Ola Labib
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Ola Labib () is an English comedian. Born in
Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...
, she became a pharmacist after failing to get into medical school, and spent more than seven years working in the
National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...
(NHS). An incident in which she administered the wrong medication to a patient prompted her to reconsider her career, and she became a comedian after a chat with her brothers. She was a finalist during the 2019 Beat the Frog World Series and at the 2021
Funny Women Funny Women is an online and in-person workshop community dedicated to the support of female comedians. It was founded by Lynne Parker (Funny Women), Lynne Parker in 2002 as a reaction to misogynistic comments from a comedy promoter. Funny Women h ...
awards, and performed at the UK's first socially distanced comedy show in July 2020. Her stand-up regularly discusses her experiences as a hijab-wearing Muslim of Sudanese descent. Labib has also presented the 2024 London Eid in the Square festival.


Life and career


Early life and pharmacy

Labib was raised in Portsmouth, England, where she attended a strict Islamic primary school followed by Portsmouth's Priory School, where she was the only African Muslim in the school. Her mother worked twelve-hour shifts as a factory worker, while her father taught mathematics at a secondary school. She has brothers, including one who is a doctor; Ola attempted to get into medical school herself, but was unsuccessful, so became a pharmacist, and took up late shifts at an understaffed hospital. In 2021, she noted that she had been working in hospitals for "over seven years". While working in the NHS, she experienced numerous incidents of racism and bigotry, including one incident where a patient refused to understand her despite Labib talking more and more loudly, before requesting a translator on the incorrect grounds that Labib had an incomprehensible Indian accent. She decided to become a stand-up comedian after giving a patient the medication for a different patient, and said that blunder had made her not eat or sleep for days afterwards. After entering crisis talks with her brothers and telling them that her passions were beauty and comedy, one of them opined that the beauty industry did not suit her, causing her to subsequently fantasise about a career in comedy, particularly during her lowest points at work.


Comedy career

One January, with her birthday impending, Labib applied for every open spot in
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
she could find; her first set was at an open mic at Comedy Balloon, a comedy club based at the Ape and Apple in Manchester. Her set comprised her first visit to a pub, and opened with the line "I bet you've never seen a hijabi in a pub before; I think the last time anyone saw hooded figures going into a pub was
Frodo Frodo Baggins (Westron: ''Maura Labingi'') is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's writings and one of the protagonists in ''The Lord of the Rings''. Frodo is a hobbit of Shire (Middle-earth), the Shire who inherits the One Ring from hi ...
at the
Prancing Pony Bree is a fictional village in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, east of the Shire. Bree-land, which contains Bree and a few other villages, is the only place where Hobbits and Men lived side by side. It was inspired by the name of the Buckingham ...
"; the promoter was a ''Lord of the Rings'' fan and asked her to return, and the joke landed well enough to feature in subsequent sets. For a time, she was billed as "the UK's only Black, Muslim, Sudanese female comedian" and later "the UK's ''first''", though later she tired of the phrase. In 2019, Labib contested the Beat the Frog World Series Final, mounted at the Frog & Bucket in Manchester, using a set based on her experiences as a
hijabi Hijab (, ) refers to head coverings worn by Muslim women. Similar to the mitpaḥat/tichel or snood worn by religious married Jewish women, certain headcoverings worn by some Christian women, such as the hanging veil, apostolnik and kapp, and ...
of Sudanese heritage which contained references to
Shamima Begum Shamima Begum (born 25 August 1999) is a British-born woman who entered Syria to join the Islamic State at the age of 15 in 2015. As of 2024, she is living in al-Roj detention camp in Syria. While enrolled at Bethnal Green Academy, Begum and ...
and grooming gangs. She would return to the premises in July 2020 after that venue was selected to mount the UK's first
socially distanced In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious disea ...
comedy show, performing alongside
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,
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, Sian Davies, and Barbara Nice, though regional restrictions would cause the venue to close again shortly afterward. In 2021, Labib placed third in that year's Funny Women awards, using a set about the prejudices she faced as a Sudanese hijabi. Reviewing her set,
Chortle Chortle is a British comedy website launched in 2000 by Steve Bennett. The site is a major source of comedy news in the UK. It also reviews comedy shows nationwide, including extensively at the annual Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and presents the C ...
's Steve Bennett opined that her set was "slick and well-polished with the exception of the gear-crunching segue 'talking of Sex Bombs, I wasn't one when... . In December 2021, Slim,
Thanyia Moore Thanyia Moore (born 20 December 1982) is an English stand-up comedian and actress. Early life Moore grew up in South London to Jamaican parents. Career Moore began performing comedy in 2012. In 2013 she was named Best Female Newcomer at the (U ...
, Labib,
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,
Eddie Kadi Eddie Kadi (born 18 May 1983) is a British-Congolese comedian, presenter and actor. Early life A resident of South-West London since 1992, he is a past student of Fulham Primary School, Henry Compton Secondary School, William Morris Academy ...
, Nana Ntorinkansah, Stephen Asamoah-duah, David Ohene-Akrasi, and Charles Mensah Bonsu performed at
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as part of ''Mo Gilligan & Friends: The Black British Takeover'', which aired on
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
in October 2022, and in February 2022, Labib withdrew from medical work to focus on comedy full-time. In October 2022, she,
Sophie Duker Sophie Duker (born 1989/1990) is a British stand-up comedian and writer. Early life Duker was born in London to first-generation immigrants from West Africa. Her mother is from Cameroon and her father is from Ghana. She attended North London Col ...
,
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, Thanyia Moore,
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,
Kemah Bob Kemah Bob is an American comedian. She achieved fame in the United Kingdom, and is best known for hosting '' It's a Sin: After Hours''. Early and personal life Bob grew up in Houston, Texas, and went to school in Waco, Texas. She has lived in ...
, and
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appeared on
Dave Dave may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the 1993 film * ''Dave'' (TV series), a 2020 American comedy series * ...
's ''Just Jokes'', a programme broadcast to mark
Black History Month Black History Month is an annually observed commemorative month originating in the United States, where it is also known as African-American History Month. It began as a way of remembering important people and events in the history of the Af ...
, in which they shared anecdotes on growing up and breaking into comedy. In early 2024, she appeared on an episode of ''
World's Most Dangerous Roads ''World's Most Dangerous Roads'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British TV series in which two celebrities are filmed as they journey by Four-wheel drive, 4×4 vehicle along roads considered among the world's most dangerous. The show was ...
'' with
Mike Wozniak Michael James Wozniak (born 8 November 1979) is a British comedian, writer, actor and former medical doctor. He portrays Brian in the Channel 4 sitcom '' Man Down'' and is a member of the team that makes ''Small Scenes'' for BBC Radio 4. Early l ...
, another Portsmouth-based comedian, with whom she exchanged local slang, and in April 2024, she hosted that year's London Eid in the Square.


Personal life and artistry

In 2014, Labib saw Ramey Dawoud performing in Faisal Goes West at Hackney Picturehouse. After following him on social media and finding that her direct messages were going unanswered, she visited him at a
TED talk TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "Ideas Change Everything" (previously "Ideas Worth Sprea ...
in Sudan on 12 July 2016, where she tried to pretend she did not know who he was – only for her younger brother to blurt out that she was a regular visitor to his
Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...
account. The pair later married, and she moved to
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
. Labib has family in Sudan, and took a month-long break from performing in April 2023 due to anxiety caused by war breaking out in that country. In a 2022 interview, she stated her "biggest hero and influence" is her father, on the grounds that the way he told stories could "keep people listening for hours and hours", and said in an interview the following year that
Dave Chappelle David Khari Webber Chappelle ( ; born August 24, 1973) is an American stand-up comedy, stand-up comedian and actor. He starred in and co-created the satirical comedy sketch series ''Chappelle's Show'' (2003–2006) before quitting in the middle ...
,
Ricky Gervais Ricky Dene Gervais ( ; born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, writer, television producer and filmmaker. He co-created, co-wrote, and acted in the British television sitcoms ''The Office (British TV series), The Office'' (2001–2003) ...
, and Slim were among her comedy heroes and that Gervais' comments about
cancel culture Cancel culture is a cultural phenomenon in which an individual thought to have acted or spoken in an unacceptable manner is ostracized, boycotted, shunned or fired, often aided by social media. This shunning may extend to social or professio ...
had resonated with her, because there were "loads of jokes" she wanted to tell but could not.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Labib, Ola Comedians from Hampshire People from Portsmouth Living people Year of birth missing (living people) English women comedians 21st-century English comedians 20th-century English women 21st-century English women National Health Service people People educated at Priory School, Portsmouth English Muslims English people of Sudanese descent Black British women comedians Black British comedians