Weekend with Shabaz Ali: ‘I’ll watch a horror film to relax’
The content creator and comedian on his love of Blackburn, watching scary movies to unwind and his new BBC documentary, Are Billionaires Bad?
Shabaz Ali is a British comedian, broadcaster and content creator best known as Shabaz Says. Calling himself the “King of the Povvos”, he has gained millions of followers on social media with his videos roasting the super-rich from his bedroom in Blackburn, Lancashire.
A former chemistry teacher, Ali turns his working-class British-Pakistani upbringing into a razor-sharp comedy. His breakout series on TikTok, I’m Rich, You’re Poor, mocked those who flaunt their wealthy and seemingly perfect lifestyles online. It later transferred to a book and stage show.
Ali’s new BBC Three film, Shabaz Asks: Are Billionaires Bad? is part-documentary, part-comedy critiquing extreme wealth.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
How do you ease into the weekend?
I love a good horror movie — it relaxes me. I do that every night. When I was on tour I’d put on a horror film after each show, chill, watch all the gore and then go to bed.
Favourite film?
I love anything with blood or a good jumpscare. The Exorcist, The Conjuring or Saw, Hostel or Bring Her Back.
Best thing you’ve seen recently?
Widow’s Bay on Apple TV. It includes all the best horror tropes into one show. It has excellent storytelling and a brilliant cast. It’s such a great show.
I loved The Odyssey because I love the original poems. I think there’s something about one of the oldest texts being given a new modern take, plus it’s inspired so many stories in the future.
What do you like to do in Blackburn?
I love to sleep, chill, enjoy myself, spend time with my family and go to the local shop. Everything is there for me and I love it.
I absolutely love my home town. I always thought my home town was too small for my big dreams when I was 18 — until all those dreams came true from that small town, from my small house, in my small bedroom. It’s not always the town or circumstances that limit you, sometimes it’s how much we northern small-town folk limit ourselves.
Are you a morning person or do you like to sleep in?
Sleep in all the time. I don’t go to bed until 5am. I find the night silence so easy to work with — I got diagnosed with ADHD and it’s a common thing. Nights are a safe place and time with no noise, but it’s also the only time I can watch a show uninterrupted seven hours straight without anyone judging me.
What does your typical weekend look like?
Planning for the week. I get to catch up on shows, but it’s usually filled with filming or editing.
What would be your perfect weekend?
On a beach in the sun, like Phi Phi Island in Thailand or somewhere remote in the mountains in the snow.
Tell us about Are Billionaires Bad?
It’s my brand new BBC Three film and it looks at billionaires as an entity but also people that love billionaires or don’t like billionaires. It’s my journey in exploring the question: are billionaires bad? I think we all know the answer to it, but let’s hear it.
What are the key themes that stayed with you?
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I think I may have asked the wrong question. I don’t think the person individually can be good or bad. I think the entity that is a billionaire shouldn’t exist. There’s good and bad in everyone, but a rich, corrupt person has the ability to change so many more lives than a poor, corrupt person does, so it’s always going to be money, isn’t it?
What are your 2026 highlights?
The documentary film has been an incredible opportunity. I never thought in my life that I would have a film with the BBC, and I do.
I want it to be an opportunity for other creators, other people of colour, other Muslims, northern people to also have the same opportunities and prove that we can do it too.
What other projects are you working on?
I’m writing my own scripted comedy series and more Shabaz Asks.
Shabaz Asks: Are Billionaires Bad? is on BBC iPlayer.
