TORONTO: In 2007, when Italian-American New Yorker Mina Liccione was offered a gig in Dubai, she had to Google where the UAE was.
Now, 18 years, one Arab husband and twin sons later, Liccione is a key figure in the country’s comedy scene, and is bringing her latest stand-up special, “Arabized,” to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this August.
Liccione co-founded Dubomedy, a comedy school and training platform, with her now-husband, comedian Ali Al-Sayed, in 2008. “What started as ‘there is no scene here’ has become a scene that is very much seen,” she told Arab News.
Her 2017 special, “By Nature,” captured her early years of cultural discovery. “Arabized,” which debuted live in November 2024, marks a different stage, she explained, saying: “The fish isn’t out of water anymore. She’s fully immersed in the sea.”
Where “Araby by Nature” focused on the wide-eyed wonder of a newcomer, “Arabized” forced her to confront harder truths about her own upbringing. “I’ve had to decolonize my mind” and “unlearn a lot of what I was taught growing up,” she said.
