Review by Steve Bennett

Direct from exotic Bahrain, this half-Arab, half-English duo makes great claims to explode the myths and bust the stereotypes of the great East-West divide.

Odd, then, that the two British characters the expat Jonty Crosse plays are as stereotypical as they come ­ the nasty, beer-swilling, racist football hooligan, and the snooty, imperialistic cravat-wearing toff. If these awful extremes are the only sort of workers we're exporting to the Gulf, no wonder the Arab world hates us.

Such unsubtle character portraits doesn't auger well for what Nader Shaheenand may in turn reveal about his way of life, which turns out to be not all that much. He starts by repeating the preconceptions many have about Arabs ­ wealthy, boorish, bigamistic, misogynistic, teetotal and unhygienic. Though he mischievously hints with a twinkle in his eye about the veracity or otherwise of all these, there's little further exploration.

Indeed, very early on he blows one of the stereotypes right out of the water by saying he is gay. Gay in a Muslim country? There must be a lot to say about that but no, apart from spieling out a few cheeky euphemisms such as 'Bedouin bum-boy', the subject is never broached again.

Instead we get a never-ending catalogue of 'you do this, we do that' sort of trite observations offering very little insight, unless you really wanted to know the different ways Westerners and Middle Easterners wipe their noses.

Scatology is the order of the day: farting, shitting and pissing are all get plenty of coverage, next to knob gags, pornography and pubic hair ­ all delivered in relentless one-liners.

The audience, which largely comprised a single sizeable group of teenage Americans, seemed happy enough, but this is Comedy For Dummies ­ ticking off the subjects they perceive stand-ups should talk about, rather than covering what genuinely concerns them. And given that they had stated such big ideals about what their comedy attempted to do, it's disappointing it goes so quickly down the toilet.

Shaheenand, especially, is a charismatic performer, delivering the material strongly and with as much wit as the base subjects will allow. But that's not enough of a reward for enduring the gruelling ordeal of sitting for an hour in the Gulf-like temperatures of this most uncomfortable of Fringe venues at the end of a long day.

Review date: 1 Jan 2004
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett