�Allah Made Me Funny!�
A Popular Muslim-American Comedy
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By Dilshad D. Ali |
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Logo of �Allah Made Me Funny: The Official Muslim Comedy Tour� |
Consider the ongoing hotbed situation of airport security and racial profiling. In a time when it seems like every Muslim knows someone who has suffered through heightened security at a US airport simply because they were, or even looked, Muslim, it would appear as if the subject is just spoiling for a serious dialogue.
But can we joke about it? Maybe it wouldn�t be appropriate for a non-Muslim to poke fun at the situation, but how about a Muslim taking on that job? Who better to salvage some comedy from this post 9/11 Islamophobic society than a Muslim comedian?
So here�s humorist Azhar Usman�s take on the situation: OK, he makes it past security, past the stares and whispers, and boards his airplane (note: he sports a full black beard and black kufi, or hat). �I walk down the aisle to my seat and you should see the face of all the passengers,� Usman says.
Here comes the hilarious impression. Usman holds up an imaginary cell phone to his ear, screws his face up and imagines a conversation a non-Muslim passenger is having with is wife: �I�m gonna die! Honey, I love you! Oh my God, he�s passing me byyyyyyyyyyyyyy! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!� (You have to see him do this�words don�t do it justice!)
But what�s really funny, Usman concludes, �Is that if I wanted to be a terrorist, sneak on an airplane and blow it up, do you think I would go looking like this? Hellooooo?!!!!�
As expected, Usman gets big laughs with this spiel, part of his hit comedy routine. Usman, Preacher Moss, and Azeem make up a trio of talented, hip, Muslim comedians known as the �Allah Made Me Funny! The Official Muslim Comedy Tour.� And if you consider yourself a Muslim-American attune to what is �hip� and �now� in Muslim pop culture, then chances are you�ve heard of this comedic group.
The �Allah Made Me Funny� tour is sweeping North America with its unique style of Islam-inspired satire, Muslim-culture humor and �just snap!� shenanigans. The trio took New York City by storm last week with a series of shows in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Their Manhattan gig, part of Shuruq Week at New York University, served as part of a fundraising drive for Mission: Masjid, which is a campaign by NYU Muslim students to find a permanent home for the university�s Islamic center. The center, or IC, serves NYU students and Muslims in downtown Manhattan.
Nearly 250 NYU students and New Yorkers gathered at the Kimmel Center on NYU�s campus to enjoy the comedic stylings of Preacher Moss, Azeem, and Usman. This New York engagement was part of a nonstop US tour entertaining Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
The trio enjoys the unique situation of Muslims poking fun at their own Muslim community. For these hilarious performers, divisive topics like 9/11, terror alerts, airport security, and racial profiling are fuel for laughs. And more common, Muslim-oriented subjects�like how a convert �comes out� to his family, how born Muslims view converts, and typical Indo-Pak �desi� jokes�also fill out their repertoire.
At the NYU show, Azeem, a southern black Muslim convert (now there�s an interesting combo!) who has worked with such comedic powerhouses as Steve Harvey and David Chapelle, started the evening. He mixed humor with serious, loving advice that struck a positive nerve with the audience.
One series of jokes on box cutters elicited strong but shaky laughter. (Can we laugh at box cutter jokes, the collective audience seemed to ask.) �Who you going to scare with [a box cutter]?� Azeem asked. Then he delivered his punchline: �Dude, I went to public school!�
Azeem went on to gently chide the mostly Muslim audience to work towards eliminating misconceptions about Islam. �We�re not violent! We�re the most peaceful people on the planet earth,� he exclaimed. Case in point, he added: �Mike Tyson ain�t won a fight since he became a Muslim!�
Next up was Preacher Moss, a black Muslim convert of 18 years who has written for Daryl Hammond on Saturday Night Live and George Lopez on The George Lopez Show. He also hit upon the subject of airport security, saying that if it were legally possible, he would change his name to Allahu Akbar �just to hear the guys at the airport say it!�
Moss offered probably the most sound, and humorous, advice to the audience about how to deal with a post-9/11 suspicious culture: �If you didn�t do anything, act like you didn�t do anything!� he said. �Have a little attitude�just snap!�
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Indian-American comedian Azhar Usman |
Azhar Usman rounded out the evening and spent a few uncomfortable minutes at first plugging himself�his recent appearance on NBC�s Nightline and his new comedy CD. Afterwards he launched into a series of typical �desi� jokes, which although they are not really new material for Indo-Pak Muslims, still got a bunch of giggles.
One small joke drew big laughs as Usman mused on how Muslims (and South Asians in general) get excited about seeing a Muslim name in the rolling credits that appear after the end of a television show or movie. �Look�we got a brother in Hollywood!� he exclaimed to the uproar of laughter from the audience.
His airport security jokes brought down the house, but perhaps it was his parting shot at the growing �Muslim feminist� movement that provided the most timely, and uncertain, laughs. He drew upon the recent controversial visit of Virginia Commonwealth University professor Amina Wadud, the first woman to lead a group of Muslims in Jumu`ah Prayer in New York last week.
�I�ve got an easy solution to the problem,� Usman said: Grab a transistor radio, go on the other side of the wall in front of her, and figure out exactly where she is. Then position yourself ahead of her. �Yeah man, I�m in front now!� Usman cried out. The joke drew some nervous laughter, but served as a smart reminder that no subject is taboo to these side-splitting performers.
�Allah Made Me Funny! The Official Muslim Comedy Tour� will be visiting Illinois, then California in early April. For more information visit www.allahmademefunny.com. For more information about New York University�s Mission:Masjid drive, visit www.nyu.edu/clubs/islamcenter.
* Dilshad D. Ali�s writing reaches across the United States to address lifestyle topics pertinent to Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Ali has covered movie premieres, film festivals, art exhibitions, concerts, and numerous other cultural stories, including the effect of September 11 on New York�s cultural landscape for IslamOnline. Ali, a 1997 University of Maryland journalism graduate, resides in New York with her husband and two children. You can reach her at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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