Mustafa Algiyadi: Almost Legal Alien Review by Jamie Lerner
In a room that fills 100 with just ten audience members, Mustafa Algiyadi references his unabashed confidence early on in his Edinburgh Fringe show, ‘Almost Legal Alien.’ The show is conversational throughout as Mustafa gets to know the audience, relating to them with his own stories about moving from Libya, a country torn apart by ongoing civil wars, to Munich, Germany, where the only things torn apart are one’s bowels from eating too many kebabs.
We may not think of Munich as the place for comedy, but Mustafa has proven any naysayers wrong. Throughout his 45 minutes of mostly traditional stand-up comedy, Mustafa works in punchlines and callbacks effortlessly, to the point that by the end of the show, we don’t even realize that he’s brought the show full circle on his search for a ‘powerful’ passport.
Without giving away the end of the show, Mustafa begins and ends the show with somewhat of a ruse. What’s the best way to break the ice at 16:30 on a rainy day? A magic trick, of course! But quickly, he fails at the trick, ensuring that his audience is there to see him, a comedian, and not a magician. While the trick isn’t ‘magical,’ per se, his ability to quickly make the audience laugh, is.
Mustafa discusses his move from a country ‘known for terrorism’ (in his words) to the Western world as he vies for both a passport and partner. Through various run-ins with airport security and early experiences with sexual repression, Mustafa endears the audience to him so that we’re on his side on his search for inclusion, belonging and a visa.
As an up-and-coming comedian, Mustafa makes the best of a rainy day, a small audience, and a giant room as he invites the audience into his story as an ‘almost legal alien,’ making it well worth a watch.
‘Almost Legal Alien’ runs everyday at the Edinburgh Fringe at 16:30 at Just the Tonic Nucleus.
