August 13, 2026 at Pleasance Courtyard, Upstairs
Hasan Al-Habib is an immediately intense stage presence. He can jump between accents and voices, slipping fully into the construct that comedy historian Oliver Double calls “instant character”, where a comedian becomes the person in their story, rather than just quoting that person. Al-Habib can give us psychological whiplash with how fast he jumps from one instant character to another, but it’s never a character comedy piece, just anecdotes told with major commitment to bringing every aspect to life.
It’s an autobiographical hour, centred on one event from earlier this year, then going back into his history, sometimes all the way to childhood, to explain how they got here. The journey introduces us to various members of his family, people he meets in his neighbourhood, his girlfriend, his friends. They all have their own perspectives and ways of speaking, and they all come alive, in different ways, in Al-Habib’s storytelling.
The hour is almost deceptively well-structured, in that I got so engrossed in the different threads and characters that I didn’t notice how he’d given us every piece of context needed to understand the climax, until we got there. When we did get there, the nature of the ending was unexpected and emotionally resonant – possibly in the “hour stand-up show with a serious bit 45 minutes in” formula, but he deliberately undercuts that in a couple of funny ways.
The show touches on some political topics, mostly because being Muslim in the UK is extremely politicized by poisonous discourse, so any story about his Muslim family will be politicized. But the underlying message is a complex one about forgiveness, grief, psychological effects of abuse that’s tangled up with love, and the perennial life dilemma of knowing when to leave. There’s also a theme around truth and lies, honesty and gaslighting, in stand-up comedy and in real-life interactions. And there are some jokes about France, and about Uber drivers. So something for everyone.
Dave Baillie