Tonight on PBS, the series “America at a Crossroads” will air their latest episode featuring many of my friends. The episode is called “STAND UP: MUSLIM AMERICAN COMICS COME OF AGE.”
I’m very excited because it was taped at the 2006 New York Arab American Comedy Festival. Unfortunately I was not performing at the time so I was not there for shows. I did however participate in the 2008 New York Arab American Comedy Festival title “Arabs Gone Wild!” I guess they knew I was coming!
This series will hopefully elevate the awareness of Arab-American stand up comedy in America and around the world.
Last year Comedy Central’s Axis Of Evil Comedy Tour debuted Arab-American comedy on national television in America. The one drawback is that it was on cable. PBS is available to everyone and hopefully people will be interested enough to look up more of our material on sites like Youtube.
I owe a lot to Dean Obeidallah, co-founder of the New York Arab-American Comedy Festival and co-star of the PBS special. Also, I have to thank guys like Maz Jobrani (Axis Of Evil Comedy Tour, Friday After Next, The Interpreter and Knights of Prosperity), Ahmed Ahmed (Axis Of Evil Comedy Tour, Ironman, Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Tour, Executive Decision and Punked), Aron Kader (Axis Of Evil Comedy Tour and Premium Blend).
Ray Hanania was a tremendous help as he gave me my first opportunity to perform on a national level when we had the first Arab-American Comedy Show in New York City.
I’m looking forward to watching the special and I hope to hear people’s feed back on it.
I am still performing as a stand up comedian but I recently started producing a reality show called SHERIFTV. The show is based on my life and experiences. It’s a culmination of 12 years of hard work.
Check out the show at www.sheriftv.com
2 responses so far ↓
abunakhli // May 13, 2008 at 1:51 pm
I think I saw it, it was very funny if it is what I am thinking about.
Caufield // May 13, 2008 at 6:48 pm
I caught a repeat of it yesterday and thought it was really well done. Like abunckhli said, the comics were pretty hilarious, but I also appreciated how the special was much bigger in scope. Was interesting (and inspirational) to see how the comics use their craft to change public perception of Muslims in America.
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