Standup comedian Saaniya Abbas. Artwork by Hyphen. Photograph courtesy of Saaniya Abbas
The standup talks dogs, divorce, tattoos and her upcoming Edinburgh fringe show Hellarious
Special correspondent
31 July 2025
Saaniya Abbas, 36, is a standup comedian from India. Abbas works as an art director and copywriter in Dubai and is a rising star in the comedy scene in the UAE.
Her standup show Hellarious, covering topics ranging from divorce and internet fame to the concept of hell, will be on at the Edinburgh fringe from 30 July to 25 August.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
How does your weekend start?
Usually, I’m woken up by my dog because she needs to poop. I take her out in really terrible hot, humid weather. It’s like hell on earth — Dubai in the summer is really bad. So we go on a walk, and once she has decided to grace the earth with her poop, we finally manage to come back up [to my flat] and that’s how my weekend starts.
How long have you had your dog?
She just turned five — I got her from a rescue place when she was about two and a half months old. Her name is Eleanor Rigby, because I really like the Beatles, and my previous dog was Penny Lane, so I kind of have a theme now. She actually likes to sing as well. She’s not a great singer, but she tries, which is what’s important.
Do you join in?
Usually, she sings when I’m playing the ukulele. Even if she’s fast asleep, she will get up, come and just start screaming, howling, into my ukelele. When I’m playing the piano, she’ll come and start playing it too. It’s really weird, but it’s kind of cool.
Is this your first time at the fringe?
I’ve been to Edinburgh a bunch of times, but I only got to see the fringe last year for four days, and it was just the craziest thing I’ve ever seen. I saw a lot of alternative comedy, which I had never been exposed to before. For what I’m doing at Edinburgh [this year], I’m more focused on my mental state, really, because I still have a full-time job. I couldn’t get a whole month off, so I’ve had to say I’m going to work remotely. I have to really be prepared to have a very disciplined one month.
Your dog would really love the weather in Edinburgh.
I wish I could take my dog with me. She would really love all of the UK, because there’s so much grass and greenery and trees. I saw this video on Instagram in which this one hippy lady is like: “I call on Mother Earth Gaia,” and as she’s talking to this plant, the plant moves with the wind and then touches her face. I was like, well, I need to try this, because that’s hilarious. And I looked outside, and there’s not a single tree in sight. There’s a fake tree. It’s actually a radio phone tower, but it’s made to look like a tree.
Clockwise from left: the Edinburgh fringe, Dave Chappelle and the Beatles. Artwork by Hyphen. Photographs courtesy of Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Getty Images
How did you go from art director to standup?
My whole comedy career began because I got divorced. I never wanted to be a comedian. It never crossed my mind, even as a joke, and then it just randomly happened. When I was getting divorced, I was trying to distract myself, and someone told me about this standup comedy workshop, and I was like: “Well, that would be a good distraction.” So I went for it, and I enjoyed it, and then I started joking about my divorce, and that really helped me, because, you know, you can take any story and turn it into a funny story, and that’s what I did with my divorce. And so, for a while, all my jokes were just about my divorce. And I remember once I was coming back home, and one guy from my building was in the elevator with me, and he looked at me, and goes: “Oh, my God, you are the divorced comedian!” I was like, God, I need to start joking about other things.
What’s the standup scene like in Dubai?
In all of UAE, there’s maybe, like, 25 regular comedians. That’s all. We don’t have more than that, which is great because I get a lot of stage time, but it’s not great because you don’t get exposed to really top-level comedy.
What is the best live act you’ve seen recently?
There’s not much in Dubai unless it’s like huge comics who are being flown over for arena gigs. I saw Trevor Noah. He did his latest special, which is awesome. I was in New York just over a year ago and I saw Dave Chappelle perform in a really small room, with Kevin Hart and Jimmy Carr opening for him.
What’s the story with your tattoos?
I’ve got an evil Cupid, like devil horns. This is the Cupid that’s always getting me into trouble. And he’s got these demon wings, and he’s like pointing at my heart. And over my heart I’ve got in Latin “Here Be Dragons”, which was used to warn sailors not to go there in old maps. It’s really funny, because I was like: “Don’t nobody come near my heart again.” I’m a Gemini, so I got a second Cupid — one Cupid who gets me into trouble, and then a second Cupid who was about self-love.
I’ve always wanted tattoos because I come from a very artsy family. My mom is an artist. My sister is really into art. People always say: “Oh, what if you get a tattoo and then you get old, and it’s going to look distorted. It’s going to look really ugly when you’re old.” Well, you know what? The rest of me is going to look pretty ugly, too. So I don’t really care.
Last words?
For the light to shine so brightly, there needs to be darkness.