Have you heard that Arabs in the United States are so heavily racially profiled that they are the new blacks, Dean Obeidallah asks during his stand-up comedy routine. "When I heard that ... I was excited," Obeidallah, an Arab-American comedian tells the laughing audience. "I thought, 'Oh my God, we're cool.'"
That routine is part of the comedian's new online sketch comedy show "The Watch List" - a name that pokes fun at the list used by US authorities to attempt to stop potential terrorists from entering the United States and at the treatment of Arabs since September 11. The show includes a skit in which white suburban kids attempt to be cool by wearing an Arab headdress instead of baggy jeans and flashy jewellery and saying, "What up, Mustafa?"
The first of 10 episodes was shown on www.comedycentral.com last week and it is billed as the first comedy show to feature a line-up of only comedians of Middle Eastern descent. The 37-year-old comedian hopes his show will find its way on to cable channel Comedy Central if it proves popular enough with online viewers.
"There is no voice like this on TV," Obeidallah said. He said his show pokes fun at the American perception of Muslims and Arabs since the September 11 attacks, after which many complained of prejudicial treatment. "We don't get a month to celebrate our heritage ... in America we get an orange alert," he said, referring to the US Department of Homeland Security's colour-coded security alert system. "So we are doing the best we can to show Americans a different side."
Comedy Central executive Lou Wallach said whether the show makes it onto the television depends on audience response. "If we have great success with 'The Watch List' ... online, there is no reason why we could not be watching a television show," Wallach said. "But one step at a time."
Obeidallah said some of the show's comedians were born in the Middle East but all of them grew up in America. "They are talking about their experiences in a post-9/11 world where all of a sudden your heritage makes you suspicious," he said.
In one skit, a comedian called "Ahmed Ahmed" jokes that he is listed twice on the FBI's most-wanted list. Comedian Nasry Malak jokes in the show about what it takes to be patriotic in modern day America: "We are actually thinking of turning in my father, not because he did anything but because we will look so patriotic."
The show aims to follow other pioneering comedians who tapped on race, including black comedian Richard Pryor who frequently commented on US race relations during the 1960s and 1970s. Among those hoping the show is a hit is co-creator Max Brooks, the Jewish son of famed movie producer Mel Brooks.
"Go on say it, how does it feel to be a Jew working with all these Arabs," Brooks joked. "In a very strange way, I feel that Comedy Central may be doing more to fight the war on terror than Homeland Security."
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