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January 31, 2003/Shevat 28 5763, Vol. 55, No. 23
Comedy bridges conflictRabbi, Muslim bond through laughter
BARRY COHEN
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 Rabbi Bob Alper and Ahmed Ahmed have been using comedy to teach an understanding of Judaism and Islam for nearly a year and a half. Photo courtesy of Rabbi Alper |
"I was leaving a funeral home when a man approached me and said, 'Your eulogy for my aunt was wonderful. She would have loved it,' " says the rabbi. "I thought, what a shame. She missed it by just two days."
"I read a statistic that in 2002 after 9-11, hate crimes toward Arabs went up 1,000 percent," says the Muslim. "This still put us fourth place behind blacks, gays and Jews. What do we have to do? We can't even win in hatred."
Through humor, the two men try to teach mutual under-standing.
Rabbi Bob Alper and Ahmed Ahmed have been doing comedy together for nearly a year and a half, in mosques and synagogues across the nation.
They will share their comedy in four shows in the Valley, Feb. 8-11.
The concept for a Jew and a Muslim to do comedy together was the idea of Alper's publicist Gia Delli Gatti, Alper says in a conference call interview with Ahmed.
"I was skeptical and didn't pursue it," Alper says.
However, she persisted and found two possible Muslim comics. One was Ahmed, a 32-year-old resident of Hollywood, Calif., and a regular performer at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles.
"His audition tape blew me away," says Alper, a Provi-dence, R.I., native now living in East Dorset, Vt. "His personality really came through."
Like Alper, Ahmed says he was resistant to Delli Gatti's pitch.
"I didn't know who she was and I thought someone was playing a prank on me," he says.
When asked if he wanted to perform with a rabbi, Ahmed says he responded, "Really funny. Thanks for the call. Who is this?"
After Alper and Ahmed spoke numerous times, they agreed to work together.
"The idea of a Jewish man and an Arab Muslim man getting on a stage together and making people laugh - that symbol right there encapsulates what we're trying to do," says Ahmed. "Comedy has a really special way of enlightening people."
Through humor, they hope to bridge the gap that sep-arates Judaism and Islam, he explains.
"We don't talk about things that are divisive," says Alper.
Rather, the goal is to respect differences and find what Islam and Judaism have in common, he explains.
They said they focus on experiences from their family and personal lives and on cultural and religious material.
Ahmed cites the following joke from his routine:
"Jews and Muslims have a lot in common. Even though they're fighting, people don't realize they have a lot in common. Both Jews and Muslims don't eat pork. We don't celebrate Christmas. When we speak, we both use chhhhhh in pronunciations. And we're both hairy creatures of God."
One of their best shows took place in a mosque in Orange County, Calif., attended by 100 Muslims, 300 Jews and some Christians, says Alper.
After the show, approxi-mately 20 Jews and 20 Muslims spent an hour together, sharing coffee and conversation, he adds.
An ordained rabbi from the Reform Movement's Hebrew Union College-Jewish Insti-tute of Religion, Alper has been doing stand-up comedy for 15 years.
For 30 years, he has used humor in sermons, counseling and eulogies, when appro-priate, says Alper, currently the rabbi of Temple Micah in Philadelphia.
"Humor has a way of warming and opening people up so that they are ready to listen to the serious message," he explains.
Ahmed, a native of Helwan, Egypt - located just outside of Cairo - moved with his family to Riverside, Calif., when he was a teenager.
To pursue parts in television and movies, he moved to Hollywood when he was 19 years old.
Ahmed says most of his roles were as Arab terrorists.
"All of the lines were the same," he notes. "They wanted me to kill somebody in the name of Allah."
Ahmed says he decided to become a comedian in order to avoid perpetuating stereotypes and to offer a different kind of Muslim voice.
However, Islam, unlike Judaism, does not possess a strong tradition of comedy, says Ahmed.
"When I was 8 or 9 years old, my parents would tell me about judgement day," notes Ahmed. "Other kids were talking about Scooby Doo and Nintendo, and I was telling them, 'God is coming. You have no idea, you fools!' "
When Arab Muslims attend his performances with Alper, they look serious, he adds.
"After the show, they come up to me and say, 'OK, that was very funny. Very, very funny. Almost made me laugh, almost cracked a smile,' " explains Ahmed.
Across the nation, in addition to performing in mosques and synagogues, Alper and Ahmed have played auditoriums, convention centers and town halls.
The comedy duo's perfor-mances in the Valley will be groundbreaking, says Alper. "For the first time, we'll be playing at a university and at a church," he explains.
When asked whether they have had to deal with hecklers, Ahmed responds, "Sometimes there are a couple of women who like to chime in - and oy vay me a little bit. And sometimes there are hearing aids going off."
"One Arab. One Jew. One stage. Two very funny guys." Rabbi Bob Alper and Ahmed Ahmed |