Words: Miriam Kirchberger

4 Stars 

Sami Abu Wardeh comes on stage with a frenetic energy that he is admiringly able to maintain throughout the show. His background as clown is evident in his physical comedy which he uses to joke about his upbringing, politics and culture. 

The audience follows him and his family when they flee from Palestine to London and then move to Dubai. Not only do we get sharp observations of the various places he has called home, we get hilarious impressions of people. Recurring themes of the show are ginger converts; his father’s advice on tolerance, testicles and AK74s; and Will Smith. When he seems to steer away from his own material to recycle jokes about Catholic priests, the show briefly loses some of its originality.

He excels at the personal and manages to weave the stories together to come full circle at the end. He also gets political, talking about the occupation of Palestine, former dictators and current UK politicians. For a show that doesn’t shy away from any topics and a comedian that declares that he has no problem when the audience turns against him, I would have loved more of his commentary on these sections. 

The show’s title promises antagonism but he repeats that he is intent on punching up, not punching down which is put to the test when he is doing voice-acting work for an audio book. It’s clear that he enjoys the tension of what can and cannot be said and revels in the audience’s reaction.

Sami Abu Wardeh Hates You
Beside at Pleasance Courtyard 
22:00
5-16, 18-30 August