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Dean Obeidallah
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 an Arab-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."
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.
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 6th annual Festival was held on
May 10-14, 2009.
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" 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. This was the first stand up comedy festival in the history of
the Middle East. The second annual Festival will be held December 4 to 11,
2009.
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, Beirut, Cairo, Haifa, Oman, Sharm El Sheikh and Ramallah.
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