The Christian Science Monitor takes a look at American Muslim female comedians explaining that “generations of comics have used stand-up to educate the broader society about their culture or ethnic group.”
Here’s a look at some up and coming talent:
Mariam Sobh
CSM declares that Ms. Sobh leaves her “patrons in stitches with jokes about headscarves, terrorism, and patriarchy in conservative Muslim families.” Ms. Sobh, a radio anchor whose mother is from the Midwest and father is Lebanese, started her career in Illinois 15 years ago. She wanted to be a television news reporter but couldn’t get ahead. “They would tell me off the record that I didn’t get the job because of my hijab.”
So Ms. Sobh went to work for Illinois public radio station WILL-AM, and eventually found herself performing at local open mic shows. “When I started out, none of my jokes were about being Muslim,” Ms. Sobh says. “But then I realized I needed to address the elephant in the room, which is me wearing a scarf, because a lot of people made assumptions once they saw it. I figured it was my chance to dispel the assumptions that people make about Muslims.”
Sabeen Sadiq
At 28, Ms. Sadiq is a Pakistani American who is also on the Chicago comedy circuit. She says she wants the audience to understand that she isn’t so different from them. “It was hard telling my conservative mom that I did stand-up in bars,” quips Ms. Sadiq at a recent show. “I’d be like, ‘There’s a curtain with guys on one side and women on the other – and we serve tea.’”
Mona Aburmishan
Mona Aburmishan is a Palestinian American veteran of the Chicago comedy scene and says comedy allows her to deliver the truth “in a lovable way…. When you want your kids or dogs to take their medicine, you hide it in food. A lot of my jokes are kind of like that. They are really intentional, and I’ll make these subtle jokes where people don’t really process it till they walk out of the room.”
