we sort of have our our own rhythm that's outside of improv training, outside of more standard actors training, or outside of TikTok."
In Aults, a group of friends move in together in Samir's (Malik Elassal) childhood home in New York. Samir is trying, at least sometimes, to take on more responsibility in life, Billie (Lucy Freyer) is pursuing a career in journalism, Anton (Owen Thiele) was Samir's college roommate who can be friends with anyone. Issa (Amita Rao) is taking on odd jobs with her infectious personality, and she's dating Paul Baker (Jack Innanen), who she convinces Samir to let move in with the rest of the group.
The show in intensely funny in a way that leans into absurdity at times, awkwardness at others, and navigates different elements and styles of comedy effortlessly, largely thanks to this impressive cast.
With Elassal already receiving positive feedback from the show, he's really just happy to make people smile and laugh.
"It feels like it falls in line with my love language, to give somebody this big thing and for them to enjoy it," he said.
As Elassal described, a lot of the brilliant on-screen chemistry we see between this group of friends in Adults was formed by the natural evolution of the group's off-screen dynamic.
"[When] we started hanging out and started being on set, you just realize that somebody has been on the same version of the internet as you," Elassal said about his friendship with fellow Canadian Jack Innanen. "We just really became close."
With Samir having a particularly close frienship with Billie in the show, Elassal added that even just taking walks with Lucy Freyer and ribbing each other in real life informed what we see on-screen.
Additionally, Kronengold and Shaw looked to the actors to inform their scripts.
"We started to find out that things from our lives would end up in the script," Elassal said. "So we'd have takes where we got to add things in there, and that was always really fun."
A particularly hysterical moment in the show is Episode 6, where Billie is hosting her boyfriend, and her former high school teacher, played by Charlie Cox, for dinner. As Billie tries to get all of her roommates in line with the hopes of a more sophisticated evening, things quickly take an unexpected and hysterical turn when Cox's character shows up high on a "pony dose" of ketamine, and Paul Baker's friend, who happens to be Julia Fox (who's playing herself), comes over for the meal.
"We were block shooting the whole series, so every episode was over the span of like four or five days, or so. And usually we have different locations and we were going to different places, but ... for like four or five days in a row we're just in this house, basically," Elassal explained about that epiosde. "And I'm in this giant suit looking ridiculous and running around, and it just felt like a day that never ended."
"It really kind of led into this dreary, looming feeling that the episode has. ... Charlie would show up, and then me and Charlie would have scenes together at like 2:00 a.m., after everybody went home, and he was kissing me on the forehead. It's all just very surreal. ... And then one day they're like, 'Oh, hey, Julia Fox is coming today.' ... You see my reaction to Julia Fox being on my couch in the episode, ... it's basically just how I felt."
In terms of what drew Elassal to a career in comedy, there wasn't necessarily a specific "breakthrough" moment, but he can identify the time that he understood the feeling of being able to make someone laugh.
"I remember a moment watching my older cousin, when I was younger, stand up and do an impression of his dad to all of the aunts and uncles, ... and him making them all laugh so hard," Elassal said. "And I was like, 'Oh, this is the coolest person I've ever seen.'"
"I think something from that time might have gotten in my head of like, that's a real, worthwhile thing to do in your life, is to be able to make a group of people that happy."
While a Canadian making the move to the U.S. always feels like a big professional step, it was a "culture shock" for Calgary-raised Elassal.
"It's insane. It's such a culture shock," Elassal said. "You're going to the airport in America and they have signs up like, hey please don't bring your gun on the plane. And I'm like, are people doing that? Like, accidentally?"
"I mean, there's a craziness to America. And it's fun to live there. But whenever I come back to Canada, I still feel at home, even though New York is home right now."
As Elassal's career progresses, from stand-up comedy to TV, and even joining projects from other famed comedians, like Pete Holmes' podcast, "You Made It Weird," we certainly can't wait to see what Elassal does next.
"It's unbelievable. I'm consistently so happy to get to meet all these people that I was already such a fan of, and it's amazing to get to work with them," he said. "It's such a dream come true. ... I'm really lucky that I get to have my dreams come true."
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