In an age that has seen a resurgence in white supremacy and racial violence, it can sometimes feel like there’s more to mourn than to laugh at.
But Ali Hassan, a Canadian Muslim comedian, is using his own medium to foster connections that may seem as broken as ever by talking about his own experience.
Hassan, a stand-up comedian who hosts CBC Radio One’s weekly stand up comedy show Laugh Out Loud and occasionally fills in on Q, CBC Radio’s culture show, is bringing his new routine to Penticton’s Dream Café on June 17.
The show, Muslim, Interrupted, is intended to be simultaneously funny and informative, partly inspired by his two sons.
“The youngest guy has no questions; he just screams a lot. But the middle kid, who’s six, when he was about four, he would go to junior Kindergarten, and kids would ask him ‘are you Muslim?’” Hassan said. His son would then relay the question to Hassan, who would respond: “Of course we’re Muslim.”
That would be followed by a series of questions over time, with his son playing messenger between his peers and Hassan. Among the questions: Do we go to the mosque (“No, you would have noticed if we go to the mosque.”) and how come we don’t go to the mosque?
“I’d be like ‘jeez, just send the kids over here directly, cut out the middleman. I’ll talk to them. But realistically I wouldn’t have known what to say to them,” Hassan said. “I joke that I’m a freelance Muslim. I check in from time to time when the needs arise. But otherwise, I’m not a practicing Muslim.”
That back-and-forth, Hassan said, has parallelled his experience as a Muslim in Canada more broadly, and Hassan said he sees some of those barriers in communication broken down through his comedy.
“There’s always a very amusing element when it’s connected to kids, and then also people in the audience started telling me ‘hey, that was funny, but also I learned something there,’” he said, listing off a couple of the things people had learned from his comedy. “‘I didn’t know that Muslims go to Sunday school.’ ‘I didn’t know that Muslims pray five times a day.’ My comedy has never been about education; it’s been strictly entertainment. So I realized I had this other element there.”
Hassan said those familiar with his typical stand-up comedy should expect to see more script and less crowd work. Conversely, those familiar with his work on CBC should expect Hassan to take up more space than in his usual role as interviewer or host.
And the show won’t be pure comedy — sober reflection will play a role as Hassan delves into some of the more serious topics facing society and Canadian Muslims.
The show comes at an important time, Hassan said, as Western nations see a rise in white nationalism and white supremacy, from Donald Trump’s harsh immigration rhetoric to the Charlottetown clashes in Virginia that left one counter-protester dead after she was run down by a white supremacist’s vehicle.
And Canada hasn’t been spared, with an attack on a Quebec City mosque perpetrated by Alexandre Bissonnette, recently revealed to be a Donald Trump supporter and right-wing media consumer, fearful of refugees entering Canada.
“Nobody has to explain Alexandre Bissonnette. I would never go to a white friend and be like ‘what was that all about?’” Hassan said. “Whereas I have to do a lot of ‘that terrorist attack there, that happened in this city, in this country, what was that all about?’ I’m like ‘I don’t know.’
“I’m just a guy going about, minding his own business. But we’ve come to a point as Muslims (where) it’s hard to mind your own business.”
Hassan hopes his show will help to reveal for his audiences the nuances in various Islamic practices, calling it a show with a message — something he hasn’t often done.
“I’ve always joked that good food from various cultures should be powerful enough to convert people’s prejudices. I picture even the staunchest racist biting into a taco and saying ‘you know, Mexicans aren’t half bad,’” Hassan said. “Sadly, I don’t have the means to go around the country feeding people, but I can make them laugh.”
As for some of the social issues Hassan seeks to address, he points to the recent mobilization of high school students in the U.S. as some indication of light at the end of the tunnel.
“I think young people are really giving hope that I didn’t really have until this past year.”
Tickets for the show are $43 for premium seating and $33 for wing seating.