One evening, at a loose end as is the norm, my curiosity was piqued by an advertised comedy evening in the capital. The mind raced, well it ticked over at a pace partially greater than the usual “injured tortoise” lethargy…..
What would an Arabian comedy night hold?
Would there be any jokes surrounding sex? Or religion? Or political matters? Or who has the best missile?
What would the audience makeup be?
I sauntered along to see what it was all about and have to say it was a curious surprise.
First up we had an American fellow, in his fifties, who showed admirable resistance to some none-too-subtle heckling from the crowd; not sure if any heckling is subtle actually, probably necessary by the definition.
Ah, the crowd, well that was unexpected also, being a mix of Arab locals and expats, much like the country itself. I know not why, but for some reason I hadn’t anticipated any Arabs being there, following the Westernised misrepresentation of the Middle East…..Arabs don’t have a sense of humour of course, utterly ridiculous.
Next up was a Canadian lass with a bizarre penchant for “Friends”, the inescapable, gentle comedy of 20 odd years back. Now I’m not an authority on the show, but I know that if you ask “who was a fan of Phoebe?” and only one hand reaches for the sky then it’s best to immediately freestyle some new material! Needless to say it was quite an awkward few minutes for all concerned.
By the time the third act appeared before us I had not only realised the diverse background (and material) of the performers, but the crowd seemed to remain strangely silent for the duration of a performance, only showing appreciation at the culmination of a routine with a hearty round of applause. I had felt immediately out of place by laughing aloud at the first amusing snippet of the night and quickly realised that wasn’t how it was done. Fair enough, of course, but that has the potential to be incredibly intimidating for the comedians, knocking themselves out and getting a wall of silence in return! Most unusual.
The third performer, as mentioned, was another surprise, a Ukrainian – I think – whose entire routine was based on going to the gym….and presented in broken English. It was so highly bizarre that it seemed to work somehow.
The evening was rounded off by an Indian lad who may well have been amusing, but spoke at such velocity as to be impossible to catch all of his material and a hardened expat of some 15 years who had the odd moment of humour but relied on jokes so particular to the area and its development that a lot were lost on newbies like myself (and I’d estimate a fair proportion of the audience).
It was a quirky eye opener of an evening, with plenty jokes about sex and some politics too, but religion went noticeably untouched. The Scottish compere was more than happy to talk flippantly on the subject of drugs, which again took me aback.
All in all a pleasant surprise and the quirkiness of it all, unplanned really, made it an unusually enjoyable experience, maybe even one to repeat!