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Egyptian-born, Cambridge-raised, Omar Badawy is a writer for SNL UK who’s full of LOLs such as this zinger: “Bringing an Arab Christian to your parents is like bringing Prince Andrew a 12-year-old … whiskey.”
And yet his parents sent him to a Christian school. Why? When it comes to prophets/profits, Margins come before Muhammad. So they toughened up young Badawy to set him up for success. While he has certainly found it in the past year, thanks to SNL UK, he doesn’t want to get involved. Much of his comedy comes from his aversion to conflict. Which naturally means this hour will put him right in the center of it, it being the center of a far-right march, with him dressed like a Viking on his way to a theme party, facing a major life decision that has both nothing to do with the march and yet everything to do with it.
Along the way, Badawy shows off his joke-writing chops, demonstrating how a newspaper like The Daily Mail could twist any innocent story into an incendiary headline, and provokes equally big laughs from the audience with stories such when he found himself auditioning Muslim men to date his mother.
He previously won the “So You Think You’re Funny” contest at the Fringe in 2021. Five years on, he’s still winning.
Omar Badawy: Guided Detour plays Bunker One at Pleasance Courtyard during the 2026 Edinburgh Fringe.
