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American Morning

Interview with Bob Alper, Ahmed Ahmed

Aired September 02, 2002 - 09:44   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, did you hear the one about the Arab and the Rabbi walking into a Jewish synagogue and suddenly, everyone is laughing?
You are about to meet the two men who share a stage and a message. Ahmed Ahmed is an Arab-American comic, who does stand up routines with a rabbi inside a synagogue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AHMED AHMED, COMEDIAN: Mr. Ahmed, your name matched one of the names of the terrorists.

(LAUGHTER)

AHMED: So unfortunately, we have to do a profile on you.

You know, they always say they are doing random checks at the airport. Random checks. Random checks. Whenever I fly, I always get checked. How random is that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: The man who often shares the bill is fellow comedian -- the man who shares the stage with Ahmed Ahmed is a rabbi, Bob Alper. One Arab, one Jew, one stage, and a whole lot of laughs. Two of them are in L.A. this morning with us -- good morning, gentlemen, how are you?

AHMED: Great.

BOB ALPER, COMEDIAN: Good morning.

HEMMER: Listen, it is super to have you on with us. Ahmed, I want to know from you, when you first went into a synagogue, did you have any reservations about this, about taking your humor and your comedy into such a location?

AHMED: Absolutely. I was very scared. The rabbi called me and asked me to do a show with him, and I said, where are these venues you want to do these shows in, and he said, Well they are in synagogues, and I said, are you crazy?

HEMMER: That was the joke, you thought, at the time.

AHMED: I thought somebody was playing a prank on me. When I got the phone call, I literally thought there was being a joke played me, and the rabbi assured me that it was OK, and it was a gesture of peace, and that we should, you know, go forward with the show.

HEMMER: Rabbi, why make this move, and when you approached him, how did you sell it to him?

ALPER: Well, I said it is something that I think would be helpful for both our communities, and in Yom Kippur, the holiday that is coming up in a few days, one of the sins we ask forgiveness for is xenophobia, hatred of other people for no reason, and I think that showing -- using humor as a device to bridge the gap between our people is a healing gesture...

HEMMER: Give me an example of that, how you guys used that in your performance. How much of...

(CROSSTALK)

ALPER: We feel that one way to bridge the gap is if all of us, Arabs and Jews together, could simply learn Irish dancing.

HEMMER: How has that gone over, by the way?

ALPER: It's great. That is the end of the show, we do a little Irish dancing, people applaud, and it is a great ending. Nothing else has worked.

HEMMER: How much -- how much in your act is rooted in some sort of political message or religious message, would you guys say?

ALPER: We are nonpolitical. We are absolutely nonpolitical. We feel -- let the talking heads take care of those things. We just want to make people laugh and help people from the two different cultures enjoy each other's company, and enjoy us, and particularly see us, want Jews to see Ahmed, Muslims to see me, as being warm and maybe affable, funny people.

HEMMER: How would you answer that, Ahmed? I am curious to get your reaction.

AHMED: I think just the idea of seeing an Arab and a Jew on the stage together, right there, is the message. It is a subliminal message, but right there, just seeing that image, bridges the gap automatically. I can't tell you how many times we have done shows and I have come off stage and it is so wonderful to have these older Jewish women come up and say, oy vay (ph), this is great, this is what we need, dialogue between the Arabs and the Jews, this is where it starts, through comedy.

So it is a `beautiful response.

HEMMER: You talk about the response, let's hear from some of the people who actually saw your performance recently, inside of a synagogue in fact. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We live together, we need to learn to laugh together.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What humor does is to make everyone comfortable with each other.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going back with this amazing feeling of my God, what the politicians could not achieve maybe we could achieve through humor and just by being together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: Hey Ahmed, what kind of humor do you inject when you are in front of Jews inside of a synagogue, that either relate to the Jewish faith or the Islamic world?

AHMED: Well, I do a joke where I say, Jews and Muslims have more in common than any other religion, if you think about it. Both Jews and Muslims don't eat pork, we don't celebrate Christmas, we both use (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in our pronunciation, and that we are both very hairy creatures of God...

HEMMER: Aren't we all. How about to the rabbi, how do you incorporate -- give us a little bit.

ALPER: Most of my routine is about my own life. I haven't done much Jewish-Muslim thing, I think the medium is the message with us. I just do a lot about my family. For example and how our son, for example, when he was a teenager, we found that we were able to arrange a student loan for him. We loaned him to a family in Iowa.

HEMMER: Listen, rabbi, we have got a clip we want to play for our viewers of you on stage. Observational comedy, we refer to it as. Here is a sample.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALPER: I called my mother, I said I think I'm coming down with a cold. She said take some Sudafed, try and sleep on the plane, and drink lots and lots of liquids. I said to my wife, I think I'm coming down with a cold. She said, Yes, you sound stuffy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: Very nice. Listen, last week, we were reporting on a story here. Jackie Mason in Chicago would not go on stage because there was a Palestinian comic that was going to essentially warm up for him. What's your reaction, when Mr. Mason said he was not going to do it unless the man is removed from the ticket?

ALPER: My reaction is very simple. What a chance missed.

AHMED: For the audience especially, I think the audience missed out more than anybody.

ALPER: Again, it could have been so healing, and so many people know about Jackie Mason, it could have been a very healing experience. It was, I think, a chance missed, and I'm sad about that. HEMMER: Where does this comedy routine go, Ahmed?

AHMED: As far as being on the road?

HEMMER: The two of you together as an act. Where does it go?

ALPER: We are going to be -- I do most of the booking, we are going to be in Johns Hopkins University.

HEMMER: Do you guys ever talk to each other, by they way?

ALPER: It is hard, because Ahmed is on the West coast, I'm in Vermont. He is a club comic...

AHMED: I live right around the corner, actually.

ALPER: We are actually going to be in a theater in Scottsdale in February, and a bunch of universities coming up. So it is very exciting.

AHMED: People always get a kick out of it when they say, Hey, where you been? I say I have been on the road. They say, Who are you working with? I say, A comedian. They are like, Well, what's his name? I said his name is Rabbi Bob Alper. They say, You are on the road with a rabbi?

ALPER: Ahmed came to Vermont, stayed with us, broke the hearts of every woman in our town, but we had a wonderful five-day road trip through New England, and it was fabulous.

AHMED: I don't know if you have ever been to Vermont, but my mom, when I arrived in Vermont, my mom said, Ahmed, when you are in Vermont go find nice Arabic cafe and talk with the people.

HEMMER: How many did you find, Ahmed?

AHMED: I'm drinking a coffee, and I'm like, Mom, I am the cafe cafe.

HEMMER: Fair enough. Thanks guys. Rabbi Bob Alper, a comedian in L.A. Ahmed Ahmed, a comedian as well. Have a good day guys, enjoy your Labor Day. Thanks for sharing with us.

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