Bassem Feghali

Bassem Feghali started out on Studio El Fan, the Lebanese talent contest, where in 1996 he took a gold medal for his impressions of public figures. His version of the singer Sabah caught the attention of LBC, and the channel signed him to a ten-year contract.

The show that made his name across the Arab world came in 2006. Alf Wayle Bi Layle was a daily Fawazeer Ramadan programme, and in each episode he turned into a different Arab female star. His gallery of women runs from Sabah, Fairouz, Nawal Al Zoughbi, Haifa Wehbe, Nancy Ajram and Elissa to Shakira, Marilyn Monroe, Lady Gaga and Britney Spears. What sets him apart from most impersonators is that he sings in the voices of the artists he parodies instead of miming to their records, and every character comes with full costume, wigs and make-up, so a set mixes song, comedy and dance.

He also writes characters of his own. Antika Sursock is a caricature of the Christian Lebanese aristocracy, and Hala Tamarzof sends up people who live for gossip. In 2000 he received the Murex d'Or as monologist of the year, and several of his catchphrases have passed into everyday Arabic slang.