The first-ever Amman Stand-Up Comedy Festival will be held December 2-5, 2008 at Al Hussein Cultural Center. A non-profit program developed by the Greater Amman Municipality, the four-day festival will feature a line-up comprised of 15 acclaimed performers from six countries including Maz Jobrani, Ahmed Ahmed, Aron Kader, Maysoon Zayid and Dean Obeidallah, the festival’s executive producer. International comic superstar Russell Peters will headline the closing show.
Set to position Amman as a platform for stand-up comedy in the Middle East, the festival is developed in close collaboration with the critically acclaimed New York Arab-American Comedy Festival.
“When is the last time we saw Arabs laughing on American television? Hopefully, this festival will show Americans that people in the Arab world actually have a sense of humor and can laugh at comedians as well as at themselves,” says Obeidallah.
“I hope that this festival will encourage young talents to be active in the Jordanian performing arts arena. I also see this creating a wider appreciation for comedy in Jordan and should be recognized as a marked calendar occurrence staged in Amman, as the region is full of raw talent that we are hoping to bring to the forefront.”
