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Five Questions With Comedian Dean Obeidallah
Muslim-American comedian Dean Obeidallah won’t be short on material when he performs Friday at Dearborn’s Arab American National Museum.
Obeidallah, honored with the first-ever Bill Hicks Spirit Award for “thought-provoking comedy” in 2005, is known for using his time in the spotlight to entertain audiences and dispel stereotypes associated with the Middle East and Arab and Muslim Americans.
“Comedy is a creative outlet for me, a place to talk about subjects like the Middle East, politics, gay marriage, immigration, taxes or whatever the issue of the day is,” the New Jersey native told the Free Press. “I am really just hoping to raise awareness and make a positive impact while entertaining people.”
QUESTION: About 10 years ago, you were an attorney. How did you make the jump to comedy?
ANSWER: It should be malpractice if I give anyone legal advice. I was working at a law firm in New Jersey, it was about 1998-99, and there was this funniest lawyer competition that my coworkers said I should enter.
The truth is, I didn’t enjoy being a lawyer. For me, the law was, frankly, boring. I was into politics so I went to law school thinking it would be a good pedigree if I wanted to become an elected official. So I began doing stand-up and then got a job with “Saturday Night Live.”
I always enjoyed making people laugh, and I realized with comedy I could do that and also talk about things that are important to me.
Q: Are the Arab and Muslim communities supportive of your work?
A: So supportive. Arab and Muslim Americans, generally, tend to really follow politics. It’s become a great fit for me.
For myself and others who are in the arts, our community is really what inspires us. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be doing this. There’s also a level of activism to it where we’re inspired to keep doing projects to show people different than us what we’re really all about.
Q: You’ve performed all over the Middle East. Are the crowds receptive there?
A: The Middle East crowds are the most responsive out of anywhere I perform. They really go crazy for you; it’s like a (“Def Comedy Jam”) show. One of the reasons why my shows have worked there — places like Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Palestine and Dubai — is because the crowds understand American politics very well. However, and I hope Americans can see this … Arabs actually do laugh at themselves and they also have a really great sense of humor.
When I do shows there, I offer free comedy workshops. I feel it’s important to go there and try and teach something, share some of the skills I have, to young Arabs. Hopefully some of them will be inspired to go into the arts, maybe even become comedians themselves.
There’s no full-time comedians like there are here, no comedy clubs. If you’re doing comedy over there, you’re a pioneer. It’s evolving, however. I’ve been doing shows there the last four or five years, and every time, it’s getting better and better.
Q: You toured the South and other regions of the U.S. that aren’t known to be heavily populated with Arabs and Muslims for your upcoming documentary film, “The Muslims Are Coming!” What was that like?
A: When we toured the Deep South, we did all the shows for free. So one experience we had was losing a ton of money. We actually raised funds beforehand because we wanted to meet and perform for people who would never pay to come and see us. Doing a free comedy tour during a recession was a good move after all. While on tour, we also did all these interviews with everyday people on the streets. The reactions we got spoke to my own preconception of the people in the South: I thought most everyone wouldn’t like us because of our faith. That wasn’t the case at all. … Mainstream Republicans, they don’t care what religion we are. I thought people would be walking around every single day very angry at Arabs and Muslims, but thankfully that wasn’t the case.
Q: Would you say comedy is a way for you to try to bring people from different backgrounds together?
A: If I were telling jokes without any real meaning, I probably wouldn’t have stayed being a comedian for as long as I have. I think people want to be entertained while also learning something. The Stand Up for Peace tour (with Jewish-American comedian Scott Blakeman) and the other shows I do, I’m usually with other Arabs, Muslims or Jewish comedians. I do feel like we’re accomplishing something because many Arab and Jewish groups, to put it mildly, view each other as rivals. It can be really inspiring to hear that laughter and then see it’s an audience filled with people from all types of different backgrounds.
Detroit Free Press