Hilarious Habibis

The Hollywood Improv's FIRST EVER stand-up showcase featuring Middle Eastern/North African [MENA] comedians.

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Yalla Habibis!

Hilarious Habibis is the Hollywood Improv’s FIRST EVER stand-up comedy showcase featuring primarily MENA (Middle Eastern/North African) comics.

The show aims to bring together a diverse group of artists and audiences to laugh about everything, from brown parent trauma and cultural hiccups to AMC commercials and lube.

What began as a way for MENA comedians to get in front of agents and managers has evolved into something so much bigger: a countercultural hub for the MENA community in LA and beyond.

Meet Your Hosts

Gena is a Syrian-Mexican-American comedian, writer and show producer based in Los Angeles.
She’s currently a regular at the Hollywood Improv, the Westside Comedy Theater, The Crow, and a plethora of indie venues around LA. At the Improv, she co-produces Hilarious Habibis, a quarterly standup showcase that exclusively features Middle Eastern talent. The show was recently featured in the New York Comedy Festival, SF Sketchfest, the LA Times, and AlAraby TV.
Gena performs comedy several times a week and you can catch her doing sets at major clubs around town as well as in various bars, cafes, garages, attics, basements, and back-alleys. Hope you’re into that!

Called "up-and-coming" by the LA Times, Lynn Maleh is a Syrian-American TV writer and standup comedian whose last name means salty, which she is. She's written for “Act Your Age” on Netflix, The Onion, Reductress, and McSweeney’s and has performed on Don’t Tell Comedy, The New York Comedy Festival, San Francisco’s Sketchfest, and a few times in Brad Pitt’s old backyard. Her podcast “CleoPODtra” was featured in NPR and named “New & Noteworthy” by Apple Podcasts. She co-created and co-produces Hilarious Habibis, the first ever Middle Eastern standup showcase at The Hollywood Improv.

We’ve Got Press

Hilarious Habibis was featured on Al-Araby TV and Arab News and written about in the LA Times, Philadelphia Weekly, Discover Los Angeles, Culture LA, The Comedy Bureau, In The Know LA, Do LA, Between East, and more.