STABROEK NEWS, AUGUST 14 ---
Straight away I want to agree with everyone who made the point that the late Habeeb Khan was terribly short changed – ‘an icon who was not honoured.’ I don’t know why, and yet it’s like that feeling you just get; you don’t have to make everything bold, but surely others will have their say.
This brother was a true born full-blooded comedian from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet; that was his calling, his gift to man, so to speak. That was how nature endowed him and which he exploited to the full as he said: “I just like to see people happy,” though often times he hit tipping point with coarse jokes causing uncomfortable moments – but who hasn’t; the great doctor of calypso, the Mighty Sparrow is guilty of the same.
Honestly I never got the chance of seeing many shows with Habeeb Khan, and I still haven’t seen If wishes were horses although I’ve heard so much about it. I’ve never seen much of Habeeb himself except for his ads both on radio and TV, but yes, I’ve seen him around town often times over the years. He filled this land so much it wasn’t easy; he was well regarded and was talked about everywhere, like a legend. Talk about a household name, well the name Habeeb Khan typified and epitomised just that. People who didn’t even quite know him referred to him: “You playing Habeeb Khan” or “Like you is a Habeeb Khan.” Over the years he grew and spread like a giant shadow; the man, his trade and his name became a kind of legend. Indeed, he took you in or were taken in by him, that was Habeeb – pure raw talent.
One wonders how come for decades an entire nation came to know an individual as they would a head of state or a sports celebrity; he was a kind of icon in his own right and yet for some inexplicable reason the deserved honour commensurate with his performances was never bestowed on him. Why wasn’t what was Caesar’s rendered unto Caesar? I sensed that Habeeb Khan for all his reputation lived the latter part of his life as if something was missing – denied him – and which I need say in my judgement caused him to harbour a sort of frustration and disappointment. There was the realization which deep down inside he knew, ie, he would never be given recognition, but like Johnny Nash was too proud, too dignified to reveal it. ‘Haven’t I done anything of value? anything that counted?’ he must have time and again wondered aloud.
As I write, here is an observation that came back to me: on one of the few times I remember seeing him in performance he looked tired, not up to it. Nevertheless the audience was having a field day with all kinds of ugly remarks, which he would normally relish and kind of put him in ‘gear,’ but there he was just twitching around and around, moving the microphone in a confused pattern rather nervously, but not responding to them. That made them madly disappointed, though still some were giggling thinking he was being funny. I guess that was one of those moments when things happen to a performer; things that go on inside and which we can never know, but of course that’s never the audience’s concern, they are there to be entertained.
How often do we even stop to think that the comedian is also human, a person with emotions, and though they can hide it well they are often times the most vulnerable and easily hurt people in a world of their own.
The brother was class, talent par excellence, but we take things for granted. In the USA he would have easily matched the late great Richard Pryor without a doubt. Make no mistake, Habeeb was a consummate comedian, and I take the the liberty of saying that Guyana has never, to date produced a comedian to match the calibre of Habeeb Khan. I admired the versatile American performer Sammy Davis Jr, who sure was an ace at imitating, yet for me Habeeb would have held his own against him; also that Danny Kaye couldn’t ‘out sprint’ him when it came to making animal sounds. There ain’t an insect, a bird, a dog, goat or reptile he couldn’t reproduce; not a machine he couldn’t become; the sound of a race car, aeroplane, train, etc he couldn’t replicate; not a politician he couldn’t mimic. Never one to leave you short on amusement, you couldn’t hold back when he ‘broke wind’; in fact the mere look of him, and him looking back at you was enough to leave you in stitches.
But here is a very important point I don’t want to miss; without realizing it Habeeb Khan took the the whole of Guyana across and beyond race. No one ever talked about Habeeb in terms of race; when one says ‘Habeeb’ nothing like Indian comes out, the name is synonymous with being funny and a comic, and he was wise enough to keep it exactly that way. He crafted his jokes in a manner that made no one race feet cheap or small; he ribbed all ethnicities, saw all as fair game, and caused no lasting hurt and that was class. He once treated Forbes Burnham and the National Service with great levity, and made Burnham rock back in laughter. And I have to say how emotionally touched I was reading Linden ‘Jumbie’ Jones’s account upon visiting him on Father’s Day – his birthday – and Habeeb started to cry, saying that he was the only one who visited him. Only dead people can’t understand things like that, and it sure had to be sad for a man who after having some fifteen children was ill and all alone. I wish him well wherever he has gone, and as I started, I will end. I’m in agreement with all who think he was short changed; indeed a case of a king not being honoured in his own land.
Yours faithfully,
Frank Fyffe