While this year has been rough for many around the world, things are looking up for Nemr Abou Nassar. The Lebanese-American stand-up comedian, who goes by the stage name Nemr and lives in Los Angeles, flew to Beirut last Tuesday to see his parents for the first time since the coronavirus outbreak. He also proposed to his girlfriend, Vanessa (she said yes), and he is getting ready for a sold-out show tomorrow at Dubai Opera as part of the Dubai Comedy Festival.
"I was meant to be coming [to Lebanon] in March and I had my ticket booked, but they shut down the airport because of corona three days before my flight. I was planning to come in August; the [Beirut port] explosion happened, so I ended up not coming and then I thought whatever is going on, I'm coming," he tells The National.
Everything I do in business is so I can get an hour on stage and make people laugh, that's at the core of what gets me going
Nemr, 37, who grew up in the US, moved back to Lebanon with his family at the age of 10. After school, he went to the American University of Beirut, where he studied finance, but his passion for comedy eventually led to a career in stand-up. By 2015, Nemr was already a household name in Lebanon and throughout the Middle East, so that year, he decided it was time for him to move back to the US and work on expanding his stand-up comedy internationally. Since then, he has been touring throughout the States and has recently performed in the UK, Paris, Berlin and Amsterdam.
“This year was going to be [a tour of] the US, the Middle East, Europe and Australia, but then Covid-19 hit, so there was that.”
Nemr has been quick to adapt to the changing times, though, and for him, the answer came through the streaming platform Twitch. “Everything I do in business is so I can get an hour on stage and make people laugh, that’s at the core of what gets me going,” he says. However, when he realised shows were going to be cancelled for a long time, he immediately got on Twitch and started streaming. “Live streaming is the future.”
He says artists should explore platforms that are available to them to expand their reach. “It’s the next best thing to being a stand-up comic.”
Nemr does four different streams a week; he streams playing video games, music and podcasts. “Don’t do stand-up on Twitch. Do a podcast on Twitch. Be funny on Twitch in a way the format deserves,” he says, explaining that what he does, while he’s playing a video game, is allow the comedy to happen through funny moments.
“Adaptation is the name of the game. You’re just doing something different and when you do something different, it has its own fan base.” However, those who follow Nemr on social media know that the comedian has always been vocal about the issues that matter to him – including the political and economic crises that have hit Lebanon over the past year.
After anti-government protests erupted on the streets of Beirut last year, Nemr was quick to use his platform to bring the Lebanese diaspora and those in the country together, through a collaborative initiative that aims to shed light on alternative independent candidates for the formation of a new government.
For Nemr, some form of action is better than none at all. “It’s better to have tried and failed than to not have tried at all. It’s the most cliche thing, but it’s true,” he says.
However, Nemr’s work on Twitch and other social media platforms has been very helpful. After the Beirut explosion, he supported a fundraiser for the Lebanese Red Cross that raised $67,000, and most recently, he hosted a fundraiser for the American University of Beirut that featured special guests including head coach of the American basketball team Golden State Warriors, Steve Kerr, award-winning actor Tony Shalhoub and award-winning director Nadine Labaki. It raised $450,000.
Nemrsays Lebanon is the place he is most grateful for. “Everything I have been given in my life, all of my blessings, come because Lebanese people carried me on their shoulders,” he says. For him, returning to the country at this time, especially after the explosion, feels “bittersweet”. It’s sad to see the country fallen to the state that it’s in, he says. But his tone quickly changes to being defiantly hopeful. “People don’t make change. Change comes and people manage it.”
For him, change in Lebanon is only a matter of time.
Nemr Abou Nassar performs at Dubai Opera as part of the Dubai Comedy Festival on Thursday, October 22. More information is available at www.dubaiopera.com
If you go
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Seattle from Dh5,555 return, including taxes. Portland is a 260 km drive from Seattle and Emirates offers codeshare flights to Portland with its partner Alaska Airlines.
The car
Hertz (www.hertz.ae) offers compact car rental from about $300 per week, including taxes. Emirates Skywards members can earn points on their car hire through Hertz.
Parks and accommodation
For information on Crater Lake National Park, visit www.nps.gov/crla/index.htm . Because of the altitude, large parts of the park are closed in winter due to snow. While the park’s summer season is May 22-October 31, typically, the full loop of the Rim Drive is only possible from late July until the end of October. Entry costs $25 per car for a day. For accommodation, see www.travelcraterlake.com. For information on Umpqua Hot Springs, see www.fs.usda.gov and https://soakoregon.com/umpqua-hot-springs/. For Bend, see https://www.visitbend.com/.
Results
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Evacuations to France hit by controversy
- Over 500 Gazans have been evacuated to France since November 2023
- Evacuations were paused after a student already in France posted anti-Semitic content and was subsequently expelled to Qatar
- The Foreign Ministry launched a review to determine how authorities failed to detect the posts before her entry
- Artists and researchers fall under a programme called Pause that began in 2017
- It has benefited more than 700 people from 44 countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Sudan
- Since the start of the Gaza war, it has also included 45 Gazan beneficiaries
- Unlike students, they are allowed to bring their families to France
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- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
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PROFILE BOX
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Sector: PropTech
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Top 10 most polluted cities
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- Ghaziabad, India
- Hotan, China
- Delhi, India
- Jaunpur, India
- Faisalabad, Pakistan
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- Bahawalpur, Pakistan
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UAE squad
Esha Oza (captain), Al Maseera Jahangir, Emily Thomas, Heena Hotchandani, Indhuja Nandakumar, Katie Thompson, Lavanya Keny, Mehak Thakur, Michelle Botha, Rinitha Rajith, Samaira Dharnidharka, Siya Gokhale, Sashikala Silva, Suraksha Kotte, Theertha Satish (wicketkeeper) Udeni Kuruppuarachchige, Vaishnave Mahesh.
UAE tour of Zimbabwe
All matches in Bulawayo
Friday, Sept 26 – First ODI
Sunday, Sept 28 – Second ODI
Tuesday, Sept 30 – Third ODI
Thursday, Oct 2 – Fourth ODI
Sunday, Oct 5 – First T20I
Monday, Oct 6 – Second T20I
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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What is the definition of an SME?
SMEs in the UAE are defined by the number of employees, annual turnover and sector. For example, a “small company” in the services industry has six to 50 employees with a turnover of more than Dh2 million up to Dh20m, while in the manufacturing industry the requirements are 10 to 100 employees with a turnover of more than Dh3m up to Dh50m, according to Dubai SME, an agency of the Department of Economic Development.
A “medium-sized company” can either have staff of 51 to 200 employees or 101 to 250 employees, and a turnover less than or equal to Dh200m or Dh250m, again depending on whether the business is in the trading, manufacturing or services sectors.
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Toss: South Africa, chose to field
Pakistan: 177 & 294
South Africa: 431 & 43-1
Man of the Match: Faf du Plessis (South Africa)
Series: South Africa lead three-match series 2-0
Du Football Champions
The fourth season of du Football Champions was launched at Gitex on Wednesday alongside the Middle East’s first sports-tech scouting platform.“du Talents”, which enables aspiring footballers to upload their profiles and highlights reels and communicate directly with coaches, is designed to extend the reach of the programme, which has already attracted more than 21,500 players in its first three years.
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
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