I didn’t plan on going to the opening night of Sophy Nassar’s debut solo stand-up show An Aussie Arab. But already being in the city on a rather nice night and wanting to support some homegrown S.A. talent, I thought I’d pop in to see how she’d go. To say I was a little concerned in the first ten minutes of the show would be an understatement. As the opening act, Jay Michael copped a barrage of abuse from a group at the front who confessed it was their first time at a stand-up comedy show. I’ve been to hundreds of comedy shows in my life but never witnessed such rude, obnoxious behaviour from a crowd before. Turning their back on Jay to chat amongst themselves, scrolling on their phones and making silly remarks while he was trying to perform left me gobsmacked. It was great to see Jay handle it like a pro, though, giving back as good as he got, keeping his cool, and leaving the rest of us in stitches as he dismantled each heckler. Fair to say it was a funny, yet very bizarre, way to start a 6 pm show on a Tuesday!
Thankfully Jay seemed to take all the bullets for our headliner Sophy Nassar, because the audience was on their best behaviour for the rest of the night. Having seen Sophy perform only in ten-minute stand-up slots before, I was curious to see how she’d fare with forty minutes up her sleeve. Walking out to a now well-behaved crowd, Sophy made everybody feel welcome, introducing herself and giving a hilarious insight into her Aussie Arab family life, before chatting to the crowd about their various backgrounds. And folks, this was a very eclectic mix of Fringe goers. Bosnians, Palestinians, Polish, Lebanese and Aussies were all at this show and all more than happy to chat with Sophy about their names, marital status and how they came to find themselves in South Australia. The best part was that no one was trying to be funnier than the comedian onstage, and let Nassar bring the humour from their responses. I think I had more laughs per minute watching An Aussie Arab than any other show I‘ve been to this Fringe!
Over 12 months I’ve seen Sophy Nassar really grow as a stand-up comedian and it’s her crowd interactions that really make her shine. Sharp, quick-witted and never making nasty jokes at an audience member’s expense, Sophy is a comedian that is on the rise and well worth seeing this Adelaide Fringe.
FOUR AND A HALF STARS ****1/2
Reviewed by Shane Berketa