Just for Laughs: Talking to Arab-American Comedian Amer Zahr

posted on: Jul 17, 2012

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Arab-American comedian Amer Zahr performed for the first time in Beirut last week as part of The Comedy Factory organized by MTV. Zahr sat down with NOW Extra to talk about his take on censorship, what makes a good comedian, the future of stand-up comedy in the region, and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

This is your first time in Lebanon. How does it feel being here?

Amer Zahr: It’s different from any other Arab country I’ve been to. It feels very open and free, but you can feel the tension in the air… You know there are some red lines, but you’re not exactly sure what or where they are.

You’ve been doing stand-up comedy for a while. When would you say was your breakthrough?

Zahr: There is no breakthrough. It’s a long road. For the first three or four years of doing comedy, I wasn’t getting a paycheck. I would drive for hours just to be on a stage, because I have an addiction to being on stage in front of people, be they 10 or 2,000. As long as they’re coming on the journey with me, then I’m happy.

Do you think Arabs are embracing stand-up comedy?

Zahr: We still face the challenge of letting people know what we’re doing and who we are, because the art form is still very new [in the region]. We still struggle with that because sometimes Arabs don’t know if it’s okay to laugh. A lot of it is centered on the shame culture, or “aa’yeb.”

Have you ever censored your shows?

Zahr: No. I have a bad habit of pushing people to the brink at my shows. I want to see how far I can take them. I believe this is the job of a comedian. [This] is an art form to see how far you can go without offending anybody.

So how do you go about doing that?

Zahr: If I’m performing in front of an Arab audience and I tell a dirty joke, as I do, I don’t get there until 10 or 15 minutes into the show. Comedy is about building a relationship with your audience, and if you do it right, it’s very intimate.

You said you tell dirty jokes in your shows. Do you tone it down when performing in front of an Arab audience?

Zahr: We [Arabs] have this ironic, weird existence. We’re completely repressed about sex and can’t talk about it. But our culture is paradoxical: What do we call the wedding night? “Laylet el-Dukhleh,” which means “the night of entrance” in Arabic. If you say that in English, it would be very uncouth… The one thing I learned about telling dirty jokes on stage is that you can’t be graphic. You have to be creative about it.

Who are some inspirational role models for you as a comedian?

Zahr: I really love Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby and David Chapelle. I also like ethnic comedians because they’re trying to tell struggle stories, just like we are.

What do you think are the attributes of a good comedian?

Zahr: Comedians aren’t actors. We are ourselves, and you create a relationship with the audience, a level of intimacy and trust… Once you get to the point where you’re comfortable with what you’re doing and you’re comfortable with yourself, then things become more natural and they flow a lot better [on stage]. You also learn as a comedian not to be too specific. You might tell a story, but it has to have a thread that’s a bit more general and accessible.

Do you usually aim to raise awareness or to highlight social taboos or misconceptions in your shows?

Zahr: Yes, of course. This is what’s beautiful about comedy, and if you make people laugh, they will listen to you. We might be up there giving a lecture, and people don’t even know it. The best way to teach people is when they don’t know that they’re learning.

Do you prefer performing to an Arab audience or an American audience?

Zahr: I like both, but they’re different. With an American audience, if they’re laughing, you know that they’re learning something and connecting with you in some way. With an Arab audience, they’re laughing from the point of view that, “yes, that happened to me too.”

You have performed in several towns and cities in Palestine, and you are Palestinian yourself. Have you ever had an Israeli audience?

Zahr: No, but I wish they’d come! My dream is to perform one of my shows to an all-Israeli audience, because 80 percent of it is all about Palestine and has nothing to do with Israel.

So what do you hope they would take away from it if that were to happen?

Zahr: Honestly, I don’t know if [the Israelis] are mature enough yet. But to take from me what white people took from Richard Pryor in the 1970s.

Why do you think the Israelis aren’t mature enough yet?

Zahr: They’re still existentially at war with us. We’re not at war with them. Palestinians know that whatever solution happens, the Jews are staying. But the Israelis, to this day, are still having dialogue of how to get rid of the [Palestinian] people. [Benjamin] Netanyahu openly calls us “a demographic threat.” If we were immigrants, that would be racist. But we’re not even immigrants!

Now Lebanon