IT will not seem out of place if Smile Productions changes its name to Laughter Productions. The sparkle, glamour, liveliness and sheer comic relief that has swept into the Kingdom since the arrival of stand-up comedy shows organized by this company is unprecedented. Laughter was the commodity on sale in an otherwise quiet Riyadh on the night of Apr. 1 as comedy-lovers were treated to over three hours of stand-up comedy. Eight local and international comics provided much entertainment to the audience with the show being moderated by the ebullient and electrifying Rehman Akhtar, an amateur Pakistani comic who works for an oil company in the Kingdom. The big star of the night, however, was the acclaimed British-Muslim comedian Jeff Mirza who made two appearances. His first act was as a middle-aged taxi driver called Arthur Patel, who was described by Akhtar as a British-Indian man that had only spent six months of his life in Britain. As convincing as the act was hilarious, the audience hardly recognized Mirza in his mismatched clothing and woolen cap. “What is the way to a man's heart?” ‘Patel' asked the audience. A chant of ‘the stomach' chorused back. “Through the chest with a knife,” he deadpanned, sending the audience into reels of laughter. Peter Howarth-Lees, the Director of Smile Productions and the producer of this show was expressive in his praise for the high standard and quality of the show. “We had the idea of using the April fool's day's timing, so we came up with ‘Jeff Mirza and the April Fools',” he said. Having come all the way from Britain, Mirza gave the audience excellent value for their money as he entertained them by putting on a variety of accents, pulling faces, dead-panning about life's experiences and even using the show and members of the audience for spontaneous jokes. Incidentally, it was Mirza's first visit to the Kingdom. “Mashallah, I was very impressed by the show, the number of people who showed up and their understanding of English. They were all educated people, intelligent and with good comic recognition,” he remarked once the show in Riyadh had ended. Saudi comedian Hessain Mohammed, a structural Engineer from Jeddah believes that the comedy industry will soon pick up in the Kingdom. “It's going to be a bridge; it will break down barriers in people's perception of culture in both the East and the West,” he remarked. Dressed in the national dress, Mohammed also went on stage for the first time that evening. The audience, however, never seemed to get enough of Omar Ramzi, a Jeddah-based Irish-Sudanese stand-up comedian who the host Akhtar introduced as the world's first white Sudanese. Though rarely accompanied by any physical gestures or expressions, Ramzi's jokes came out gentle but had a devastating effect on people's ribs as they laughed endlessly on his jokes. Jeff Mirza wrapped up the show by making his second appearance – as himself this time. He handled hecklers well and talked about the humorous side of his family's sojourn in Britain. Trained as a structural engineer, Mirza gave up his engineering job to become a stand-up comedian and has recently won an EMMA Award for comedy in Britain. He has also appeared in movies like “Tomb Raider” and “Bend it like Beckham”. Talking about using comedy as an effective mode of expression, Mirza explained its appeal. “You can express yourself; you can say what you want. How often can you go out and say stuff? You can't otherwise you end up in prison!” he laughed. Hot off the heels of four earlier successful shows, Peter Howarth-Lees was also on top of his game and indicated that positive feedback from comedy enthusiasts serves as motivation to him. “One lady actually told me that she laughed so much, she fell off her chair!” he laughed. “People tell me they laugh so much, their jaws hurt, and that they still laugh and keep repeating the jokes they heard weeks later. What has been extremely notable is that they do not want this to be a one-off. They want it on a regular basis.” Local talents from Jeddah were given an opportunity to perform in Riyadh and vice versa. The likes Omar Ramzi, Omar Hussein, Faraz Shafiq and Hussein Mohammed of Jeddah and Abdullah Saidan, Ibrahim Alkhairillah and Khalid Khalifa of Riyadh were given an opportunity to perform before new audiences. The audience was brimming with praise for all the talents. Hassan, an undergraduate student in the United States and the willing ‘victim' of some interactive jokes was full of smiles. “I loved this show. I hope we will get more of this”, he said. Howarth-Lees was also excited about future endeavors. “We are getting to a stage where the comedians who now performed over two shows including the show with Ahmed Ahmed and now with Jeff Mirza are getting a name for themselves. They are getting fan pages,” he remarked. “We are going to develop comedy workshops, where they can hone their talents, amongst themselves and among their peers in front of small audiences. Every week I get someone calling me or emailing me saying they want audition. So we are growing home-grown talent.” With five successful shows so far and more to come, Smile Productions is further poised to keep alive the mainstream entertainment industry in Saudi Arabia and take it to another level. Part of its efforts is a theatre workshop to be held within the month. This workshop for aspiring actors will feature the renowned Hollywood personality Tom Tordoff. In the near future, there is no doubt that comedy vis-a-vis entertainment will be well known as a veritable means for breaking down stereotypes and prejudices as well as showcasing the talents that abound in this part of the world to the world at large. One of the aims of this initiative can be summarized in the words of Omar Ramzi, “we need to let the west look at us and learn from us.”
