Comedian Omar Sarsam in Interview

On February 25, the 2022 "Salzburger Stier" award winner will premiere his latest solo program "Stimmt" at the Wiener Stadtsaal. Beforehand, the pediatric surgeon and cabaret artist spoke with APA about discipline, optimism, and success.

APA: "Stimmt" is your fourth solo program. Is the process of conceptualizing and writing easier for you now than at the beginning of your career?

Omar Sarsam: Fortunately, yes! This existential panic that it will never work, that it has never worked before, and that everything is just based on a lucky coincidence is still there, but not as pronounced. With the experience of the last times, I've realized: The premiere is indeed a premiere, but also the beginning of a development. The program is allowed to change with the audience, with time, and with me.

Omar Sarsam: "Humor Is Not a Monologue, but a Dialogue"

APA: How does it usually start, what is the initial spark?

Sarsam: This doesn't sound romantic at all, but it's disciplined note-taking of funny situations. If I don't do that, many ideas are lost. I have to write them down in the situation if possible. What I can't do: Sit at a desk and write something funny out of nothing. Often, in those situations where I have no time at all, this funny, humorous, playful, childlike thought imposes itself. Then, unfortunately, I have to put the bookkeeping aside for a moment. (laughs)

APA: According to the description, "Stimmt" has a positive approach to our world and how it presents itself. Why is this optimistic view important to you?

Sarsam: In my medical profession, I repeatedly deal with people who have to deal with their illness. And I have observed, even in myself: As soon as you no longer feel completely healthy, you sometimes focus 100 percent of your resources on the illness, but forget that you actually have a body that functions fantastically at 98.5 percent. It helps every healing process to highlight what works. That's why I see it as my task to direct my focus and that of the audience to what brings joy and what works. Maybe not the whole world, but each and every one's sphere of influence will become a little bit better.

APA: Is it more difficult from a cabaret artist's perspective to focus on this? Laughing at mistakes might seem easier...

Sarsam: I still laugh at mistakes. It doesn't mean that I won't highlight something in my program that is silly or bad. But the focus, the perspective is one that changes a lot. We might know this statement from our grandparents: Everything was better in the past. We say it now too: My God, how nice was Corona. (laughs) There is another change in perspective that I am very much looking forward to in the program.

APA: Music and your loop station will probably play a big role again. How has the musical aspect changed over time?

Sarsam: The guitar is no longer a guitar. If I had taken one again, I would have written songs that sound exactly the same because my brain doesn't have to take new paths. That's why I wanted to incorporate a certain difficulty. Thus, this guitar is missing a string. I thought: Five fingers, five strings. It was partly a good decision, partly it is very different to play. And the loop station is back, as is the piano. New is that I sometimes pack all the instruments into one song.

APA: Does that keep it fresh?

Sarsam: Don't make it too easy for yourself. The comfort zone is indeed a topic. If you don't leave the comfort zone, you have a more comfortable instrument. I could also write a program that is very similar to the last one. But I wanted to dare to take new paths that are already bringing me joy.

APA: How closely is your medical work still connected to your humorous work? Does the label "Funny Doctor" bother you?

Sarsam: I'm not the funny doctor at all. I really try to be myself on stage. I am very fortunate that it brings me immense joy when people can laugh at something I say, at what I do, at who I am. In medicine, it's not so different. I have never really felt the label except just now, and I think it's actually a very nice label. It's much better than the clumsy doctor. (laughs)

Audience is an Essential Part of a Successful Cabaret Evening

APA: The audience is an essential part of a successful cabaret evening. Have there been performances where you didn't reach the people at all?

Sarsam: Yes, I remember it very clearly: It was in the Stadthalle, Hall F, with a capacity of nearly 2,000 people. I'm performing the act, and there's no response. Nothing! That was because it was a recording during Covid, and there was no one in the audience. That was a key moment for me. Humor that happens on stage is not really a monologue, but a dialogue. It's communication with the audience. That's why we can perform evenings with the same content without getting bored after three years.

And no, I'm probably too self-critical, it's not the audience's fault. The audience experiences different things: news, headlines that maybe everyone read shortly before. Then it's my job, which sometimes I do better, sometimes worse, to take that mood and see what's relevant today. How can I use my instrument, my program for tonight? Do the paths go a little further, or do I take the forest path instead of the main road today? The less I try to force my monologue and the more I listen to the audience's mood, the easier it is.

APA: You have been awarded the "Salzburger Stier", are involved in various TV formats, and give sold-out performances. How do you measure success for yourself?

Sarsam: That's a good question. I was really happy about the "Salzburger Stier" because it was the first time that this award communicated to me: Hey, what you're doing is okay. But I measure the success of cabaret by: Do I manage to go home happy myself in the evening, and do I manage to make the audience go home happy? And do I manage to do something good by dedicating a few minutes of the program to an important cause, such as the St. Anna Children's Cancer Research. So I communicate to the audience: We've done something good for ourselves, and if you feel like it, you can also do something good for others and support what I believe is the most important research in the world. That's actually by far the greatest success when really good research happens on the side. Was that answered well?

APA: I think so.

Sarsam: Okay!

(The conversation was conducted by Christoph Griessner/APA)

(APA/Red)

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