Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

The way Saaniya Abbas looks is important: small and cute, with her hair fashioned into two cat ears to amplify the quirky effect. 

However the sweet image conceals a comedian with quite edgy, even dark, material – the Trojan Horse of it being delivered by such a butter-wouldn’t-melt personality making it all the more potent.

That she’s a Muslim based in Dubai, an emirate not exactly  known for its progressive free-speech atmosphere, makes every transgression seem that bit more significant, too. She is billed as the first comic from the UAE ever to have a solo show at the Fringe.

Abbas defines herself as a ‘Haram Muslim’ living a lifestyle that traditionalists would ‘frown upon’, she says with understatement. She’s definitely going to Jahannam, the Islamic hell.

Educated by Christian nuns in the Indian Himalayas, where she learned nothing about sex, she’s making up for it now, with plenty of tales about dating following a divorce, Plenty Of Fish being her app of choice. Meanwhile, her act-out of a Middle Eastern sex therapist, too embarrassed to broach the subject she’s suppose to be expert on, is delightfully awkward.

Yet we Westerners have gaps in our knowledge, too, and she’s  educating British audiences on some of the realities of Empire, among many playful segments teasing race and nationality. 

Abbas is a warm and charming presence who makes an easy connection with the audience, indulging in just enough crowd work to give the hour a bit of spontaneity and fluidity, without distracting from the show she’s written. 

A few things are familiar: I feel we’ve been hearing the same ’72 virgins’ jokes since 9/11, and there are certainty a lot of medical-probes-up-orifices material this year, though it’s understandable why comics would want to talk about that. 

Her angle – again not entirely fresh – is that the doctor carrying out the colonoscopy recognised her, mid-process. It’s not that surprising as she has more than 500,000 followers on social media, almost all men and many of them creepy, it’ll shock you to learn.

With assured shows like this, that skimp on neither punchlines or insight, her profile is sure to grow even more.

Review date: 15 Aug 2025
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Gilded Balloon Patter House