Photo by Jim Lee
Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Raw Comedy 2018
Bio
Emmanuel (Emo) Majok
Perth, WA
With that smile, some might say that Emo was born to be a comedian. Long before the stages and circuits, a young Emmanuel Majok was the class clown, a happy kid who loved entertaining his friends. In the mid 90s though, African migrants were scarce, and Emo was one of the only black students in a very-white school.
Emo’s story began in Ethiopia, born to Sudanese parents who fled to Ethiopia to escape a war torn Sudan. At the age of three, Emo and his family were forced from the refugee camp they called home. As another war broke out around them, they joined thousands of other displaced refugees, walking for weeks in search of shelter and a better life. They eventually found a new camp in Northern Kenya, and it was here that they were offered sponsorship to move to Australia. Emo and his family of five arrived in Perth in 1996, with two more siblings born after they settled in the northern suburbs of Perth. Fast forward to 2018, and Emo is now a proud father to a little girl, and new baby boy with his fiancée.
Emo joined childhood friend and fellow comedian Joe White in a string of shows for the 2018 Perth Fringe Festival, under the title ‘White vs. Black’. The shows gathered rave reviews and a 4/5 rating from the Fringe judges. Since then, Emo has been on fire, winning the WA finals for the Raw Comedy Festival, and performing in the National Finals at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, airing on SBS 16 September 2018.
Emo draws on his childhood for laughs, both as a refugee and a migrant kid in a white school, and his family life today as a father of two and fiancée is an ever-changing source of material. He loves the styles of comedy greats Steve Harvey, Bernie Mac, Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock. His innate skills as an entertainer, sharp jokes and strong work ethic means that the sky is the limit for this kid from the Horn Of Africa, who grew up in Perth’s northern burbs. So watch this space, grab a ticket, tell a friend. Come and see the man with the megawatt smile.
Trust us, it’s contagious.