The IMA launches its “comedy club”

Over the course of a weekend, the Arab World Institute becomes an open stage and features 15 stand-up artists. Artists with mixed humour who play with codes and traditions between Paris, Marrakech, New York and Abidjan. Among them, some have been discovered on the web, others on television or in open stages.

An event that will close with the awarding of an IMA humor prize, and will present two workshops for the public. One entitled “Instruction manual for humor”, will provide an overview of the humorist profession through insights of professionals.The second will introduce the new generation of comedians from Youtube and Instagram.

Here are 5 talents to discover during these two days:

Nadia Roz

Passionate about theatre since she was a child, Nadia Roz started with a degree in performing arts, then worked in an office for a few years before trying to become a comedian. She showed her first shows in few theaters in Paris, more or less known. But it is in the humor festival Marrakech of laughter in 2015 that she explodes on stage with her crazy characters: from the nice scum, to the silicon girl, through the Disney princesses and the veiled sports coach who offers gymnastics courses for housewives, Nadia is not afraid to play with clichés. In 2017, she wrote a show called “ça fait du bien”, which she even presented at the famous Olympia stage in Paris. 

 

Laure Domenge

Laura Domenge is a Franco-Moroccan actress and comedian. She started acting at a very early age, joining the “sales gosses” children’s troupe at the age of ten. This experience led her to perform at the Bobino for two years, then on an American tour. At the age of 19, she founded her own company “les strapantins” and wrote her first show “quai de scène” which was performed for two years at the Théâtre du Ranelagh in Paris. Recently, she made herself known on the youtube channel Lolywood where she attacks sexist clichés. She is currently presenting her show in different regions of France, and the “Laure Domenge & Friends” set every Monday at the Barbès Comedy Club.

 

Samia Orosemane

French actress of Tunisian origin, Samia discovered theatre at college and decided to continue her training after her baccalaureate at the Conservatoire national supérieur d’art dramatique in Paris. However, she eventually stops because she is unable to combine her studies with her supporting job to become actresses. Then, she becomes a nanny but the call for comedy becomes too strong that she decides to go back on stage with her own show “Samia et les 40 comiques”. A mixed set where she is accompanied by artists she admires. In 2014, she makes herself known on Youtube through a video made after the Ottawa bombings in which she calls on fundamentalists to stop using religion to commit atrocious acts. Today, she performs with her show “Women of Colour”, in which she tackles subjects such as the veil, communitarianism and mixed marriages.

 

Lenny M’bunga

Contrary to the title of his show “Diasporalement vôtre” (“diasporacally yours”), Lenny M’bunga’s humour is for everyone. French humorist of Congolese origin, his sketches are imbued with his double culture and humorously address social issues such as colonization, the relationship of Africans with France, or the dictatorship in some African countries. By making fun of clichés about race and identity, he manages to make us laugh and think.

 

Yacine Belhousse

Yacine Belhousse began stand-up comedy in the 2000s, after her aborted his studies in biology, which inspired him  a first sketch about prehistoric men. In 2006, he joined the “Jamel Comedy Club”, with whom he toured for three years. He staged his first solo show three years later and was part of the cast of “Bref” in 2011. Among the subjects he tackles are the fear of flying and cultural differences between Quebec and France.