The Fake Show

Each episode begins with a joke about events from around the globe, or international crisis- usually about Donald Trump, then, and step by step, the show starts bouncing between short stories, in a sense of humor, until you find yourself before a serious case about losing an activist after an assassination,or a case about corruption in the Arab world or the Corruption in Iraq that pulling the country towards the abyss.[7]
The show usually divided into 3-4 parts with different themes, taking into consideration that every episode should contain at least one segment about an issue in North Africa or the Middle East, whether it was a controversy over the Burkini, or the rights of the Political prisoners in Algeria or Egypt, like Alaa Abd El-Fattah. The show made a clear position on the leaders in the Arab world and Middle East in general, like Benjamin Netanyahu or Ali Khamenei. Also, the show spots a light on Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the president of Egypt and his conflict with Erdogan on Libya. Furthermore, the show used dark sarcasm to mock Mohammad bin Salman about human rights in Saudi Arabia and the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi. The Fake show is the first satire news program- presented by Iraqi person, dealing with wide-Arabic issues, due to difficulties in the Iraqi accent that some Arab states can't even understand it, that's why Quinn's trying to bring out a filtered version of it, in addition to his ability to speak in multiple accents and four languages.[8]

Sami Quinn with David Sullivan on The Fake Show

The first season of the show managed to record few interviews on Skype, by choosing non-famous figures but people with civil activities from Iraq or other places, concerned about Iraq, the Middle East, and the Arab world. Like prof. David Sullivan who highlighted- in his interview, the mistakes of the US after 2003 invasion, also, he raised critical points about the future of Iraq and the whole region.[9]

Sami Quinn singing The "UNIDENTIFIED"- about the assassinations in Iraq, S1 Ep13

One of the tools in the Fake Show is delivering a message in melodies, in a form close to a song but not exactly- usually verses on a Hip-Hop or Rap rhythm. The first message called "YOU ARE IRAQI."[10] The message was about the disunity within the Iraqi society that's loaded with extreme views such taking the side of America or Iran. The last message called "UNIDENTIFIED.[11] It is about political corruption, Freedom of speech, and the Assassinations in Iraq. exposing and criticizing the proliferation of weapons among huge number of individuals from different security departments, in addition to the presence of armed groups, like hundreds of thousands members of militias active behind legal-official identification. And despite all this mess, the authorities are still unable to point a finger at the unsub.[12]

On the beginning of March 2020 Quinn decided to continue the show by filming alone, which resulted in a delay to finish some episodes in the scheduled time. The COVID-19 pandemic coincide with a family tragedy forced Quinn to stop for almost a month, but after that he came back and finished the season from his apartment.

Sami Quinn on The Fake Show with background of Tahrir Square in Baghdad, and an image of Safaa Al Sarai S1 Ep03

The fact that there is limited space for freedom of expression in the Arab world, plus the Arab communities itself had differing Opinions on Freedom of Expression.[14] For those reasons we didn't saw but the Egyptian program Al Bernameg that canceled in 2015, in response to political and social pressure.[15] And for the Iraqi people, we see a complete lack in this area; there is only Albasheer Show that produced outside the country.[16] For all that, it seems very normal all those public attempts to stop the fake show by any mean. Especially that the show mocks many violent groups and individuals in the Middle East, like Qais Khazali, Qasem Soleimani, Hassan Nasrallah, and others, the militias sent public death threats to the show, making many people afraid even of posting a comment to support the program. the number of threats jumped up after the episode no.5 where Quinn put on a black turban, mocking Muqtada al-Sadr and his efforts to change 2019–20 Iraqi protests direction. The host, Sami Quinn, received endless threat of people refuse his ideas of making fun of religious people in Iraq even if they have a political effect- even though that the show is still in the beginning and the number of its followers is still limited, also he received many threats for supporting October demonstrations and his defense of its icon Safaa Al Sarai.[17] The program always stood with the Anti-government protesters in Iraq and made episodes with backgrounds on the Tahrir Square in a location real close to Baghdad tower which was taken by the protestors and became the center of the demonstrations and its icon, it called the Turkish Restaurant.[18] And that's one of the reasons why the militias in Iraq, using fake social media accounts, always attack the program and promising to kill Sami Quinn once they find his place.[19] Despite all that, Quinn stated at his last appearance in season one- during a segment about the assassination of the Iraqi doctor Reham Yacoub, that: "...let us try to fight their guns with laughter."[20]