Dean Obeidallah

Born in New Jersey, Obeidallah is the son of a Palestinian father and a Sicilian mother—an atypical upbringing that has fueled his comedy-filled life. And he has been using his wit and wisdom to educate and entertain ever since. A former attorney, he’s the host of SiriusXM radio’s “The Dean Obeidallah Show,” making him the first Muslim-American with a national radio program. He is also the co-director/co-producer of the comedy documentary “The Muslims Are Coming!”—a stand-up tour of Muslim-American comedians performing free shows across the heartland of America with the hope of countering anti-Muslim bigotry. The film includes interviews with a cross section of luminaries from Jon Stewart and Rachel Maddow to Lewis Black, Colin Quinn, and many more. In the same vein, he co-created the comedy show “Stand Up for Peace” along with Jewish comic Scott Blakeman. Performed at colleges across the country, the shows are held in support of peace in the Middle East and as a way of fostering understanding between Arab-, Muslim-, and Jewish-Americans.

Obeidallah co-starred on Comedy Central’s “Axis of Evil” special, and he co-created ComedyCentral.com’s acclaimed internet series “The Watch List,” featuring Middle Eastern-American comedians performing stand-up and sketch comedy. He was also one of the five comedians profiled in “Stand Up: Muslim-American Comics Come of Age,” which aired in the U.S. on PBS and internationally on BBC World and Al-Jazeera. Dean Obeidallah has appeared everywhere—ABC’s “Good Morning America,” “The View,” Comedy Central’s “The Nightly Show,” CNN, and MSNBC—and he’s been featured everywhere—Time magazine, Newsweek, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, and The Daily Beast. When not performing comedy throughout the U.S., his voice echoes across the Middle East—in Jordan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon, Oman, Israel, Qatar, and Dubai.