Primarily focusing on a skit from Spark of Insanity, which was televised by Comedy Central on September 17, 2007, Purcell, et. Thinking of the world of stand-up comedy as an institution, in which power is negotiated and contested from within, gives way to the question: if so many individuals are using comedy to resist Orientalism, how does Orientalism, or something similar to it, function within post-9/11 stand-up comedy? Taking a recent article by Darren Purcell, Melissa Scott Brown, and Mahmut Gokmen as my starting point, I will explore the stand-up ventriloquy of Jeff Dunham, who first introduced his puppet, “Achmed the Dead Terrorist,” to ridicule and “explain” terrorism to American audiences in 2003.
It is against these historical circumstances, as many scholars note, that Arab/Muslim American stand-up comedians have utilized their craft to speak against the stereotypes that wrongly validate these unjust conditions. before the events of September 11, it is safe to conclude that its material and legal consequences for Arab and, more broadly, Muslim Americans have never been more drastic than in the years following 2001. Said demonstrated how colonial and imperial discourses constructed essentialising and binary definitions of a Euro/American self against an Oriental Other. Sun, November 9, 12:00 to 1:45pm, Westin Bonaventure, Floor: Level 3, Santa Monica A (元) Abstract In Event: From Furious Orientals to Funny Arabs: The Politics and Possibilities of Arab American Media Studies Achmed the Dead Terrorist: The Orientalist Stand-Up Comedy of Jeff Dunham
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