TORONTO: Abdullah Rafaah’s mornings were filled with a steady diet of cartoons on Saudi Channel 2.
Ammar Sabban meanwhile grew up with the Cartoon Network and Sesame Street and was inspired by Mel Blanc, the American actor who gave voice to Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and other Looney Tunes critters.
Their paths crossed when they were cast as voice actors on the second season of “Iftah Ya Simsim,” the Arabic co-production of “Sesame Street” in Abu Dhabi during 2015 to 2017.
Rafaah was the voice actor and puppeteer for Elmo while Ammar was the voice actor and puppeteer for Ka’aki (Cookie Monster), Gargrour (Grover), Badr (Bert), and Al-Addad (The Count).
While sharing an apartment in Abu Dhabi, the duo spent countless hours dissecting the story, characters, and production quality of their favorite cartoons. Their passionate discussions gave them an impetus to start “Kartoon Karton,” an Arabic podcast, which features animation news and interviews with colleagues and experts from the industry.
Starting in 2017, they have currently completed 184 episodes with new ones released every Tuesday on podcast streaming services.
Sabban and Rafaah say it gets downloaded 60,000 times a month, primarily by Saudis between 20 to 35 years old.
Some of the more popular episodes of the show include a celebration of the television channel, Spacetoon, on its 25-year anniversary, Sabban said.
“A lot of our listeners grew up watching Spacetoon, so talking about cartoon shows on the channel was nostalgic for our listeners,” he said.
Among the niche topics discussed on the show have been psychological disorders depicted in “Winnie the Pooh,” as well as the differences between the cackle of 101 Dalmatians’ Cruella de Vil and the chuckle of Bugs Bunny.
“Our listeners have created a community; they call themselves Karateen (the plural of Karton) and it took on a life of its own,” Sabban said. “They have listening parties, both online and offline — you cannot quantify this.”
The show has also found popularity among the Saudi and Arab diaspora in the US and Australia who feel homesick, with the podcast offering a slice of home away from home.
The team also makes sure the podcast is spontaneous and not scripted.
“It feels like you’re having a genuine conversation with your friends,” said Sabban. “I was an introvert growing up and spent a lot of time by myself. It was difficult to find friends who share your interests.
“And one of the biggest reasons for why we do what we do is that we don’t want people to feel lonely.”
“Kartoon Karton” hosted a live recording session in Jeddah, inviting listeners to visit and take part. The podcasters were surprised to find nearly 200 people in attendance, some of whom had flown in from other parts of the region.
The actors said the audience found the event “therapeutic.”
“Since we started a podcast on cartoons and animation, our listeners felt empowered with what we did,” Sabban said. “And when they came to our live-recording, they saw others with the same, niche interest.”
For perhaps the first time, a group of cartoon aficionados felt like they were being seen and validated within the region — when society is constantly chiding them for watching and enjoying cartoons as adults.
While other children aspired to become a doctor or a policeman, Rafaah opted to become a lion, taking after his favorite cartoon character Simba, from Disney’s “The Lion King”.
“You have all these young adults who love animation but can’t talk about it because everybody around them thinks they’re being childish or immature,” Sabban said.
Kartoon Karton has also inspired other people to start their own show, they told Arab News. “The more the merrier,” Sabban said. “We encourage everyone to find their own niche market.”
The animation industry has seen growth globally recording an increase of five percent, reaching over $372 billion, in 2021, according to Statista. That number is forecast to grow by almost 60 percent within the following nine years.
The Middle East region and Saudi Arabia are no exception. The animation market in the Middle East and Africa is expected to account for over $2.2 billion by 2029, according to research by Data Bridge.
The appetite for local animated content is evident in the success of shows like Netflix’s “Masameer County,” which launched its second season earlier this month.
Created by Abdulaziz Almuzaini and Malik Nejer, the series follows the comical adventures of the mischievous citizens of Masameer County.
This series is part of Netflix’s five-year exclusive partnership with Saudi Arabian animation studio Myrkott, signed in 2020 to bring viewers Saudi-focused shows and films.
Rafaah and Sabbah hope to see more content creators — not just podcasters, but animators and filmmakers — creating content. There is a need for high-quality content that can compete with the rest of the world, they said.
As for “Kartoon Karton,” the team is looking at branching out and producing their own cartoon, and one day, write, create, and produce their next animation series.