What’s On previews improv comedy in Abu Dhabi from the Dubomdy team. Find out about the stand up comedy at Abu Dhabi Golf Club, Khalifa City.

When six Dubomedy comics head to the capital for a night of gags in May, they won’t be working from a carefully crafted script. Instead, they’ll be cracking impromptu jokes based on subjects given to them by the audience. Mina Liccione (below) reveals how she and the troupe plan to make people laugh on a night of improv comedy.

Improv is all about the audience and the subjects they want our comedians to talk about. During the evening, we’ll ask the crowd for subjects and themes. If you’ve seen the TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway, you’ll know what to expect. Sometimes the crowd can be really interactive and they come up with interesting subjects, but sometimes you really have to pull it out of them. We’re good improvisers but we need the audience to help – if we get a suggestion that isn’t that strong, we’ll do our best to work with it.

Sometimes we have to filter. If we’re given a vulgar or religious subject from the crowd, we won’t run with it. We have a lot to choose from and usually there’s plenty of people shouting subjects at us that we can cover.

We have six troupe members performing in Abu Dhabi, including an American, a Saudi, an Emirati and a British comic. It’s a good mix.

The troupe have been training at Dubomedy Arts School for four years now. They’re really good and gel well together. They know their sense of humours and their strengths so they push each other. They’ve all graduated from Dubomedy, some also do stand-up, while some just do improv – it’s their specialty.

We want to bring the audience on stage. We’re keen to make it even more interactive for them.

I’ve been teaching improv for 11 years and have found that many beginners feel the need to apologise when they first try it. They think what they’ve said wasn’t good enough. We tell them don’t try to be funny, just say it – whatever you say will take you somewhere. You have to trust that your ideas are good and are as funny as anyone else’s.

May 8
Abu Dhabi Golf Club, Khalifa City, Abu Dhabi, 7pm. Tel: (02) 5588990. Taxi: Abu Dhabi Golf Club. adgolfclub.com, dubomedy.com