Former math teacher turned stand-up comic weaves the war in Gaza into his act

Transcript

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

When is the right time - if ever there's a right time - to make jokes about violence that's killed tens of thousands of people? For Palestinian American Sammy Obeid, the time is now. Obeid's a former math teacher turned stand-up comic who weaves the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into his act.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

SAMMY OBEID: I majored in math. I'm a math nerd. I wish I was talking about math right now. I wish I could be telling people about A squared plus B squared equals C squared.

(LAUGHTER)

OBEID: I'm out here trying to put out A's fire. I'm trying to put out B's fire. And that requires a cease-fire.

(CHEERING)

FADEL: Obeid is 40 years old. He grew up in California with the stories from his family of the occupied West Bank, Gaza and Israel. Some listeners may find his jokes disturbing and may feel uncomfortable, but that's intentional.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

OBEID: My friend was like, why don't you make jokes about the Israeli military? I've tried before, and it's failed. I posted a joke about the Israeli military, and everybody hated it. Even Palestinians were like, take it down. So I did. I listened to the people. I posted another. And people were like, don't quit your day job, which hurts 'cause I don't have a day job.

(LAUGHTER)

OBEID: So I took it down. So yeah, I don't joke about the Israeli military 'cause when the people beg me to stop bombing, I stop.

(LAUGHTER)

FADEL: You joke about things that on the face of it are not funny, right? Like, the October 7 attack happens. There's been 10 months of Israel's offensive in Gaza - nearly 40,000 people killed there - 1,200 in that original attack by Hamas on Israel. How did you decide, I'm going to take this divisive, really unfunny thing and incorporate it into my act?

OBEID: I had been talking about Palestine - Israel-Palestine for maybe, like, 12 years before all of this happened. So it's almost like I was training for something for years and years and years that I didn't know why I was training for it. And then the test comes. And this felt like the test.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

OBEID: This one guy DMed me. And he's like, Sammy, does your tour fund Hamas?

(LAUGHTER)

OBEID: No. I'm not involved in the transferring of money to Hamas. That's more of Netanyahu's thing.

(CHEERING)

FADEL: Tell me about the sort of first joke. What was that first joke?

OBEID: During this time, there was this dehumanization of Palestinians. People were calling the Palestinians barbaric. It was this term being thrown around. They're like, oh, they're barbaric. They're barbaric. And it's a silly joke, but I was just like, call this controversial, but it's not right to call any group of people barbaric, except people named Barbara (ph).

FADEL: (Laughter).

OBEID: Yeah, Barbaras be barbaric. So, like, little silly things like that in the midst of people dehumanizing Palestinians - that was kind of my approach from the very beginning. Now at my shows, I can do a full hour on it, and people are there to listen.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

OBEID: I don't use the word apartheid because nobody knows what it means.

(LAUGHTER)

OBEID: Because if you actually know what apartheid is, you would know that Israel is an apartheid state.

FADEL: I watched a clip right before this interview in which this woman is really upset. You're talking about how you think Israel is an apartheid state. That's something Amnesty International, B'Tselem - a human rights organization in Israel - have said Israel denies. And she's really upset that you're saying that.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED AUDIENCE MEMBER #1: Palestinians are always threatening...

(CROSSTALK)

OBEID: Oh, OK, OK. OK, got you. OK, got you - got you. October 7...

(CROSSTALK)

OBEID: Guys, guys, guys, guys, guys, guys, guys, relax. Relax, relax, relax, relax, relax, relax. Trust me. This makes for a better show.

(LAUGHTER)

FADEL: There's somebody who's like, you shouldn't patronize and minimize the situation, and somebody - it's complicated - and somebody else saying, it's not complicated.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

OBEID: When we're at the show, it is under my jurisdiction.

UNIDENTIFIED AUDIENCE MEMBER #2: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

OBEID: And as an occupier...

(CHEERING)

FADEL: Here you are kind of the mediator of it all and in some ways kind of relishing in the discomfort.

OBEID: Yeah, actually, I love those moments. I've come to love those moments because they do create a discomfort that I'm very used to as a comedian. Discomfort is very important. It's - like, it's important to have this as a conversation. Comedy comes from tension, basically. And the more tension there is, there's more room for jokes.

FADEL: I felt like there were moments where, yes, you were being funny, but you were coming from a very specific Palestinian narrative. And what you were doing was leaning into your teacher side, if that makes sense.

OBEID: Yeah. Well, I mean, I was a teacher for almost 10 years. And so there's always that instinct in me to want to educate. You know, sometimes I get comments on YouTube like, people are showing up to the lecture. And I'm like, yeah, people are showing up. So, yes, I do bring to light bits of information that I think people should know, and I think that would help open their minds to see the situation in a different light.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

OBEID: I am now sharing and posting videos showing the animals from Gaza - dogs with PTSD, cats with shrapnel in their eyes. Where are the animal activists? Where are you at, PETA? Everyone knows that pita goes well with hummus.

(LAUGHTER)

FADEL: Is there anything that's totally off-limits for you? Are you ever scared of getting canceled or, you know, saying something that could end your career?

OBEID: Yeah, well, Leila, look - I think any comedian has that little bit of fear of, like, oh, I don't want to say the wrong thing. But nothing is off-limits for me. I know my heart's in the right place. So, you know...

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

OBEID: The Palestinian people are very, very strong.

(CHEERING)

OBEID: They're the only ones who could be surviving this madness. Like, we're going to cut off their food. We're going to cut off their water. It's like, have you heard of Ramadan?

(APPLAUSE)

OBEID: You're messing with the wrong folks. They've been training for this their whole lives.

(LAUGHTER)

FADEL: You've really come to the world's attention in your comedy. I hadn't really seen you much before October 7, and now I feel like I see you all over social media platforms. Has this moment sort of helped you find your voice as a comedian?

OBEID: Yeah, it definitely has. It finally felt like that skill that I had built, you know, for years of talking about this divisive subject to mainstream audiences was finally going to somehow become of use. You know, I'm just - I'm trying to help. That's all. I'm trying to help educate. I'm trying to help people be aware of it. Comedy can bring levity. And so for those people who are, you know, working really hard to get a cease-fire and try to end this madness - they're suffering a lot from the horrors they see on a daily basis. So I know, at the very least, I provide solace for those people.

If you listen to the message of my comedy, it's pretty clear. Like, I'm trying to find a solution. I see so much hateful stuff on social media that I don't want to be a part of that. I'm trying to spread a message of, like, let's solve this.

FADEL: Comedian Sammy Obeid, thank you so much for your time.

OBEID: Thank you very much - very kind of you.

FADEL: For differing views on Israel-Gaza, visit npr.org/sections/middleeast.

(SOUNDBITE OF AUKAI'S "AKAL KI") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.