'Middle East comedy is exploding… no pun intended' Stand-up Ahmed Ahmed on taking stand-up to the Arab world
Ahmed Ahmed is a man with a mission. As an American-Egyptian, he wanted to bring the Western idea of stand-up to the Middle East. Not the military bases or the corporate, expat gigs comics usually play, but genuine Arab people, often in regimes where such entertainment was strictly prohibited.
Putting together a roster of like-minded acts, including Britain’s Omid Djalili, he toured the region, committing his efforts to film. The ensuing movie, Just Like Us, is currently doing the rounds of international festivals, and during a recent stopover in London he spoke to Chortle about his experience.
‘In 2007, we had a comedy show called the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour with myself, an Iranian, a Palestinian, and a Korean, he says. ‘It started in the States, then it got on to Comedy Central and then we eventually got a deal with Showtime Arabia in Dubai. It got such great response that we decided a follow-up with a five-country tour to Dubai, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, and Kuwait. We were supposed to only do eight shows in total. We ended up doing 27 because the demand was so high. People were queuing around the corner. Tickets were on the black market for $500 and so we decided, “Wow! This is great!” And the next year we followed up and came back several times to the Middle East just because the demand was there.
‘But every time I came back to the US, Americans would say, “Where have you been?” And I would say, “I was in the Middle East for some comedy shows.” And they would say, "Really, which military bases were you performing on?” And I’d say, “They were not military bases, they were theatres for Arabs.” And I’d see the shock in their eyes. And they said, “Do you do it in English?” I said, “Yeah, we do it English.” “And they get it?: I would say, “Yeah they got it, man.” So, I just kind of got sick and tired of answering the questions over and over so here, in this film, is 72 minutes of proof.’
The tour that became the Just Like Us film took place in spring 2009. Producer Taylor Feltner said: ‘I received a call in Los Angeles on a Monday from Ahmed asking, “Would you be interested in documenting a ground-breaking project in the Middle East?” Having never been to that region, I said, “Sure.” ‘By that Friday I was boarding a plane to the Middle East, not knowing what to expect. Before leaving, I kept getting asked by my friends and my family if I was concerned at all for my safety. I guess because I am American, or just a foreigner in a very foreign land. But my experience was eye-opening. The people we encountered were hospitable and warm.’
Ahmed says of the shows: ‘This time it wasn't specifically Middle Eastern content. I had an international cast of comics that were with us. We had German-American, Italian-American, African-American with the first single white female comedian performed with us, Whitney Cummings, and a Brit-Canadian. So it was not so Arab-centric. Saudi and Kuwait are really the only countries that we went to where shows were not publicly advertised. In fact public entertainment of any kind is forbidden, which is unfortunate, but I think that will probably change in the coming years because who wants to shut down a comedy show? “Oh, my God they are laughing! Get rid of them.” It is just ridiculous when you think about it.
‘My old friend, Bob Alper [a rabbi and stand-up] says, “You can’t hate anybody with whom you’ve laughed.” And so I think there is a profound message there. Laughter is the common language of the world, so is music, so is food, so is dance. But in Saudi Arabia for instance we wouldn’t promote the shows because they wouldn’t allow us to. There are religious police that will shut down events like ours. Fortunately we had a really savvy promoter. Basically, he called me up one day and said, “Ahmed, would you like to go to Saudi and do a comedy show?” I said, “Sure, I don’t realize there are comedy shows in Saudi.”
‘He said, “Yeah, there is a huge underground scene going on here.” And he said, “You are really famous here. You can probably fill up the stadium with 40,000 or 50,000 people if it was done properly through the government – but since they don’t sanction that kind of stuff, then we could probably put about 1,500 or 2,000 in an underground scene.” And I said, ‘How do you reckon that would go down?” He said, “It’s either going to be a big hit or you going to spend some time in jail. Are you willing to do that?” and I was like, “Sure, so as long as I get a keep all my limbs then I am good.”
‘So I said, “How do you promote the shows then if they are illegal? He said, “We create a Facebook page for women and a Facebook page for men and you sign up for the event and then on the date of the show we will give you a number to call.” Like an underground rave. It is one of those things like, you know, “Drive down the dirty road, make a left to the bush, where thus donkey and then there is a huge compound with 1,200 plus boys and girls sitting side by side which is again not allowed either…. and no alcohol.
‘What I realised is that just being there was edgy enough. I didn’t have to do any sort of edgy material because the kids don’t get any sort of entertainment, so they are really hungry for laughter. After the shows, they come back stage and queue up to get a picture or an autograph. You know, it was fascinating when these girls in the black abayas, some of them totally covered, and would say, “Ahmed can we take a picture with you? It was bizarre. I had just never had seen a woman in hijab fully covered giving a rock and roll sign. And if there is any trouble with the powers-that-be, the full hijab is a perfect disguise!’
Stand-up is new to the region, and it was warmly received. ‘The Middle East has always had a sort of traditional, old school, sort of storytelling, one-man satire’ said Ahmed ‘In Egypt, comedy is really big but it is only done in Arabic and it is very theatrical, over the top. But never before had they had a traditional contemporary American stand-up comedy where you just see a guy or a girl on stage holding a microphone as if they were just having a conversation with the crowd. And since then, it’s exploding, no pun intended. Now there are initiatives all over the region on Jordan, Bahrain, Saudi, Lebanon, Egypt, of course Dubai, Abu Dhabi, now Qatar.’
And the tour has had the knock-on effect of encouraging locals, especially the younger ones, to form their own stand-up scene. ‘It is starting to open up quite a bit because there are approximately 300 million people in the Middle East and the majority are under the age of 25,’ said Ahmed. 'So, it’s this young modern generation coming of age that wants to be heard and have a voice and that’s what our film is about.’
Feltner agrees. ‘They have a strong voice that demands to be listened to, and the young comedians who are beginning to follow in the footsteps of Ahmed are leading the way in changing that landscape and allowing for that voice to be heard.’
Ahmed himself was ‘born and raised’ Muslim, though he is clearly relaxed about the faith. ‘I don’t want to get too religious in this interview,’ he said, ‘but you know, the Koran was written 1,400 years ago and the message was meant to evolve as we evolve as people. So I say let’s grow, let’s evolve, let’s try to find out a happy medium You don’t have to walk around in miniskirts but you don’t have to cover your face either. There is a middle ground, I think.
‘I’m a Muslim – on my good days. I am Muslim-ish. I don’t believe that our God is that harsh a God and I don’t think that Islam is meant to be practiced in such a rigid format. The over-conservatives with their long beards and hardcore ways instil fear into Muslims as to how you are suppose to practice? I just don’t believe in that. I was raised very strict Muslim. When I was 27, I took my pilgrimage to Mecca. I’m a hajji, I guess you could call me. So I get it, you know, I understand Islam and I respect the religion and appreciate it, but I won’t practice it the way it’s being practiced in the conservative manner because it’s just impossible. Everybody has their own relationship with God and whatever happens between me and God is between me and God.’
But not every country Ahmed took his tour was so oppressive. ‘In Lebanon anything goes,’ he said. ‘And it is pretty open minded in Egypt, Dubai, Jordan, Bahrain. I even got a show in Yemen. Who would have known that Yemen would have a stand-up comedy scene? But what I had realized there are just certain things you don’t touch that would always be forbidden: sex, drugs, religion or politics. The first thought is, ‘What’s left?’
‘But it’s OK. I will note that. I will speak for myself. I am not that much of a risk taker or want to push the envelope just for the sake of pushing it. I want to try to respect the environment of country that I am in, within reason, and still have some artistic freedom as much as I can. In my own stand-up I’ve slowly taken the focus off being Egyptian and going into more general material… more about turning 40, dating and still being single and my travels because you can only talk about the same thing so much, I think.
‘If you are going to an Arab country and you are talking about stuff that everybody knows, it will still work. For instance, there is a Starbucks almost on every corner in the Middle East. So, if you are doing a joke about Starbucks people are going to get it. If you are doing a joke about Avatar, people are going to get it. There is enough universal material out there that I think is relevant to everybody. Years ago, we played the Royal Albert Hall We had 3,200 Muslims and it was split in half, men and women. That is the most bizarre show I ever done, with both imams with long beards and skull caps and then five-year-old kids. And I was backstage going, “How do I…?”, “What’s my opening…?” “What I am going to say?” But sure enough, I just came out and trusted myself. What I realised is, people from the Middle East and Muslims love satire, they love facial expression, they love sound effects, they love that Saturday morning cartoon-ish material.’
The new homegrown Middle Eastern comics are finding their own voice, too, and although their very existence may in defiance of the strict establishment, their material isn’t always. Ahmed said: ‘There is this one comic in our film named Sharif Azad who says Saudi Arabia has the highest accident rate in the world which is ironic because there is no alcohol. They manage to do about the alcohol. There is another guy in Bahrain that talks about you know, wearing his turban. And there is a guy in Egypt who has a joke about cab drivers. He says he was in the cab and the driver flies through red light. He says, “What are you doing?” The driver says, “Don’t worry I am a professional.” And he flies through another red light and he says, “Dude what are you doing?” Again, the driver said, “Don’t worry I am a professional.” Then he gets on a green light and stopped and he says, “What are you doing?” And he says, “There might be another professional coming this way.”’
Jordanian stand-up comedian Nabil Sawalha takes to the stage in Amman Stand-up comedy doing serious business across Middle East
By Barry Neild
December 9, 2010
(CNN) -- Egyptian comedy promoter Maha Hosny is driving through the traffic-clogged streets of Cairo while talking to CNN on her cell phone, when there's a terrifying screech of tires and the line goes dead. Thankfully, she's unscathed, and within minutes is once again talking about her pioneering work bringing stand-up comedy to new Egyptian audiences -- and what tickles her funny bone.
"Just going through the streets of Cairo makes me laugh. The traffic here makes me laugh until dying," she said, her near miss with a "crazy driver" dismissed as just another joke. Later she emails to say she arrived safely at her destination. Just as well for Egypt's comedy fans, who will be looking to Hosny to help deliver the follow-up to the wildly successful "Hysteria" stand-up show held in Cairo earlier this year.
Though little heard of just a few years ago, stand-up comedy is now serious business in Cairo and other cities across the Middle East, drawing huge crowds, according to comics in the region. And while western acts may have paved the way for this new enthusiasm for solo stage comics, the format has proved so popular that the region is now witnessing the rise of home-grown talent.
"It's a phenomenon," said Dean Obeidallah, an Arab-American comic whose 2008 "Axis of Evil" tour of the Middle East, featuring a cast of comedians from the region, is viewed by many as the catalyst for launching a new wave of comedy. Obeidallah will, next month, be reprising his role as executive producer of the Amman Stand-up Comedy Festival, a week-long event in the Jordanian capital. Perhaps aided by Jordan's more relaxed laws on censorship for the region, the Amman festival has, in three years, grown to become the biggest event of its kind in this part of the world, said Obeidallah.
But Jordan is only the beginning, according to Obeidallah. "The festival is representative of a bigger growth, a trend. In Saudi Arabia they have a thriving stand-up comedy scene with 10 or 12 comics doing regular shows. Same thing in Egypt, Lebanon, Oman and Qatar," he said.
Though it might seem otherwise to outsiders, people in the Middle East are no strangers to humor, with rich traditions of comic storytelling. Veteran Jordanian comedian Nabil Sawalha has seen it all, performing in stage plays, television satire and sitcoms, but is now enjoying a new chapter in his long career thanks to stand-up. Says Sawalha, performances were initially held in English -- with comics drawing heavily on western influences -- but local language performers are now gaining confidence. "Now it's taken off seriously in Arabic. I might be practically the only one who can do a whole evening, but there are a few young people coming up who can do five or 10 minutes here. They still need experience, but people are willing to venture and make a fool of themselves in front of other people, which is new."
While the language might have changed, the jokes themselves touch on themes familiar to western audiences, touching on the everyday topics of relationships, traffic, pop music, Facebook and Arabic culture. "The Arabs in the region love to laugh at themselves, that's something we don't see in the Western media," says Obeidallah. "If you don't do jokes about Arab culture in your show, they miss it because the level of laughs for those jokes are so much higher than for generic jokes about relationships or the state of the world."
Sherry Davey, a British-American comic who has been invited to perform in Amman for a second time, says her routine, which sees her offer "comedy therapy" to men in the audience, works equally well in Jordan as it does at home. "Women all over the world are just as fed up of their husbands and tired of their bloody children as we are," she jokes.
But, adds Obeidallah, in most Middle Eastern countries -- even in relatively liberal Jordan -- there are limits. Sex and cursing are to be avoided, as are jokes about religion and country leaders. "I was in Lebanon and the producer of the show said say what you want but if you make fun of [militant group] Hezbollah you're on your own," he said. "That was an effective message."
That said, some are already willing to take a few risks. "I have been surprised by seeing some naught bits -- whether talking about farting or sex and some swear words here and there, and Jordanians take it and have a good laugh," says Sawalha, who refuses to remove political jokes from his own show. It's different elsewhere. I've performed in Beirut, Dubai and Qatar where the censors would cut a lot of my script -- but then I would go ahead and do it anyway." He adds: "In the Arab world we have so much political upheaval and so much tragedy that there is a lot of scope to turn these tragedies into comedy and laugh at them so that you can enjoy life."
Emirati stand-up comedians face social challenges
Praseeda Nair
2 January 2011
khaleejtimes.com
DUBAI - Comedy has always been a cultural staple in the region, from situation comedies to slapstick television shows. But, recently, artistes like Palestinian-American Aron Kader and Egyptian-American Ronnie Khalil have glorified the stand-up scene in the Emirates for a younger, more uninhibited generation of comedians waiting on the sidelines for a chance to shine.
Emirati comedian and entrepreneur Ali Al Sayed created a ripple by setting up Dubomedy, the city’s first comedy school, back in 2007, with his partner, comedian Mina Liccione. Dubomedy offers rotating classes throughout the year, allowing students to showcase their talent every nine weeks. “It’s time for the younger generation to come out and show the world what they’ve got,” he said.
Al Sayed has also launched a weekly comedy and variety show called ‘Monday Night Funnies’ as a platform for amateurs. “We’re getting more Arabs and Emiratis in the course nowadays, which we didn’t have at first,” Al Sayed said. “Next year, we plan to start a comedy course in Arabic.”
Abz Ali tried his hand at stand-up for the first time at the 2009 Dubai Shopping Festival when the aspiring Emirati comedian was only 19 years old. “The energy we felt when we were up on stage was amazing. I still remember feeling so nervous backstage, especially since I knew I was going to be on the same stage as comedy greats like Dean Obeidallah and Aron Kader,” he said of his experience.
Ali is currently taking a hiatus from comedy to focus on his education at university, but expressed a strong desire to return to the scene in the future. “I think if more people know about stand-up comedy intensive courses in Dubai, they’d seize the opportunity. I just wish there were more open-mic nights here to promote local talents,” he added.
With high audience attendance rates at shows and the increase in workshops and classes in the city, comedy star Ronnie Khalil is hoping that spreading the word on stand-up will encourage more people in the region to participate.
As one of the region’s most seasoned comedians, Khalil has recently started a comedy intensive workshop at Miranda Davidson Studios. “There is both interest and a lot of talent from the local population,” Khalil said. “The ultimate goal is to form a solid community of comics and comedy writers, which is a great way of developing this industry,” he added.
Emirati Dhay Al Hamadi has been trying to graduate from class clown to professional comedienne since she came back to Dubai after 10 years in Canada. “I remember the first time I went to an open-mic night at a Comedy Club in Toronto. There was an amateur comedian on stage who liked to make light of racial stereotypes, joking about Arabs and terrorism, and how Arab women were oppressed. It was all in good fun, but a part of me really wanted to react. Humour is the best weapon against stereotypes,” Dhay said.
The 21-year-old’s first impromptu foray into comedy led her to pursue her passion for stand-up throughout her college years in Toronto. “The applause is addictive. You hear it once and you want to hear it again,” she added. Dhay has yet to return to the stage since arriving in Dubai in September, primarily because she has received a lot of negative feedback from family friends.
“It is definitely not easy being a funny girl in my community. Many people said a lot of discouraging and downright cruel things to me, including quoting scripture to make me feel like what I’m doing is sinful or wrong. I don’t see how making people laugh can be a bad thing. I’m standing up for myself when I take the stage,” she said, adding that she is looking forward to signing up for a comedy intensive course in the coming month.
Libyan comedian says harder to joke without Gaddafi
Robert Birsel
Aug 25, 2011
BENGHAZI, Libya Aug 25 (Reuters) - For 35 years Milood Amroni, Libya's top comedian, used humour as a weapon to poke fun, ever so carefully, at the government of Muammar Gaddafi. But an uprising wrested Amroni's home, the eastern city of Benghazi, from Gaddafi's rule months ago. While the revolution means Amroni is finally able to joke openly without fear of disappearing into prison, he says he's had enough of political jokes and wants to move on.
"I felt I had to start again from the very beginning," Amroni told Reuters. "I felt that if I make jokes about Gaddafi they wouldn't be good jokes because he's too weak now and it's not good to make jokes about a weak guy," said the tall, pencil-thin 50-year-old.
Newspapers as well as television and radio stations have flourished after 42 years of repressive Gaddafi rule. The flood of new ideas and open debate has suddenly meant audiences are much more sophisticated.
"We've never been in this sort of situation, to talk openly about politics, to make jokes about politicians," said Amroni, whose sharp face, framed by white hair and a grey beard, is quick to crack into a wicked grin. Before, we would just give hints about politics and the people would react and feel happy. Now they're more critical and it's very difficult to make them laugh about politics because they're joking themselves ... Now the people are making the jokes and we're laughing."
"THE GUY ON TOP IS UNDERGROUND"
Offending Gaddafi could have meant vanishing into detention with his family, Amroni said. Jokes could allude to the leader only obliquely, but his knowing audience would understand. In one of Amroni's old skits, two men in military training were being tormented by an officer. One says to the other: "This is good practice for when we're bullied by the top commander". Libya's top military commander was Gaddafi.
In another skit, a man is standing on a table, looking for "the guy on top". His friend says, "No, the guy on top is underground." Many Libyans believed Gaddafi lived in a bunker. "Because Gaddafi was involved in everything -- culture, politics, sport -- I had different things to joke about," Amroni said. "For 35 years I was using jokes to try to fight Gaddafi."
A fan of Charlie Chaplin and Rowan Atkinson's Mr Bean, Amroni said he will still do comedy, just not political jokes. He would focus more on drama including tragedies on the stage and for television. "I want people to see change. We change, the country has changed ... Everything has changed, even comedy," he said.
And he didn't rule out a return to political humour one day. "Political jokes were a weapon to fight with and now we don't need it. But maybe later."
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