Arab-American Comedians

"The closest thing we get to Arab Awareness month is when they raise the terror alert." -- Dean Obeidallah

Stand-up comic by night, lawyer with "Saturday Night Live" by day, Dean Obeidallah's comedy reflects the issues on the minds of Arab-Americans -- terrorism, racial profiling and the war in Iraq. Obeidallah is one of three comics featured in the washingtonpost.com video series, Comedy With an Agenda, an exploration of the tough issues surfacing in Arab-American comedy and how they are indicative of a shift in support away from President Bush.

Obeidallah will be online Friday, July 16, at 11 a.m. ET to discuss Arab-Americans, politics, comedy and his recent performances in Beirut, Lebanon, and the West Bank city of Ramallah. Submit your questions and comments before or during today's discussion.

Obeidallah's comedy comes in large part from his unique background of being the son of a Palestinian father and a Sicilian mother. He has been featured in segments about Arab-American comics on ABC's "20/20," CNN's "News Night with Aaron Brown," and MSNBC's "Nachman." He has written jokes that have appeared on Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update" and CBS's "Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn." Dean has appeared on Comedy Central's "Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn," on the new radio network "Air America," as well as in numerous sketches on "Saturday Night Live" and NBC's "Late Night with Conan O'Brian." He is also the co-founder and co-producer of The New York Arab-American Comedy Festival.

Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.

________________________________________________

Baltimore, Md.: On the comedy tip -- who in the world of stand-up do you most respect/look up to?

Dean Obeidallah: The comics I most admire are the ones who are not only funny, but who also discuss social and political issues in the hopes of causing change. I believe that is the highest form of comedy since you are trying to be more than funny, you are also trying to effectuate change of public opinions through your comedy. The comics I most admire include Chris Rock, Richard Pryor, Colin Quinn, John Stewart, Dennis Miller and Bill Maher. While I may disagree with these comics on certain issues (especially Dennis Miller) I still have a great deal of respect and admiration for their work

_______________________

Caracas, Venezuela: I noticed you're of Palestinian origin. Do you consider Yasser Arafat to be a Palestinian? Wasn't he born in Egypt? If he is a Palestinian, doesn't that fuel the already questionable legitmacy of this so called nation?

Dean Obeidallah:
That is a very interesting question. The question I must ask then is does the fact that so many of the founders of Israel were not born in the Palestinian mandate, but in Europe and Russia, deny their claim to a State? I assume you would answer no. I just visited my family in the West Bank two weeks ago. Do you find it troubling that the Israeli soldiers who questioned me had Russian and Ethiopian accents and just moved to Israel in the last few years and yet they are receive all the benefits of citizenship while my family and other Palestinians are treated like second class citizens (or worse) despite the fact that they have lived their generations before Israel's existence?
I do not think denying the legitimacy of either the Palestinians or Israelis is helpful to reaching a just resolution of the conflict. For years Israeli leaders denied the very existence of Palestinians, however, thankfully those days are behind us. (I hope) I can tell you from my trip that there are too many Palestinians and too many Israelis for either group to disappear. At some point they will have to live together. I hope its sooner rather after more lives are lost on both sides.

_______________________

Recent transplant to NYC: When does The New York Arab-American Comedy Festival take place? I plan to come and cheer you on!

Dean Obeidallah: The NY Arab American Comedy Festival will take place this year from October 10-13, 2004 and will feature comedic plays, stand up comedy and comedic films. I hope you come out to the shows. they were great last year. For more details about the Festival, please visit our website at www.arabcomedy.org

_______________________

Arlington, Va.: Mr. Obeidallah,

The video seemed to suggest that Arab-Americans tended to vote as a block for Bush in 2000 (because they thought Gore-Lieberman was too pro-Israel), but are now willing to all vote Kerry in 2004 (because Bush is too pro-Israel).

The video also listed several issues of importance to Arab-Americans, and listed the Israel-Palestine conflict as fifth or sixth in importance.

If the vote of Arab-Americans can swing so radically from GOP to the Democrats in just four years, wouldn't that suggest that the Israeli-Palestine conflict is, in fact, the most important issue to those voters?

Dean Obeidallah:
I think that the war in Iraq, the racial profiling of Arabs and Arab-Americans, special registration, and the surveillance of Arab-Americans has caused the distrust of the Bush administration. I think the Iraq war tops the list. I also believe that concerns about the economy play a bigger role than the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. To be honest, there is no difference between most presidential candidates in their support of Israel. While Kerry and Bush disagree on almost every issue, the one thing they agree on is supporting Israel over the Palestinians. So it's honestly a non-issue between candidates in the major political parties. I think it would be a bigger issue if there was a meaningful difference between the candidates, but since there isn't, it ends up not being a major issue.

_______________________

New York, N.Y.: How was your act received in Lebanon and Ramallah? Did you tailor your jokes at all?

Dean Obeidallah: I performed with Maysoon Zayid who was also featured in the Washington Post segment. The show in Beirut was at the American University of Beirut and everyone spoke English. It went very well! In Ramallah, it was more memorable to me since it was my first performance in my family's homeland. My cousins attended the show and we had over 300 people. One interesting development was that on the day of the show the Israeli military closed the checkpoint allowing entrance and exit to Ramalllah. So some people couldn't come to the show who had wanted to, while others were trapped in Ramallah and came to the show. To me it was amazing that despite the fact that the Palestinians live under a harsh occupation, they still have a great sense of humor and are able to laugh. The resilience of the Palestinian people was truly an inspiration to me.

_______________________

Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.: Will you be doing stand-up in D.C. any time in the near future?

Dean Obeidallah: I perform every few months in DC at the DC Improv as part of the "Arabian Nights" shows with Maysoon and comics from LA including Maz Jobrani, Ahmed Ahmed and Aron Kader. We are in the process of planning another set of shows there in the fall. Please check my website for updates about the shows at www.deanofcomedy.com. I hope to see you there!!

_______________________

A Drunk in the Back of the Room: Hey!; Say something funny!;

Dean Obeidallah: President Bush is a very intelligent, articulate man.

_______________________

Iowa: How timely, my co-worker and I were just discussing Palestinian statehood.

My question is, do you find humor to be an effective means of activism? Do you feel you have brought awareness and understanding to an issue that most people either don't understand, or would rather ignore?

Dean Obeidallah:
I honestly believe that comedy, and the arts, are a great way of raising awareness of an issue and hopefully changing the public's opinions and misconceptions. Just watch Chris Rock, Pryor, John Stewart and you will see that is what they are about. My comedy is intentionally a grass roots campaign to both make people laugh as well as try to foster understanding of Arabs by my fellow Americans. The media's portrayal of Arabs and especially Palestinians is very negative. So I hope through comedy that I can try to change people's opinions and negate stereotypes. Only time will tell if I can change public opinion, but I'm trying to one audience at a time.

_______________________

Silver Spring, Md.: How did you make the jump from lawyer to comic -- and do you still practice law?

Dean Obeidallah: Being a lawyer was killing me! I tell people it was extinguishing the spark in my soul. My work at Saturday Night Live has very little to do with law. Its mostly production, working with cast and writers on research and in the edit room. I also have had the opportuntity to write jokes that SNL has purchased on a freelance basis to use on Weekend Update and Ive been lucky enough to appear in about 20-25 sketches on SNL over the last few seasons. It is much,much,much more fun than being a lawyer.

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: What issues give you the most fodder for your routine? I always thought it was "funny" that Israel finally won back a homeland (in the late 1940s) and is trying to protect it from the strikingly similar and equally sympathetic homeless Palestinians? I wonder who the Palestinians will be trying to keep out of their homeland in 100 years?

Dean Obeidallah: A big part of my act is political - translation: Mocking President Bush. Yes, I know its easy to make fun of him and I will miss him as comic if he loses, but I'll get over it!

A great deal of my act is about being of Arab-American heritage and what it is like to be Arab American in the post 911 world as well as what is was like to grow up Arab-American. In addition, my mother is Sicilian, so my comedy talks about the interaction between those two worlds. My father was intentionally a very funny man, my mother is unintentionally funny.

_______________________

Los Angeles, Calif.: Hi Dean, I didn't know who you were before this morning. I just wanted to say as a Palestinian American woman, I am so ready to laugh. Bring it on.

Dean Obeidallah: Thanks very much! You should check out my friends shows in the LA area called "Arabian Nights" at the Comedy Store in LA! The show features a great lineup of Middle Eastern comics, including Aron Kader, who is also Palestinian, Ahmed Ahmed, and Maz Jobrani. They are very talented and funny comics!

_______________________

Iowa: Another question for you.

I have done a lot study on the cultural similarities between Arabs and Israelis, and found that culturally speaking the similarities are very numerous. I have not, however, considered sense of humor. Have you ever played to largely Israeli or Jewish audiences? Do they also think you're funny? Do you think that "Jewish humor" is funny? In other words, do the cultural similarities extend to sense of humor?

Dean Obeidallah: I have actually performed at many temples as part of a show called "Stand up for Peace" that I do with Jewish-American comic Scott Blakeman. The show is a political comedy show that is in favor of a peaceful, just resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as oppose to a military solution. Jewish Americans laugh at the jokes about being Arab-American or the Middle East more than the average American because they are well informed on the issues, so it is generally a lot of fun performing for those groups.
I believe the roots of American comedy was established primarily by Jewish comics (as well as Danny Thomas who was Lebanese). So that is the common basis for all comedy.

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: Mr. Obeidallah,
Is there any plan to feature Arab-American comedians on Comedy Central anytime soon? (I have not had cable for the past month in preparation for a move out-of-state, but plan to get it back when I get to my new location.) Where can those of us who'll no longer have access to the D.C. Improv catch you on TV?

Dean Obeidallah: What a great question!! We want Comedy Central to do a theme show about us but still they have not embraced the concept. If you know anyone at Comedy Central, please call them and tell them "I want my Arab Comedy!"
For that matter, we would be happy to a have special on any network - CNBC, Animal Planet, BET, so if you know people tell them its time!!

_______________________

New York, N.Y.: What kind of response does the Arab-American Comedy Fesitval get from Arabs who are either not American or who are Arab-Americans but are more fully immersed in their culture rather than American culture?

Dean Obeidallah: I can honestly say that the shows are accessible by anyone. If you just have an idea what is going in teh world, you'll get it. We all write our material to entertain the average person, not just Arab-Americans

_______________________

The Drunk in the Back of the Room Again: Hey!; Say something legal!;

Dean Obeidallah: Im going to get a restraining order against you!

_______________________

Dean Obeidallah: Thanks for all your questions. Hope to see you at the comedy clubs!
Dean

_______________________