“Otherness”, as in different cultures, languages, traditions, and backgrounds often creates misunderstanding for those unfamiliar with it. How many times have you heard that Arab mothers are overbearing or too strict? That women are only expected to stay home and raise families? Or that everyone in the Middle East talks, acts, prays, and behaves the same way?
Increasingly, first and second-generation Arab content creators are using humor and parody to challenge those assumptions. Through exaggerated sketches rooted in real-life immigrant experiences, they are helping audiences better understand cultures that are often reduced to headlines, stereotypes, or fleeting clips on social media.
TikTok and Instagram, especially, have become playgrounds for some very funny and clever Arab comedians who use their experiences growing up in immigrant households to entertain, educate, and spark conversations about culture, identity, and belonging. While their sketches exaggerate family dynamics, their humor is deeply relatable as it showcases the balancing act between preserving tradition and honoring their parents’ expectations.
Here are a few of my favorite creators currently turning immigrant family life into comedy gold:
@Jaurjicomedy. With almost 540,000 followers on Instagram and 700k-plus followers on TikTok, this Canadian creator of Egyptian and Iraqi descent, captures the cultural clashes between immigrant parents and their Western-born children through hilarious sketches like “Asking Your Immigrant Parents for a Verification Code,” “How Immigrant Parents React After Their Kid Loses A Spelling Bee,” “Immigrants After Getting Their Citizenship,” “Bringing Your Report Card Home,” “Playing Monopoly with Immigrant Parents,” etc.
While exaggerated for comedic effect, many of these sketches are rooted in real-life experiences that reflect the balancing act that many second generation children face while trying to connect with parents raised in entirely different worlds.
@yourauntysalma. With 173,000 followers on Insta, this Australian-based content creator known for signature red scarf and exaggerated “Middle Eastern auntie” persona, leans fully into the chaos of immigrant family. Sketches like “Auntie Salma After Seeing the Water Bill,” “Your Family the Minute You Get Engaged,” “Auntie Salma Tries Acai Junky,” and more, capture the unsolicited advice and loud opinions of relatives in immigrant family. She is edgy, unapologetic, slightly exhausting, but true to character.
@mayahussein may be my new social media favorite. With 633,000 followers on Insta and 1.4 million on TikTok, this Ontario-based comedian has turned ordinary immigrant family moments into relatable comedy. Sketches like “Teaching Arabic to Children,” “When An Arab Mom Opens a Package With Your Name On It,” or “When you’re doing the dishes and your Arab mom asks you to do the dishes,” feel more like real life than scripted jokes.
As a first-generation immigrant raising American-born children, I wasn’t sure how I would feel about some of these comedians. Watching their sketches forced me to question my own behavior as a parent. Do I actually sound like that? Is that how my kinds interpret some of my rules and reactions? Do they roll their eyes behind my back, or explain my quirks with, “Well, you know, my mom wasn’t born here…”
Instead of feeling offended, though, I find myself laughing. Beneath the exaggerated accents and over-the-top family dynamics, I admire these creators who are using humor to make immigrant experiences feel personal and approachable.
Check them out, and drop me a note if there are other immigrant comedians or creators you think I should follow.
This really resonated with me, especially the part where you wondered how your children interpret the rules and reactions that feel completely normal to you.
I came to the U.S. at eight, so I’ve spent most of my life somewhere between the parent’s world and the child’s world. I also dabbled in stand-up for about two years, which is actually what made me click on this piece. I was always fascinated by how comedy can take something deeply specific to one family or culture and somehow make a room full of strangers recognize themselves in it.
Humor was often what made that cultural gap easier to cross in my own family too. My grandmother spoke only Kannada and my wife doesn’t speak it, and I used to deliberately mistranslate between them just to make my grandmother hit me and laugh. The joke only worked because they understood each other well enough without the words.
I think that’s what makes this kind of comedy work when it’s done well. The exaggeration isn’t necessarily mocking the immigrant parent. Sometimes it makes visible the love, friction, absurdity, and constant translation that can all exist inside the same family at once.
Thank you for sharing. I grew up in a neighborhood with new Americans from various countries. It influenced me and my understanding of other’s cultures. Shaped who I am today.