If you’re a Samuel L. Jackson fan, look away now. The film superstar — dubbed Mr Cool — is apparently a bit of a diva in real life.
“I shouldn’t have told you that!” says Shadi Alfons to Khalid Mansour, who’s sitting next to him, with a laugh. “I was standing with a crowd of people and we were asking Samuel L. Jackson for a picture. He looked over to the crowd and said, ‘If only you say please’, and then he turned his face around just so people wouldn’t take a picture. He was very mean about it.”
The Egyptian comedy duo — and stars of Saturday Night Live Arabia — have been drafted in to cover Dubai International Film Festival (Diff) 2016 for their associated TV network OSN.
As I sit down for a chat with them at their hotel, Mansour hints at what happened with Alfons. But Hollywood strops aside, the twosome also fill us in on how glamorous the festival is compared to previous events they’ve covered.
“The red carpet was as spectacular as we heard it would be,” Alfons said. “And the screening was fantastic. It was nice to see Samuel L. get a lifetime achievement award [along with] Rekha and Gabriel Yared. It was an honour to be there for sure.”
But the duo admits covering the annual festival is much harder than it looks.
“The red carpet at Diff is lavish! It was really, really good. It was star-studded everywhere, so there were people pouncing on the stars and people pushing to get through.”
So who were they excited to meet?
“I was excited to see Shadi there,” Mansour jokes, to which Alfons responds, “And I was excited to see me!”
But then they remember that E!’s Giuliana Rancic was covering the event as well.
“Oh yeah, Giuliana was awesome. We interviewed her, too,” Mansour says. “She’s a cool chick,” Alfons adds.
The guys come across just as funny and entertaining as they are on screen. They’re friendly and courteous without a hint of self-importance or ‘celebrity’ about them. It’s interesting to see them bounce off each other’s comments so effortlessly — just like they do on-screen during their Weekend Update segment on SNL Arabia.
It’s hardly surprising considering their parallel rise to fame. It was their appearance together on the political satire show Al Bernameg that first put them on our radar. There, they were supporting comedians for the programme, appearing alongside leading man, Bassem Yousuf. But in June 2014, the entire team found themselves jobless, with the Arab world’s most watched show suddenly coming to an end. Yousuf held a press conference, citing threats to his safety and that of the production team among the reasons for the decision.
SNL ARABIA
Things started to look up a year later for Alfons and Mansour when OSN acquired the rights to Saturday Night Live (SNL) in the region. And SNL Arabia was born. The duo are the lead comedians for the Arabic version, and are supported by a slew of up-and-coming comedians.
Alfons explains, “We started in April of 2015. Once we knew we had the deal done and the franchise was in our pockets — not ours, obviously! We don’t have pockets. Our pockets have holes in them — we flew to New York and spent a week with everybody there.
“The cast, the crew, the directing crew, behind the stage, backstage and the control room … everything! It was the episode with Reese Witherspoon and Florence and The Machine. It was the highlight of my career.”
So who do they like from the New York edition?
“Every[one] really,” says Mansour. “We’re a huge fan of the franchise.”
“I’m a huge fan of Kate’s! [Kate McKinnon],” Alfons adds. “There’s a special space in my heart for Kate, but it was nice to see Kenan [Thompson] as well. I grew up watching Kenan and all sorts of things like Kenan and Kel.”
They missed out on mingling with one SNL legend though.
“Tina Fey,” Alfons says. “She was there in the wardrobe room getting something done for one of her events and yeah, it was phenomenal to see her. But we didn’t get to talk to her much because she didn’t know who we were, or what we were doing there.
“Later when she found out, she sent an email complaining to SNL New York as to why they didn’t mention that we were from SNL Arabia. She said she would’ve sat with us.”
Although a franchise, SNL Arabia doesn’t follow the exact format as the US version. After all, each comic targets a different audience with his or her own style of comedy.
However, having been burnt by Al Bernameg, the production team is keen to avoid anything too controversial.
Strangely enough, although we doubt they’d ever get censored or taken off air, the New York cast of SNL are probably starting to relate to the pressures of dealing with controversial figures. US President-elect Donald Trump has hit out at the programme recently, saying “Time to retire the boring and unfunny show.”
Alfons is clearly annoyed by this.
“He’s [Trump’s] a big baby,” he says. “Firstly, he should’ve never been president to begin with and secondly, if you are president, get off Twitter unless you’re going to say something proper and official. Don’t post about people who are joking, you know. You’ve been on SNL. You hosted SNL. Get off your high horse. Get over yourself.”
They insist however, that comedy in the Middle East is still much tougher than in the US.
“There, I think it just stops at ‘How dare you say this?’ whereas here, it goes beyond …”
So do they self-censor themselves? Not really, they get someone else to do that.
“We don’t make that decision,” Alfons explains. “We come up with the jokes. And then someone else says, ‘I don’t know if you should do that one.’”
BIG NAMES
Having just finished its second season on Saturday, SNL Arabia has already attracted numerous big-name guest stars from the Arab world. And according to the pair no one has turned down the opportunity to guest star as yet. So who did they really enjoy working with?
“There are a lot that I liked,” says Alfons. “I enjoyed having Hend Sabri. She was awesome, and she’s beautiful.”
Mansour adds: “Yes Hend, and Mona Zaki, Dorra, Dina Al Sherbiny … Have you noticed they are all ladies?
“Also, Amr Saad, Hani Ramzi, Amr Yousuf and [Egyptian footballer] Mohammad Barakat — he was really fun. You would not expect that from him, because he’s a non-actor.”
And it seems it’s the non-actors that Alfons would love to see more of.
“I want politicians!,” he says, while Mansour adds, “Yes — Justin Trudeau!”
SNL Arabia also features guest performances, and Mansour has a certain legendary band on his wish list.
“Spice Girls! Are they still on? Are they still together?”
Alfons looks at Khalid, “[For me, it’s] Sia. Spice Girls? Okay, and Backstreet Boys!”
Mansour pipes in, “George Michael, Michael Bolton … maybe Seal.”
TIME OUT
With SNL Arabia on a break, both comedians have time to work on other projects. Diff 2016 is their first one post-Season Two, with them hosting an OSN comedy workshop with Tunisian actor Dhafer L’Abidine at the festival.
Film is also on the agenda. Both have already enjoying big-screen stints — Monsour was in X-Large alongside Ahmad Helmy, and Alfons was in Emirati director Ali F. Mostafa’s From A to B — and they want to take on more roles.
“I’m shooting my second film at the moment, also with Image Nation [the same company that produced From A to B,” says Alfons. “Although it’s a different director this time, Ali is producing this film and helping out with directing it.”
So is Hollywood a temptation?
“I’d love to. It’s my dream … an ultimate dream. It’s not as easy as it sounds though.”
As our meeting comes to an end, our main takeaway is that the guys have worked tremendously hard, facing multiple challenges and obstacles to get where they are today. And that work ethic is something they’re keen to advise to future comedians.
“You’ll never be like us. Don’t even try!,” Mansour says, joking. “In all seriousness, just go for it, you know. Seek and ye shall find. If you’ve got, like, drive, ambition, and you just put your mind to it then you’re going to do it.”
Alfons says, “Honestly as cliche as it sounds, if you have something and you believe that you can do it, just don’t listen to anybody else. Keep trying until you hit it. And start from the bottom, honestly. It’s nice to start from the bottom.
“If you skip the obstacles, you probably won’t last very long. You won’t have the proper foundation to do what you need to do or to have what it takes to do what you need to do.”
Don’t miss it
The comedy workshop with SNL Bil Arabi is on December 12 at 11am at the Madinat Conference Centre. Tickets are priced Dh50 on diff.ae.
