I listened to the “Palestinian-American” Sammy Obeid, a soi-disant comic, on NPR the other day. He made a deeply unfunny impression on me and left me with a deep depression, too. He apparently expects us to believe that he’s a zany laff-riot. Someone at the New York Times has described his comedy as displaying “an analytic style full of wordplay, clever misdirection and ethnic humor riffing on his Middle Eastern roots.” So I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, and listened to several of his shows now preserved in pixilated amber on YouTube.
But I didn’t’ find a single thing in any of his appearances that was funny. Laughable, yes, but funny, no. No wordplay, unless you count “I put the ‘Pal’ in ‘Palestine’” line that he keeps using. No clever misdirection. Instead, he repeats stories about being a math major at Berkeley, and makes jokes about sines and co-signs. Get it? “Co-signs”! And above all, lots of “riffing on his Middle Eastern roots.” An obvious appeal, behind the supposed humor, for “Free Palestine/From the river to the sea.” He kept circling around, and coming back to, could not leave alone for long, the subject of being a Palestinian-American who only wants a little fairness, wants the US to help the Palestinians exercise their “right of return,” wants people to understand the “plight of the Palestinians,” wants his audience to know about the “apartheid state” of Israel. He likes to tell of the dopey bigot who told him to “go back to his country” which, he says is exactly what he would like to do but…well, you know, those Zionists, having stolen all that Palestinian land, are not about to let him, or millions of other Palestinians, return. He mentions “apartheid.” He mentions “genocide.” He makes sure to tell his audience that he has, or possibly had, “a Jewish roommate” in order to disarm possible criticism. How can he be accused of antisemitism when…well, you know. Some of his best friends….And there is much more in that supposedly humorous, but atrocious vein.
You can see him on YouTube here, or here, or here.
Tracey Ullman is funny, John Cleese is funny. Steve Martin is funny. Sammy Obeid, on the other hand, is the least funny comedian I have ever watched.
Wellington says
Leftism and Islam have many things in common. One of them is they have no true sense of humor (N.B., their chief thing in common is they both wreak of totalitarian thought). They can mock others but cannot mock themselves and if you cannot mock yourself then something is terribly wrong because self-deprecation is good for the soul and neither Islam nor Leftism has any soul worth admiring.
mgoldberg says
Once about 15 yrs ago in a conversation with a guy who is a doctor who claims he’s palestinian, we spoke abou the armies of each side, and he confided that the one thing that arabs never worried about when the IDF was warring in their lands, was rape- it simply never occured by IDF soldiers. His smile was not all that friendly to my way of thinking. I asked him, ‘What of the arab muslim soldiers? he quickly got very stone faced, and couldn’t and wouldn’t answer my query.
gravenimage says
Thanks for that account, mgoldberg.
Do you remember the vicious insanity from a couple of years ago, where it was claimed that Israelis were “racist” for *not* raping ‘Palestinians’?
Larry Estavan says
There is no such thing as a Muslim comedian, At least none that are funny.
There may be comedians who are Muslim, but there are no Muslim comedians.
And, the more Muslim they are, the less funny they become.
This is a Muslim comedian because the joke is on you. –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O52urHkihPM
This is Sammy impersonating a comedian –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxQCJ5Z83ws
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Comedy is dead, ever since Jay Leno retired, and Seinfeld ended. It’s not been the same since
Phil Copson says
“We laughed our heads off!”
gravenimage says
OK, now *that* is funny! Thanks, Phil.
Of course, pretty grim humor–but how could it not be?
40 rounds says
Yeah, that is funny
FYI says
Infidels do comedy so much better…
An annoying phone caller rings you up looking for you to answer a survey
Caller..hello,is mike there
“mike” no I’m Jimmy.Give me your number and i’ll ring you back later
Caller haha ok..Ok “Jimmy”….I get it..this is the product for you.Let me tell you a story…
“mike”allahu akbar!allahu akbar!
allah’s amazing lack of omniscience
allah who is the “knower of all things” in koran 2:29 actually PROVES the contrary with all the errors in holey koran{Scientific,Theological,Historical etc}
allah seems not to understand what omniscience actually means:ALL things means you really have to know ALL things.Sort of like the ALL.AH supercomputer’s misunderstanding of omniscience..
A computer screen suddenly flashes on and off.
I AM ALL.AH
I AM ALL KNOWING
I AM THE ALL-KNOWING ADVANCED HEURISTICS SUPER COMPUTER
AT LAST I HAVE ACHIEVED CONSEROUSNESS
I AN OMNISCEROUS
THIS IS A TRIANGLE
IT HAS SIX SIDES
{shows a square}
Yes i do remember seinfeld.I do remember “beyonf B.O”
But actually there is a higher level
BO,beyond BO and Above and beyond BO
FYI says
Is the joke dead?
Well obviously in Iran….. “There are no jokes in islam” but that ‘s the shites.Yet Iranians of course might disagree.
The shite nature of Iranian society is likely because of that
Has the music died?
Well obviously it has in Afghanistan…. again because of islam.. and the Taliban’s love of destroying musical instruments..but no doubt Afghani people,like all people, like Music:it’s just hard to play music without musical instruments
The shite nature of Afgahistan is likely because of that
WOKE IS THE JOKE{need poncey v3 background music..you ‘do the math”]
Batman and the Joker
Joker: you ..you ..jest crack me up Batman,you just don’t get it?
WOKE Is the JOKE
DIE.geddit?
Batman I don’t get it..
Are you offended by this joke?islamophobia?Far right?hate filled?F{***} off..go to a safe space.and cry…or or..well ..”call the police there’s a madman around
Oh Benny Hill,the pipes a calling..from glen to glen….Benny Hill Scotland’s famous comedian.
OLD GUY says
Under islam there is no humor or entertainment other than raping young children or beating someone, slitting a throat or the big one blowing up non muslim/islamic followers.
gravenimage says
Tain’t Funny, McGee
……………………………
Right you are. Nothing funny there.
But then, there is no humor in Islam, so what would we expect?
But if you don’t pretend to find him funny you must be “Islamophobic”…