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Can Comedy Help Change America's Misperception of Islam?
Maz Jobrani caught the acting bug playing Li’l Abner in a junior high school play. Eddie Murphy made him fall in love with comedy. Jobrani tried a conventional career path, studying political science at Berkeley and starting a Ph.D. at UCLA. He even joined a fraternity. He eventually chucked it all to perform.
The snag was that he is Muslim. And born in Iran.
Jobrani’s journey reflects both the problems and the potential in using comedy to bridge the cultural chasm produced by Islamic extremism. In growing numbers, America’s Muslim comedians are using a sassy brand of humor to reach across the abyss. In the United States, their shticks both ridicule extremism within their own faith and challenge American stereotypes of Muslims.
They’re also exporting stand-up, a distinctly American form of comedy, back to the Islamic world. They perform. But they’re also teaching it. Comedy turns out to be a sly way of challenging autocratic rule and a potent antidote to the sophisticated social media campaigns of the Islamic State and al-Qaeda.
Jobrani recounts the emergence of America’s Muslim comedians in his new book I’m Not a Terrorist But I’ve Played One on TV. He’s also taken the story on a nation-wide comedy tour. (He performs this weekend at the Warner Theater in Washington and at Caroline’s on Broadway in New York.)
Source: www.theatlantic.com