MAKE JOKES, NOT WAR

By Kari Milchman

“The Watch List,” a new online sketch comedy show, primarily makes fun of America’s perception of Muslims and Arabs since the Sept. 11 attacks. Dean Obeidallah’s stand up and sketch comedy routine airs on the Comedy Central website, along with a lineup of other comedians, all of Middle Eastern descent. The 37-year-old funny guy follows in the footsteps of greats like black comedian Dave Chappelle, whose brand of humor focuses on modern tensions between the races—though it is not yet evident if Obeidallah can fill his shoes. “The Watch List” title refers to the list compiled by U.S. authorities to thwart potential terrorists from entering the United States. The show includes routines in which Obeidallah compares the racial profiling Arabs have been subjected to since 9/11 to that which blacks have experienced, ultimately concluding that this must mean Arabs are now cool, too. He goes on to say that white kids in the suburbs will stop emulating hip-hop culture and starting pimping their cars to look like taxicabs. Weirder things have happened.

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