Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
They say laughter comes in all shapes and sizes and in this case it was a 6ft 4in Lebanese-American stand-up comedian by the name of Nemr Abou Nassar.
Abou Nassar, known as ‘Lebanon’s King of Comedy’ performed a rib-tickling set at the Crowne Plaza Bahrain Conference Centre on Sunday evening as one of the many activities being held as part of America Week.
The show, organised by the US Embassy in association with Punchline Media, attracted more than 950 guests all craving a good laugh and ‘the king’ delivered. Bahraini comedian Yousif Taha warmed-up the crowd as the opening act for what turned out to be fun-filled extravaganza.
The dual-passport holder welcomed the US Ambassador Thomas Krajeski and his wife Bonnie along with fellow ambassadors and other dignitaries … warning them that they might not like him by the end of the evening.
Abou Nassar, proud of his culture and heritage, got the evening started with an impersonation of his father Joseph and mother Hiam Kabban and how they disciplined him as a child or made him feel the emotion we all know hurts more than most – a mother’s guilt.
He also took a jab at just about every Arab country, getting a laugh from the Jordanian Ambassador as he shared his experience travelling to Jordan.
He then had a bit of a stare-down with the French Ambassador after making a few jokes about the French community … although he kept referring to the ambassador’s look as a ‘Napoleon death stare’.
He had the crowd in stitches when he threw his shoes off the stage ‘George Bush-style’ and had everyone raise their hands in unity against OSN Arabia translating Hollywood movies into Arabic.
Abou Nassar professed his love for bukhari (a rice and chicken dish) that he had at Bahrain’s popular Mohammed Noor restaurant and he grunted at how he loved eating with his hands as it made him feel like a man.
He also touched on subjects such as hairy Arab men, how women love to make smelly noises and Lebanon’s GPS system, more aptly, the fact they don’t really need one as they do not have street names or proper addresses.
He then poked fun at the difference between renewing an American passport and a Lebanese passport, adding that even the Lebanese Embassy thought he was wasting his time when he had an American one that could take him everywhere ...except perhaps Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea and he could have added Iran!
After that, he took the audience by surprise when he used the bottle of water given to him by the Jordanian Ambassador as a prop for one of his gags. He showered himself with it on stage only realising after the deed was done how freezing cold it was. He then asked the ambassador if he’d purchased it from Canada.
The stand-up comedian proved that you can unite the world with laughter. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house and it’s a crying shame the merriment couldn’t continue across borders.
