Two weeks ago, Lebanese-American Nemr Abou Nassar, American Al Ducharme and Saudi Arabia’s very own Thamer Al-Hazmi, had a big crowd of young people in Jeddah laughing for over two hours.
The comedy show event, organized by the pioneers of stand-up comedy in Saudi Arabia, Smile Productions, took place on Nov. 18 at the Italian Consulate Cultural Club. The show was a huge success and the proof is in the tweets:
“Best Comedy show I’ve been to in Jeddah... Made me laugh to tears...Had a great time, thank you!”
“OH MY GOD. I could not stop laughing! One of the best stand-up comedies ever!”
“Great show with global standards. We need more please!”
Although all comedians were hilarious, what made this show memorable was that each comedian had his own distinctive style and technique. Opening the stage was the charming Thamer Al-Hazmi, aka “Freaky Thaimzz.” Introducing himself as a Saudi “Badawi,” or Bedouin, he hyped up the crowd by poking fun at Bedouins and American and British expats trying to speak Arabic.
He was then followed by Al Ducharme whose one-of-a-kind stand-up act included mind-blowing sound effects that literally had audiences laughing to tears. He imitated everything from sounds (bullets and vacuum cleaners), soundtracks and movies (“Star Wars” and Clint Eastwood Spaghetti Westerns) to little kids speaking on the phone — all with fantastic acting, even in slow motion!
By the time Nemr Abou Nassar came on stage, it was hard to imagine that the audience could still laugh more. However, the laughter never stopped, but rather escalated as “Lebanon’s King of Comedy” poked fun at things all Arabs could relate to, including Saudis being the manliest Arabs, driving in Lebanon with a GPS, Lebanese fights, Frenchies and Arabic dubbed movies on TV.
This was Nemr and Al’s second show in Jeddah (the first was at the US Consulate General) from a tour that included Dhahran, Riyadh and Qatar. Apart from performing a show in Qatar, they also held a comedy workshop. The tour ended in Afghanistan with comedians Al and Rehman Akhtar (who replaced Nemr as he had to return to Lebanon for TV commitments) performing two shows and holding two comedy workshops.
After the tour, Arab News spoke to the Co-founder and Managing Director of Smile Productions, Peter Howarth-Lees, to get you better acquainted with their vision for the Kingdom and the Middle East.
Smile Productions was co-founded by me and Abeer Al Fouti, a Saudi from Medina, in 2008. We call it the greatest Hejazi-British collaboration since Lawrence of Arabia. We couldn’t do it alone and rely upon a small group of enthusiastic volunteers each time we have a show.
No, this is a passion rather than a business. We rarely make any profit from Smile Productions events and often don’t even cover our costs. I’m the co-founder and CEO of a real estate development and management company here in Riyadh. That’s my day job, but all of my spare time is dedicated to bringing smiles to KSA and the Middle East. The delight of seeing an audience of diverse backgrounds and cultures sharing a moment of laughter together is a reward far greater than money in the bank. Having said that, however, we would welcome the support of corporate sponsors who may share our passion and help cover our costs.
To continue to bring people of differing backgrounds and cultures together and put smiles on their faces. Our mission has always been to changes people’s perceptions of each other though the medium of humor.
We’ve already introduced two Saudi females to the world of stand-up comedy: “Noufie” who did a show in 2009 and is now studying in Canada and “McShortie” who performed in three large shows for Smile this year, gathering a large following on Twitter and Facebook.
I’m hoping my recent trip to Afghanistan and the story I have to tell about that trip will inspire more Saudi women to get involved. I’ve always said that any revolution in KSA will be a pink one, and I think comedy would be a great tool for women to make their voices heard.
Our first show in May 2008 attracted an audience of 350 and almost filled our venue. Since then, it is has become almost impossible to find venues large enough to cope with demand.
Our most important evolution came with our third show at the end of 2008 when we provided an opportunity for the first local Saudi comedians to share the stage with international acts. Two guys, Khalid Khalifa and Ibraheem Alkhairallah, shared a stage with two comics from the London circuit. That was a turning point for them and many other local comics to whom we first provided a stage and large audiences, including Omar Hussein and Fahad Albutairi, both of who now have very successful YouTube shows.
We have produced over 40 events in three years and expanded to produce and co-produce shows across the Middle East including Bahrain, Qatar, Dubai, Yemen, Lebanon, Oman, Jordan, and most recently, Afghanistan.
Today, Saudi Arabia, tomorrow the world! Seriously, KSA is our home base and always will be insh’allah, but we have already made major inroads into the Middle East. We currently have invitations to return to Afghanistan and to visit Pakistan and some African states, so 2012 will be a busy year for us.
All positive. Who doesn’t like to laugh? However, the more we do, the more people expect and it is difficult to meet demands for more shows when finding suitable venues is so difficult. We are still operating in an environment where public entertainment of the kind we provide is not the norm.
I always say this after every tour, but I’ll say it again: The best yet. Although we lost money on this tour, we met some wonderful people, established new relationships and achieved our goal: we made people smile. Really, that’s all that matters.
I guess that’s a skill I have as a producer. If I find them funny, I then study their material and assess their suitability. We think long and hard before bringing anyone to KSA. We have to be sure that their humor will be inclusive and suitable for our market.
They have to make me laugh first. That’s a good first step. We will audition anyone who has original material.
It all depends upon how KSA moves forward with reform. We have a wise and forward thinking King who I understand has a great sense of humor. There will always be people who want to get up on stage and make people laugh. What we need are more stages and opportunities for live performance to inspire growth.
— To find out about future events, “like” the Smile Productions Page on Facebook, follow them on Twitter (@smileksa) or visit: www.smileksa.com
In the meantime, keep checking the Life & Style section of Arab News for exclusive one-to-one interviews with Nemr Abou Nassar, Al Ducharme and Thamer Al-Hazmi.
