There’s no denying that Australia’s Got Talent semi-finalist Umit Bali is a happy-go-lucky guy. But life hasn’t always been a barrel of laughs for the comedian.
He was only 13 years of age when he and his parents decided to leave their life in Fiji and come to Australia as illegal immigrants. But Umit had no idea of the culture shock that awaited him Down Under.
“When I first came here, all the things that we treated as luxuries were everywhere,” he tells New Idea.
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“For example, we used to get pizza once or twice a year and it was such a massive event, but when you’re in Australia, you get pizza all the time. You can get chocolate whenever you want. The normal way of living here is in abundance compared to the way I grew up. That was the major shock for me.”
As a teenager, Umit even found it hard to come to terms with his own home.
“All the houses were made of brick … but most of the houses in Fiji had been built with the materials you had,” he says.
“My house [in Fiji] didn’t even have a proper ceiling.”
The family, who can now legally stay in Australia, certainly had a tough time adjusting to their new lives in Australia, but Umit reveals that it also strengthened their bond.
“Going through an experience like that together brings you closer,” the star reveals. “We all kind of work together well and look out for each other.”
That’s not all Umit has had to cope with, however. He was also brutally beaten and robbed on his way home from work one evening.
“I was walking home, and it started raining and I pull my umbrella open and I see these three guys who started crossing the road and were running towards me,” he reveals.
“One man said something, but I didn’t make it out and then one of the guys smacked me really hard in my face.
“He fractured my left orbital floor and it cracked and it restricted my eye movement. Iactually had to have eye surgery to fix my eye.”
Despite these traumatic experiences, Umit has always stayed positive and loves making others laugh.
“I got into stand-up comedy because I watched a lot of sitcoms when I was in Fiji and Iloved that. I saw a lot of stand-up comedians and I wanted to do that,” he reveals.
“Stand-up comedy is honest. You can smile and say nice things when you don’t really mean it, but when you make someone laugh, it’s honest.”
And, while he certainly had everyone laughing during his Australia’s Got Talent audition, he never imagined that he would make it this far in the competition.
“I thought they would just say, ‘Thank you for coming,’” he admits. “But I did it and it went better than expected and the audience reaction was crazy!”
Now he’s hoping that he can do it again in this week’s semi-final.
“For me, the semi-final is about trying to do a good job,” he says. “I want to make sure people laugh and people enjoy themselves.”
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