The Laughter Factory turns 30: the Dubai comedy club that gave Jack Whitehall his first overseas gig

The Laughter Factory, the Dubai stand-up club that has hosted Jack Whitehall, Kevin Bridges, Joe Lycett and Jason Manford, celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2026. Co-founded in 1996 by former touring DJ Gail Clough and business partner Duncan, it began at the Hyatt Regency Deira and now runs across the city at various venues. Gail told What’s On how a DJ ended up running one of the region’s longest-standing comedy nights, which future stars passed through, and what’s planned for the anniversary. Before comedy, Gail spent seven years DJing around the world. She says she was among the first Western DJs to play in China and to cross into East Berlin after the Wall fell. “I think I was one of the world’s first diversity hires,” she says. “There were no women DJs in the 80s. Can you believe DJing was a job that no one wanted.” The pair expected a modest turnout. Almost 500 people came. “There were no online sales, so I was counting cash on the door before I got on stage to host,” she says. “Duncan was putting out chairs… I accidentally took my handbag on stage. I forgot I wasn’t in a DJ booth.” Early mentoring came from Don Ward, founder of London’s Comedy Store. His best advice, borrowed from a Jam lyric, was to give the public what it wants. His worst was “Have the fish”, delivered on a trip to India. Jack Whitehall and Kevin Bridges both played the club in 2008, aged 20. For each of them it was their first show outside the UK. “They both looked like a deer in the headlights when they got on stage,” Gail says, before adding that both took to Dubai audiences immediately. Joe Lycett arrived in 2015, when his TV profile was already rising. That fits the club’s booking model: established acts whose television careers are taking off but who are still playing small and mid-sized rooms. Jason Manford still returns, and he’s the comic Gail says she’s proudest of. “He still finds time to support small clubs like the Laughter Factory,” she says. After 30 years, she argues, a regular, comedy-literate crowd lets comics “do a more interesting set”.