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Şahan and His Gang on Campus |
Yeni Ufuklar Kulübü (The New Horizons Club) brought the famous comedian Şahan Gökbakar
and his show gang together with Bilkent students on
May 1. Actually, Şahan is not a stranger to Bilkent, as he graduated from Bilkent's
Faculty of Music and Performing Arts in 2002. He talked to Bilkent students at the event
and also made everybody laugh - just in time too, as finals draw near. At the talk, he
mentioned his new project - a movie coming to the cinemas this summer. The leading
character of the film is Recep İvedik, the most popular character of his shows. Following
the act, Bilkent News interviewed Şahan.
Bilkent News: What have you been up to since you graduated?
Şahan: Right after graduating I went to İstanbul, rented a house and
tried to settle in. I stayed at home and watched the outside world from the window for
about a year. At the end of that year I started auditioning for advertisements. All of
them said they liked my performances very much and would call me but none of them did.
After a long time, I became bored with this situation and decided to write my own TV
program. One day, an acquaintance's father died and I went to her to express my
condolences. She directed me to a man and I explained my TV project to him. He was
interested in the project and decided to be my manager and then this adventure started. I
worked for ten months to prepare my first program and after the first episode I was fired.
I went to TRT and started to make a five-hour long live program for TRT. After making five
episodes I was fired from TRT, too. One day when we were watching the program Zoka on TV
with my manager, he told me that I would be a great presenter on this show and I agreed.
Then my manager arranged for me to present the show and I became famous. Next, I started
to work on my own program and I became very popular. I transferred to ATV and now I'm on
NTV.
Bilkent News: During your education, did you think that you would be this
famous and loved by many people?
Şahan: Actually I was shy in high school. I used to think that I would
be this famous but I didn't tell my friends because they would laugh at me. But I always
had thoughts about making a TV show, being famous, earning a lot of money and having
beautiful cars. And now I have made it.
Bilkent News: Why do you think you are so loved by people and are very
successful?
Şahan: I think it's about sincerity. While most people in the same
position as me are superficial, acting cool and trying to maintain a mystical aura, I
focus on sincerity. We talk to you the same way we would talk in the living room at home.
We have a means of conversation with you from the show. That's why the show is loved
because people watch a conversation between friends in their own living room.
Bilkent News: How do you choose your characters for the show?
Şahan: We meet with three or four people and start chatting. We offer a
meal, it comes, and we watch TV… We spend time like this - sometimes for about twelve
hours. At the same time we talk about what to do, and discuss the ideas. For example, a
man comes in, says a funny thing, we laugh with him and after he goes a character pops up
while we are gossiping about him. I mean our life is based on chatting. Actually, this is
the point! The way we prepare our programs is so much like chats between friends that
people like the program so much they download it from Internet. They see us as one of
them, and this is why we are successful. Yeşim Şağban (IE/III)
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