Last night I read the news announcing Saturday Night Live’s newest addition, comedian Kate McKinnon – the show’s first openly lesbian cast member. I felt really excited. I have been a fan of SNL ever since I arrived in the U.S. from Israel almost 8 years ago. SNL has been for me not only a source of entertainment, but also a place where I could learn about American pop culture and attitudes towards politics and current events. My favorite cast members from recent years have been the hilarious and multi-talented women performers – Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, and Kristen Wiig. While all of those funny ladies have left a big mark on the show and have extended their talents to writing, producing, and starring in their own projects, they are still a minority compared to the number of men playing lead roles in comedy films, TV programs, and skit shows. There always seems to not be enough women comedians in mainstream American television, including SNL, so whenever new female cast members are added to the show, I take notice. As an advocate for gay rights, the fact that the new woman cast member is a lesbian made an even more positive impression on me. American society may be more open to gay people being part of the mainstream than ever before, but recurring controversies, such as the One Million Moms campaign against Ellen Degeneres, remind us of the fact that there are still plenty of homophobes in the country, and that they are very vocal about their views.

This got me to thinking: if someone who’s as controversial as an openly lesbian comedian could land a spot on a mainstream program like Saturday Night Live, when will the time come for the first Muslim to be cast on SNL? The only performer who comes close to that at this time is Nasim Pedrad, who is Iranian-American. While she seems to have embraced her background and even drawn from it for her characters  (prior to SNL Pedrad had a one-woman show called “Me, Myself and Iran” and on SNL she has played Christiane Amanpour and Azam Farahi), it is very difficult to find the answer to whether she is Muslim or not. Would it hurt her popularity if she was Muslim and open about it? Possibly. But that seems very unfair when you consider how open Jewish cast members such as Seth Meyers and Andy Samberg are about their religious and cultural background. I won’t complain about it being okay to be both openly Jewish and popular; after all, I’m Jewish myself, but the double standard does bother me. I firmly believe that everyone, regardless of their profession or role in society, should be able to feel proud about where they come from and what they believe in.

Speaking of popular Jewish comedians, Jon Stewart is coincidentally one of the only big names in the industry writing for an openly Muslim comedian, Aasif Mandvi. My favorite thing about the pairing is that just as Stewart doesn’t hide the ways in which his upbringing has shaped his worldview (we all know he grew up in a progressive, New York Jewish household), neither does Mandvi. Of course, in Mandvi’s case, the fact that he’s Indian and not Middle Eastern (as most would think), is not usually brought up, but his religious background often gets highlighted, so much so that Stewart usually refers to him as the Daily Show’s “Senior Muslim Correspondent”. Obviously the title is more for  a comic effect than actually attributing any real expertise to Mandvi on everything Islam-related, but the mere vocal acknowledgment that Mandvi is in fact a Muslim, is in my opinion quite unprecedented and as such, definitely a step in the right direction.

That said, it’s important to remember that while The Daily Show has made room for a Muslim comedian without making him hide his religious beliefs, it is still a program that mostly attracts the left wing leaning American public. Aasif Mandvi’s religious identity has not been very controversial because the people who watch the show tend to be progressive liberals. That is why I think that if Saturday Night Live, a program with a rich history and a huge following that cuts through most demographics, added to its cast an openly Muslim comedian, that would make a really significant impact. If they didn’t care about possible backlash when hiring Kate McKinnon from homophobic viewers, they should also not pay attention to Islamophobic audiences and worry about how they may respond to a Muslim performer. Take your pick, SNL, there are many talented Muslim-American comedians out there (refer to our previous posts) . You just need to make the move.

Image source: Imdb.com

Dean Obeidallah is a comedian with a mission. He wants to show Americans that Arabs can laugh. In an interview for CNN, he talks about the strangeness of the stoic Arab in popular culture—serious, dangerous, and up to no good—who laughs maniacally and only at misfortune. He wants to change that cultural meme by cracking everyone up. Obeidallah accomplishes this by doing what all comics do: making merciless fun of his own people.

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