✈️ Travel Stories with Tom Papa: Dubai & Beirut

Ari Shaffir’s guest, comedian Tom Papa, recalls a comedy tour through Dubai and Beirut around 2011–2012. The trip took him to places he might not have visited on his own—and challenged some of his assumptions about the Middle East.

🇦🇪 Dubai: Luxury, Rules, and Contrasts

• The tour began with an Emirates business-class flight, which Papa describes as an exceptionally comfortable experience.
• Dubai felt futuristic and lavish, with striking developments such as the palm-shaped artificial islands and intense desert heat.
• He noticed a contrast between strict public rules and more relaxed behavior in designated tourist or entertainment areas. The comedians performed in a special area where some expressions were permitted, though they were given limits on what they could joke about.
• Papa recalls hearing that a couple had been arrested for holding hands in public, a story that heightened his awareness of local laws and customs.
• The group also saw how differently air travel and public spaces could feel compared with the United States.

🇱🇧 Beirut: History, Beauty, and Uncertainty

• Beirut felt dramatically different from Dubai: its airport was crowded and worn, and many city buildings still showed bullet damage from the civil war.
• Papa and fellow comedian Whitney Cummings explored the city. At a mosque, Cummings was asked to cover herself and walk behind him—an experience that made the cultural expectations feel especially stark.
• The city’s past grandeur was still visible. Beirut had once been known as the “Paris of the Middle East,” with a reputation for education, the arts, and a beautiful Mediterranean setting.
• The group visited the Cedars of Lebanon, then had seafood by the water. Papa remembers the scenery and food as outstanding.
• At night, he saw young people gathering in restaurants and public squares, enjoying food and conversation. Locals welcomed the visitors and hoped more people from the West would come.
• At the same time, the trip felt precarious. Papa saw armed soldiers, damaged buildings near a site of a car bombing, and signs of deep political and religious divisions. He remembers feeling relieved when he made it through the airport and home safely.

🌍 A Lesson About Travel and Perspective

• Papa says places can seem frightening when you only know them through news reports. A shopkeeper near a bombing site, for example, told the group that Los Angeles was too scary because of earthquakes—a reminder that people often fear what they don’t know firsthand.
• The hosts discuss how cities and countries are often unfairly treated as one uniform place, even though conditions vary by neighborhood and can change quickly.
• The conversation emphasizes that people in difficult circumstances are still living ordinary lives: meeting friends, eating out, caring about culture, and hoping for peace.
• Safety matters: Papa describes this as a memorable trip, but the speakers also note that Beirut’s situation later deteriorated and that current conditions may make travel unsafe. Check official travel advisories before considering a visit.

🧳 Practical Travel Tips from the Conversation

• Check local rules and customs before traveling, especially around public behavior, dress, and what is appropriate to say.
• Ask hotel staff or the concierge for help. Recommending places, arranging transportation, and answering questions are part of their job.
• Periodically empty your travel bag and remove accumulated clutter—old receipts, pens, expired medicine, and other unnecessary items.
• Stay flexible and observant: Papa says it took him a couple of days to settle into unfamiliar places and understand their rhythms.

🗺️ Where Papa Wants to Go Next

• Japan, especially its mountains, trees, and flowers.
• Germany and Switzerland at Christmas, to experience the seasonal markets and snowy villages.
• He also says he would happily return to Italy.

Bottom line: Comedy gave Papa the chance to experience Dubai and Beirut firsthand. The trip combined spectacular hospitality, food, and scenery with a powerful sense of history and instability—and left him grateful for the perspective.