Maz Jobrani had a clear message Friday night: "Please, guys, don't always blame Middle Easterners first, OK? It's not always us, all right?" He continued, "I mean, quite often it is. But not always."
Jobrani, an Iranian-American comedian, performed for a packed Salomon 101 with fellow comedians Aron Kader and Dean Obeidallah, of the "Axis of Evil Comedy Tour." The event was co-sponsored by the Muslim Students Association, the Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life and the Office of Student Life.
Attendees roared with laughter as the three joked about their experiences as Americans of Middle Eastern descent in the post-9/11 world. Obeidallah and Kader are both Palestinian-Americans.
The three comedians said they wanted to challenge media-driven stereotypes of Middle Easterners. "Every time they show us, they show the crazy guy, right? On TV, always the crazy guy burning the American flag going, 'Death to America!'" Jobrani said. "Just once, I wish they would show us doing something good, like baking a cookie... 'Hello, I am Muhammad, and I am just baking a cookie. I swear, no bombs, no nothing.'"
Confronting such stereotypes was the main goal of bringing the comedians to campus, according to Rumee Ahmed, associate university chaplain for the Muslim community. Ahmed said he hoped the performance would address the "xenophobia that's been brought on by post-9/11 politics - the idea that we're constantly supposed to be in fear of an attack or a group of people."
Rashid Hussain '10, president of MSA, said he hoped the event would "show a human face" of Muslims. "In the modern media, you often see representations of Muslims and Arabs only in a negative light, and you never see them laughing or performing in any way," Hussain said. "We were hoping with this we could show people there is another side to it, it's not just flag burning and screaming jihad."
Jobrani told The Herald he became a comedian primarily because of his interest in acting and comedy, but he added that he thought that the medium allowed for particularly effective social commentary.
"One of the jobs of a comedian is to expose hypocrisy. Another is to defend the underdog," Jobrani said. Comedy allows him to "get the point across in a friendlier or nicer way," he added.
The Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life decided to bring the event to campus because humor facilitates tolerance and acceptance in the community, Ahmed said. "If we can laugh at each others' close, sacred rituals while respecting them at the same time, we're able to appreciate other people's funny-looking rituals better, and approach our own rituals with a little humor," he said.
Accordingly, the comedians were not afraid to mock their own cultures. Kader, imitating an Arabic accent, mocked the stereotype that Arab-Americans are humorless. "We're very funny people," he said. "We have great sense of humor. You think we don't? I kill you, I burn your flag!"
Current events such as the upcoming American elections were also popular topics. "This election, no one talks about bin Laden," Obeidallah said. "He's a has-been. He put out four tapes over the last few months. No one cared. ... The next time you see bin Laden, mark my words, he'll have his own reality show on VH1. Like, 'The Flavor of bin Laden.'"
Obeidallah, who said he liked current presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., joked about Obama's middle name "Hussein." "People infer he's a Muslim, and people mean it in a derogatory way," Obeidallah said, adding that if Obama revealed that he was actually Muslim at his inauguration, he would be "the first president shot by his own Secret Service."
Jobrani was careful to note that he wasn't "America-bashing." "I criticize both sides," he told The Herald. Nonetheless, mockery of President Bush was common. Jobrani criticized both Bush and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for their management of the current relationship between the two countries. Of Ahmadinejad, Jobrani said, "He says some stupid shit. Bush doesn't say stupid shit, so much as he says shit stupidly."
Obeidallah also mocked Bush for poor pronunciation, especially of Arabic words. Mimicking Bush's mispronunciation of "al-Qaida," Obeidallah said, "Al-Qaida has gone from a Middle Eastern terrorist group to a Mexican restaurant."
The comedians also spoke seriously at the show. Obeidallah shared how the attacks of September 11, 2001 changed how others view him.
"I went to bed September 10 a white guy, and I woke up September 11 an Arab," he said. "I'd have people label me an Arab-American comedian, which they'd never done before. That was fine. The weird thing was somebody said bad things to me about being Arab, and I began to defend it and get in touch with my heritage."
Yet being Arab-American has its benefits, Obeidallah said, citing immunity to identity theft and the ability to get dates with women who find him "exotic - sort of like kiwi: sweet, tasty and a little hairy."
The comedians discussed their American identities in addition to their Middle Eastern roots. "We're here to get laughs. We're here to build bridges," Obeidallah told the audience. His third goal, he added, was to "bring peace between America and New Jersey." The son of a Palestinian father and a Sicilian-American mother, he grew up in the Garden State.
Kader, whose mother is Mormon, said that when Mormons asked him if he had considered becoming a missionary, he said, "To an Arab, a mission's a whole different thing. Generally we don't come back from those."
Students found the show entertaining and thought-provoking. Nic Mooney '11 said the performance gave him a new perspective on Middle Eastern culture. "It was nice to see sort of a different perspective on things," he said.
Farrukh Malik '11 said he identified with many of the jokes. "Some of the jokes - especially if you're from the Middle East or around there - some of the stuff was so spot on. It was unbelievable," he said.
Hamoon Eshraghi '10, an Iranian-American, agreed. "I would give it an A," he said. "I felt like I could relate, or a lot of the things he was saying were very visible in my own life."
Ahmed and Hussain said they were very pleased with the event and its large turnout. The line for the event "snaked back out past (Faunce House)," Chaplain Ahmed said. Hussain, the Muslim Students Association president, did not see the event because he gave up his seat so someone else could watch the show, but he said he heard the praise the event garnered afterward.
The comedians themselves also said they thought the performance was a great success. At a post-show question-and-answer session held in Arnold Lounge, Aron Kader said, "It was the best college show I've ever experienced."
The large turnout and anticipation of the event helped him get excited about the show, he said. "This was as good a show as we would have had on our tour, when we do a big theater show."
Obeidallah said he also thought that the diversity of the crowd and the significant presence of people of Middle Eastern heritage helped to get the audience laughing. "The laughter's almost a release at some level. It's beyond just comedy. It's like, 'Yeah, I went through that. I know what it's like to be thought I was being suspicious because of my heritage,' " he said. He said he also thought that seeing Middle Easterners laugh at their own heritage "frees white people to laugh."
The group could not bill itself as the "Axis of Evil Comedy Tour," as one of its members, Ahmed Ahmed, did not participate in the show. He was on tour out of the country, according to Maz Jobrani.
True to form, Obeidallah joked that Ahmed Ahmed was "being held for questioning."
