Bahraini comedian Waddah Swar brought pride and honour to the Kingdom when he won the 'Funniest in the Arab World' title, in the comedy challenge `Kitkat Comedy Break' held in Dubai, wherein 10 contestants were selected from around 200 aspiring comedians from the Arab world, and walked away with the much-coveted title.
Mr. Swar's prize included USD15,000 and a world tour which includes London, Canada and the United States. The two runner-ups were Mohammed Morjan and Rami Borai, who subsequently received USD10,000 and USD5,000.
Commenting on his recent achievement, he said, “I was over the moon, overwhelmed with pride and knowing that hard work pays off. I was happy to achieve the comedy championship for Bahrain, which is a new art in the Middle East and making a point that we, from Bahrain, can shine in a competition within the whole Arab world. It was an achievement and it felt really good to be recognised.“
Despite winning the title, Mr. Swar did admit that there were times when he was feeling pretty tense during the contest and apprehensive of its outcome. “I felt under pressure many times during the competition especially at the end, when there were only the three of us left in the final round because the other two finalists were Egyptians (Rami Borai and Mohammed Morgan) and you know, Egyptians are known throughout the region for their sense of humour and being born with a natural affinity towards it,” he explained.
“To make sure I would stand out, I worked hard on making sure that my show and the challenges I faced while I was on stage were truly diversified and I gave it my all, which made me stand out in the end. One of the comments from the judges was that I did a full rounded show including audience interaction, music, suspense and more,” he added. Mr. Swar ventured into comedy during his years in the United States when he was at university.
Since then, he had performed alongside some of the world's biggest stars including Eddie Griffin, Omid Djalili, Gabriel Iglasias, and Moz Jobrani.
