Dubomedy Arts School - Fall Term begins Sat, Sept 29

Dubomedy Arts School News: Fall term class schedule, extension programs & new venue….

After returning from a full summer tour, performing and teaching in 6 countries, Dubomedy are proud to be back in the UAE to announce their 5th Season and Dubomedy Arts School’s (DAS) Fall Term! We have trained hundreds and hundreds of students internationally and locally and are happy to kick off the new school year! We have made some exciting adjustments: added additional coaching for advanced stand up comedy students and public speaking year round in English and Arabic, welcomed comedian Omar Ismail to our coaching team, are geared up to launch our extension programs in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, Hollywood acting coach Bashar Atiyat returns and are moving our Dubai classes to a new venue, TRAFFIC!

We were rated "Best Classes to take in Dubai" by Timeout Magazine and received an award from DIDF for our contributions to the local arts community. Please see the detailed schedule below. For more info about classes, affordable fees and our highly qualified team of professional teachers feel free to email us: LOL@vivadubai.com. All performance classes will end with a final show on Sat, Nov 17 at TRAFFIC Space. Our end of term “Mix Tape” Shows are always packed houses, last term we had an audience of over 250 people attend. They have become a staple in the Dubai Arts Community.

FALL TERM COURSES & SCHEDULE:                                                                                                                

COMEDY

8 week courses with added coaching and final performance

*Comedy 101: Beginning Stand Up Comedy performance, writing & Improv- Adults Only

Saturdays, Sept 29 – Nov 17

2:00-3:30pm at TRAFFIC Space

AED 1000

Ever wanted to try your hand at stand up comedy? Have a fear of speaking in public that you like to overcome? Want to learn the basics of improv? Want to meet like-minded people and become a part of the local comedy community? Want to learn comedy from professional comedians with years of comedy coaching experience internationally? We've got you covered!

*The Graduates 102: Intermediate-Advanced Stand Up Coaching- Adults Only

On-going Saturdays beginning Sept 29 – runs all year round. English and Arabic.

2:30-4:00pmat TRAFFIC

AED 600

This course is open to 101 graduates or those with stand up experience. This year we have a new format and training sessions will be designed based upon each individual student's needs. From small group to private coaching sessions, from comedians to business professionals, from comedy to public speaking and script editing.

IMPROV!!

8 week course with added coaching and final performance

Sat, Sept 29-Nov 17

4:30-6:00pm at TRAFFIC

AED 1000

Our famed Improv Jam class focuses on ensemble based theater games and short form improvisational comedy! Improvisation isn’t just an excellent tool for performers, it’s a life skill. The key objectives of this course are to discover the fundamentals of improvisational comedy, improve your storytelling skills, learn techniques to think quickly on your feet and to be more creative all while relieving stress and having fun in a supportive environment! This spirited, energizing course is open to all levels, from just for fun to those wishing to move towards joining our professional Improv Revolution troupe! It will end with a final performance.

NYC TAP DANCE & BODY BEATS

Full 8 Week Programs with added rehearsals and final performance. Classes taught by Broadway, MTV’s “The Grind”, STOMP Veteran Mina Liccione.

Saturdays, Sept 29- Nov 17

Dubai Marina Mall - Kadomz Studios

AED 850

10:30-11:30am- NYC Tap & Body Beats- Level 1- Adults & Teens

11:30-12:30pm- NYC Tap & Body Beats- Level 2- Adults & Teens

12:30-1:30pm- NYC Tap & Body Beats- Level 3- Adults & Teens

LEARN TO SPEAK EMIRATI by Dubomedy: Level 1 for Beginners

Saturdays and Wednesdays beginning the end of October

Saturdays 11:30am-1:30pm l Wed 7:30-9:30pm at our JLT Location

ACTING FOR FILM & TELEVISION- 1 week special intensive with guest Acting coach Bashar Atiyat. October 21-27.

This exciting 1 week acting workshop will be lead by special guest acting coach Bashar Atiyat. Coming from an Arab Bedouin Mid-Eastern Origin, but working in Hollywood for the last 19 years, Bashar had established himself in Hollywood as one of the main Film Consultants and Arab Actors, to work and consult on several big Hollywood budget productions. Named by the Media as The Bedouin In Hollywood, Bashar is becoming one of the main Go-To figures in Hollywood for Film Consultancy for Culture, Religion, Location, Cast, Production, and more, for projects that relate to the Middle East Region and for the Arab and Islamic Culture related films. Bashar has worked on several Hollywood Pictures, such as “SYRIANA” with George Clooney and Matt Damon directed by Oscar Winner Stephen Gaghan. He also worked with the Coppola Brothers, Christopher Coppola and Frank Coppola on “Bel Air”, Director Ken Harrison on “THE WEDDING”, and several other projects, such as “TOUARQE”, “WISHBONE”, and recently the new TV Thriller “ADPD” . Recently he was hired as the Acting Coach on the Award Winning Script “TINA”, to train the main character TINA on set in Dubai, and Co-Produced two Feature Films in Hollywood, “West Ghost Studios” and “The Landlord”.

PRIVATE COACHING: Coaching is always available throughout the year for amateurs and professionals. From stand up comedians to actors to script editing to business professionals to public speaking to dance, you name it. From one on one to small groups. Arabic. English. Hindi/Urdu. You choose the trainer and we’ll design the best coaching plan for you and/or your team.

MORE INFO/REG: www.dubomedy.com | LOL@vivadubai.com | 050 44 00 99 4 | 04 374 6789

REGISTRATION: Our last 2 open registration sessions are Sat, Sept 15 and 22 from 1:30-2:30pm at our JLT office. Please email us for directions or call 04 374 6789.

Road to Edinburgh receives rave reviews from Time Out Dubai

Whose joke is it anyway? by Mina Liccione

Whose joke is it anyway?

I have often heard comedians narrate instances of having written and performed a fantastic joke only to find out that another comedian got there first. Many comedians have told me that they had written the joke without EVER seeing the other comedian perform it before, and yet the joke was almost identical!

Irwin Handleman, a TV comedy writer, gives an example:

"A few weeks ago, after President Obama showed his birth certificate to Donald Trump and the other racists, The Onion's headline was: "Afterbirthers Demand To See Obama's Placenta."

A fine joke. But then Bill Maher went on twitter and wrote: "I see The Onion stole my placenta joke that I did in Feb 2010 HBO special"

Wow. Okay. I've never heard of The Onion being accused of stealing in the past. It also seemed a bit presumptuous that everyone has seen that HBO special.

Well, it turns out that The Onion headline was actually a link to something they wrote in August of 2009. Apparently The Onion recycles its content when news stories pop again. They actually did the joke 6 months before Bill did!

Does this mean that Bill stole from The Onion? Of course not. Just like it was dumb to think they stole from him. It happens all the time. In fact, just to show how ridiculous the whole thing is, The Daily Show ended up doing the exact same joke."

It is evident that these things do happen. As the old phrase says “great minds think alike”. And, I feel, comic minds observe alike. However, it is impossible to fully understand this until it’s happened to you!

About three years back I wrote material about being an American living in Dubai. I wrote a series of jokes about my ignorance of the Middle East and my attempts at trying to learn to speak and sing in Arabic. One evening, after going to an Arabic restaurant and seeing a bunch of people dancing to the drums with their hands in the air I thought it would be great to do a bit on Arabic dance. There are a lot of traditional Arabic dance moves but the most common one is where your hand is in the air and it looks like you are screwing on a light bulb. I went home that night to think of what the other dance moves looked like and it hit me - the foot turns as if they are putting out a cigarette! I then thought it would be fun to have the audience lift their right arm and screw in a light bulb then stamp their right foot, put out a cigarette and on the count of three shout “habibi”! I put all the pieces together, added a beatbox rhythm and created a ‘habibi song’ and the whole audience did a group dance. The crowd loved it, I loved it and I performed it many times since.

Last week, I was hosting a show and performed the Arabic dance bit to introduce famed comedian and friend, Aron Kader of The Axis of Evil. After the show Aron told me that one of his fans mentioned that my joke was similar to his Arabic dance joke. I quickly realized that the observation of screwing in a light bulb and putting out a cigarette was identical to his! I was stunned because I genuinely remembered the night I came up with it! I had also heard of instances where people will write a joke that they heard someone say a long time ago and subconsciously think they came up with it. But in this instance, that wasn’t the case in point as I had never seen Aron perform it before. I instantly discussed this matter with Aron openly and honestly. He knew I was being sincere and ended our chat with a quip in true Aron style “no foul, no harm.”

I was very grateful that we were able to discuss the situation immediately and quickly reach an amicable conclusion. Without scope for heresy or lingering doubt. Out of respect for him and myself, now that I know he also had this joke I very happily put it to rest and will not perform it again. And that is crux of being true and honest to your art, and a fellow artist.

I’ll elaborate further on this. You see, the subject of tribute jokes and stolen jokes comes up quite often, especially as I am a comedy teacher. As part of our 8 week Stand Up Comedy 101 program we focus on writing, improvisation and performance skills. We don’t allow our students to use “borrowed” material from other comedians or internet jokes. We talk about the structure of a joke, poke fun at truthful life experiences as well as give them weekly writing assignments. By the time they reach the end of the 8 weeks they have generated a great deal of material to choose from. We give them the building blocks in a fun and supportive environment and it has been a huge success. Blatant joke stealing is something we openly discuss and don’t condone it with our students, don’t book comedians who do so on shows we produce, and as comedians ourselves, we aren’t hacks. We practice what we preach so when it came to my attention that my Arabic dance bit was dangerously close to Aron’s joke I literally gasped, as I didn’t want it to appear that I was going against my ethics.

I attended a show where a comedian performed a Gabriel Inglesias joke word for word followed by two Internet jokes and a quote from Austin Powers. I then saw the same comedian perform it again and I spotted more jokes from other comedians and the internet. Clearly, that wasn’t accidental. There was also a recent incident at a local monthly amateur comedy night in Dubai where a first timer took the stage and did a word for word set by a famous British Comedian. As soon as the producer learned the news he addressed it and the community discussed the topic of copying jokes openly online. It ended up being a positive debate and the community had the chance to communicate their thoughts on ethics as to prevent it from happening again.

Comedians will always talk about the same topics because we live in the same world and observe it through comedic lenses. Whether it be talking about relationships, politics, current events, living in a particular city or stereotypes. As a comedy teacher and coach I have had hundreds and hundreds of students come through our program and some of them, who have never met, wrote very similar jokes. Even as we do improvisations and in-class writing exercises, people do come up with similar replies, punch lines and jokes. It happens. However, with that said, there is a huge difference between coming up with the same joke as someone else and watching a video of famous comedians, transcribing their jokes and performing them. THAT isn’t a coincidence, it’s theft.

Delving a little into the history of stand-up comedy, heading back to the Vaudeville Era, many comedians would share jokes, perform similar if not the same jokes and it didn’t really matter. They performed one-liners and moved from city to city so they rarely crossed paths. This was long before television so comedians could perform the same jokes for years. As time progressed people got tired of hearing the same hacked mother-in-law jokes and wanted something substantial. Once comedy started becoming televised they knew that when their jokes aired they would probably be repeated. Similarly, in today’s internet age, comedians have to write new jokes at a much quicker pace.

Kal Raustiala, a Professor at UCLA Law School, made this statement in his essay ‘The Evolving Ethics of Joke Stealing’:

“But as television and the web consumed material faster and faster, and comedians found themselves in direct competition on YouTube and Comedy Central, stealing original material came to be regarded as unethical, for the same reason any conduct becomes unethical: it does more harm than good. Gradually, comics also learned that allowing all jokes to be considered common property worked as a disincentive to creativity. Nobody was laughing at the old jokes any more, and there needed to be a benefit realized by the comics who wrote new ones.”

So where do we go from here? It seems like the temptation to steal jokes has been around for a long time and many will continue to do so. If you are a budding comedian who wishes to turn professional and wants to perform on television and move forward, the best piece of advice is to keep writing! Even if it doesn’t seem funny at the beginning it’s better to perform jokes in progress that are yours rather than performing stolen jokes. If you still feel you just can’t write jokes but enjoy the performance side you may want to try comedy acting as a script is provided. I’ve seen many comedians decide to go into acting and have been quite successful and happy.

Any great comedian will tell you that it took them about 10 years to really find their comedic voice. If you don’t write your own material and choose to steal jokes you won’t get to that point. Comedy, whether it be writing or performing, is like any other craft. The more you practice, the better you will get. Cheating will just keep you at the same place.

The joke, ultimately, will be on you!

Dubomedy turned 4!

UAE's 1st Professional Comedy Improv Troupe- Feb 29 Show!

Stand Up Showdown- UAE's first regular comedy contest

'Stand Up Showdown' is the UAE's first regular comedy contest! 10 comedians, 4 judges, 2 cowboy time-keepers, 1 referee, some cheerleaders and a whole lotta mayhem! Come join us for a night of great laughs! Oh, and yes, it's FREE admission! When: Friday, Feb 17 Time: 8:00pm Where: Wild Peeta at Trade center (right in front of the Metro station) More info and reservations: LOL@vivadubai.com How much: Free admission

2nd Annual Dubomedy International Performing Arts Festival

Dubomedy set to hold 2nd annual performing arts festival in the UAE

“One stage, One community.”

Over the course of four days, Wednesday, November 30^th – Saturday, December 3^th, Dubomedy and VIVA Arts will be throwing the country’s second annual Performing Arts Festival. Through this festival, envisioned as an interdisciplinary platform for performing artists, Dubomedy Arts aims to provide opportunities for both amateurs and professionals to hone their craft through workshops and panels during the morning while performing original content for a local audience in the matinee and evening shows. This year’s festival has already picked up from its launch last year and will be a host of 12 shows that will feature over 200 performers and will attract an audience of 10,000.


“Nurturing the arts community in Dubai is a cause that is very close to my heart,” says Mina Liccione, artistic director of VIVA Arts and head teacher of Dubomedy Arts School. “Ali, the co-founder of Dubomedy Arts School, and I put together this festival to celebrate, educate and bring the community together for four days of the best this region has to offer in performance art. We look forward to watching this festival grow, diversify and best represent the wonderful blend of cultures and artistic voices the region holds. “

The festival will be off to a rousing start with a night of comedy and dance. The students of Dubomedy Arts School’s NYC tap and body percussion will take to the stage alongside Siobhan’s Irish Dancers and the Comedy 101 and Advanced Stand Up students to form an entertaining performance known as “Mix Tape: Stand Up & Dance!”. Following the Dubomedy Arts School Showcase will be a performance by the UAE’s first and only improvisational comedy troupe, Improv Revolution!

Day 2 of the festival is entitled “Local Theater and Performance Art Night”. The evening will showcase the many artistic genres of diverse local groups and solo artists. The Local Theater portion will include seasoned performers of the Dubai Drama Group and the dramatic chops of teens and young adults in the Youth Theatre Works.

The performance art portion will feature Dubomedy’s ‘From the Page to the Stage’ writers, members of The Poeticians, an intermedia spoken word performance by American poet, Nicholas Karavatos, as well as a special performance by Hind Shoufani. Closing out the performance art journey will be “Mehfil-e-Shama”, a series of Urdu, Hindustani and Sufiana performances headed by Jamal Iqbal and featuring Ayeda Nakvi amongst others.

Only the night does not end there! An Arabic stand-up comedy show entitled “Comedia 3al Wagef” will be held on The Burj Steps which is an innovative amphitheatre style venue that sweeps down from Burj Khalifa opening to majestic views of The Dubai Fountain. Ideal for concerts, corporate and lifestyle events, The Burj Steps embody opulence and elegance with an awe inspiring back drop of Burj Khalifa. This show will be hosted by Ali Al Sayed, will feature an array of Arab comedians from the region and will be headlined by internationally acclaimed comedian from Egypt, Mohamed Salem.

Day 3 of the festival has a very special treat for all, not only is it the UAE’s 40^th National Day, but it also presents a unique artistic experience for the residents of Dubai. The day will begin with a special matinee performance of Experimental Theater! Two local experimental troupes have come together to form a double header of visual delight and storytelling to create an “out of the box” conceptual experience. Resuscitation Theater, Abu Dhabi’s first professional theater troupe directed by Maggie Hannan will present a fresh interpretation of T.S. Elliot’s classic play “The Cocktail Party” as the dreamy Star Too Troupe, directed by Sol Abiad, will present an original piece entitled ‘Who Did it?”.

Later that evening Hollywood legend Michael Winslow, most famous for his role as Sgt. Motor-mouth Jones on Police Academy, will be presenting his first and exclusive comedy performance in Dubai! Winslow is referred to as the man of 10,000 voices and performed to sold out crowds at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival and has been both seen and heard in hundreds of movies.

Day 4 is the final and most active day at the festival as it presents workshops, panel discussions, poetry readings in English and Arabic with special guest Iranian-American poet Bahareh Amidi, respected poet Ali Matar Al Mazrouei of RAK TV and renown Arab poet Mohammed Al Mulla whose poetry has been the lyrics of over 14 famous songs that were produced in cooperation with great Artists such as Mohammad Abdo, Rashid Al Majid, Nawal, George Wasoof and may other well known artists. The final festival day will also include a charity event for children with special needs and a music concert on The Burj Steps featuring some of the UAE’s best talent to close this festival. Headlining this year’s concert will be soul singing sensation Hamdan Al Abri.

“Arts festivals tend to open both audience and artists’ minds to the possibilities of art. The sheer diversity of talent represented here is sure to amaze our audience for years to come. We are providing a platform for these artists to start a dialogue with their audience and to take the first steps towards shaping an industry for local artists” says producer Ali Al Sayed.

The Dubomedy Arts School has been offering courses in comedy, body percussion and tap dance since 2008. The tri-yearly semesters end in student performances, often the first time many of the performers have been on stage. This year, these performances will be incorporated into the much larger umbrella of the Dubomedy International Performing Arts Festival and through this, hopes to reach a larger audience. For more information and the full Festival schedule please visit www.dipaf.com or call 04 374 6789.