KUALA LUMPUR: Comedian Sharif Doli of Zero revealed that his younger brother Atu or Kunal Doli once ran away from their home village in Kudat, Sabah to Kuala Lumpur and lived as a homeless person.
"I used worry about Atu having no hope of success. He once ran off to KL and became homeless for two or three days.
"He went to KL because he was with an agent. In KL he worked as a guard but was not paid for several months," said Sharif in the Raja Lawak podcast on YouTube channel Inspirasi MY recently.
"Our late father asked me to go to KL and get Atu to return to Sabah."
Sharif added that Atu nearly ended up a drug addict due to his "wrong choice of friends".
"I think he ran away because he was bored living in our village. Atu is the type of person who works hard, but uses up his money fast.
"That was why he went looking for a job in KL where he could earn more money."
Zero is Sabah's most successful comedy troupe and comprises brothers, Atu, Sharif and Syaiful.
They were discovered in the comedy search Raja Lawak in 2012 where they emerged as the runners-up.
In 2014, they participated in Maharaja Lawak Mega and won the top prize.
They have starred in films as Lu Mafia Gua Gangster, Syif Malam Raya and Hantu Bonceng 2.0.
Atu has acted in the fantasy drama Tombiruo while Syaiful has acted in the disaster movie Tangisan Akinabalu.
Syaiful and Sharif won the top prize in the reality contest Family Duo 3 last year.