Zaher Ali.
Best Host at the 2026 MICF Awards, for Firing Squad. Second year in a row.
The show
Firing Squad.
No festival is complete without a gong show. In Firing Squad, Zaher lined the comics up and the audience decided who stayed and who went. Good jokes, quick exits and a fair amount of ruthlessness, on the first night of the festival.
- When: Thursday 1 October 2026, 21:00
- Where: Tropicana
- Language: English
The award
Two years running.
In a gong show the audience votes the comics off, one by one. That only works if the host is fair, and Zaher was. Every comic got a real shot, and when the room voted, he made sure the vote stuck. He was rough when the show needed it, and never cruel just for the sake of it.
Because of him the competition ran smoothly and the energy never dropped. He kept the room on fire from the first minute to the last, on the first night of the festival.
He did the same in 2025, at the first Firing Squad at Aleatorio Bar, and won Best Host then too. Two editions, two awards.
Thank you, Zaher, for starting the festival the way only a gong show can. See you in 2027.