Every year the Guinness World Records produces its encyclopedia of the weird and wonderful: pages dedicated to the World’s Largest Pancake; reams on that woman with the longest fingernails on the planet; chapters dedicated to Eastern European strongmen lifting cars with their tongues. Well, the editors of the Guinness World Records better make some room for the Arab-American stand-up comedian Dean Obeidallah: meet the first man to perform stand-up comedy in the Middle East to a Middle Eastern audience.
Such is the life and career of Obeidallah, whose experiences avoid stereotyping or predictability. Born in Lodi, in the sprawling suburbia of New Jersey, he was raised by a Palestinian father and Italian mother in an area of the US where, in his own words, “nearly everyone was Italian.”
He reminisces: “during my childhood, I identified more strongly with my Italian side. It was just easier.” He adds, however, with a sense of times passed, that “there were no problems at that time with being Arab in America.” Obeidallah originally followed a decidedly conventional career: “I had been a lawyer, which I didn’t enjoy at all. The lawyers at the firm recommended I take part in the Funniest Lawyer’s Show sponsored by the local Bar Association. Apparently, I was funny at the office. I did the show and was bitten by the stand-up comedy bug.”
The legal profession’s loss was comedy’s gain. Obeidallah began performing regularly in the New York/New Jersey area. “My big break was with Comedy Central’s Axis of Evil…which I did with three other comedians of Middle Eastern heritage.” From this point, the media spotlight began to shine more brightly on Obeidallah. “I basically knew I could make it when I didn’t have to have a day job anymore.”
So how did Obeidallah’s comedy and career change with being an Arab-American comic in New York after 9/11? “It made my comedy more relevant and newsworthy. The general public and media were interested in hearing an Arab-American comedic point of view since 9/11.”
Obeidallah admits that it wasn’t all plain sailing, and some jokes were more problematic: “obviously people were shocked to start with, but in time people became more accepting in hearing the story of being Arab in America.”
He demonstrates a remarkably self-conscious understanding of how the comedy circuit regarded his early comedy. “I am almost always billed as an Arab-American comedian. It makes it easier for the media to put comics in categories.”
However, Obeidallah does worry about being “solely an ethnic comic”. But he ruminates “when you get on stage and mention you are Arab, it is a political statement, not ethnic. Especially when you discuss issues like Islamaphobia and the challenges of being Arab in America.”
Comparisons with African-American comedians of an earlier generation, who used comedy in an attempt to break through social barriers, are gladly taken by Obeidallah but with a wry pinch of salt. “I think there is a comparison to be made. We are following their lead, following the model of Chris Rock and Richard Pryor. It is the same thing Jewish comedians used in the 1930s. It is just our time now to use comedy to build bridges to the rest of America.”
Obeidallah views his comic role with a refreshing mix of idealism and realism. “I hope I have tried to use the greater interest in my comedy as a means to dispel stereotypes about Arabs and foster understanding.” But he pragmatically adds that “if it’s funny and people are laughing, then it is fine. Our comedy is not for everybody, but there are enough people for all the different types of comedy.”
With a growing audience following, Obeidallah took his skills in a new direction when he created the New York Arab-American Comedy Festival. “Every year it is a challenge. It is an attempt to show Arabs as funny in a positive light; just basically to show a funnier side… This fall will be our eighth annual festival,” and he proudly declares: “It nearly always sells out and it works out great.”
From this base of popularity in the US comedy circuit, Obeidallah took the unprecedented step of taking his stand-up shows to a Middle East audience three years ago. He proudly acknowledges: “that is really the history of stand up comedy in the region.”
This threw up its own set of problems for Obeidallah. As he acknowledges, when he began doing comedy sets in the region the audience’s reaction was “very tentative.” He continues, “they just didn’t know what to expect. But that also makes it a lot more exciting. The audiences in the Middle East are a lot more appreciative than a US audience.” Added to this Obeidallah had to conform to stricter freedom of speech laws. While the audience “got just about every joke” there was the added challenge that “you couldn’t talk about sex, religion or local politics. But now you can to a much greater extent.”
Obeidallah’s unparalleled comic position within the Middle East then led the Arab-American into establishing comedy festivals. He was instrumental in helping to create the Amman Comedy Festival in Jordan, the first event of its type in the region. Obeidallah recounts the story of his involvement in the festival: “I was performing in Amman, Jordan in 2008 and the King of Jordan sat in the front row. After the show, the King asked me if I was interested in helping the City of Amman organise a comedy festival. I, of course, said yes. We just held our third annual festival this past December.”
In between his regular stand-up gigs, his role in the New York Arab-American Comedy Festival and his position within the Amman Comedy Festival Obeidallah has established himself as a prolific columnist, recently criticising Peter King’s Congressional investigations of the Muslim American community. Obeidallah simply says of the investigations, “it was more of an attempt for Peter King to get media coverage… The US realises the difference between US Muslims and Al Qaeda.”
However, Obeidallah is in no sense kidding himself that there are no problems for the Muslim American community. “There are a lot of misconceptions. We saw this in the New York Mosque debate last year. There is a degree of Islamaphobia that needs to be thought about and a better image needs to be cultivated of American Muslims.”
So what does the future hold for Obeidallah? He focuses on his main career of stand-up: “I am looking forward to going back to Egypt now that Mubarak has gone and I can talk about any topic.”
Your comedy is always intellectually challenging. Its always pleasure listening to you.