Religion and Comedy: A Focus on Islam

Intro/Thesis:

** Here's some context: I always wanted to somehow tie together comedy and religion since both mean a lot to me. With this project, I decided that I wanted to show how comedy can be used to unite people of a specific faith, and in this case I decided to focus on Islam. On the other hand, religious comedy has the opportunity to either deconstruct or reinforce stereotypes surrounding a religion, which I also wanted to highlight. That is the essence of my project! Anyways, here's my intro:

            Comedy has always been an easy method of relating and uniting groups of people. Through laughter, comedians can bond groups of people together with shared struggles or situations, like jokes about traffic or specific political groups or evil bosses. On the other hand, there are subjects less joked about in an effort to remain unoffensive. For instance, the Holocaust and 9/11 are subjects deemed unapproachable in comedy. In this same way, religion has often times been seen as off-limits. Making jokes about a particular religion can sometimes be viewed as offensive in one sense or unrelatable to those outside of the religion. However, there is a growing consensus that religion and comedy actually go hand-in-hand, and this shifting of opinions is best seen through Muslim comedians. Comedians like Hassan Minhaj, Mo Amer, and Ramy Youssef demonstrate that combining religion with comedy effectively unites believers of that faith, yet consequently their humor has the power to reinforce or deconstruct stereotypes surrounding their beliefs.

Tell us about what you did: Talk about your process and/or structure. How did you support your thesis and arrive at your conclusion?

So the first thing I did for my project was create an outline. Here is the original outline:

1. Introduction
2. Religion and comedy in general (point out my articles)
3. Religion and comedy in general (look at Jenny Slate??)
4. Religion and comedy reinforcing stereotypes (look at article with Jewish comedians and another article?)
5. Islam and comedy (talk about terrorists and extremists?)
6. Islam and comedy (Muslim comedians’ responses to that?)
7. Hassan Minhaj (interviews or clips I find)
8. Hassan Minhaj (how his special unites Muslim audience members)
9. Hassan Minhaj (how his special deconstructs stereotypes?)
10. Mo Amer (interviews or clips I find)
11. Mo Amer (how his special unites Muslim audience members)
12. Mo Amer (how his special potentially reinforces stereotypes)
13. Ramy (interviews or clips I find)
14. Ramy (how his special unites Muslim audience members)
15. Ramy (how his special deconstructs stereotypes)
16. Ramy (episode one – how it unites)
17. Ramy (episode one – how it DECONSTRUCTS stereotypes)
18. Ramy (episode two – how it unites)
19. Ramy (episode two – how it DECONSTRUCTS stereotypes)
20. Conclusion

I chose this outline because, first, I wanted to talk about religion and comedy's relationship in general, and I definitely had to use Jenny Slate's commentary on cathedrals vs. her synagogue that she went to as a kid as an example. Then, I wanted to dive into the works of three Muslim comedians and how their performances united Muslim believers through common experiences and situations while they also affected their religion's stereotypes for better or for worse. So, I got three comedians and some of their specials or performances, and then I analyzed each performance united believers and also affected stereotypes. Also, I knew I had to separate my 10-page paper into 20 paragraphs in order to meet the length requirement, and I even went over 10 pages in the end!

“So what?”: Why is your project important? Answer the “so what?” question.

This project is important because we never really talked about religious comedy in class. Through this project, I wanted to show how these religion and comedy wonderfully go hand-in-hand. Furthermore, I wanted to show the perspective of Muslims in comedy because this religious group is facing so much unwarranted heat in America today. These comedians talk about all of the prejudice and hate they have received, especially in the years after 9/11, that you laugh and at the same time your heart breaks for them. Still, because of their experiences, they can spread laughter and understanding and hope to their fellow believers that have also faced the same injustice. In the end, I wanted to share the unique perspectives of religious comedians in America today through the eyes of these phenomenal Muslim Americans.

What did you learn? What surprised you?

I was so surprised to hear how these Muslims experienced so much intense hate after 9/11. For example, Hasan Minhaj talked about how, immediately after 9/11, someone called his family and said, "Hey, *insert slur here*, where's Osama Bin Laden?" They continued calling his family slurs before hanging up, and then soon after his family's car windows got smashed in! This is just one small example of the constant fear and hate that these Muslims have to endure as revealed by these Muslim comedians. Even though these three comedians have lived as Americans all their lives, they have still experienced so much prejudice from their country - it's absolutely astounding how much they've been forced to endure.

What is your favorite part and why? 

My favorite part was, first of all, watching all these comedy specials/episodes! I had a ton of fun and a ton of laughs, and it was great entertainment during this quarantine. Of course, my top favorite part was learning about these perspectives. Personally, I'm an incredibly empathetic person, so learning about these harsh, crazy experiences made me feel for these comedians and the Muslims in America. I feel like a better, more educated person after all of this, and I almost wish my arms were big enough to hug all of the Muslim Americans out there at once?? Anyways, writing the project was definitely stressful, but doing the research and learning a little more about the lives of Muslim Americans made it (mostly) worth it.