Loading ...Yes, They DO Laugh: Chicagoan’s Comedy Show Highlights the Humanity of Arab Americans
Arab and Muslim Americans are like most people: they like to laugh. A lack of portrayals humanizing Arabs and Muslims and her own love of laughter are what inspired Arab American writer, actor, and Bridgeview native Jameeleh Shelo to create her sketch comedy show, “My American Cousin,” which takes the stage at Silk Road Rising this November 19-22.
“I don’t see people of Middle Eastern and Muslim descent doing fun things,” says Jameeleh, a regular at the New York Arab American Comedy festival and Arab-issh. “The art we’re asked to present is very serious. It’s generally about suffering or hardships or what’s happening in the world right now. Or, we’re constantly clearing our name.” Jameeleh notes the importance of this counter-narrative, adding, “It’s time for people to see that we’re normal and quirky and funny and we don’t all fall into one category.”
“The other reason I wrote the show is I desperately need attention,” she says with a smirk. “A lot.”
Jameeleh has honed her comedic craft through improv and stand-up experience. The funny and talented Columbia College alumnus has performed with Second City’s Brown Co., and improvised at both iO and The Annoyance. She has also interned and worked for some of comedy’s big names: Conan O’Brien, Stephen Colbert, Lisa Lampanelli and Cedric the Entertainer. If you ask any of these people about her, she says, they will pretend to remember her.
Quirky and down-to-earth, Jameeleh leaves an impression on you. She pulls you in with her warmth and friendliness and then makes you crack up when you least expect it. Jameeleh reflects on her evolution as a comedian: “When you’re a baby comic the same thing that amuses a baby probably amuses you, like fart noises and poop jokes. The equivalent of that in the comedy world is that you make obvious jokes.” Maturity and experience play a significant role in shaping her work. Jameeleh admits: “Punching babies isn’t as funny as it used to be.”
Audience interaction is an integral part of “My American Cousin”-it’s Jameeleh’s forte. “I want the audience to be a part of it. I’m a big believer in gauging the energy of the crowd. I want to feel the crowd’s energy. I want to hear them laugh. I want them to be comfortable.” For anyone nervous about audience interaction, Jameeleh has great advice: just be yourself. “The best thing you can do when a comedian talks to you is answer honestly. A lot of times people won’t do that.”
Though she has never been heckled, Jameeleh admits it could be fun. She sees heckling as an opportunity to get to know an audience member, to ask them questions. “Sometimes the person that’s heckling just wants to talk to you.” There’s a catch, however: “You shouldn’t talk during my show unless you want to be spoken to. It’ll just make it longer. You’re going to get your fifteen dollars worth.”
Jameeleh credits her upbringing in Bridgeview with giving her street smarts and a thick skin. Born and raised in Chicago, she is a champion of the South Side. She sees it as the most neglected part of the city. “The train literally stops there,” Jameeleh points out. The South Side, as well as south suburbs such as Oak Lawn, Orland Park, Burbank, and Palos Hills are just some of the communities with rich cultures that aren’t generally advertised to tourists. Jameeleh values the cultural contributions of the communities that inhabit the South Side. “There’s a huge Mexican population, there’s a huge Polish population. Art comes out of there, food comes out of there. There’s so much culture there and nobody cares.”
The violence on Chicago’s South Side is widely publicized and focused on by the media; this is also true of the violence in the Middle East. Similarly, the residents of these areas are depicted as thugs, which discredits all the other people within those communities who actually make valuable contributions. “You’re not going to just step on the South Side and get shot,” says Jameeleh. “People are too busy to shoot you. And there’s parking.”
So how exactly did this local funny lady come up with the title, “My American Cousin”? When she first developed the show, Jameeleh’s own cousin was visiting from overseas and referred to her as “my American cousin.” Though Jameeleh’s cousin sees her as an American, others might not. For those of us whose ancestors immigrated to America in more recent decades, have ethnic names, or don’t appear to have walked off the pages of an Abercrombie and Fitch catalogue, our Americanness is questioned-even when we’re born and raised here.
Many Americans feel pressured to choose between the cultures they inhabit. Jameeleh says she knows a lot of people who consider themselves hyphenated Americans. “There seems to be a tendency for people to treat you like one or the other when you can be both. Isn’t that sort of the point behind this country? People climb on rafts to get here. They’re saying, where I’m from or where I’ve been didn’t give me a chance, and at least in America you can have that chance.”
“My American Cousin” shows just how American our experiences truly are. “And besides,” Jameeleh adds: “we need a little bit of comedy in the world right now. There’s so much darkness. If we don’t have that little bit of brevity, it’ll make us all insane.”
Don’t miss your chance to watch Jameeleh Shelo deliver the laughs in “My American Cousin,” from November 19 to 22, 2015 at Silk Road Rising’s downtown Chicago theatre in the Historic Chicago Temple Building (Pierce Hall, 77 W. Washington Street, lower level-right across from Daley Plaza). Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for students. You can learn more and purchase tickets online at www.silkroadrising.org or by calling (312) 857-1234 ext. 201.
Source: www.chicagotribune.com