Maysoon Zayid's Funny Arabs gig at the Epstein
Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival’s Funny Arabs brings New York based Arab comedienne Maysoon Zayid to Liverpool for the first time this month. She'll be playing the Epstein Theatre on November 25. Funny Arabs is billed as "a laugh about living in the West and being Arab at the same time, from marriage to politics, family to TV, food to romance and celebrity culture." Actress and professional stand up comedian Maysoon Zayid has featured on Comedy Central’s The Watch List and PBS’s America at a Crossroads: Muslim Comics Stand Up. Maysoon, who lives with cerebral palsy, draws on her experience of disability and the trials of being a female American born to Palestinian parents for her comedy act. She has performed stand-up in top New York clubs, and has toured extensively in the USA as well as Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. In April 2001, she founded Maysoon’s Kids, a scholarship and wellness program for disabled and wounded refugee children and orphans in Palestine. As well as all that, she is the co-founder and executive producer of the New York Arab American Comedy Festival, and currently a full-time on air contributor to Countdown with Keith Olbermann on Current TV. Razanne Carmey, director of Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival said: “LAAF is excited to bring Maysoon Zayid to Liverpool to raise the profile of Arab comedy in the UK. Obviously most UK Arabs speak English and have learned to laugh at English jokes, and now it’s time for the English to experience Arab humour. "Arabs have had their fair share of bad publicity – often underserved – but comedy can help turn around this prejudice, change public perceptions and forge a greater understanding.” Find out more at www.maysoon.com