 "Photo: Liz Naro - Staff Photographer")
Veteran New York comics Dean Obeidallah and Scott Blakeman drove six and a half hours to Durham to shed some light and comedic relief onto the issue of peace in the Middle East, at the Hillel-sponsored "Stand Up for Peace" event held in the Granite State Room on Sunday.
"If a Palestinian and a Jew can ride in a car together for that long, then can't we get along in the Middle East?" asked Blakeman at the start of the event.
Obeidallah, a Palestinian-American, appears regularly in New York City's top comedy clubs and has also written for and is featured in sketches on "Saturday Night Live" and "Late Night with Craig Kilborn." Last January he also co-chaired the first annual Arab-American Comedy Festival in New York City.
Blakeman said he's known as the "king of comedies at Jewish singles events." He has also appeared in numerous commercials and teaches a comedy class at New School University, a performing arts school in New York City, which Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" has attended.
They both have also appeared on Comedy Central's "Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn" and co-founded Standup For Peace, which started taking them on comedy tours throughout the country back in December. They are also involved with a program called "Seeds For Peace," which brings kids of Jewish and Palestinian backgrounds together at a camp in Maine.
Sunday, they graced the stage in the Granite State Room and brought a message of togetherness and peace to students and community members.
"It's all about getting along tonight," Blakeman said.
Obeidallah touched on and joked about issues concerning student loans, the war in Iraq, the legal troubles of Michael Jackson and Martha Stewart and the latest blockbuster hit "The Passion of the Christ," as well as his childhood.
"[The] ethnic diversity of growing up in New Jersey was you were either Italian or you were my dad," Obeidallah said, adding that his father is Palestinian. "Greenwich Village is the best place in New York. There are different kinds of people, races and religions all living together, no problem."
He also talked about living in the United States post Sept. 11.
"I don't look like my heritage, so people say horrible things to my face," he said.
Blakeman followed Obeidallah's act and commented on many of the same issues, but from a Jewish-American perspective. He also added his comical commentary to online dating, winter sports and the ongoing presidential election.
Their comedy acts may have been different, but the same passion and message brought them together on stage.
"Ignorance comes out of not being around diversity," Blakeman said. "I think of all things that bring us together, relationships are the most important and that is why we do these shows. It brings all of us together to talk and laugh and interact."
"If you really want peace, you can't be pro-Palestine or pro-Israel. You have to be pro-peace," Obeidallah said.
The comedy got the room laughing, but the candid talk about the fight for peace in the Middle East was what impressed students most.
"I thought it was a great program and a great idea," said student Jodie Irving. "I think it was a great way to deal with such a tough issue. I just wish we could have gotten more people."
Hillel is a UNH organization consisting of students who desire to celebrate their Jewish identity and are devoted to promoting diversity, tolerance and mutual understanding at the University.
"They are amazing guys and very funny," said Meryl MacCormack, Hillel's newly-appointed program coordinator. "They read up on the school before they came because they really wanted to impress people. We would definitely like to have them back on a Friday night."
The next event that Hillel will be sponsoring is the Chocolate Seder held in the Piscataqua Room in Holloway Commons on March 30 at 6 p.m. It is a nondenominational celebration of chocolate. Chocoholics are urged to attend.
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