Album Review: Atheer Yacoub, Denied Entry

Denied Entry is the debut album from Brooklyn-based comedian and writer Atheer Yacoub, and it comes as a surprise that it’s her first album, because this premiere is reminiscent of, and can easily stand alongside, albums from well-seasoned comics.

Perhaps it’s the ease with which Yacoub seamlessly weaves through the stories of her life (from growing up an Arab Muslim in Alabama to her present adult years), completely engrossing the audience, taking them from a passive position of hearing her stories to engaged listening. It’s undeniable that Yacoub has the crowd in the palm of her hand from start to finish. Their roaring laughter, hardly able to be contained (some audience members audibly wheezing), is reflected and evidenced in the many deserved applause breaks. She has a way of speaking about touchy and taboo topics like religion and spirituality, serial killers, the Palestinian and Israeli conflict, cultural norms, and gender disparity that doesn’t render the subsequent joke as heavy, but infectiously funny. 

Being able to take the at times uncomfortable truths of life and not only find humour in them is a skill Yacoub clearly possesses, resulting in howling laughter. One of many examples is in track 6’s “White Women Friends”, a hysterically accurate hypothetical. Who would’ve thought spirituality, genocide bonding, vegans, open relationships with faith, glory holes, invasions of space, therapy and orgies would be discussed on the same album? Yet, Yacoub brilliantly plays with one’s expectations upon hearing a situation and specific words, twisting the anticipated, delivering clever and hard-hitting punchlines.

There are times when Yacoub doubles down on puns, but they never come across as cheesy. In fact, at times, such puns are oddly wholesome – even when discussing the common-ground on circumcision prohibition, as she does in track 8’s “Religions Unite”. Yacoub employs wordplay again in the track that follows, “Arab in Alabama”, sure to conjure some interesting images in one’s mind. The aforementioned track 9, “Arab in Alabama” also includes some crowd work, which pleasantly, doesn’t go awry. That’s just how much Yacoub commands the room and her material. The crowd work doesn’t feel out of place; instead, it adds to the album, which can’t be said for many during a live recording.

Truly, Yacoub captivates and engrosses throughout the album with her contagious energy and ample fodder for jokes. Nearing the end of its 36 minutes, the listener is left wishing for continued permitted access so that Denied Entry could go on, not because there weren’t enough laughs or content, but because of how good it was and how engaging, endearing and dynamic of a comic Yacoub is. 

Denied Entry was released on April 21, 2023 through Comedy Records.
Listen to it here.

Editor’s Note: This album review was written in August 2023, and it just took this long for the editor to post it. We apologize for the delay.