Riyadh: The world famous stand-up comedian Alison Smith became the first woman to make Saudi audiences laugh. Allison Smith’s comedy performance was staged yesterday at a stage organized by AMC Movie, a global film exhibition company, in Riyadh’s King Abdullah Financial District.
Smith was greeted with a standing ovation by the foreign and local audience. Smith said that she is very happy to be able to perform on such a stage in Saudi Arabia and hopes that Saudi women will take her show as an inspiration and come to the art of comedy.
Allison Smith left the stage to the delight of the Arab fans. They added that the bursts of laughter, applause and expressions of love from the stage were unexpected and unforgettable. The organizers of the event said that they are grateful to be able to provide different experiences to Saudi art lovers.
The organizers added that the benefit of such events is that they become free ambassadors of the country by sharing the good experiences they have with other countries while organizing events.
AMC will have standup comedy venues in different provinces of Saudi Arabia. Applications have already been received from the cities of Jeddah and Al Khobar to organize events. AMC representatives said that such programs are a bridge for different cultures to travel back and forth.
Smile Entertainment is one of the pioneers of live standup comedy in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is very open to foreign comedians coming to the country and performing their stand-up comedy in English.
Organizer Meeshal Samman said that there is a large expatriate community here who understand and like English comedy along with natives. The organizers also informed that the comedy group will come to Riyadh again in the coming days.