One For the Road

In the video,Fageeh mimics Marley’s strained voice,and subtly,but deftly,pokes fun at a cleric’s claim that driving can damage a woman’s ovaries. Ova and ovaries so safe and well,so you can make lots and lots of babies,he croons. He also takes on Saudi society’s preference of tradition over modernity,as he intones,In this bright future,you can’t forget your past,so put your keys away. Touching upon the Kingdom’s restrictions on women’s travel,he sings,Your feet is your only carriage,but only inside the house.

Fageeh found his calling as a stand-up comic in the US,where he arrived as a 15-year-old high school student in 2002. His initial experience there,though,was anything but funny. “I lived in New Smyrna Beach,a rather racist town in south Florida. It was a year after 9/11,and stupid kids there would direct their pain and anger at me.” Humour soon cheered him up,though. “I watched a lot of African-American comic David Chapelle,who does racist commentary in his jokes,and got inspired,” he says.

Fageeh went on to study religion and Middle Eastern studies at Florida State University,after which he enrolled for a Masters in Middle Eastern Studies at Columbia University in New York. NYC’s theatre culture helped Fageeh discover his comic self. “I loved watching stand-up comedy,and wished to do it myself,but feared public speaking. Since NYC has several open-mic events,I began participating in them,” he says.

Longing to do comedy in Arabic,he started his YouTube channel,Hishamcomedy,in 2011. His first clip,“about a US-based,anti-American Saudi bigot”,got 20 hits, today his channel has 55,886 subscribers. In one video,he is at Times Square,and asks people in Mickey and Minnie Mouse costumes to “show their family card”,a satire on Saudi law that asks a man and a woman to prove their relation to each other.

In August,Fageeh returned to Riyadh and joined comedy production company Telfaz11. Stand-up comedy,he says,is booming in Saudi Arabia. “Comedy clubs are coming up everywhere. The one in Jeddah has three events in a month. Five-six years ago,Saudi comedians began performing in English for expats. Their popularity spurred the demand for Arabic stand-up events,” he says.

Since Saudi Arabia has no room for dissenting voices,is satire,especially in the online space,a safer way to vent opinion? Fageeh is evasive on this: “Satire has been happening for long,including in democracies,so it has nothing to do with our political system.” So,does he think women should drive? “My personal views don’t matter. I only want to make people laugh.”

irenaakbar@expressindia.com