Egyptians show sense of humour as stand-up comedy gets an Arab twist
Ashraf Khalil, Cairo
April 16, 2010[/align]
The room was badly ventilated and swelteringly hot. But, despite the stuffy conditions, raucous laughter filled the room as more than a dozen comedians took to the stage to give an Egyptian twist to a decidedly Western art form.
The scene — the largest stand-up showcase in Cairo to feature local comics — marked a radical social and comedic experiment. Tamer Farag, a 35-year-old tour guide, riffed on the bizarre linguistic games that Egyptians play, incorporating English words into Arabic then randomly applying Arabic grammar rules to them.
“So what’s the plural of jacket?” Mr Farag asked the crowd. “No, it’s not ‘jawaacket’. That’s low class! All the chic people say ‘jacketaat’. What’s wrong with you?”
Noha Kato, a young comedienne who wears the hijab, joked that because she is 22 her parents are already fretting about her never getting married. “I feel like a yoghurt cup with an expiration date stamped on my forehead,” she said.
By almost any standard, the experiment was a success, with the 500-seat venue sold out for both performances. “This shows people want to laugh. They know stand-up comedy and they love it,” Maha Hosni, the organiser, said. “All the university students know this culture and watch the comedy channels.”
Egyptians are no strangers to comedy. The country is famous for its comedic actors and Egyptians are known for their humour. But that spirit of comedy has, until now, been channelled into slapstick films and plays. “We’ve always had comedy but it wasn’t an individual thing,” Mr Farag said.
Now, the stand-up model is gradually taking hold, with a growing pool of local comics eager to hone their craft. “It’s gaining momentum,” said Mohammed Shaheen, a 29-year-old network engineer and comic. “I really believe it’s going to grow in Egypt. There’s a huge market for it.”
The concept came to Egypt in 2006 when a quartet of Arab and Iranian-American comedians gained fame in the US with the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour. The group soon began performing gigs in the Middle East and made a point of holding open auditions to encourage and develop local talents. “We’re trying to build a comedy infrastructure” in the Middle East, said Dean Obeidallah, a Palestinian-American comic who helped to found the Axis of Evil tour. “I tell people we’re comedy missionaries.”
After the success of the showcase Ms Hosni is thinking big. She plans to hold several events a year and build up the local stand-up scene. Once the talent pool is ready, she wants to launch an international tour before “invading London and other places with Egyptian talent”.
Ali Qandil: It always bothers me here when people hang their laundry off the balcony and they hang the men’s underwear on the outside. I think they do that just so that the neighbourhood knows there’s a man around the house.
Noha Kato: When I told my father that being a comedian was like being an actress, he freaked out and said, “What! Will there be any kissing or love scenes?”
