STORY: Comedy festival in Jordan bringing laughs to people in hardships
DATELINE: Sept. 12, 2023
LENGTH: 00:03:47
LOCATION: Amman
CATEGORY: CULTURE

SHOTLIST:
1. various of Jordan Comedy Festival
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Arabic): YAZAN ABU AL ROUS, Festival Director
3. SOUNDBITE 2 (Arabic): MOHAMMAD KHAMIS, Stand-up comedian
4. SOUNDBITE 3 (Arabic): ABDULRHMAN MAMDOOH, Stand-up comedian
5. SOUNDBITE 4 (Arabic): JOY IBRAHIM, Stand-up comedian

STORYLINE:

The 2nd edition of the Jordan Comedy Festival was held from Sept. 7 to 9 in the capital city of Amman.

Comedians from the Arab world staged various types of comedic performances, bringing laughter to people. 
SOUNDBITE 1 (Arabic): YAZAN ABU AL ROUS, Festival Director
"Amman Comedy Club (the festival organizer) is the first project in the Arab world that specializes in training various types of comedy, such as stand-up comedy, improvisational comedy, comedy sketches, or satirical comedy. We launched it in 2019 as an initiative. The initiative turned into a project, and currently we are a community organization that aims to spread the culture of comedy in Jordan and the Arab world."

The festival was a chance for Mohammad Khamis, a Syrian refugee who spent more than a decade in Jordan, to hone his skills as a stand-up comedian in front of audiences.

According to Khamis, coping with the hardships of the Syrian conflict through humor helps him to heal. 
SOUNDBITE 2 (Arabic): MOHAMMAD KHAMIS, Stand-up comedian
"Laughing at pain is a difficult thing, and fighting pain with laughter is a beautiful thing. I tell my story that connects me to people and makes them interact with me and get interested in the story itself. For me, as a person who came from war ten years ago, I try to make people laugh at the ironic events that took place in the war, and this is something difficult to make people laugh at suffering, but I face my suffering with laughter, and this is something that makes me feel comfortable."

The festival, which showcases comedians from different regions, allows them to hone their skills, connect with the audience and network with their peers.

SOUNDBITE 3 (Arabic): ABDULRHMAN MAMDOOH, Stand-up comedian
"I like the idea of the festival, because it's a large gathering for comedians from different countries in the Arab world. We have opportunities to see how others work. And they can see us and see how well we perform in the theater."

SOUNDBITE 4 (Arabic): JOY IBRAHIM, Stand-up comedian
"As a stand-up comedian, the festival provides me with a platform to get more exposure with the audience in addition to test my skills and my material further. I get to line up with famous comedians from the Arab world, so it allows me to learn from them more."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Amman.
(XHTV)