When we built the lineup for the NYC South Asian Comedy Festival 2026, we started with a question: what does South Asian comedy look like when it’s operating at full power? Not the version that plays it safe, not the version that translates itself for a general audience, but the real thing — sharp, specific, fully itself.
The answer is a lineup of 40+ comedians across five shows in October. Here’s a closer look at the headliners.
Gauri B
Gauri B is the kind of comedian who makes you feel like you’ve been waiting for her without knowing it. Her comedy is deeply personal — grounded in the specificity of growing up South Asian in America, navigating family expectations, and building an identity that doesn’t fit neatly into any of the boxes the world hands you. But what makes Gauri exceptional isn’t just the relatability of her material. It’s the precision. She doesn’t reach for the easy laugh. She waits for the better one.
She headlines at the NYC South Asian Comedy Festival, and if you’ve seen her work, you already know why. If you haven’t, this is the show.
Aparna Nancherla
Aparna Nancherla is one of the most singular voices in American comedy — a comedian who has built an entire aesthetic around the things most comedians try to hide: anxiety, uncertainty, the particular discomfort of existing in a world that doesn’t quite fit. Her deadpan delivery and self-aware material have made her a critics’ favorite, a comedians’ comedian, and, increasingly, a mainstream name.
She has written for Conan, appeared on Inside Amy Schumer, released two albums, and performed at venues across the country. What’s easy to miss in the resume is that she’s also, at her core, a South Asian woman telling stories that South Asian audiences recognize in a visceral way — stories about the space between who your family wants you to be and who you actually are.
Seeing Aparna live is different from watching a clip. This is a room experience.
See Aparna Nancherla’s full profile →
Usama Siddiquee
Usama Siddiquee is a New York comedian whose material hits the intersection of Muslim identity, South Asian American experience, and the specific absurdities of being a brown man in post-9/11 America — and somehow makes all of it hilarious. He’s a New York Comic of the Year finalist and a regular at clubs across the city, and his stage presence has the kind of confidence that comes from years of doing it the hard way: open mics, late shows, rooms that aren’t always on your side.
He’s the perfect embodiment of what the NYC desi comedy scene has been building — a comedian who could only have come from this city, from these rooms, from this community.
See Usama Siddiquee’s full profile →
The Full Lineup: 40+ Comedians, Five Shows
The headliners are three of more than 40 comedians performing across five distinct shows over three nights at the NYC South Asian Comedy Festival 2026:
- Best of NYC — Friday, Oct 16, 7 PM — Lofte 23
- Brown Unhinged — Saturday, Oct 17, 7 PM — Broadway Comedy Club
- Roast Battle: India vs Pakistan vs Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka — Saturday, Oct 17, 9 PM — Broadway Comedy Club
- Family Friendly Comedy Show — Sunday, Oct 18, 7 PM — Top Secret Comedy Club
- Desi Women Takeover — Sunday, Oct 18, 9 PM — Top Secret Comedy Club
Every show has its own energy, its own format, its own reason to be there. The Roast Battle is exactly what it sounds like — four national identities, one stage, zero diplomacy. The Desi Women Takeover is an all-women South Asian lineup at a time when those lineups still don’t happen enough. The Family Friendly show means you can finally bring the parents.
The full lineup is on the website. We think you’ll recognize some names. We think you’ll discover some new ones. That’s the point.
See the full lineup → | Get tickets to the NYC South Asian Comedy Festival →