- Dean Obeidallah
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Dean Obeidallah 
Born Lodi, New Jersey, United States Medium Stand-up, Television, Theatre Nationality Palestinian-Italian-American Years active 1990s - present Genres Satire/Political satire, Observational comedy, Muslim comedy Subject(s) American politics, American culture, current events, Middle East Influences Richard Pryor, Bill Hicks, George Carlin Website www.deanofcomedy.com Dean Obeidallah (Arabic: دين عبيدالله) is a Palestinian-American/Italian-American comedian, who was born in Lodi, New Jersey, and grew up in nearby Paramus.[1] His father was born in Battir, Palestine- a small village near Bethlehem; his mother's parents were born in Sicily. He is part of a small but growing number of Middle Eastern-American comedians who have increasingly received media attention in the past few years, as they use comedy to both entertain and dispel negative stereotypes of Middle Eastern-Americans.
Like African-American comedians in the 1960s and 70s, Obeidallah and other Arab-American comics have been compared to the groundbreaking comedians who have used comedy to raise political and social issues in an effort to change them as noted by The Baltimore Sun's David Zurawik:
"Just as comic Lenny Bruce battled the stifling conformity of the 1950s or Dick Gregory and Richard Pryor challenged racism in the '60s and '70s, these performers now are challenging mainstream notions about their ethnic, religious and racial groups."[2]
In 2005, Obeidallah received the first “Spirit of Bill Hicks” award, named in honor of comedian Bill Hicks for “thought provoking comedy” from the NY Underground Comedy Festival and the Hicks’ family. He co-produced with the Emmy Award winning comedy writer and best-selling author Max Brooks a new show entitled The Watch List for Comedy Central's Internet channel. This was the first show ever produced by a major American entertainment company to showcase all Middle Eastern-American performers. Obeidallah has also appeared on Comedy Central on the critically acclaimed "Axis of Evil" Comedy special.[3]
He is also the co-founder of the New York Arab-American Comedy Festival. This highly-acclaimed, first of its kind festival has received national and international media coverage. It is held annually in New York City and showcases Arab-American comics, actors, playwrights and filmmakers. The 7th annual Festival was held on May 10–14, 2010.[4]
Obeidallah is the co-creator of Stand up for Peace which he performs across the country with Jewish-American comedian Scott Blakeman. Stand Up for Peace brings Arab-Americans, Muslims and Jews together through comedy in the hopes of fostering understanding and peace in the Middle East.
Dean has also been featured on numerous national and international television programs including Comedy Central's "Axis of Evil" special and The Watch List, , ABC's The View, "Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen," PBS' Newshour with Jim Lehrer, ABC's 20/20, CNN's "Inside the Middle East" and Japan's NHK. He can also be seen on the upcoming PBS' documentary, "Stand Up: Muslim American Comics Come of Age"[5] which aired nationally in May 2008 and on BBC World News. Dean can also be seen in the bonus feature of the DVD version of Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" in the section entitled: Arab-American comedians. He has also been featured in various publications and radio networks including The New York Times, Time, Newsweek, The Los Angeles Times, NPR, BBC, Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman, The Associated Press, Vanity Fair (Italian version) and Air America Radio.
Dean served as the Executive Producer of the Amman Stand up Comedy Festival held in Amman, Jordan from December 2–6, 2008.[6] This was the first stand up comedy festival in the history of the Middle East. The third annual Festival was held December 4 to 10, 2010.
In addition to appearing at hundreds of comedy clubs and colleges across the United States, Obeidallah has performed stand-up comedy in Canada and in the Middle East in Amman, Dubai,[7] Beirut, Cairo, Haifa, Oman, Sharm El Sheikh and Ramallah.
References
- ^ Shih, Evelyn. "Tour uses humor to fight racism", The Record (Bergen County), October 12, 2007. Accessed October 14, 2007. "Half Italian and half Taliban, Obeidallah had an interesting childhood in Lodi and Paramus."
- ^ David Zurawik. Just a little innocent comedy, The Baltimore Sun, March 4, 2007.
- ^ Amazon.com The Axis of Evil Comedy Tour (Ahmed Ahmed, Aron Kader, Maz Jobrani, and Dean Obeidallah) (2006)
- ^ Arab Comedy www.arabcomedy.org
- ^ PBS Programs America at the Crossroads, May 11, 2008.
- ^ Greater Amman Municipality Amman Stand-up Comedy Festival
- ^ Radsch, Courtney (Feb. 16, 2009). "Stand-up comedy takes the Arab world by storm". AlArabiya.net/English. http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/02/16/66594.html. Retrieved February 16, 2009.
External links
- Dean Obeidallah's official website
- Dean Obeidallah at the Internet Movie Database
- Dean Obeidallah on Facebook
- Dean Obeidallah on Twitter
- Dean Obeidallah on Myspace
- NY Arab-American Comedy Festival official website
- Stand up for Peace website
- Interview from 2002
- Comedy Central's "The Watch List" Home page
- Newsweek article about Dean Obeidallah
- Profile of Dean Obeidallah at the Institute for Middle East Understanding
- PBS documentary which aired May 11, 2008 featuring Dean Obeidallah entitled: "Stand Up Comics: Muslim-American Comedians Come of Age"
- Video (and audio) of interview/discussion with Dean Obeidallah on Bloggingheads.tv
- Photo gallery: Dean Onnual Arab-American Comedy Festival in New York
- NPR article "Muslim Comedian Aims at Breaking Stereotypes"
- AND Magazine interview "The Muslims Are Coming!"
Categories:- American people of Palestinian descent
- American people of Italian descent
- American comedians
- American people of Arab descent
- American comedians of Arab descent
- Living people
- People from Paramus, New Jersey
- 1969 births
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