Dean Obeidallah

Comedian

Born in the Great State of New Jersey, Dean’s comedy comes in large part from his unique background of being the son of a Palestinian father and a Sicilian mother. Dean, an award winning comedian who was at one time a practicing attorney, has appeared on “The Axis of Evil” Comedy TV special which aired in the US on Comedy Central and in the Middle East on Showtime Arabia. He is the co-creator of Comedy Central.com’s critically acclaimed Internet series “The Watch List” featuring a cast of all Middle Eastern-American comedians performing stand up and sketch comedy. Dean co-directed, along with Negin Farsad, the upcoming comedy documentary “The Muslims Are Coming!” featuring a tour of American-Muslim comedians performing free comedy shows across the heartland of America in the hopes of using comedy to foster understanding and dispel misconceptions about Muslims. The film can be in theaters in select cities and available online this September.
 Dean has appeared twice on ABC’s “The View,” on the nationally syndicated TV series “Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen” and was one of five comedians profiled in the recent one hour TV Special entitled: “Stand Up: Muslim-American Comics Come of Age” which aired in the US on PBS and internationally on BBC World and Al Jazeera.

Dean is currently co-directing and co-producing the documentary “The Muslims Are Coming!” featuring a tour of American-Muslim comedians performing free comedy shows across the heartland of America in the hopes of using comedy to foster understanding and dispel misconceptions about Muslims. The film also features special guest interviews with various well known people including: “The Daily Show’s” Jon Stewart and Assif Mandvi, CNN’s Soledad O’Brien and Ali Velshi, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, Current TV’s Cenk Uyger, comedians Lewis Black, David Cross and Colin Quinn as well as Congressman Keith Ellison, and many more. The documentary will (hopefully) be released in the fall of 2012.
Dean is the co-creator and co-producer of the New York Arab-American Comedy Festival which will hold its 9th annual Festival in October 2012. He is also proud to serve as the Executive Director of The Amman Stand up Comedy Festival – the first stand up comedy festival ever held in the Middle East which took place in December 2008. The third annual Amman Festival was held December 4-10, 2010. Dean has appeared on numerous international and national television and radio programs including CNN’s “What The Week,” “American Morning” and “The Situation Room,” CNN Headline News’ “The Joy Behar Show,” PBS’ “Newshour with Jim Lehrer,” ABC’s “Nightline,” MSNBC, Current TV, HD’s “Dan Rather Reports,” NPR, Alhurra TV, Fox News’ “Geraldo at Large,” ABC’s “20/20,” Al Jazeera’s “Min Washington,” MBC’s morning show, “Democracy Now with Amy Goodman,” NPR’s “All Things Considered,” and CNN International’s “Inside the Middle East.” In addition, he has been featured in various publications including Time magazine, Newsweek, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The Los Angeles Times and he frequently writes for CNN.com and The Huffington Post. He has written jokes which have been featured on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live’s” Weekend Update segment and CBS’ “The Late, Late Show.”

Dean is proud to have received the first annual “Bill Hicks Spirit Award” for “thought provoking comedy” (named after the late comedian Bill Hicks) from the NY Underground Comedy Festival and the Hicks’ Family.

He also co-created the comedy show “Stand up for Peace” along with Jewish comic Scott Blakeman which they perform at colleges across the country in support of peace in the Middle East and as a way of fostering understanding between Arab, Muslim and Jewish-Americans.

In addition to performing comedy throughout the US, Dean has performed in the Middle East in Jordan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon, Oman, Israel, Qatar, and Dubai.

Dean Obeidallah appears in the following:

The New York Arab American Comedy Festival Turns 20

Friday, November 17, 2023

Dean Obeidallah talks about how to find humor in difficult times as the festival celebrates its 20th anniversary with a show on Sunday, November 19th in Midtown Manhattan. 

Immigration and the American Dream Under Trump

Monday, January 29, 2018

Stephanie Butnick, Dean Obeidallah and Jordan Carlos discuss the idea of the American dream today and why immigration is an essential part of our democracy.

Comments [10]

Muslim Comics Search For Solidarity, Not Just Laughs

Friday, January 27, 2017

Dean Obeidallah, Maysoon Zayid & Atheer Yacoub talk about comedy, religion, and politics, and about their evolving roles as Muslim comics in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidency.

Comments [4]

Arab-American Comedy Festival Hopes to 'Make America Laugh Again'

Thursday, September 29, 2016

The 13th annual New York Arab-American Comedy Festival kicks off today at comedy clubs throughout the city.

Comments [2]

Valentines Day: A Breakdown of the Day People Love To Hate

Friday, February 12, 2016

"Valentine's Day is ridiculous. An invented holiday to make money off of gullible people."

Comments [5]

Muslim Comedian Roundtable: Testing the Limits of Islam & Humor

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Joking about religion is controversial. But stand up comedians are jumping in at the Muslim Funny Fest in New York this week.

Comments [8]

How to Fight Bigotry...With Delightful Posters

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

The comedians Negin Farsad & Dean Obeidallah discuss their "Fighting-Bigotry-With-Delightful-Posters" campaign, conceived as a response to ads on the MTA that demonized Muslims.

Comments [17]

Leonard Lopate Weekend: Al Pacino, Aasif Manvi with Dean Obeidallah, and Chicken Wings 101

Friday, January 23, 2015

The Leonard Lopate Show's three favorite segments from the last week, in case you missed them. 
Read More

Comment

The Delicate Intersection of Religion and Comedy

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Guest host Aasif Mandvi talks with Dean Obeidallah about being a Muslim-American comedian, at home and abroad.

Comments [14]

A Muslim Comic Reflects in Wake of Paris Tragedy

Thursday, January 08, 2015

When it comes to comedy, how far is too far?

Comment

“The Muslims Are Coming!”

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Comedians Negin Farsad and Dean Obeidallah discuss their documentary “The Muslims Are Coming!” Farsad and Obeidallah lead a group of Muslim-American standup comedians as they go on the road to counter Islamophobia using the only weapon they have: jokes. The film follows them to big cities, rural villages, and everything in between to do shows, meet locals, and counter the haters. “The Muslims Are Coming! opens September 20 at the Quad Cinema.

Comments [8]

Andy Borowitz Hosts the News Quiz USA

Friday, June 28, 2013

Host Andy Borowitz challenges comedians Lee Camp, Negin Farsad, Todd Barry and Dean Obeidallah to dissect everything that’s on America’s mind (and front pages), from Texas State Senat...

Comments [21]

Dean Obeidallah and "Arabs Gone Wild"

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Arab American comedian Dean Obeidallah talks about headlining the multi-city tour “Arabs Gone Wild.” The tour is coming to New York City’s Town Hall Theater on Saturday, October 2.

Comments [5]

Guest Picks: Dean Obeidallah

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Dean Obeidallah is a fan of Glee! Find out what else he told us after his recent appearance on The Leonard Lopate Show.

Comment

Favorite Son

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Leroy Chapman, government and politics editor at The State, the largest newspaper in South Carolina, and comedian Dean Obeidallah talks about the presidential campaign in South Carolina, including new candidate, comedian Stephen Colbert.

Comments [2]