You could hear it in the laughter: the kind that starts in the chest and ends in tears. For two nights in May, the walls of Montreal’s Place des Arts echoed with the unmistakable sounds of home—delivered not through music or cuisine, but through the razor-sharp wit of Lebanon’s most elusive funnyman. Fadi Raidy, the architect-turned-actor who built a career skewering Lebanese society with warmth and bite, finally brought his wildly popular show to four cities in Canada, thanks to Tarek Gabriel-Sikias. And the diaspora showed up—not just to laugh, but to remember.
Raidy, famously reclusive and famously funny, has long resisted the limelight beyond Kaslik’s Portemilio, where he’s performed to packed houses since 2018. Yet on May 19 and 20, he appeared on stage in Montreal to a euphoric diaspora audience who knew every punchline before it landed—and still roared with laughter.
Best known for his breakout role in S.L.CHI in the ’90s, Raidy resurrects a beloved cast of misfits with surgical precision: the compulsively lying Youssef Klayel (who now claims friendship with Donald Trump), the torn-between-two-worlds JayJay, the precocious and pathos-laced Pipo, and the undisputed queen of his universe—Fadia el-Sherraka, a Lebanese reality TV diva who might have more to say about her neighbors’ marriages than her own.
At his side was his wife, actress Rita Choueiry Raidy, whose seamless chemistry and comic timing gave structure and soul to the sketches. The duo moved through characters and scenes like seasoned dancers—sharp, absurd, and genuinely joyful.
More than a nostalgia act, Raidy’s performance is a mirror held up to Lebanon: cracked but affectionate, darkly funny yet uncynical. His satire lands because it comes wrapped in empathy—a quality that has kept his comedy fresh, relevant, and, as Montreal proved, deeply missed.
