BAND OF COMEDIANS: Stand-up comics get together at the end of the show. Abdul Rahman al-Romaihi is first from left. Right: Al-Romaihi at a previous show.
By Anand Holla
At the Black Box Theatre in Hamad Bin Khalifa University, eight local stand-up comics – four men, four women – threw in their funniest punches last week, at a show to belatedly celebrate Women’s Day.
Helmed by Halal Bilal, founder of the local amateur comedy collective Stand Up Comedy Qatar (SUCQ) – all comics who performed are part of it – the night saw some bright sparks of humour flash every now and then. The four sharp-witted female comics – Trish, Mariam, Nawaal and Lucia – were especially a refreshing bundle of glee, befitting the occasion that the show doffed its hat to.
However, among Qatar’s many rising comic talents, the youngest Qatari comic in the scene stood out for his amusing, effortless set. Twenty-year-old Abdul Rahman al-Romaihi is decidedly irreverent and so is his brand of self-deprecating humour.
“When you travel a lot, you meet new people. And there’s a way one must communicate with people you have just met,” he says, “But I have always found myself cracking jokes, even with strangers. That’s how I make friends.”
Al-Romaihi’s on-stage confidence throughout his straight-faced narration of a laughable series of events is impressive, and more so for his age. Even when he deals with potty humour, for instance, he doesn’t appear the least bit antsy.
His joke was about how he once was at The Pearl and desperately wanted to use the loo. “When I knocked on the door (of an occupied toilet), the guy sitting inside asked: Who? It was like he lives there or something,” al-Romaihi said as the audience cracked up.
For this student of Business Management and Administration at Qatar University, all jokes emerge from “regular incidents that happen in life.” “But you add a little spice to it and make it funny,” al-Romaihi says.
Luckily for al-Romaihi, from an early age, he has been aware of his natural inclination to “talk funny and make fun of everything.” It didn’t always end well though. “I got into a lot of trouble when I was young,” he says, grinning, “Once, my teacher told me: Go, stand near the garbage. I got up and stood next to him.”
That might not have seemed funny to his teacher, but it sure would be hard for one to not chuckle at that. “The problem is that a funny thought doesn’t usually come to you at will. It will suddenly hit you when you are walking on the street. So you have to be quick,” al-Romaihi explains, “Whenever that happens, I pull out my phone and jot it down. Then, before a show, I spice it up, improvise it and present it just right.” And sometimes, he spices them up “a bit too much,” he candidly admits.
Since a year that al-Romaihi has begun doing stand-up in Qatar, he has done around 10 shows. “In Qatar, there aren’t many opportunities for stand-up comedy as it’s still new. The comics here in Qatar are very inspiring, very supportive, and very nice people. But there’s not much support from elsewhere, also because not many Qataris are interested in this,” he says.
While some of al-Romaihi’s favourite stand-up comics are Louis CK, Richard Pryor, and Bill Burr, he finds himself glued to any TV series or movie that involves comedy. “The first comedian that inspired me was Louis CK. I have watched his Oh My God special more than 10 times,” he says, “Initially, I would watch stand-up only for fun. But once I started doing stand-up, I watch it with a different perspective. I see structure, I see art.”
Leafing through a notebook scribbled with a detailed joke which doesn’t serve much more than a skeletal reference, al-Romaihi says, “It’s quite stressful before the show. If I wrote something good and I know it’s good, I will be super comfortable. But if I have written something new, you may still see me as confident but inside, I would be all over the place. On stage, instinct is key.”
Travelling has helped al-Romaihi find his comic métier. “Through the not-for-profit AIESEC, I travelled to a lot of countries such as Malaysia, Georgia, and Turkey. That helped me in many ways, like getting out of my comfort zone and getting new material for my comedy,” he says.
Although the creative temptation to take stand-up as a career option is strong, al-Romaihi prefers to strike a balance. “I don’t want to miss out on my main career and job, for which I am studying,” he says, “A lot of people manage to have both, their job and their hobby. Inshallah, I, too, will make that happen.”
