After many years in the making, on May 13, 2017 I filmed my very first 1 hour stand-up comedy special entitled Araby by Nature at Warehouse Four in Dubai! I decided to perform, and film, two shows back-to-back. That way, if anything went wrong technically or if I messed up the timing of a joke I had a second shot!
The early show went really well. No disasters what-so-ever. I hit my marks, punched my punchlines and got some great laughs! The second show? That’s when the magic happened. I had so much fun and my energy was off the hook! It was like the nerves completely dissolved from the first show, flipped the script, and came back ready to play! I improvised a little, added a few extra punchlines and for my grand finale dance and musical comedy jokes I went full force and left everything I had on that stage.
As a performer, there’s no greater joy than knowing you did the absolute best you could’ve done and you left a piece of yourself on that stage. I put my whole heart into this special. I talked about my family, moving to Middle East, marrying into an Arab family as well as deeper topics like Islamophobia. Two sold-outs crowds were along for the ride from start to finish.
I’m hoping that Araby by Nature will be released early 2018. It’s really a fish out a water narrative who takes a leap of faith and in turn becomes…well… Araby by Nature!
A New Yorker in Dubai 