2006年VOA标准英语-Arab-American Comedy in New York: Routing Suspi

By Carolyn Weaver¹
New York City
27 November 2006
 
watch Comedy Festival report

Comedians² from around the United States came to New York recently [Nov. 14-19] for the fourth annual Arab-American Comedy Festival. The event featured six nights of stand-up comedy, films and theater pieces satirizing³ everything from U.S. homeland security and President Bush, to sex and religion, to Arab politics and family life. 

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The Gotham Comedy Club, one of the best places for comedy in New York,  was the venue⁴ for the comedy festival
Dean Obeidallah, a lawyer from New Jersey⁵ who's half-Lebanese, and Maysoon Zayid, a Muslim Palestinian-American from California, founded the Arab-American comedy festival in 2003. "We know that comedy is a very American invention, so we're drawn⁶ to it,” Obadeillah told a group of international reporters. “Stand-up is truly an American invention. So, as Americans, and we're certainly proud of our heritage as Arabs, we want to use what can relate to other Americans. And certainly people laughing in an audience makes it more difficult for them to be angry with you, I think. I always feel if they're laughing, they're agreeing with you. I may be delusional⁷, but that's what I feel."

Obeidallah said that after the 9/11 attacks, he felt it was important to assert his heritage -- especially when he heard prejudiced remarks from people who did not realize he was Arab-American. He's made those reactions part of his routine:

 
Dean Obeidallah
“‘Oh, you're Arab -- I love hummus.' 'Oh, you're Arab -- well, that sucks for you.' 'Oh, you're Arab -- but you look so nice!' 'Oh, you're Arab, what a coincidence, I love Indian food.'  I have no idea what that means. 'Oh, you're Arab, no, really, what are you?' Like people can't believe, like you don't look like an Arab. 'Oh, you're Arab, hey, don't take this the wrong way, but if you hear of any terrorist attacks coming up, will you warn me?' Then they go, 'I'm just kidding -- but seriously, if you do hear of something, you will let me know, right?'"

 
Maysoon Ziyad
The stand-up comedy nights, before mostly Arab-American audiences, took on discrimination, religion, sex, and women's status in the Arab world. "You know, I'm 30 years old and I'm single, right?” Maysoon Ziyad told the audience. ”Which is not a big deal, because like I said, it's like Sex and the City, I'm so cool. Here's the problem: In Arab years, I am actually 67."

"In some Middle East countries, the women cover up from head to toe,” said comic Helen Maalik, who lives in New York. “You have to feel bad for the Arab men over there because how do they check out the women? 'Oh, Ahmed, look at the one over there, so hot -- the one all dressed in black.' Or if you're an Arab kid and you get lost in the mall, how do you describe your mother to security? 'She has eyes!' “

 
Helen Maalik
In his routine, Palestinian-American Amer Zahr disputed that Arab women are oppressed. "Like, in my house when we were growing up, the woman, my mother, was not oppressed,” he said. “She was the oppressor. You know what I'm talking about. In the [Arab] household, the mother never just sits back and listens to whatever the father says. The father might every now and then put his foot down and yell and scream, and then that night, he's like, "Habibti [sweetheart], what do you think, is it okay?"

Joe DeRosa, who’s half-Egyptian, had the bitterest humor about Iraq. "Why are people my age going over there to get killed? We haven't done anything yet. I want to see two 90-year-old armies going onto the battlefield. That's fair. And if anybody did die, you'd finally have a good story about your grandparents dying. Aren't you tired of everybody's same old boring-ass stories? It's always the same. 'What's the matter, man?' 'Oh, well, we lost Nana (Grandma) last night. She went in her sleep, it was peaceful, but it was her time to go.' 'Yeah? Well, we lost Nana in Iraq! Top that!”

"Everybody thinks they're the chosen people: Christians⁸, Jews, Muslims,” said Aron Kader, a half-Palestinian comic whose mother is an American Mormon.  “I've got Muslim cousins who say, 'Aron, you don't understand. God chose us. He gave us this land, he promised it to us.' All right, God's not a licensed⁹ real estate agent."

Amanda Baramki, whose Egyptian-Palestinian family is from Virginia, talked about anti-Arab prejudice. "I saw this poll the other day on TV. I'm not exaggerating: It said that half of Americans think Arab-Americans should have to wear ID badges identifying ourselves as Arabs. Can you believe that? I say, let's make it fun. I say, ID badges and…eye patches!  Because nobody hates pirates. Nobody. We could be walking down the street: 'Hi, matey, I'm Ahhrrr-ab.' “

President Bush's alleged¹⁰ lack of intelligence, and his homeland security policies also came in for jabs. "He does a thing right now, and I'm not exaggerating,” Dean Obeidallah said, “when he's making a big speech, when there's some important point, he will literally¹¹ s-l-o-w down his speech pattern, speaking to us like we are the dumb ones. Like, for example, 'We've got to start developing alternative fuel sources, so we are no long-er de-pen-dent on for-eign oi-all." And I'm thinking why does he do that? And then it occurred to me, that was probably the way it was explained to him."

Helen Maalik took on ethnic¹² profiling. "We were crossing the border from Canada a couple of months ago. Yep, you guessed it. Homeland Security pulled us over, took away our passports, made us go into the building. And as soon as we walked into the homeland security building, there's a portrait of George Bush looking right at you. And it was really creepy, because wherever you moved, his eyes followed you. It reminded me a lot of the post office here in New York, because there were four agents behind the counter, and only one was working."

The comics poked¹³ mostly affectionate fun at Arabs and their fellow Arab-Americans. "For a long time, Arabs didn't come to see comedy,” Aron Kader said. “We've been getting it going in the last few years, but traditionally, if Arabs came to see comedy, they'd come and sit in the back in the dark, and be like—“ The comic took on a gloomy Arabic accent: ‘Yeah, that was funny. You can almost hear me laugh, it's that funny. And anyone who says Arabs don't have a sense of humor -- I will kill you, and burn your flag.' "

Most shows in this year's New York Arab-American Comedy Festival sold out. The founders¹⁴ say they hope to take the festival to cities in the Middle East eventually, too -- where they say young native comics are also beginning to introduce stand-up.

1 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

2 comedians   

n.喜剧演员，丑角( comedian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The voice was rich, lordly, Harvardish, like all the boring radio comedians'imitations. 声音浑厚、威严，俨然是哈佛出身的气派，就跟无线电里所有的滑稽演员叫人已经听腻的模仿完全一样。 来自辞典例句
• He distracted them by joking and imitating movie and radio comedians. 他用开玩笑的方法或者模仿电影及广播中的滑稽演员来对付他们。 来自辞典例句

3 satirizing   

v.讽刺，讥讽( satirize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• River morals " is novel satirizing the knight novel. " 《堂吉河德》是一部讽刺骑士小说的小说。 来自互联网
• Marlows delights in excesses, until sometimes he seems to be satirizing his own manner. 马洛老爱走极端，直到他有时嘲笑自己的态度。 来自互联网

4 venue   

n.犯罪地点，审判地，管辖地，发生地点，集合地点

参考例句：

• The hall provided a venue for weddings and other functions.大厅给婚礼和其他社会活动提供了场所。
• The chosen venue caused great controversy among the people.人们就审判地点的问题产生了极大的争议。

5 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

6 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

7 delusional   

妄想的

参考例句：

• You became delusional and attacked several people trying to escape. 你产生了错觉并攻击了许多人还试图逃走。 来自电影对白
• He is incoherent, delusional, suffering auditory hallucinations. 他出现无逻辑的，妄想的，幻听的症状。 来自电影对白

8 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

9 licensed   

adj.得到许可的v.许可，颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The new drug has not yet been licensed in the US. 这种新药尚未在美国获得许可。
• Is that gun licensed? 那支枪有持枪执照吗？

10 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

11 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

12 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

13 poked   

v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交

参考例句：

• She poked him in the ribs with her elbow. 她用胳膊肘顶他的肋部。
• His elbow poked out through his torn shirt sleeve. 他的胳膊从衬衫的破袖子中露了出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句