WharfMA: Eid in the Wharf

I really enjoyed my last Eid in the Wharf, way back at the start of 2007. It had variety, depth and was excellent value for money (as it was free). With all that to go on I was really excited about this year's event albeit with a couple of caveats - firstly the theme was comedy and I've never really found Islamic comedy that funny; not because I'm sensitive to the topic (considering my credentials that'd be pretty hypocritical), but just because I found typical Muslim comedy to be clichéd, safe and so terribly boring. The second reason was that the WharfMA originally had Jeff Mirza on.

The final programme was run exclusively by some guys from "Allah Made Me Funny": again a troupe I tended to avoid because of the above reasons (although admittedly I've always thought Azhar Usman hilarious and to really know how to push the right boundaries), but a last minute spare ticket finally convinced me to attend.

I'm glad I did too. Ajmal Masroor did well as the main host, while Preacher Moss and Mo Amer were both excellent and made me laugh out loud more than a few times (and sometimes in isolation at some of the more risqué jokes). Neither were afraid of crossing lines (they even swore! Gasp) and they seemed more genuinely interested in making us laugh than teaching us a moral lesson.

Other parts of the event were less impressive - most notably the food. Considering it was a paid-for event I expected a bit more than the bit we got (or at least managed to get). Still the comedy more than made up for any other shortcomings.