Category: Blog

This past week, fans of Roseanne nationwide reached for their smelling salts because Samantha Bee called complicit Barbie the c-word. They immediately grabbed their tiki torches and insisted that like racist Roseanne, Sam Bee be fired. I performed at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in 2016 and I remember these same people stirring around,…

In 2011, Dean Obeidallah my trustworthy co-producer at the New York Arab American Comedy Festival approached me with what seemed like a brilliant idea. He had partnered with an Iranian-American filmmaker and wanted to take a band of Muslim comics to the Deep South in August during Ramadan to perform in cities that had banned…

Before there was Beyonce, there was Tiger, Cherri, Sandy, and Lucy. Tiger, the cat pranced into our lives when I was seven. Her name was less than original but absolutely fitting. She looked like a tiny Tony the Tiger down to her big blue eyes. I do not know why my father brought home a…

I often meet parents of kids with Cerebral Palsy who are afraid to let their children try to walk. When I ask them why they won’t just let their kid give walking a shot, the overwhelming response is that they are afraid their child will fall. No human being has ever learned to walk without…

Fight For Your Right to Carpet I am one of those people who has always dreamt of waltzing down the red carpet at an awards show. My first red carpet memory was Cher in her Bob Mackey gown at the 1988 Academy Awards. I decided at that moment that some day, that would be me.…

I was born and raised in the United States. I spent my school days in beautiful New Jersey and my summers in the war zone known as the West Bank. The first Ramadan I ever fasted was no joke. I was 8 years old and on summer vacation in my parent’s village. It was late…