asli akbay

British Turkish/Cypriot comedian Asli Akbay’s stand-up has been described as delightful, wacky and outrageous. 

Asli was born and raised in South East London but has lived in Istanbul for the past 10 years. 

Asli attended the renowned BRIT School and majored in Art and Design. She then trained and worked as a psychologist but switched to working in Children's TV at the BBC. She began doing stand-up comedy while working there, but had to quit her full-time job when her mother fell ill. She transitioned to freelance translation and continued pursuing comedy in the evenings.

Asli is one of the pioneering comedy producers and promoters in Turkey and has been influential in the development of the Turkish stand-up scene and the establishment and progression of the English stand-up scene.

After moving to Istanbul, she launched the first-ever 5-minute sign-up and perform Turkish open mic. Following it’s success, she started the first English open mic night in Turkey. Asli was also a founding member of the Turkish all-female stand-up comedy group Çok Da Fifi which toured all over Turkey and Europe.

In her spare time Asli enjoys making electronic music and also thinks she can rap. Check out her Spotify.