Malik Elassal

Elassal was born in Winnipeg to Lebanese parents who moved to Canada in the early 1990s and worked at a garment factory. Shortly after his birth, the family relocated to northeast Calgary, where he was raised in a Muslim household.^[3][4]

Elassal graduated from Calgary Islamic School in 2014.^[3] He later dropped out of college twice.^[5] His parents were initially wary of Elassal's pursuing a “competitive and less-than-stable” career in entertainment but eventually came around.^[3]

After graduating from the Calgary Islamic School, Elassal attended a developmental night at Yuk Yuk’s.^[3]

In 2022, he was named one of the New Faces of Comedy at the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal. He recorded the title track on Yeehaw Hell Yeah, a comedy album released by Just For Laughs. He appeared on Season 3 of "The New Wave of Standup" on CBC Gem in 2023.^[3]

Elassal was featured on the Vulture list of Comedians You Should and Will Know in 2024.^[6] He had television roles in Resident Alien (2022), Joe Pickett (2021), Fortunate Son (2020) and Fakeland (2016).^[7] He was an extra on the Christopher Nolan film Interstellar (2014).^[8]

Elassal portrays Samir in FX comedy series Adults (originally developed under the name Snowflakes), created by The Tonight Show writers Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw and executive produced by Nick Kroll, about five housemates in Queens, New York.^[9][10][11]