DUBAI: Lebanese comedian John Achkar is still slightly stunned by what his latest milestone represents for stand-up in the Arab world.
His hour-long Arabic stand-up special, “Aam Jarrib” — or “Tryin’” — which began streaming on MBC Shahid on May 27, is, according to a press release, the first full-length Arabic stand-up show to be performed at Paris’ famed L’Olympia concert hall.
On Shahid, the special is part of the Movies section, and, Achkar tells Arab News over Zoom from a busy restaurant in Beirut — where he’s just opened a new comedy club called Hidden Cellar, “It’s in the top 10 almost everywhere.”
That, he says, “is actually way beyond what I expected. It’s the first time there’s been a one-hour stand-up comedy special on Shahid, and I’m so amazed they took this risk to introduce a new art form. Stand-up comedy is still very new to the region — there’s a lot to be done.”
The special was the culmination of a long tour across 85 cities worldwide, including Beirut, Dubai, Riyadh, Cairo, London, New York and Sydney. All of the stops have sizeable Arab communities.
