Zakir Khan made history on 8 October, 2023 by becoming the first Asian comedian to perform at the iconic Royal Albert Hall in London. The sakht launda performed for a crowd of over 6,000 fans, who gave him a 20-minute standing ovation after his three-hour performance. “It has been more than 24 hours since I got down from the stage, and I am still in the buzz of the show,” Khan told Hindustan Times. “People are sharing stories on social media, and I am still watching what they are writing, which is why I am sort of still in the show and it will take me at least a week to settle down from here.”

The atmosphere at the Hall was so electric, Khan didn’t even realise how long the applause went on for. “I only got to know about the 20 minute standing ovation when other people started telling me about it, because mujhe laga 2-3 minute hi hue the,” he said. “I have only heard about legendary films or great performances getting such long standing ovations. I am still in disbelief that something like this happened to me. Comedy is more like sports, regardless of what happened in the previous match doesn’t matter, you still have to play ball by ball. Ab kal koi show hoga toh fir se shuru karenge (If there’s a show tomorrow, we’ll start over again).”

Khan also ticked another iconic venue off his bucket list in August 2023, by performing to a sold out crowd at the Sydney Opera House. During his 2018 Australia tour, the comedian had a cup of tea outside the venue, and he’d inquired if he could perform there, he revealed in an Instagram video on 1 October. “Unhone bataya tha ki ek toh bada hai. Unka jo main opera hai woh bahut bada hai, 2,500-3,000 seat ka hai, woh hum kaise hi bharange (They had said the venue is very big. The main opera has about 2,500-3,000 seats. How will we fill up such a venue?),” he said. “Par kismat aur aap logon ka pyaar kuch iss tarah se raha ki iss saal jab hum gaye the toh 6 August ko humne Sydney Opera kiya. Aur housefull kiya usko. (But as luck would have it, with the love of my fans, we went there on 6 August and performed at Sydney Opera House. And it was a full house.)”

The next stop on Khan’s international tour is New York’s Madison Square Garden, where he’ll perform on 17 March, 2024.

All the international milestones aside, Khan also got a chance to perform at the most iconic Indian venue two weeks ago—the set of Kaun Banega Crorepati.