Dubai Comedy Festival line-up: Nemr, Eddie Griffin and Maz Jobrani among first wave of headline acts

Dubai Comedy Festival returns to the city in May, and it promises to bring more laughs than ever with its host of headline acts.

The festival has revealed its first wave of names, and they include some of the world’s biggest comedy stars. Joining the 10-day event’s line-up for 2021 will be Gad Elmaleh, Eddie Griffin, Maz Jobrani and Nemr, as well as popular Russian comedians Alexander Revva, Mikhail Galustyan and Yevgeniy Chebatkov.

Dubai Comedy Festival will take place across multiple Dubai venues, which will be holding events, live entertainment, and food and drink pop-ups for the duration. The family-friendly event will be following all necessary safety precautions to protect guests against Covid-19.

Here’s a little more information about some of the comedians involved.

Gad Elmaleh

French-Moroccan stand-up comedian and actor Gad Elmaleh has become a household name in the French-speaking world, and has more recently made a name for himself in the US. He has starred in several feature films, including Coco, Priceless, La Doublure and Midnight in Paris.

Voted the funniest person in France, he was also recently named a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters by the Minister of Culture, as well as a Knight of the National Order of Quebec. Known as the "Seinfeld of France", Elmaleh has performed numerous sold-out world tours, and was the star of 2019 Netflix series Huge in France.

Eddie Griffin

Funnyman actor-turned-comedian Eddie Griffin has built a solid fanbase since bursting on to the comedy scene in 1990. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Griffin has starred in the likes of The Pastor, opposite Dave Chappelle, as well as in 2018's Academy Award-winning film A Star is Born, starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. His Showtime Comedy Special Eddie Griffin: Undeniable debuted on Showtime in February 2018 to rave reviews.

Maz Jobrani

Maz Jobrani is a comedian, actor and host of his own podcast. Gaining recognition as the Iranian-American founding member of The Axis of Evil comedy tour, he has made many appearances on US television's most popular shows, starred in award-winning films, and has also been a regular guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and The Late Late Show with James Corden.

Nemr

Lebanese-American stand-up comic Nemr Abou Nassar, known simply as Nemr, is no stranger to performing in Dubai. In fact, he is largely credited with pioneering the stand-up comedy scene throughout the Middle East. In 2017, Nemr premiered his hugely successful comedy special, No Bombing in Beirut, across the US and Canada.

He has written and performed seven full feature shows, the latest of which was a world tour that took him to many major US cities, Europe and all across the Middle East.

Alexander Revva and Mikhail Galustyan

Russian comedians Alexander Revva and Mikhail Galustyan will perform their hit show, Funny and Even Funnier, as part of the Dubai Comedy Festival. Debuting on Tuesday, May 18, at Dubai Opera, the show will be a mix of scripted and improvised content – offering the audience an element of surprise.

Dubai Comedy Festival will take place between Thursday, May 13 and Saturday, May 22. More names and ticket information will be released shortly. More information is at dubaicomedyfest.ae

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Michael McIntyre to make Abu Dhabi debut at Etihad Arena in July

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”