Funny business is on the forecast for Dubai this next week. The annual spectacle of sniggers that is the Dubai Comedy Festival is back from April 12-21. Like the fourth of July, this fourth edition boats an explosive line-up of big comedy stars who boast specials, TV and movie appearances as well as talented local comics on the up-and-coming who’ve made a name in Dubai comedy club circuits with memorable punchlines and acts.
Dubai Opera, and Roxy Cinema, Dubai Hills are the two venues that will host over 70 world-class comedians. With so much happening, it can be hard to decide which shows might be of interest to you and why it’s worth tickets starting from AED 150. We break it down in this easy guide.
Highlights of the Dubai Comedy Festival
1. As seen on TV (or your smartphones)
International comedy heavyweights you’ve seen and loved on Netflix and Amazon Prime comedy specials, TV shows as well viral internet comedians you’ve seen on Instagram and TikTok will be out to tickle your funny bone in person. South Africa’s Riad Moosa (Comedy Central), American comic Chris Distefano (MTV’s Guy Code, Girl Code series), Indian funnyman Kenny Sebastian (Comicstaan, Starboyz), Canadian comic Katherine Ryan (Netflix show Duchess, 8 out 10 Cats) and others will leave you in stitches. Four Dubai-based comics with a massive online fan-following and viral sketches Shawn Chidiac, Sundeep Fernandes, Anand Raman and Abz Ali will take to the stage on April 14 at a show aptly titled ‘Internet Sensations’.
2. Global guffaws beyond just English
Laughter is a universal language but some jokes are beyond subtitles. Celebrating Dubai’s multiculturalism, the festival will see the funniest of the funny cracking jokes in Arabic, English, French, Hindi and Tagalog. India’s Gursimran Khamba (of AIB fame) and Abubhav Singh Bhassi, the Seinfeld of France Gad Elmaleh, Pinoy comic Alex Calleja, Emirati funnyman Bin Swelah and more comedy stars will be performing in their respective mother tongues. Some shows are bilingual and will have repeat performances in English and Arabic.
3. Comedy Bizzare
This year too, the Dubai Comedy Festival’s special segment called Comedy Bizzare returns. These intimate comedy club sessions will have regional breakout stars and overseas talents crack up audiences at the Dubai Opera Studio instead of the main stage. The AED 75 tickets to these shows can be purchased separately. However, ticket holders to shows at Dubai Opera get free entry to these gigs. Just show your tix at the door. Who’ll be bringing the roof down, you ask? Yash Bhardwaj, Bronwyn Byrnes, Aditya Thomas, Folly Olubiyi, Mouncef Boumaza, Tabarak Razvi, Liz Bains, Saaniya Abbas and John Hague are just a handful of the 20 fantastic comics performing. Find tickets here
4. Witty women
Ladies lay down the laughs with multiple special acts. Whether it’s GCC’s first Filipina comic Imah Dumagay making light of her relationships and everyday life, Indian-American stay-at-home-mom-turned-comedian Zarna Garg‘s incisive social commentary about the immigrant experience or Egyptian actress and comic Ola Roshdy and her compatriots Bernadette and Reem Nabil putting tackling serious topics humorously and challenging old societal structures through well-structured jokes in the Bel Masry series. These talented comedians are breaking glass ceilings at their gigs and audiences break into laughter without fail.
5. Diverse formats
The festival’s mixture of formats is great to expand your humour horizons. Besides routine stand-up comedy, you’ll also get to try out theatre, improv, variety shows as well as live podcasts. British Science comedy show Braniac will perform zany experiments live on stage on April 13 and 14. Hit podcast ‘Spencer and Vogue’s creators and real-life couple Spencer Mathews and Vogue William will bring their unfiltered and unedited bickering to a live audience on April 19. On April 21, Indian and Pakistani comics will face off in a hilarious improv and roast show called Borderline Funny.
Click here for the full show schedule and line-up of the Dubai Comedy Festival