John Achkar is a wildly successful comedian for Arabic speaking audiences, and his Fringe show His country is collapsing. He’s having a baby. So obviously, this is the right year for a Lebanese comedian you’ve never heard of to try English stand-up for the first time has an extensively descriptive title that does the job of outlining the show for me.
Achkar endeavours to deliver the ‘layered comedy’ that the Fringe is known to value, while testing if it is possible to translate his humour into English on the basis of our shared stories extending beyond the boundaries of language. He entirely succeeds in this goal with a beautifully hilarious transcultural piece that discusses his role in the arrival of his daughter, passport troubles, moments of internet virality, and his experience being matched with a BetterHelp therapist from South Alabama.
With his Fringe run a success, this additional one night only set at Underbelly reflected on his experience of the festival as a whole as a newcomer to the English-speaking stand-up scene, despite his existing fame in the Arabic speaking comedy scene. This included an amusing appreciation for the amenities of the venue which he had missed during his humbling experience with Just the Tonic.
This reflection also humorously (and simultaneously quite poignantly) discussed some of the response his piece had received from reviewers. Voicing his bafflement at remarks about him having ‘considerable encouragement from fellow countrymen’ — highlighting the double standard in which support for diasporic performers can be viewed, astutely noting if he was English and a lot of people that looked English were laughing it wouldn’t have warranted comment. Then also sharing his bewilderment at being described as a ‘mainstream comedian through-and-through’ whose show is not ‘art’ despite him having ‘a biography that most Fringe comics would kill for, including his experiences in war-torn Lebanon.’
I had the opportunity to ask Achkar more about this part of his experience at the Fringe. He mentioned that, with many friends from the same region performing a diverse range of amazing stories at the Fringe, he was just ‘showcasing another element.’ Though overall saying he ‘loved it’ and found the Fringe to be ‘life changing,’ with the development of the show being ‘a marathon not a short run’ given how it had grown and evolved over the course of the month.
Achkar’s comedy at the Fringe gives the delightful opportunity for a diverse range of audiences to laugh about common experiences, as well as some of his own more unique ones.
John Achkar: His country is collapsing… has now finished its run at Fringe 2026.
Image by Jörg Angeli on Unsplash.
