JEDDAH, 30 September 2006 — For years comedy has been used to satirize the state or society in the Arab world. It is said to be the only way to criticize the systems in the region without having to spend a night or two in lockups.
More than two decades have passed since Syrian icon Dareed Laham starred in his hit motion picture “The Border”. In the film, Laham criticized Arab-style bureaucracy in a production that has become a landmark for the modern history of political satire in the Middle East. Today, Arabs can get a little relief from the sometimes-frustrating realities of politics and society by watching “Tash Ma Tash,” which first appeared on Saudi TV during Ramadan 14 years ago.
The successful one-hour nightly program that airs on MBC, featuring comedic skits, premieres each year during Ramadan. The re-runs are shown the rest of the year. The program has become one of the Kingdom’s non-oil-related exports: The show is broadcast year-round and watched widely throughout the Middle East.
When the show first aired it was an all-male cast, but as the years past and times changed women actors have been incorporated into the cast.
Over the years, similar shows have cropped up. And “Tash Ma Tash” — which is named after a Saudi children’s game and very loosely means “slipped away, or not” — started to feel old. Last year, the show suffered a major blow when it was out-rated by “Ikhwani Akhwati” (“Brothers And Sisters”).
Critics said “Tash Ma Tash” was recycling old material, with actors playing the same roles. Things were made worse when a 10-year-old dispute by the show’s former producer, Amer Al-Homoud, also caused a ruckus. Homoud decided to release a new version of the show on the LBC network by the same name, and the original production had to be recast as simply “Tash”.
To save the show that seemed to be losing its steam, the producers decided to pump up provocation to rake in viewers.
Earlier this week “Tash” devoted its hour-long program on extremism. In one segment, titled “Terrorism Academy” (based on the popular programs like “Star Academy” where people compete before a panel of judges) the host, a Lebanese woman in a flirtatious evening gown, awards the winner a belt of explosives.
Another episode, which has yet to air but was leaked and has been traded around via Bluetooth, shows members of the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice barging in on Saudi youths playing cards and drinking non-alcoholic beer. The men inspect the beers and when the youths protest their incursion on their game, the committee members snap at them not to speak to “sheikhs” in that manner. The skit ends with an actor playing a muscular committee member hauling the boys off to the barber to get haircuts.
The episode on terrorism has caused a stir placing viewers in the “pro” and “con” camps. Twenty-eight-year-old Ahmad Ali called the episode on terrorism “disgusting”.
“They should be stopped and should pay for their actions,” said Ali. “It’s enough that the Western media are negatively feeding the image of Islam; now they’re getting in-house help.”
He said in the episode the terrorism issue was not tackled in a productive way. “There were a lot of misleading arguments in the episode that portrayed Islamic beliefs in a wrong way just for a laugh,” he said. “We are all against terrorism but we don’t allow any one to criticize or make fun of our beliefs, which are purely against terrorism.”
According to some Jeddawi residents, the show has been attacked by local imams. One resident said a preacher strongly criticized the show’s producers on a cassette sermon being distributed: “The preacher said ‘May Allah throw them into hell’.”
On the other hand, there are the supporting crowd who argue what was said is nothing but the truth.
“We control our own image, not the West. The show was making fun of terrorists by satirizing their warped perceptions of Islam. I think the show was a defense of Islam, personally,” said Abu Nasser, adding that Saudis should have more of a sense of humor about issues that affect their lives. “The show’s producers and actors could be putting their life on the line. Terrorists could target them for what they did. It wouldn’t be the first time. And that’s sad.”
Whatever the outcome is of the bolder “Tash”, the issues it raises will likely remain in the minds of the public long after Ramadan.
