These Middle Eastern Comics Want to Laugh ISIS Out of Town

posted on: Nov 3, 2014

You don’t necessarily need airstrikes and weaponry to diminish the power of evil, or at least that’s what Muslim and Arab comedians in the Middle East are betting on right now.

Despite making them major targets for ISIS retaliation, a serious threat since ISIS is quite literally in their backyards, these comics have taken to relentlessly mocking ISIS on local TV shows and YouTube channels. It isn’t that unusual for popular American comedians to take jabs at groups like ISIS, but it is a different thing altogether when the locals, who have a front row seat to the conflict, crack jokes about it.

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Comedy has long been a way for people and cultures to process horrible events. That’s why some of the funniest comics are deeply depressed.

It’s also why changing the soundtrack of a horror movie or putting human teeth on shark pictures makes everything less scary.

No one knows how truly scary this situation is better than the people who are actually living in it, which might make their jokes some of the funniest. Talk about an extreme form of comedic relief.

To these comics, nothing is sacred. A popular skit actually features two fighters chatting about the great women they’ve banged and the awesome parties they’ve been to while shooting Muslim civilians over not kneeling the correct amount of times during prayer.

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This is certainly a risky endeavor, but one the Middle Eastern comedic community (yes, there is such a thing) deems necessary in order to show that they too are against ISIS. If ISIS is laughed at instead of feared, there is a sense there can be some sort of cultural triumph.

It is an interesting case study in comedy as a tool for subversiveness. Arab culture has a history of embracing satire to criticize power-brokers because being outspoken without the guise of comedy is incredibly dangerous. The Arabs are known for their very dark humor, which is on display in the newest shows and comedic programs they are producing to combat ISIS.

Check out the video below of a Palestinian dig at ISIS and see if you find any humor in it.

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