“Priority seating is for older guests and anyone with wide hips.” Abla Fahita delivered the line into the microphone the way other hosts open a show: a quick signal that the show is about to begin, and a not-so-gentle reminder that she controls the room. It landed as a joke, but it also landed as a message. This would not be a so-polite night of scripted segments. Her new season, titled Layla Fontastic Ma’ Abla Fahita (A Fantastic Night with Abla Fahita, 2025), did not feel like a nostalgia exercise when I attended a mid-December taping ahead of its Saturday, 20 December broadcast. I first watched Fahita in her early online era, and I followed her later television runs, including the last episode featuring actor Karim Fahmy. This time, what stood out was how deliberately the material reflected 2025 — fast-moving, internet-aware, and tuned to the social realities people recognise immediately, sometimes with the kind of laugh that arrives half a second late because it is not only funny, but also accurate. A new stage, a different kind of energy The show is no longer taped at Cinema Radio,…
