Kamal Ahmed

Kamal Ahmed (; born May 7, 1966), commonly known as Kamal, is an American director, comedian, and a former member of prank phone call comedy group The Jerky Boys.

Early life and career Kamal was born in East New York, Brooklyn and raised in Astoria, Queens and the Lower East Side of Manhattan. His father, Manir Ahmed, a former chemical engineer, started the restaurant "Shah Bagh" in the East Village, which eventually led to him owning a string of Indian restaurants in an area that became known as "Little India". Kamal's mother, originally from Trinidad and Tobago, worked for the United Nations. His sister, a chemical engineer, has worked for major pharmaceutical companies. Kamal developed an early interest in music and has become an accomplished bass guitar player and scores many of his productions.

Kamal was a founding member of The Jerky Boys and co-starred with John G. Brennan in the 1995 Touchstone comedy film The Jerky Boys: The Movie. He played Kissel, a World War II veteran; Tarbash the Egyptian Magician; Curly G. Cradle-Rock, and other characters on the Jerky Boys albums. Kamal also appeared in "Punch", a 1994 episode of Space Ghost Coast to Coast. Tensions began to rise between Brennan and Kamal during the filming of The Jerky Boys movie and their collaboration deteriorated further during the production of Big Money Hustlas, in which Kamal appeared in a cameo appearance.

In 2000, Kamal released a solo album titled Once a Jerk, Always a Jerk. He has made multiple television and radio appearances, including on Late Night with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien and The Howard Stern Show. Kamal has also acted in and directed several films, including Laugh Killer Laugh, which was completed in 2015. In 2022, Kamal released his first mini-series, Crash the System, which was distributed on streaming media platforms worldwide.

Filmography , Kamal has directed 8 full-length films and 1 TV mini series.

+Directed features Year Title Notes 2003 God Has a Rap Sheet Writer, director, producer 2007 Rapturious Writer, director, producer 2008 Uncle Freddy Writer, director, producer 2010 Circus Maximus Executive producer, producer 2012 1000 Times More Brutal Writer, director, producer 2012 Brutal Director 2015 Laugh Killer Laugh Writer, director, producer 2018 The Martyr Maker Writer, director, producer 2022 Crash the System 8 Episode mini series, writer, director, producer

+Acting Roles Year Title Role Notes 1984 ABC Afterschool Specials (uncredited) TV series, 1 episode 1995 The Jerky Boys: The Movie Kamal 1995 The Jerky Boys: Don't Hang Up, Toughguy Kamal Video 1997 Men in Black Voice of cab driver (ADR, uncredited) 2000 Big Money Hustlas Old man Kissel, security guard (as Kamal) 2001 The Rules (For Men) Ashalama 2002 I Fouska Cuban taxi driver 2002 Paper Soldiers Shawn's boss 2003 The Sweet Life Cabdriver 2003 Mail Order Bride Buddah 2005 Survive This Kamal 2006 Beer League Umpire #3 2007 Rapturious Cabdriver 2007 Never Down Cop 2015 Laugh Killer Laugh Detective 1 2016 Terrifier Voice on phone (voice)