Fouad el Mohandes

Another landmark passes away.

I watched an interview with him last night where he was being brutally honest about the lack of talent in the younger generations of comedians after himself. But it's not a matter of talent, or genes, as he put it, but of what is made of this available talent.

He said he considered himself a student of the school of Naguib el Rihani, and the comedians a little younger than himself said they considered themselves students of Fouad el Mohandes...but what was next after this?

These were generations born before "the revolution", when there were artistic institutions that picked up talent and made something out of it. Drama, music and art were taught in Egyptian schools...but this all eventually faded out with the passing of the older generations brought up in the era of the "ancien regime". The chain of the institutions themselves were cut off and eventually became obsolete.


Update: I don't mean to depress you so make sure you read these two hilarious posts here, and here.