the view from cairo

Everyone is talking about the Hussein El-Imam candid camera show, Hussein alal Hawaa. The pranks this show is pulling off can't be beat. Every night they bring in a star, pretend it's a real live TV talk show, and proceed to embarrass and annoy the hell out of the guest.

Hussein El-Imam is quite good in his role as the nonchalant host, poker faced as the guest becomes ever more bewildered by the antics at hand. In one episode, a poor actress was asked to give out a lamp as a prize. When the winner plugged it in, he was electrocuted and seemed to die in front of her eyes. The resulting tension was palpable, and made even worse when Hussein pulled his "I have to pick up my mother-in-law's scarf from Aunt Nagwa's" disappearing act.

Actress Nelly Karim became so flummoxed by Hussein on her appearance that she was thunderstruck, remaining silent in the face of his ludicrous questions as the cameras filmed on, supposedly live.

The show is the clear winner this Ramadan. It's got a sweet time spot (6:15 or so [and the good news is, there are more episodes being aired over the next few days, but at 5:40]), and has become so popular that you can immediately see the tangible results on the screen each night. Meaning: the ad time between segments of the show is significantly longer now -- at the end of the month -- than it was at the beginning. 

These scenes are from Wednesday night's show, the last night of Ramadan. Opera star Hassan Kami is incredulous as he suddenly finds himself being accused by the police of stealing LE50,000.

by Tarek Atia

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