Comedians may be more effective than politicians in addressing the tensions surrounding the current conflict in the Middle East.
Noel Elgrably, Elham Jazab and Mike Batayeh, a group of Middle Eastern comedians who call themselves the Sultans of Satire, held a panel discussion Friday on the role of comedy in alleviating Islamophobia. The events were cosponsored by the Penn Middle East Center and the Levantine Cultural Center.
In the years following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Muslim comedy changed its form to address the discrimination, stereotypes and prejudices of Islamophobia since Muslim comedians have become the recipients of these negative feelings.
According to Mucahit Bilici, professor of sociology at the City University of New York and a panelist at the event, “Both fear and laughter are reactions to ‘otherness.’”
For Bilici, each represents a coping mechanism with the harsh realities of prejudice.
Bilici said “groups with a sense of insecurity are the most likely to crack jokes” because in comic situations, humor can lighten tension.
For example, each of the comedians incorporated at least one riff on airport security, which to them epitomizes the meeting of American and Muslim mainstream cultures, into his skit.
Jordan Elgrably, cofounder of the Levantine Center and creator of Sultans of Satire, said that, ironically, before Sept. 11, many people of Middle Eastern descent thought of themselves primarily as American, but now their ethnic or religious identity is taking precendence.
“We have an Armenian and a Turk in the same show,” Elgrably joked in his opening to the show. “It’s a little tense.” Each of the comedians he referenced also identifies, at least partially, as an American.
Before Sept. 11, the comedians featured in the show did not center their humor around their ethnic identities. After the attacks, however, each altered his or her focus to incorporate more Islamic humor. There was also an increase of Muslim comedians in general, Bilici said.
He added that this change may be attributed both to the increase in material to work with, and the belief that the journey from fear to laughter helps breach the ethnic divide by reaffirming a common humanity. After all, according to Bilici, “Humor often stands for humanity.”
In the show itself there was surprisingly little mention of the current events in the Middle East. Instead, the comedians chose to focus on the humorous aspects of their culture.
However, Jazab did joke, “Dude, I’m Middle Eastern. We don’t climb rocks, we throw them. Don’t you watch the news?”
