Arabic version of SNL hits Middle East

‘Politics no longer funny’

CAIRO, Feb 20, (AP): “From Cairo... it’s Saturday Night!”

An Arabic version of Saturday Night Live is airing across the Arab world for the first time this weekend, offering a Middle Eastern twist on the hit US comedy show.

In a newly renovated theatre in the Egyptian capital, the live audience laughed their way through the shooting of the first episode on Tuesday. The host was Donia Samir Ghanem, one of Egypt’s top female comedians, who cracked jokes at her own expense, and sent up stereotypes of different Arabic countries. All the elements of SNL were there: a celebrity guest, music performances, live sketches, videos and parody news — but when it comes to politics, they’re playing it safe.

The writers of “Saturday Night Live in Arabic” are treading lightly after Egypt’s sharply satirical version of “The Daily Show” had to go off air in 2014. Its star, the country’s most popular satirist Bassem Youssef — known overseas as “Egypt’s Jon Stewart” — said he believed the political climate was no longer conducive to satire.

Youssef’s TV show was cancelled the month Egypt’s president, AbdelFattah el-Sissi, took office after winning elections. El-Sissi led the 2013 popularly-backed overthrow of a former Islamist president, and then jailed thousands of Islamists before broadening the crackdown on dissent to include secular activists.

Youssef lost viewers after airing an episode shortly after el-Sissi’s land-

on Christmas last year, but Open Road decided last October to move it back to May.

Stone directed Snowden from a script he wrote with Kieran Fitzgerald based on Luke Harding’s book “The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World’s Most Wanted Man” and “Time of the Octopus,” written by Snowden’s Russian lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena.

Snowden was charged in 2013 by the US Department of Justice with two counts side election win in which he poked fun at the hype around el-Sissi and mocked his die-hard supporters, suggesting that many Egyptians may not be open to satire if the joke is directed at them.

Comedy

A large number of Egyptians now complain of a gap in satire, but in a country that has suffered years of political turmoil, comedy writers are aware that some subjects are off-limits.

“It’s a challenging time for anyone who writes in Egypt,” said George Azmi, the lead writer on SNL in Arabic. “Everyone is antagonized... You cannot make a decent joke without offending someone.”

“Never mind the regime... the people themselves are very antagonized, both right and left. And at the same time a lot is happening (politically) so if you ignore this completely you will also appear out of tune,” he said.

Tarek El Ganainy, whose company TVision is co-producing the show, said the humor would focus on social issues “as much as possible”.

“Anywhere in the world, the funny topics are sex, religion, and politics,” he said, before noting that those who joke about religion in Egypt risk blasphemy law suits, sex jokes can scare away viewers and politics “is no longer funny”. “We are living in a transitional period, so no one can stand joking about it,” he said.

SNL in Arabic’s team hopes that, if they pitch the gags right, the Middle East is the perfect place to launch

of violating the Espionage Act and theft of government property, and his passport was revoked a week later by the US Department of State. He was granted temporary asylum by Russia in 2014.

Moritz Borman is producing with Kopeloff and Philip Schulz-Deyle.

Open Road has seen considerable success from its decision to open “Spotlight” in November. It’s been nominated for six Academy Awards, including best picture,

Eric a new comedy show. Egypt is the Arab world’s biggest market, with 90 million people, and it is known across the region for its sense of humor.

“There is a lot of thirst for real comedy shows in the Arab world,” said Kholoud Abu Homos, an executive at Dubai-based Orbit Showtime Network, which is co-producing the show.

Two comedians from Youssef’s show, Shady Alfons and Khaled Mansour, have joined SNL in Arabic. They touched on politics, but steered clear of anything too provocative, something that seemed to sit well with the audience.

“I liked it a lot,” said interior designer Nehal Leheta during a break. “It’s a lot nicer than Bassem Youssef because he was too political.”

“It was very funny; I didn’t expect it to be that funny,” said Ahmed elGanzouri, one of Egypt’s top party organizers.

Broadcast

The show is initially being broadcast by the satellite service OSN, which means that most Egyptians will not be able to see the show until it is broadcast by the free CBC channel in three months’ time.

In the meantime, some Egyptian fans of SNL are unsure of whether an Arabic spin-off will work.

“I’m skeptical about it because most of the stuff that gets remade here gets ruined,” said Ahmed Hegazy, who loves the US show. “If they do it right, it would have the potential to replace Bassem Youssef,” he said — before

and has grossed more than $53 million worldwide.

“Snowden” is the first feature film that Stone has directed since 2012’s “Savages.” It will open against Universal’s “Bridget Jones’ Baby,” Lionsgate’s “Nerve” and Sony’s “When the Bough Breaks.” (RTRS)

LOS ANGELES:

Elizabeth Banks, Russell Simmons and “Transformers” adding that he’d like the Arabic version to be as blunt and political as its American counterpart.

George Azmi also worried initially about doing the original justice, saying he turned the job down at first.

“It was a lot of pressure... I felt we were going to ruin it, and I initially refused,” said Azmi. “They then approached me again and I thought ‘oh well, it’s not a problem, let’s ruin SNL... It won’t be the first or the last thing we ruin, so let’s do it,’” he added jokingly.

The producer and comedians Alfons and Mansour travelled to New York last May for an intensive two-week immersion at SNL to learn about all aspects of the show’s production. They also regularly consult with the American program-makers.

Yet they emphasize the jokes are not Arabic translations of American gags. The idea is that they will provide completely fresh material, presented in SNL’s trademark style.

SNL has also sent a small team to make a short documentary about how the show will work in Arabic.

SNL in Arabic’s team says it has been hard work — each star spends around 50 hours rehearsing and shooting one episode — but they are excited by the project. The comedian Mansour was happy to be performing again, over 18 months after Youssef’s program was taken off air. He was dancing and entertaining the live audience even when the cameras weren’t rolling. producer Ian Bryce will speak at the Producers Guild of America’s 8th annual Produced by Conference.

The headlining panels include a “360 Profile” roundtable discussion with All Def Digital principals Simmons, Sanjay Sharma, Chris Conti and Jake Stein; and the “Conversations With...” series featuring an in-depth dialogue with producers Banks and Max Handelman from Brownstone Productions. Banks produced and directed “Pitch Perfect 2.”

The event will be held at the Sony Pictures lot on June 4 and 5.

“Sicario” producers Basil Iwanyk and Molly Smith are confirmed panelists, along with PGA Co-Presidents Gary Lucchesi and Lori McCreary; America Ferrera; Bleecker Street Media CEO Andrew Karpen; “Trumbo” producer Michael London; Sierra/Affinity CEO Nick Meyer; Landmark Theatres CEO Ted Mundorff; “thirtysomething” creator Marshall Herskovitz; Jeff Jenkins of Bunim/Murray Productions (“Keeping Up With the Kardashians”); and Ben Relles, head of comedy and unscripted programming for YouTube Originals.

Other confirmed panelists include Amy Baer; John Canning, co-chair of the PGA’s motion picture technology committee; Lesley Chilcott; Nonny de la Pena, CEO of Emblematic Group; Dalia Ganz, director of digital & partnership marketing at Freeform; Kenneth A. Hawes, U.S Army public affairs; Christie Mattull, managing director of HUB Entertainment Insurance; Clay Newbill of 310 Entertainment (“Shark Tank”); and Commander John W. Pruitt III, the director of the US Coast Guard’s Motion Picture and Television Office. (RTRS)