“We are better than what they make us think of ourselves.”
This is what Alaa Abu Diab told me during our Zoom call, speaking about the way Palestinians are so often framed by the world. He is a stand-up comedian, but before anything else, he is meticulous and intentional about how he is seen and why.
“I want people to come to my show because I’m a smart and funny stand-up comedian,” he says. “I want to compete in this industry. I don’t want people to come only because I am Palestinian. I don’t want pity.”
For Abu Diab, comedy started as a space of therapy. It all started in 2018 on Facebook. He used to post his words and thoughts, until one day, they didn’t fit in a written form. He decided to film a video commenting on what a sheikh said about earth being horizontal, and the video went viral. He filmed two more videos, and when millions of people around the world viewed them, he found himself a stand-up comedian.
That same year, while in Sweden near Malmo for the Lund Comedy Festival, a friend organised the festival’s first Arabic-language comedy competition and insisted Abu Diab take part. He refused. “I was terrified of speaking in front of an audience.”
Two weeks later, she called to inform him that he had two shows the next day. When he declined, she claimed the line-up had already been announced and that cancelling would ruin her life, so he was compelled to take part in this huge comedy festival.
Only later did he learn that she had made up the entire story to force him onto the stage. The fear, it turned out, was manageable. Enjoyable, even.
Shortly after, he wrote a full hour of material and performed it in Ramallah in front of 300 people. “For both me and the audience, stand-up comedy was something new. It’s not common in Palestine, and that gave it prominence and popularity. I wasn’t just performing for laughs, I was forming people’s entire impression of what stand-up comedy even is.” Then without even realising, London followed, then Amman, Beirut, and Doha. Abu Diab's shows were selling out within hours.
Today, reflecting on his early beginnings, he shares with The National: “Stand-up comedy moved faster than I did. Suddenly, I went from a five-minute set in a small town in Sweden to performing a full-hour special around the world.”
“My first show didn’t even have a name. I genuinely didn’t know how these things work,” he says. In one of his early shows, he used to pause mid show and play music for the people as he thought people might need a break.
His second show, and the first to carry a name, was called On the Plane. Much of it was written exactly where the title suggests. “I literally wrote it on the plane,” he told me. The show followed his life and experiences as a Palestinian from Jerusalem whose work had suddenly become constant travel. It was political, but never heavy. Witty, but grounded. “People were laughing a lot,” he says. For him, that mattered. It meant the story could hold its truth and still feel light in the room.
By this point, he was getting increasingly popular. He felt as though he was taking over the world, but then, Covid happened. Abu Diab found himself in lockdown with his wife and children, resulting in his special show, Lockdown, in which he reflected on his experiences during the pandemic.
Shortly after, he came up with a new show titled Not White, which was inspired by a sad realisation. When the war broke out in Ukraine, he thought that the world would finally understand the experience of Palestinians. "But they surprised us. They didn't understand, and it was a wake up call."
And the attacks on Palestine began again.
“I did my last show on October 10 and I cancelled all my shows after. I couldn’t be telling jokes while my people are getting killed.” And most shows, the organisers wanted to cancel everything Palestinian as well.
But it was in February 2023 when it hit him. “As an artist, we need to tell and archive our stories as this is history unfolding and did a small show in London. During this show, I told jokes from my conversations with my Gazan friends.
“What stayed with me,” he explains, “was that most of the audience were Gazans". There was a moment from his day he says he will never forget. Before the show started, a man approached him and said: “My friend was a big fan of yours. He was killed. I’m here for him. You must make me laugh, Alaa.”
As he shared this with me, his eyes filled with emotion. I could only imagine the weight of responsibility at that moment. This reminded me of how scared my cousins and I were during the bombings in Gaza, yet how we still tried to distract ourselves by joking, even in the middle of it all.
We relied on the same instinct that had found its way onto a stage. In Abu Diab’s comedy, the same instinct we relied on as children has taken shape here as art. His comedy does not escape reality, but sits with it, making space to think, to notice, and sometimes to laugh, even when the world feels heavy.
As a Palestinian myself, I know how rare the space for art has been under occupation. I often wonder how many aspiring stand-up comedians, singers, painters and actors never had the chance.
For us, Abu Diab represents something larger than himself. He represents what could have been possible. He is a glimpse of a lost world, a future that was never allowed to happen.
After nearly two years away, during which he rarely performed, Abu Diab is back. This time, with two sold-out shows in Dubai and a new special titled Virtual Reality. The show explores the world we are living in, the one unfolding quietly while we are too busy refreshing our notifications.
When asked about the feedback that stays with him the most, he mentions being told the show is “smart".
“I don’t tell flat jokes, every joke has meaning and depth.”
For those attending Abu Diab's show, prepare to be immersed in his virtual reality, where you’ll rediscover the world through deep meaning and a good laugh.
Alaa Abu Diab will perform on Thursday and Friday at Zabeel Theatre in Dubai
