Nemr Abou Nassar

Nemr Abou Nassar

Nemr Abou Nassar (born September 26, 1983) is an acclaimed stand up comedian from Lebanon. He is known in his country as "Lebanon's King of Comedy". With credits that include headlining his own feature specials ("This is why I'm Hot", "Eye of the Tiger", “Made in USA”, "EPIC"), producing and starring in the sold out Beirut Stand Up Comedy Festival, and the Middle East's first live comedy radio show "The Comedy Revolution" on Mix FM which is now the most in demand radio show in the region. He performs mainly in English mixing in Arabic at times when appropriate.

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Early life and background

Nemr was born in Beirut, Lebanon on September 26, 1983. He is the only son and first child of Joseph Abou Nassar and Hiam Kabban, both Lebanese, making Nemr a Lebanese national. He has one sister, Maria Abou Nassar. He traveled to the United States of America in 1985 with his family as they sought refuge from the civil war which was ubiquitous in Lebanon at that time. He acquired American Citizenship at that time. He returned to Lebanon in 1993 and has remained there since his return. Nemr credits his parents, Joseph and Hiam, for his strength of character which has well served his ambition.

Nemr graduated from the American University of Beirut with a major in Finance and a minor in Philosophy.

Career

Nemr began performing stand up comedy as a student hosting concerts as an MC/stand up comedian in his university, The American University of Beirut. He is now synonymous to comedy throughout the Middle East, and his US comedy appearances have cemented his legacy in this regard. Nemr is a role-model for aspiring Lebanese who see their own potential through his success.[1]

Nemr started his professional career following the summer of 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon.

His intentions were to create a scene of cultural entertainment where people can escape and then return with a renewed vigor. Since his first show at the Hotel De Ville, Nemr has graced the marquise at Lebanon's top venues, such as the Casino du Liban, Biel,Sky Bar, Edde Sands, BO18 Classic, Snatch, and the Hard Rock Cafe where he was the main attraction for their New Year's Eve celebration. Nemr was also featured on Comedy Central's Insider where his work received praise.[2]

Nemr has also been the only stand up comedian in the region to tour the entire region and sell out shows on his own bill, headlining his own specials. He has become a household name throughout the Middle East. He also is the only performing artist and stand up comedian to perform to all American audiences in the US which he did after he succeeded as a comic in the Middle East.

Stand Up

After graduating from the American University of Beirut in 2005 Nemr continued working as an Insurance Broker in a family business owned by himself, his father and mother under the legal name of Vanguard Insurance Brokers sarl. Following Israel's attack in the 2006 Lebanon War Nemr decided to perform stand up comedy on a professional basis in an effort to help spread a sense of unity. He established his brand of comedy under the creed "No Politics, No Religion, One Love". Lebanon had a vibrant comedy scene both live and televised that was dominant with political and sectarian themes which Nemr wished to avoid in the hope that the open form of dialogue of stand up comedy devoid of all prejudice might help bring people together.

On March 7, 2007 Nemr held his first paid entrance show at the "Cafe Rue 75" at Hotel de Ville in Achrafieh, Lebanon. This was also the first ever official stand up comedy show in the history of the region. Following a My Space marketing campaign and personal PR efforts approximately 120 people attended the show. Nemr also had approached Mix FM Lebanon prior to the show expressing hopes that the two could work together. These were in the form of personal discussions with Roger Saad, the owner of Mix FM, who suggested that Nemr record a series of phone pranks in exchange for the station's backing through radio spots advertising Nemr's shows. The segment was later called the "Mix FM Phone Taps with Nemr!" and was a massive success. Following the success of Nemr's first show which was attended by the management and owners of Mix FM Nemr was officially brought in to the Mix FM family of which he has remained a member since.

Nemr continued performing afterwards maintaining both his day job as an insurance broker and a stand up comedian by night. As the stand up comedy scene was non existent this made Nemr both producer and promoter of all his shows as he introduced this art form to the region.

Nemr continued to perform throughout 2007 regularly holding weekly residencies and pushing others to join him on stage where he helped foster an atmosphere of mutual support and stand up comedy. Nemr's brand of stand up comedy became a huge success especially with younger generations and his shows would sell out within hours.

On December 6, 7 and 8 of 2007 Nemr joined the Axis of Evil comedy tour in Lebanon and performed in five sold out shows where his performance received a standing ovation. Nemr also promoted the shows in Lebanon using his now closed facebook group "Stand Up Comedy in Lebanon" and his radio presence to sell out all tickets to the shows before they were announced officially on any formal channels.

Afterwards Nemr continued to perform continuously selling out shows and rising in popularity until, following a push from Roger Saad of Mix FM, he announced his first self-titled 90 minute live special "This is Why I'm Hot" making him the only comic to ever perform a full feature in the Middle East to be held at the Casino du Liban theatre presented by Mix FM. Nemr pledged, along with Mix FM, that all profits from the show would go the Children's Cancer Center of Lebanon. Nemr held a awareness tour for his show promoting stand up comedy and the Children's Cancer Center of Lebanon performing for 20 - 30 minutes at Lebanon's most popular universities from March 5 to March 12, 2008. Nemr demanded that all shows be held in sponsor of more than one club at each university as Lebanese clubs at universities are typically politically backed. This brought together for the first time political parties that were never found working together. After each performance Nemr would join the club members in collecting money for the Children's Cancer Center of Lebanon. He broke records in attendance at every university finishing with a show at his own university the American University of Beirut that was backed by the Music Club and the Business Student's Society which they called "Back to the Roots". Nemr was given a heroes welcome with Issam Fares hall used for the show packed at many times over capacity with over 2,000 people in attendance.

On March 17 and 18, 2008 "This is Why I'm Hot" sold out to over 2,000 people and was a success. This first special was approximately just one year after Nemr's first show on March 7, 2007 mapping a meteoric rise.

On May 16, 2008 Nemr performed in a showtime televised special filmed in Dubai "Showtime Presents... Friday Night Live, Minorities Rule!".

On July 14, 2008 Nemr filmed with Lebanese production company "Film and Co." a pilot episode to be pitched to TV networks in the region as a late night talk show format. The show was never picked up due mainly to the region's lack of confidence in English programming despite the show being a mix of English and Arabic and major networks offering syndicated programming in English from the US.

On July 24, 2008 Nemr headlined a feature special for the "Hammana Comedy Festival" which was held by the Municipality of Hammana in Lebanon.



Shows

Nemr did a promotional tour of seven Lebanese universities: NDU, LAU Jbeil,USJ(huvelain), AUB, and USEK with each show setting record attendance levels for each venue.[3]

Feature Specials:

  • 'Epic' (ongoing tour)[4]
  • 'Made in the USA'
  • 'Eye of the Tiger'
  • 'This is Why I'm Hot'

Shows:

  • Sold out shows with over 4,000 people in Amman, Jordan. (November 11 and 12 2010)
  • Sold out show with over 1,800 people in Amman, Jordan.[5]
  • Sold out show to over 800 people in Oman. (December 9, 2009)
  • Appearances in the Amman Stand Up Comedy Festival in Jordan. (December 4 and 5 2009)
  • Appearances in 1,001 Laughs in Oman. (2, 3 & 5 June 2009)
  • Friday Night Live with Showtime in Dubai. (May 16, 2008)[6]
  • Guest comedian with the Axis of Evil in Beirut. (December 6, 2007)

(among others)

Nemr is one of the first Arab stand up comedians to ever perform to all American audiences in English. He performed at some of the best comedy clubs in America, including The Improv. Nemr found great success in the four months he spent in the US, performing in front of American and Arab audiences. Nemr announced at the end of his last show, 'Made in the USA', that his next project is a full comedy series filmed and produced by Vanguard Productions, his own company. The show will unite stand up comedy and with filmed sketch comedy.

Mix Fm

In parallel, Nemr gained notoriety also for his work on his radio show, The Mix FM Phone Taps with Nemr [6] Which became the Middle Easts No. 1 concept show on the Middle Easts No. 1 Radio station, Mix FM 104.4, where he would call unsuspecting individuals and spend the duration of the phone call drawing them into one hilarious scenario after the other with different characters by way of his voice with many becoming names throughout the Middle East; most notably his Japanese character Mitsuragi in the famous phone tap on Burger King and many others such as Mick Fagger, John Di Maglilan Freely, Pep of his Si Max Tribe, and MC Chakich to name a few.[6]

Current work

Nemr is currently working on another season of Phone Taps with Mix FM, and also his own Late Night TV show for the region. Nemr's "Epic" Tour (currently ongoing) includes countries Jordan, Dubai, Kuwait, Montreal, Madrid, Oman, Syria and Lebanon.[7]

TV appearances

  • Three guys and Wonho: The Axis of Evil Comedy Tour on Showtime Arabia
  • Friday Night Live: Minorities rule! on Showtime Arabia
  • Adam on MBC
  • Nharkom Saed on LBC International
  • Arabia Morning Show on Arabia
  • Live evening news broadcast on Al-Jazeera English
  • Shoo Fee Ma Fee? on Dubai One
  • Fashion TV Arabia
  • Bishaghaf on Future TV
  • Morning Show on Future TV
  • Wanted on MTV
  • LOL on OTV
  • Rotana Cafe on Rotana TV
  • Nataloo on New TV
  • Al Hurra TV
  • A guest six times on Bala Mazeh on LBC International and Satellite

References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ "Nemr Abou Nassar's One-Man Lebanese Comedy Mission, Comedy Central Insider". http://ccinsider.comedycentral.com/2008/03/24/nemr-abou-nassars-one-man-lebanese-comedy-mission/. 
  3. ^ "Nemr Abou Nassar". http://www.nemrcomedy.com/#videos. 
  4. ^ [2]
  5. ^ [3]
  6. ^ [4]
  7. ^ [5]

External links

Sources


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  • Mix FM Lebanon — Broadcast area Lebanon Branding Mix FM Slogan Lebanon s #1 Hit Music Station Frequency 104.4 to 104.7 …   Wikipedia

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