New York Arab-American Comedy Festival

The mission of the New York Arab American Comedy Festival is to combat the negative portrayal of Arabs and Muslims in media.

Another goal of the Festival is to increase the visibility of talented Arab-American artists as well as attracting positive attention for the Arab-American and Muslim communities. A first ever Industry Showcase of the New York Arab-American Comedy Festival took place in Hollywood, CA, in January 2006, and was extremely successful in introducing writers, directors and actors to casting directors and agents in the heart of the US television and film industry.

We seek to build on the success of the past two decades of our Festival by continuing to present Arab-Americans and Muslims in a way that is both positive and hilarious. These accomplishments have shown that our Arab-American and Muslim artists are crossing over into more mainstream entertainment venues.

In 2020 when Covid first hit, and standup comedy venues nationwide were closed down, the NYAACF managed to virtually keep our doors open by holding our first and only virtual comedy festival for our 17th year. More recently our festival shows have sold out and our audiences become much more diverse. The festival commits to being held in accessible venues so that we can accommodate audience members of all abilities. The co-founders are generous with their time, which they often donate to community events and causes.