The Dubai Comedy Festival has added three female stand-up comedians — Beth Stelling, Rachel Feinstein and Atsuko Okatsuka — to its line-up for the Dubai Opera stage on May 15.
Running from May 12 to 21, the Dubai Comedy Festival is returning for its third year, with a roster of local, regional and international talent.
American comedian, writer and actress Stelling is best known for her sets on Netflix’s The Standups and is a writer for the TV series Crashing.
A product of the Chicago stand-up scene, she has also appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live and her first stand-up special, Girl Daddy, was described by The New York Times as “a virtuosic performance, conversational while dense with jokes”.
Feinstein was one of the finalists on season seven of Last Comic Standing, and performed as herself in the feature film Her Composition, directed by Stephan Littger.
Okatsuka was named as one of 10 Comics to Watch for 2022 by Variety. The American comedian is of Taiwanese and Japanese descent, and went viral in 2019, when an earthquake interrupted her stand-up set but she kept performing in an effort to keep her audience calm. She became a hit on social media again during the pandemic, posting videos of herself dancing, often accompanied by her mother and grandmother.
The trio will perform on May 15 bringing their unique brands of wit, humour and irreverence to Dubai, as they transform their real-life experiences into comedy. Guests will be able to see the three comics with a single ticket, starting from Dh175.
The festival also features British funnyman Jimmy Carr, who is performing on May 16, Australia’s Jim Jeffries (May 17) and Indian stand-up Zakir Khan (May 14). Vogue Williams and Joanne McNally, hosts of the award-winning podcast, My Therapist Ghosted Me, will perform on May 17.
Australian comedy troupe Sooshi Mango, consisting of Joe Salanitri, Carlo Salanitri and Andrew Manfre, will kick off the festival, bringing their Off the Boat tour to Coca-Cola Arena on May 12.
