Mina Liccione on Comedy, Courage and the Power of Laughter
TORONTO — When Italian-American New Yorker Mina Liccione was offered a gig in Dubai in 2007, she had to look up where the UAE was. Eighteen years, one Arab husband, and twin sons later, she has become a key figure in the region’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 husband 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.
“Arabized,” which debuted live in November 2024, marks a different stage in her journey. “The fish isn’t out of water anymore. She’s fully immersed in the sea,” she said. Where her earlier show “By Nature” focused on the wonder of a newcomer, “Arabized” forced her to confront harder truths about her upbringing. “I’ve had to decolonize my mind and unlearn a lot of what I was taught growing up,” she said.
While writing the show, Liccione was “heartbroken” watching the war in Gaza unfold. That grief became the rap track “Delulu,” co-written with Al-Sayed and Palestinian-American rapper Omar Awbu. Her support for Palestine started in New York, where she attended her first protest as a teenager. Since then, she has performed in charity events, collaborated with Palestinian artists, and led workshops in refugee camps in Jordan. Making a child laugh uncontrollably, she said, meant more to her than “any standing ovation or sold-out theater.”
“Laughter is a form of resistance,” she said. “The ability to laugh doesn’t mean people aren’t suffering. It means hope still exists.”
Liccione, who has fielded both hostility and appreciation for her work, said there is little separation between her material and her actual life. “This isn’t a brand I created — it’s me,” she said. “The more we travel, listen, laugh, and break bread together, the harder it becomes to fear one another.”
“Arabized” streams on Edinburgh Fringe’s C Arts On-Demand platform from August 7 to 31.
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