Most ethnic groups get their own month to celebrate their culture. What do Arab-Americans get? “Orange alert,” jokes comedian Dean Obeidallah. An American born in New Jersey to a Palestinian father and Italian-American mother, Obeidallah turned to comedy to fight the suspicion and ignorance he encountered in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. In 2003 he co-founded the New York Arab-American Comedy Festival, which runs this week in Manhattan. Obeidallah spoke with TIME about bridging cultures, the fading “siege” against Arab-Americans and taking stand-up to the Middle East.
Dean Obeidallah is a uniquely Palestinian, Italian, American Comic. Born in New Jersey and educated in Law, Dean somehow ends up as a world renown comedian and the co-founder of the Arab American Comedy festival along with Maysoon Zayid.
Dean’s style of comedy is typically very personal where he uses events from his life growing up in a multicultural house-hold in America to connect with his audience and deliver a very personal message from a very nice guy. Dean draws from the personality clashes of an Arab-Muslim father, with a Sicilian Mother growing up in a primarily Italian-American community in New Jersey. He also delivers a wealth of political comedy and satire that is understandable considering the unique role that Arab American comics play as Ambassadors for the Middle East in the United States, as well as Ambassadors for the general American public to the Middle East.
Be sure to check out Dean’s shows on the comedy central online channel …
I watched President Obama’s Cairo speech today in a place not usually traveled to by American tourists – Muscat, Oman – a beautiful country (technically a sultanate) which borders Saudi Arabia. I’m here to perform stand up comedy this week and tomorrow is the last of our 3 sold out shows. Saudi got Obama, while Oman got Obeidallah. (I hope I got more laughs in Oman than Obama got in Saudi.)
I can report that the people of this region were greatly looking forward to President Obama’s speech today and it appears that they viewed it very favorably. Not only did the audience in Cairo cheer Obama, but not one person threw a shoe at him. However, let’s be honest, even if someone threw a shoe, I have no doubt that if former President Bush could dodge one (or two), President Obama could have dodged a shoe even more easily – in fact, I think Obama would have dodged the shoe in a graceful slow-motion style like “Neo” from “The Matrix” and he wouldn’t have even missed a word from his speech while doing it.
What I particularly liked about President Obama’s speech was that he clearly wants to end the philosophy of “us versus them” and he seeks to destroy the negative misconceptions that some Americans and Muslims hold against each other.
I can tell you as a comedian who has been increasingly performing stand up comedy in the Middle East (in English) over the last two years, the way the Arab world views America is changing. I’m happy to relay that since President Obama has been elected, the crowds I performed for in Cairo, Dubai, Oman and at the Amman Stand up Comedy Festival in Jordan have cheered when I have said Obama’s name – I can assure you that President Bush’s name elicited a different response from those same crowds. It truly appears that is an excellent time for a popular Barack Obama to be making overtures to the Arab world that will be viewed as sincere and trustworthy.
On the American side, I wish that more of my fellow Americans could see a side of the Arab world that they never do – namely seeing Arabs laughing. Yes, I said laughing! While it may be shocking to some, Arabs actually do know how to laugh and they laugh at the very same jokes American audiences do and at the very same places.
In fact, the Arab audiences laugh at the same range of topics that American comedy audiences do – everything from relationships, to pop culture to themselves. It’s this last topic – Arabs laughing at themselves – which I truly want Americans to see. Arabs have a great sense of humor and have no problems being the butt of the joke. Of course, the goal of my jokes is not to demonize or demean Arabs, but to hold a mirror up to their customs just like I do to American culture when performing in the US. The Arab audiences have have laughed heartily at various aspects of Arab culture – from Arabs being notoriously late, to their obsession with smoking, to Arabs love of haggling over prices.
While the shows I perform in the Middle East are mostly attended by Arabs, there are always some Americans in the audience. And conversely, most of my shows in the US are attended by Americans, but there are at times Arabs in the audience as well. It’s great to see Arabs and Americans sitting side-by-side laughing together at the very same jokes. It is my hope that Arabs and Americans will share this experience much more frequently during President Obama’s administration and for many years to come.
The 2009 Arab American Comedy Festival will be held for 4 days in New York city. The festival includes hard hitting Arab American comics such as Ahmed Ahmed, Dean Obeidallah, Maysoon Zayid, Aron Kader … and runs over a 4 day period:
Sketch Comedy Nights (May 11th @ 7:00pm)
New Faces of Arab Standup Comedy (May 12th @ 7:00pm)
Arab American Headliner Standup Show (May 12th @ 9:00pm & May 13th @ 7:30 pm)
After breaking all box-office records at the Edinburgh Festival and then going on a forty date sell-out tour across the UK, this is Omid's greatest show, recorded live at The Long Palladium captured in all its glory.
