Hamad Al Amari is a Qatari Comedian who was raised in Ireland and the USA. This cultural background gives him an intuitive grasp of different ways of life. He shared with The Dialogue his thoughts on how he tries to use Comedy and his gift for bringing audiences together to bridge cultural gaps.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 Next on the dialogue, we meet a comedian from Qatar,
00:05 who's lived in America and Ireland,
00:08 with a gift for bringing audiences together.
00:11 I'm a cat in three, I want to hear you make some noise!
00:14 One, two, three!
00:18 Hamad's life has been forged from a melting pot of different cultures.
00:26 His work is infused with an intuitive grasp of different ways of life.
00:32 I'm Hamad Alamari, I'm a comedian, presenter, producer, a father, a brother, a son.
00:39 - Great to see you. - Good to see you. How are you doing?
00:50 - Good, good. - Thanks for the invite.
00:52 Thanks for joining us on the dialogue in this conspicuously Irish setting.
00:59 - I know. - Tunisia, Tunisia.
01:01 And like, culture, you've got fascinating cultural backgrounds.
01:05 You're from Qatar, but you've got links to Ireland and the US as well.
01:11 And you once said to me, off camera,
01:14 that you kind of always feel a bit like a foreigner, wherever you are.
01:20 - Yeah. - Is that still the case? And why is that?
01:23 100%, yeah. I think the Qataris in the world that we were in
01:30 was me and my brothers and sisters.
01:33 And then, same again in Ireland.
01:35 So I was kind of schizophrenic, almost.
01:39 You'd have friends who were Irish and then a community that were Muslim,
01:43 and then you had the Arabs who were not from the Middle East area,
01:47 but like, North African Arabs.
01:49 Whoever you were with, you were never a part of.
01:52 So being able to kind of say, "Oh, I'm Arab,"
01:55 and then you meet the Arabs in the middle and go, "Oh, you're not."
01:58 And then you come back here and it's like, "Oh, I'm Qatari,"
02:01 and they're like, "No, you're not."
02:03 But, yeah, it's, you know...
02:06 I think it's made me interesting enough for us to have this conversation.
02:10 For that reason, we're very grateful.
02:13 And then in 2011, you come back to Qatar.
02:17 Yeah.
02:18 And I think you said something like you had to learn what it meant to be you here.
02:24 I think I'm still learning what it means to be me, as in me today.
02:30 And it's a constant journey of learning.
02:32 But back then, it was because of the different influences
02:36 that I've taken in from everywhere.
02:38 At the end of the day, I am a Qatari, and I identify as a Qatari,
02:41 and this is my family and this is where I'm from.
02:44 So I had to relearn, and I was actively learning about my culture.
02:48 So I would ask things like, "What does this mean? What does that mean?
02:51 Why do we behave like this? Why do we kiss noses?"
02:56 You know, like, "What do all of these mean?"
03:00 And thankfully, I got answers, and then I was--
03:03 there's a lot that I loved, so I shared.
03:06 And, yeah, it led me to where we are today.
03:10 And you're a comedian, producer, presenter, extraordinaire.
03:16 But is it from looking at life and looking at those idiosyncrasies
03:22 and those things that affect all of us as part of a family or in an office?
03:27 Is it that that you get your ideas from?
03:30 In Qatar, there's like 120 or 140 nationalities that live here.
03:36 So there's always room for jokes.
03:39 There's always room for understanding people
03:42 and just kind of observing how they interact.
03:46 So most of my material comes from what I engage with
03:51 and what I interact with and try and then spin off on that.
03:58 And even recently, after the World Cup finished,
04:01 I took a very well-deserved holiday,
04:03 and then I went to Syria and Turkey for the earthquake
04:07 just to kind of help out and volunteer.
04:10 And even in those moments, there's some funny stories.
04:15 And you could see, like, there was people that I met
04:19 that literally lost everything, not just possessions, family members, friends.
04:26 And I don't know if it's shock. It might have been.
04:29 But they're just sitting down, we're having conversations, and they're laughing.
04:35 So I don't know.
04:38 I think I went to study the human body in university, anatomy,
04:42 and hopefully go into medicine.
04:44 And then I realized, no, I'm more of a, you know, social kind of interaction.
04:51 What is this really all about, you know?
04:54 Oh, my goodness. This is officially the biggest stage I've ever been on.
04:59 It's the first time that the World Cup comes to the Arab world!
05:06 [cheers]
05:10 So, Hamad, millions of people will remember you
05:14 as the host of the FIFA World Cup Fan Festivals.
05:18 I remember being there. Amazing atmosphere.
05:20 In fact, I remember one night you getting down offstage
05:24 and intervening to help my daughter to snap her out of a pre-teen tantrum.
05:31 Other than sorting out shown family squabbles,
05:34 what were your memories of that amazing time?
05:36 Oh, man. Where do I even start?
05:38 Like, that's like a once-in-a-lifetime thing.
05:40 That's never going to happen again.
05:42 There was two million people there over a month.
05:44 And there was just a lot of love that was around in the air.
05:48 But, yeah, there's so many memories.
05:50 The artists from around the world engaging with so many people.
05:54 I'll never get over how big it was.
05:57 I mean, football really does bring a lot of people together.
06:00 There was a general embrace of what it means to be, you know, in this region.
06:05 And the Arab heritage and culture and identity was on show for everyone.
06:10 Talking about identity, do you see yourself as some kind of cultural translator?
06:16 I think I never did, but I ended up working on a show called Q-Tips.
06:22 It wasn't any kind of how-to guide in a sense of, you know,
06:26 it was more lighthearted three-minute videos of what Qataris do.
06:31 This is called a misbah, also known as a sibha.
06:36 Pens! Why are they so important and why do we always carry them?
06:41 I'm going to be talking about arts and crafts. Qatari ones.
06:46 And, yeah, over time, I think I just became like the cultural bridge for, you know,
06:53 like, "Oh, just get him in. He'll tell you."
06:55 This is called a ritra.
06:58 This is called a igal.
07:01 This is a saw.
07:03 And now you're back here in Qatar.
07:06 Indeed.
07:07 The successful World Cup's over.
07:09 Yeah.
07:10 What next for Hamad, for Qatar?
07:14 What are your expectations of the future, Hamad?
07:18 I mean, I can't say much about Qatar, but they've proven that they can host global events.
07:25 They've proven it's a good destination for people to come and visit.
07:27 People want to come back, which is great, right?
07:30 For me, I'm just working on my comedy, you know, in production, working on things like that.
07:37 But my true love is stand-up.
07:40 So just working on making sure we tighten that up.
07:44 And hopefully someone will buy it.
07:47 Mate, I'm sure that'll happen.
07:48 Thanks so much for joining us.
07:49 Is it too hot for a man hug?
07:51 No, no, definitely. There's always room for a man hug.
07:54 Thanks so much for joining us on the show, Hamad.
07:57 (upbeat music)