2nd Annual Middle Eastern Comedy Festival
Presents Highly Anticipated
‘Middle Eastern Jackass Award’
— Controversial Florida Republican Dan Fanelli Set to Accept Award for ‘Outstanding Commitment to Offensive Racial Profiling’ by Celebrity Guest Steve-O (Jackass–3D Movie) —
LOS ANGELES (September 28, 2010) – The Middle Eastern Comedy Festival, co-founded by comedians Ryan P. Shrime and Ronnie Khalil, will usher in its second year with the first-ever “Middle Eastern Jackass Award,” presented to controversial Florida Republican Dan Fanelli. The one-time congressional candidate, who, believe it or not, will actually show up to accept the award in person, incited quite the media firestorm by producing a political commercial favoring racial profiling and was very offensive to Middle Easterners.
The Jackass Award will be presented by self-proclaimed jackass, Steve-O, star of the upcoming film, “Jackass – 3D.”
The Festival is being held, October 4-7, 2010 in Los Angeles, with the awards ceremony taking place at 7:30pm on October 4th at the “Brown Carpet” Stand-up Gala for Charity, held at the Laugh Factory. (www.mideastcomedyfest.com)
“We are thrilled to have Mr Fanelli come in person to accept the award for ‘Outstanding Commitment to Offensive Racial Profiling,’” says Shrime. “It is either an extraordinary act of bravery, a noble act of extending an olive branch, or just plain crazy. Either way, it should be fun.”
Khalil and Shrime created the non-profit Festival to change the way Hollywood views Middle Easterners in film, television and other media. By utilizing comedy, the Festival’s goal is to ignite more opportunities in the entertainment realm and create more interesting and realistic characters for those in Middle Eastern communities.
“We want to show Hollywood decision-makers that we are marketable and our stories can appeal to all races and cultures,” says Khalil. “We’re not doing Middle Eastern comedy, we’re doing universal comedy with Middle Eastern flavor.”
This year’s Festival is jam-packed with a wide assortment of comedic sketches including “The Wizard of Oz-lamabad,” “Twilight: Crescent Moon,” and stand up comedy featuring talented performers all from Middle Eastern backgrounds, including Arabs, Israelis, Persians and Afghanis.
Last year’s Festival garnered instant buzz with rave media reviews and managed to quickly sell out all six of its shows. The festival is once again proudly sponsored by Disney|ABC Television, FOX Entertainment and KPCC 89.3 Southern California Public Radio.
The world famous Hollywood comedy club, The Laugh Factory, will host the Festival’s opening night on October 4th with a star-studded “Brown Carpet” Stand-up Gala and Awards Ceremony at 7:30 pm.
The following three nights of the festival will be held at the Acme Comedy Theatre, with two shows each night on both October 5th and 6th (7:00 pm and 9:30 pm). The last night of the festival, October 7th, will have one closing night show followed by a celebratory wrap party.
Tickets are available on the Festival’s website. Prices range from $15.00 – $35.00 per show. For a complete 2010 festival line-up and schedule, please visit www.mideastcomedyfest.com