Rattlesnake Ridge      

        BFF    
                                                                               King Klingon
“Not everyone's laughing at Palestinian TV comedy. Following the same style, he hit hard in a comical and sarcastic manner at more or less the same officials and groups. However, this time the reaction was different. Already, two groups have filed lawsuits against "Watan ala Watar" and Palestine TV, claiming the show has harmed their reputation. The police and the doctors groups filed the suits in Palestinian courts, demanding compensation and a stop to the show. In the show, police were portrayed as getting drunk from smelling the breath of a drunk person, and doctors were portrayed as not caring about the life of their patient. "Officials are more tense this year than before," Faragin said. "I imagine the reason is because of the Arab Spring. They are afraid that too much criticism may lead them to the same fate as other Arab officials."…………..”

I told ya: Palestinian humor is not always funny (but then most ‘humor’ is not always funny). I have known that for some time, even Palestinians have told me that their humor may not be identified as “humor” by others. Apparently there are Palestinians who see it that way as well. Now I don’t know how Palestinian humor stands in comparison to Jordanian so-called “humor”. I know that some consider a Jordanian sense of humor as almost an oxymoron, even Israeli humor is probably funny compared to Jordanian humor. Yet I must admit I enjoyed the photo of King Abdul dressed as William Shatner (not in a Priceline ad). It was worth a chuckle and half.

I must say: Arabic media humor (movies, TV) has deteriorated. Even our Gulf humor consists these days mostly of screaming and bulging one’s eyes (like the villain in old Chaplin films). Nothing like By Bye London, for example (probably banned now back in my hometown). The best Arabic humor was, and probably still is, in Egypt. Egyptians are the only Arabs who have a real sense of humor, even during hard times (like the past forty years). Of course, even the Egyptians are not nearly as good now as the old days: the days of Naguib El-Rehani or Adel Khairy or even the wide mouth of Isma’el Yaseen.  I imagine there is also such a thing as Lebanese or Syrian humor, but I can't judge it because I have yet to see it.
Speaking of art: Rest In Peace Hind Rustum, who died in Cairo this week. I loved her films, she was a superb actress (I also used to think she was the sexiest Arab on the screen, and she was).
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com