Jack Dee (off the telly) was absolutely brilliant when he performed in Dubai the other week.
At this weird time of messed-up schools, kids getting quarantined for Covid in moral education class, and working remotely via zoom and other soulless electronic interfaces, it was so good to get out of the house and laugh, all evening.
From the getgo with his jokes about staying in the same Dubai hotel as Djokovic to reminding us about the apocalyptic things we USED to worry about (an Ice Age and nuclear war⌠I remember so well! The movie Threads, anyone?!), I loved every minute. What a relief to escape the misery of modern Covid/climate/cancel-culture obsessed times for a couple of hours.
As a dear friend put it: “Yes, I’ve been talking about the Cold War and CND (remember them?). OK, so the pandemic is seriously un-fun, but there will be a point in time when it’s over. We all got this.”
I must admit, though, that social distancing meant our seats got upgraded to a posh section we would never have spent the money on, making it extra-special. I’m now waiting for Only Fools and Horses – the musical to make it to Dubai.
Laughter is so important, and more relevant than ever.
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I wasnât 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.
Weâre 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.
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 ratâs 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.Â
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 â 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 heâs too puppyish and endearing and genuinely lovable not to, and because who doesnât like a bit of showmanship and hilarity in these strange times?
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