By Malak Khaled
We all need some time off, we sometimes need some laughs to get us by and lighten up the atmosphere. Due to the current circumstances, every one of us is searching for something to uplift the spirit. One of the many things that could do that is watching stand-up comedians. Arabs have been through many things over the course of time; stand-up comedians take these situations and turn them into a light, humorous and relatable sketch.
Here are some of our favorite stand-up comedians:
Mohammed Amer
Mohamed “Mo” Amer is a 38-year-old- American stand-up comedian of Palestinian descent. He is best known for his Netflix comedy special “The Vagabond.” Through his stand-ups, Amer talks about his background, family history, and growing up as an American. His ethnic background allows him to speak about issues like terrorism, politics, and religion through personal stories.
Maysoon Zayid
Maysoon is a 46-year-old American actress and comedian of Palestinian descent. She’s known as one of the first Muslim women comedians in America as well as the first person ever to perform stand-up in Palestine and Jordan.
Ahmed Ahmed
Ahmed is a 49-year-old- Egyptian born comedian who moved to California with his family then to Hollywood after turning 19 to pursue his career as an actor and stand-up comedian. He regularly performs in The Comedy Story in Hollywood and tours around The United States and Europe. In 2004, he won the first annual Richard Pryor Award for ethnic comedy at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland. He speaks of issues like Racism, Religion, and Arab/Egyptian culture.
Ramy Youssef
Ramy was born in New York City to Egyptian parents. In 2017, he appeared on ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ to perform his stand-up routine. He won the Best Actor in Television series Musical or Comedy category in the Golden Globes, for his television series ‘Ramy’ on Hulu which debuted in 2019. He then starred in an HBO stand-up comedy special called “Ramy Youssef: Feelings.”
Maria Shehata
Maria is an Egyptian-American comedian who has made a name for herself by performing at some of the most famous comedy clubs in the country; she has been selected as one of the Five Best New Performers at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe. Her stand-up shows have been featured on Comedy Central’s The Watch List, Showtime’s Bridging the Gap, and many other famous shows on big channels. Maria even won Maria’s “Best Comedian” at the Hollywood Festival of the New Cinema.
Ibrahim Alkhairallah
Ibrahim Alkhairallah is from Saudi Arabia. He started doing stand-up in 2009 and since then, he has performed in Saudi Arabia as well as international countries. He’s also an actor and participated in Arabs Got Talent, making it to the semi-finals. Ibrahim is also a businessman who is the creative director of Telfaz11; a Saudi Arabia- based digital media company.
Wonho Chung
Wonho Chung is a comedian and television personality, born in Saudi Arabia and raised in Jordan to a South Korean father and a Vietnamese mother. Wonho was given an Arab upbringing, he acquired 5 languages including native Arabic and fluent English. His comedy career began in 2007, touring with the Axis of Evil comedy tour. In 2008, Chung covered the red carpet at the Dubai International Film Festival, and in 2010; he hosted the award ceremony and closing gala.
Gad Elmaleh
Labeled the “Seinfeld of France,” Gad is a French-Moroccan comedian who is mostly known in French-speaking countries like France and Morocco but recently in the United States as well. He was brought up in a culturally diverse environment, speaking Arabic, Hebrew, English, and French. He performed in a mix of French and Arabic in Morocco and included some Hebrew shows in Israel.