FROM LEFT: Mashal Shahbik, QTA's Festivals and Tourism Events Director; The Social Studio’s Managing Director, Hamzeh Zahr and Qatari comedian Hamad AlAmari at a press briefing at Lagoona Mall, yesterday.
Tickets for the Doha Comedy Festival (DCF) — one of the live entertainment offerings at Shop Qatar— are selling fast with the third show already sold out, proving the rising popularity of standup comedy in Qatar, said organisers.
The third and final show called “International Day” which will feature The Daily Show host Trevor Noah and America’s Got Talent winner Paul Zerdin was sold out since last week.
“As a result of the success of DCF’s previous editions, we expected the tickets to sell out but we did not expect it to sell as quickly as it did, so this is just a measure of how DCF is adding to the diversity of shows offered in Doha,” said Qatari comedian Hamad Al Amari, who will be the opening act of the sold-out show.
Al Amari, also known as ‘The Qatari Guy’, was speaking at a press briefing held yesterday at Lagoona Mall to update local media on Shop Qatar festival.
“Around 1,000 people watched the first DCF. The second edition saw over 3,000 people and for this edition we are hoping to have 5,000 to over 6,000 people,” said AlAmari, highlighting the growth in following of standup comedy in the country.
He lauded Qatar Tourism Authority’s (QTA) strong support to local companies like The Social Studio which is organising and producing the show.
“In some occasions we face criticism like comedy is something that shouldn’t be done in Qatar and we’ve always been open to these criticisms but as of this moment we’ve sold 4,500 tickets, some of which are not cheap,” said The Social Studio’s Managing Director, Hamzeh Zahr.
The cheapest ticket for the shows costs QR70 while the most expensive is priced QR995.
“Surprisingly we’ve noticed the most expensive tickets are sold first, and this is what keeps us going,” said Zahr, who was optimistic on the growing interest and reception in the community of comedy shows as Doha aspires to be a global city.
DCF to kick off with Arab themed show
DCF will kick off with “Arab” themed show featuring Nemr (Lebanon), Rajae Qawas (Jordan), Nikolas Khoury (Jordan), Mohanad Al Hattab (Syria), Wonho Chung (Korea) and Mohammad Salem (Egypt).
The second day will feature a “Khaleeji” show with Saudi comedians Bader Saleh, Ibraheem Al Khairallah and Moayad Al Nefaie along with Kuwaiti comedians Ahmad Al Shammari, Abdallah Al Saidan and Bashar Al Jazzaf .
Tickets are on sale at Virgin Megastores and through the store’s website, in addition to Shop Qatar booths at malls participating in the festival.
