The Muslim Funny Fest, being held in New York City for the first time this week, is gathering 15 Muslim comedians to take on Islamophobia and racism. It begins tonight and continues for two nights.
“The Muslims depicted in our media tend to be from ISIS, Al Qaeda or under arrest,” comedian Dean Obeidallah, one of the co-founders of the festival, told CBC News.
“The U.S. mainstream media rarely shows Muslims in a positive light and never shows us being funny.”
“For example, people worry about terrorism. I don’t worry about terrorism because I’m being terrorized in my home by my children. I’m being held hostage by their emotions – I can make jokes like that.”
Hassan, the host of CBC’s ‘Laugh Out Loud’ does about 300 shows a year, but this one is special. “This will probably be the most important festival I do this year,” he admits.
“And that would be weird for comedians to hear, for friends to hear. ‘Hey what about Just for Laughs? What about this festival?’ Those are great festivals and great credits for your career as you move your way up… but as far as a festival that has the most broad reach… you can’t beat [the Muslim Funny Fest].”
Reaching out to a wide variety of people is also a goal for Obeidallah. How will he measure the success of the Muslim Funny Fest? Simple: his dream audience is “as many non-Muslims as possible.”
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