Wearing a jilbab and striped cap, Mahmoud Shokoko dominated the 1940s as Egypt’s top comedian. His monologues and sarcastic song lyrics oozed with harsh sociopolitical criticism that hid important messages. His musical sketch on the dangers of drugs, in a monologue called "Hashish," is still considered a reference to Egyptian musical sketches. In memory of Shokoko, on the occasion of his 102nd birthday in 2014, Google created a regional Doodle.

Shokoko monopolized Egypt’s comedy scene until Ismail Yasseen came on the scene in the late 1940s. Unlike the singing and dancing of Shokoko, Yasseen was known as a tragicomic figure. He excelled in monologues that tackled the woes of the middle class. He also carried the art of monologue to the silver screen in famous films such as “Aini Alayna YaAhl al-Fan, YaAini Alayna” ("In Praise of Art Lovers") and “Al-Dunya Di Moutiba” ("This Life is Hard"). 

In the 1960s, Egyptian standup comedy witnessed a new trio, “Tholathy Adwaa el-Masrah,” made up of Egyptian artists George Sidhom, Samir Ghanem and El Deif Ahmed. Dynamic and interactive with the audience, the trio brought a new style to musical sketches and standup comedy. They carried their fame to TV and film theaters, presenting the first ever Ramadan TV riddles, or Fawazir Ramadan — musical sketches staged like mini-Broadway scenes broadcast about an hour after iftar. The early death of Ahmed forced Sidhom and Ghanem to continue as a duo; Ghanem still appears on TV today.

These Ramadan sketches were part of the Egyptian scene in the 20th century, but they gradually disappeared in the last decades of the 20th century.