From giggles to guffaws, it’s a laugh riot in Dubai
Comedy is coming of age in the city. Anything goes from the raunchy to the naughty in a bid to tickle your funny bone
The Dubai Comedy Festival returned on Thursday (May 12) with yet another sellout season of rip-roaring performances. Top venues across Dubai, including the Coca Cola Arena, have been taken over by the veritable who’s who of comedy till the curtains come down on May 22.
From homegrown comics to international heavyweights such as Josh Widdecombe, Gad, Elmaleh, Jo Koy, Russel Peters, and Vir Das — they will all be performing to packed houses at various locations in the city.
Most of these stars are no strangers to Dubai. Canadian Indian comedian Russell Peters was in Dubai for his ‘Act Your Age World Tour’ just two months ago while Vir Das, who is bringing his latest globetrotting ‘The Wanted Tour’ has entertained audiences here on numerous occasions.
The much-awaited celebration of all things funny comes close on the heels of Expo2020 Dubai and the Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) which also saw some of the biggest names in the world of comedy — British funnyman Jack Dee and Amit Tandon from India among them — leaving audiences in splits.
The city’s independent comedy scene is also thriving with new talent and new places to enjoy it. Comics are increasingly taking to music venues, neighbourhood bars and restaurants to host weekly, or daily stand-up gigs.
Curiously, just a few years ago, Dubai’s comedy landscape looked more like a desert than the flourishing garden it is today. Apart from The Laughter Factory, there wasn’t anything remotely close to a comedy here.
The Laughter Factory, which recently completed 25 years of keeping fans in the region deliriously happy, came into being in 1997 when Dubai’s entertainment scene consisted mainly of musical duos sporting mullets and murdering ‘Hotel California’ in scruffy bars, according to the popular comedy club.
Gail Clough was a disc jockey (DJ), and Duncan Jones was a drummer (in a scruffy bar). Both wanted to watch some live comedy. Soon, The Laughter Factory was born.
The Laughter Factory’s original home was at the Hyatt Regency in Deira. It was a unique time in comedy history as comedy voices were just starting to explode on the United Kingdom (UK) circuit.
“The idea that a comic has an authentic voice, rather than just telling jokes is one of major reasons that The Laughter Factory has thrived for 25 years,” according to the club’s co-founder Clough.
“We are conscious of creating a space where established comics keep mentoring the younger acts. This is what keeps the circuit alive. We want somewhere comedians and comedy fans can come together and enjoy each other,” he said.
“Being based in Dubai has meant that we are not part of a big comedy scene unlike the UK, Canada and the United States of America. This has been in some ways beneficial. We don’t get caught up with the latest comedy fads. We focus totally on our audiences and what makes them laugh.”
Award-winning American artist Mina Liccione, widely regarded as Dubai’s first lady of comedy, said the local comedy scene barely existed when she came to Dubai in 2007 to perform at a summer festival.
“Like myself, comedians were being flown in to perform,” recalled the Broadway veteran who took a “leap of faith” and returned to Dubai to create a platform for local talent. However, it took months before she could find a venue where she could host comedy workshops.
“Those days they were happy with the safe route of karaoke and cover bands and were scared of standup,” said Liccione.
“I was told it will be too dirty and we could get into trouble, so we hit back and said we’ll keep it clean and open for teens and adults from both the expat and local community to which they said, “then it won’t be funny!,” he added.
On World’s Fool Day (April 1) in 2008, Liccione and renowned Emirati comedian Ali Al Sayed founded Dubomedy, a premiere comedy and urban arts school to produce stellar festivals and events throughout the year and use comedy as a tool to bring people of diverse cultural, monetary and religious backgrounds together for one big laugh.
Now married, Ali Al Sayed and Mina Liccione are known as the twin pillars of the local comedy scene.
“The first few years were a challenge but once the foundation was strong, we just kept moving forward — creating, coaching, performing, producing, spreading laughter! What an adventure it has been,” said Liccione who will be performing at the fest as part of the Late Shows at Comedy Bizarre today, tomorrow and on May 18.
Indian expatriate Nitesh Chaturvedi, who made a foray into comedy five years ago, said the comedy scene in Dubai has flourished in three main areas — increase in the number of shows, emergence of new faces and audience awareness.
“The love and support we’ve got from our audiences is immense and absolutely undeniable. Without that we would not have been able to sustain so many shows or get the platforms for the existing and upcoming comedians in town,” said Chaturvedi, who runs his own comedy club called Nitchatcomedy and has been an opening act or produced shows for Indian comedy performers such as Atul Khatri, Harsh Gujral, Sorabh Pant, Punit Pania and Manish Tyagi among many others.
Arzoo Malhotra, another female comedian, reckons the growth of Dubai’s comedy scene has been extraordinary over the past decade.
“When I moved to Dubai and started doing comedy here five years ago, there were fewer comics, fewer venues, and fewer audience members who knew the scene existed. Now, there’s more than one gig every night and the number of active comics is easily three-four times larger than it was previously,” said the feisty American citizen of Indian descent. “We’ve gone from having one or two
When I moved to Dubai and started doing comedy here five years ago, there were fewer comics, fewer venues, and fewer audience members who knew the scene existed. Now, there’s more than one gig every night and the number of active comics is easily three-four times larger than it was previously Arzoo Malhotra
The love and support we have got from our audiences are immense and absolutely undeniable. Without that we would not have been able to sustain so many shows or get the platforms for the existing and upcoming comedians in town Nitesh Chaturvedi
shows a week five years ago to more than one a night. That would not happen if there wasn’t buy in from venues, and from audiences as well. I’d credit a lot of that to the advent of streaming services and the increased exposure to comedians on social media platforms,” she said.
“Comedy in Dubai is incredibly unique because of the diversity of audiences here. One night you can be performing to Arabs and Indians; on another, to Italians and Filipinos. Performing here is like comedy boot camp: it gives you a chance to find what is universally funny to people. And that is an incredibly valuable lesson to learn,” she added.
Malhotra said she’s happy with the diversity in the comedy scene in terms of content and ethnicity of comedians, but upcoming female comedian Shaima Muez is far from content.
“I think we still have a long way to go,” said the young Indian expatriate who performs a weekly gig at Mercure Barsha Heights hotel.
“Venues are excited about comedy as a concept, but they are yet to understand its full potential. I think we are still on a learning curve,” said Muez.
However, she feels there are far more opportunities today for young comedians like herself. “I am still learning and growing.”
Chaturvedi said he’s noticed a welcome change in the outlook of hotels towards comedy gigs in recent years. “Now they look at comedy shows as the main attraction, rather than a filler.”
He said this is a great time for anyone breaking into the comedy scene in Dubai. “There are a lot of great things just waiting to happen. So go out there, perform as much as you can, be a part of the community and, most importantly, have fun.”