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Home » Fahad Al Butairi: Haha, Wait, What? at TEDxAjman (Full Transcript)

Fahad Al Butairi: Haha, Wait, What? at TEDxAjman (Full Transcript)

Here is the full transcript of Saudi stand-up comedian Fahad Al Butairi’s TEDx Talk: Haha, Wait, What? at TEDxAjman Conference.

Listen to the MP3 Audio here: Fahad Al Butairi on Haha, Wait, What at TEDxAjman

 

TRANSCRIPT: 

How are you guys doing?

First of all, how is everyone feeling? Good, awesome. We’ve got a yuppie over here, so that’s good.

OK, the title of my talk today is going to be “Haha, wait what?” It’s the title and it’s also the number one response when I tell anybody that I am a Saudi stand-up comedian.

[Audience: Haha!]

Exactly.

Another response I get is “what this standard comedy?” This is usually because in Saudi, comedy — stand-up comedy to be more specific, is a very new concept. It started end of 2008, beginning of 2009, so it’s still relatively new. There is a newly found following for it.

And the last common response I get is “I thought Egyptians were the funny ones.”

But really the media kind of ignores the funny side to Saudis, we’re always angry, and you know, very serious, announcements and stuff like that. But I am here to prove this wrong.

I was born and raised in Khobar, on the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia, and I started comedy in theater in middle school and high school, very humble beginnings, also in summer camps as well. And that was my first experience with comedy. I also built most of my acting skills during that period of time.

And in 2002-2009, I joined a sponsorship program by an oil company and I went to the University of Texas at Austin to go to school there, and before that, there is a little fun fact here — before that, I’d never had access to my passport. I’d never traveled alone, and next thing I know, my dad is like: “OK, get on the plane.”

“Where am I going?”

“America.”

“What?”

So it was a huge jump, I got — culture shock was a big thing for me, it was a big problem, it was interesting.