I wasn’t sure whether to write this blog as, for my British friends right now (who I truly miss, but am loving seeing more of on zoom), their height of excitement in lockdown 3 is taking the bins out.
We’re so lucky that in Dubai the restrictions have been eased enough to allow post-Covid life to continue, although cases do seem to be shooting up at present.
Over Christmas, Dubai was quite the place to be, with social media full of celebrities on vacation in the emirate. I’m sure fans of Hayley Hughes from Love Island (Who? I asked) appreciated the view in this holiday snap.
View this post on Instagram
Such photos in glitzy hotspots got lots of people riled up, but not in the way Hayley intended. How did UK-based celebrities manage to avoid the rat’s nest of travel restrictions on home turf, observers asked, when the average Joe Public was stuck within the confines of their own four walls.
One celebrity who I know for sure had a genuine reason to be here (work that couldn’t be done at home) was British comedian Jack Whitehall. We caught his socially distanced show at the Dubai World Trade Centre last night and he was brilliant, with an infectious (excuse the pun) sense of humour and delight at being back on stage in front of a live audience after a year of performing in empty theatres and empty studios.
Fans will know him from TV shows including Fresh Meat, Decline & Fall and Bad Education, and more recently, a fave of mine, Jack Whitehall: Travels With My Father on Netflix. I was hoping he might have brought his dad with him. I wasn’t the only one it seemed.
“Hands up who’s here because they actually want to see my dad,” asked Whitehall junior after making quite an entrance in full PPE gear and pretending to disinfect the stage.
Actually he might not have been faking it – everyone involved had been Covid tested, the microphone was protected by a sheaf (a condom?), and the warm-up comedian (from Grimsy, also great) sanitised the mike stand before walking off stage.
It was such a funny and wonderful night, and not just because it was so nice to be out of the house watching live comedy again. I laughed until my sides hurt. He had so many engaging tales of social embarrassment, and quite frankly I’d indulge his quirks anytime because he’s too puppyish and endearing and genuinely lovable not to, and because who doesn’t like a bit of showmanship and hilarity in these strange times?
