Hosam El Sokkari

Hosam El Sokkari is an Egyptian stand-up comedian who took up comedy at the age of 63 after a decades-long career in media. A trained pharmacologist, he worked as a cartoonist and science and technology writer before becoming a broadcaster, serving with Deutsche Welle's Arabic radio service and later the BBC, where he launched the corporation's first non-English online news service in 1999 and went on to become head of BBC Arabic. As a Cairo University student he had performed in stage drama, winning a prize in 1984 for his role in the one-act play The Writer and the Beggar. After decades in corporate broadcasting roles at the BBC and Yahoo, he took acting workshops before deciding to try stand-up comedy live. His debut material drew on his experience as an Arab adjusting to life in Finland, the first country where he performed. According to The National, his first three stand-up shows all sold out despite Egypt's restrictions on discussing politics and religion on stage.