A World of Comedy

by Peter Ryan
(Photos by Miriam Halsey)

Last year the American comedian Albert Brooks released a movie entitled Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World, a title which would seem to suggest that Islamic comedy, at worst, simply doesn't exist and, at best, is extremely difficult to find.

Anyone who shares the belief that "Islamic comedy" is a contradiction in terms obviously missed "A World of Comedy" at the La Mirada Performing Arts Center last Sunday which featured four top-notch stand-up comedians–all Muslim-Americans. Though their job is to make people laugh, all four have also played an important role in diffusing stereotypes about Muslims in front of mostly Christian and secular audiences.

Sunday's event was held to raise money for three Islamic charities: Azeem's Kids, Edhi Foundation and KinderUSA, collecting funds to help children in Palestine, Pakistan and the United States. Hundreds of Muslims gathered to support the charities and devote their afternoon to the enjoyment of family-friendly humor.

"I am officially the most oppressed person in the World," Maysoon Zayid told the crowd, "I'm a Palestinian Muslim with cerebral palsy." Maysoon explained that as an Arab who shakes due to her condition she has trouble at airports–"that chick is nervous!" she says, jokingly quoting airport security. Nor does it help that her Dad, who frequently drops her off, is the splitting image of Saddam Hussein. Racial profiling, particularly at airports, became a theme for all four comedians, helping the audience laugh about what, in reality, must be a source of tremendous frustration: the climate of fear and intolerance facing Arabs and Muslims in the United States.

Azeem Muhammad, an African-American raised in a Christian home, converted to Islam at the age of seventeen. He told the crowd that he continued to keep connections in the Christian community in order to counter stereotypes about Muslims and Islam. Much of his humor centered around his Christian family's inability to understand Islamic customs, including his refusal to eat pork and the Muslim rituals for prayer.

Like most of the comedians, Azeem challenged mainstream America's inability to think of Muslims as anything more than terrorists. "You can't be a Muslim and a terrorist at the same time," he told the crowd, which applauded his remarks.

Azeem is also President and founder of Azeem's Kids, one of the beneficiary organizations of the event.

Onstage Azhar Usman wears a traditional Islamic skullcap and a long black beard. "I take my religion very seriously," he told Fox news reporters in Chicago, "If I'm doing a joke that I know is relatively edgy or somehow implicating some consideration of Islamic law, ethics or morality I'll talk to a scholar before I do it."

Because he dresses like a traditional Muslim and is of Indian heritage, Azhar jokes that every time he boards a plane the other passengers act as though their lives are about to come to an end. "The worst part is getting on the plane. People are literally in the middle of conversations then all of sudden they see me and they're like 'Ahhh I'm going to die!'" [Azhar holds ups his thumb and index fingers, imitating a cell phone] "Honey I love you! He's so hairy! He smells like curry! And he's staring at me!'"

"I don't know what they're so afraid of," he explains to the audience, "If I was a terrorist about to hijack the plane this isn't the disguise I would pick out for myself."

Dean Obeidallah, a half Palestinian half Italian Muslim, wondered whether the government's insistence that it should be able to monitor the books we check out from the library through the Patriot Act would really help catch any terrorists.

"Do they really think terrorists are so broke that they have to get their books at the library?" he asks and then, pretending to be a terrorist planning an attack, wonders out loud: "Okay–we've been planning this for years and its risky but... we need the book. And we don't have the twenty bucks to pay for it."

"Is there really a book that you could check out that will identify someone as a terrorist?" Dean continues, "I'm a Terrorist You're a Terrorist? Chicken Soup for the Terrorist Soul?"

The event, of course, wasn't flawless. At one point the sound system went out, leaving the perfomers without a microphone and the audience, particularly in the back seats, straining to hear. But it was an important and all-too-rare opportunity to laugh–rather than worry–about the troubles that plague the world that we live in.

If, like Albert Brooks, you're ever "looking for comedy in the Muslim world" you need look no further. The Islamic comedians are already here. And they're coming to a theater near you.

The Comedians:

Maysoon Zayid
The Palestinian Wonder is an actress and professional stand-up comedian, who received her BFA in acting from Arizona State University. She has appeared on As The World Turns, MTV, 20/20, the New York Times, and WashingtonPost.com. Maysoon has performed comedy in top New York clubs, including Caroline's, Gotham, and Stand Up NY, and has toured her stand-up act extensively in both the USA and abroad. Maysoon was the first comedian to perform stand-up live in Palestine, performing in Nazareth, Haifa, Bethlehem, Ramallah, and Jerusalem. Maysoon spends 3 months a year in Palestine where she runs an art program for disabled and wounded refugee children. Maysoon is also Co-Chairperson of the New York Arab American Comedy Festival as well as co-host of the radio show Fen Mejnoon ("Crazy Art") with Dean and Maysoon. (http://www.maysoon.com/)

Azhar Usman
is one of the world's few American Muslim standup comedians. Writing and performing comedy for the past several years, he has developed a unique act based on trans-ethnic and intercultural issues, keen and witty insights, and general observational humor. In 2004, he co-founded Allah Made Me Funny-The Official Muslim Comedy Tour with fellow Muslim comedian Preacher Moss, a 21-year veteran of the comedy industry and a former writer for George Lopez, Darrell Hammond, and Damon Wayans. Azhar and the Tour have been profiled, featured, and/or mentioned in over 100 major world media including, The New York Times, TIME, Newsweek, Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, WGN, FOX, BBC (UK), BBC Urdu (South Asia), CBC (Canada), ABC (Australia), MBC (Middle East), Al-Ahram Weekly (Egypt), Jawa Pos (Indonesia), DAWN (Pakistan) and dozens more. (http://www.azhar.com/)

Azeem Muhammad
Delightful! Entertaining! Intellectually Stimulating! These are just a few words that have been used to describe the comedic styles of Azeem. Since catching the laugh bug, this native St. Louisan has quickly ascended the comedy ladder, featuring at many of America's premiere comedy clubs. Azeem has shared the stage with legendary comics such as Steve Harvey, Adam Ferrara, and John Pinnette. Azeem is President and founder of Azeem's Kids, one of the beneficiary organizations of the event. Azeem's Kids is concerned with children who have been displaced in orphanages, foster homes, and juvenile detention centers working towards ensuring that these children have every opportunity to attain their human potential. By providing them with a stable home environment, quality education, and an exploration of the arts, Azeem's Kids work towards developing persons with a greater sense of self-worth, accountability, ethics, and a duty to the service of humanity. (http://www.itzazeem.com/)

Dean Obeidallah
The Dean of Comedy has appeared on various national and international televisions programs, including CNN's "American Morning" and "Wolf Blitzer's Reports," Comedy Central's "Tough Crowd," ABC's "20/20," Japan's NHK, CNN International's "Inside the Middle East" and "Your World Today." Dean can also be seen in the DVD bonus material for Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 911" in the section entitled, "Arab-American comedians." Dean has also been a guest on numerous national radio programs–including "Democracy Now with Amy Goodman," NPR's "Your World,"various shows on Air America and he co-hosts a monthly radio program on WBAI radio in New York City along with fellow comic Maysoon Zayid. Dean is proud to be the co-founder and co-producer of the New York Arab American Comedy Festival which just completed its third annual festival. Dean recently received the "Bill Hicks Spirit Award," for "thought provoking comedy" from the NY Underground Comedy Festival and the Hicks' family. The late Bill Hicks challenged the audience to think about political and social issues while making them laugh. In addition to performing comedy across the US, Dean has also performed in Ramallah, Haifa, Dubai and Beirut. (www.deanofcomedy.com)