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< Arab American comic Dina Hashem has a debut special — but the timing is 'tricky'

November 10, 20232:00 PM ET

Arab American comic Dina Hashem has a debut special — but the timing is 'tricky'

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JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:

What happens if you're an Arab American comedian and a breakthrough moment in your career happens to coincide with a heartbreaking, bloody conflict in the Middle East? Dina Hashem's first stand-up special is out today on Prime Video. It is called "Dark Little Whispers." NPR's Isabella Gomez Sarmiento reports.

ISABELLA GOMEZ SARMIENTO, BYLINE: Dina Hashem has been busy promoting her first stand-up special, but she's also confronting Islamophobia from some in Congress. She recently posted a video of herself calling Senator Lindsey Graham's office, with some extra special effects, after he said Israeli forces in Gaza should, quote, "level the place."

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

DINA HASHEM: Hi. I'm an Arab American, and I just have to say, when I first heard Lindsey Graham's bloodthirsty statements about the Middle East...

LINDSEY GRAHAM: Level the place.

HASHEM: ...My first thought was, what's the going price for a pint of my blood?

GOMEZ SARMIENTO: The 34-year-old sharpened her skills as a writer on "The Daily Show" and the HBO Max comedy "The Sex Lives Of College Girls." Her first stand-up special, "Dark Little Whispers," leans on her deadpan delivery and dry sarcasm to land its strongest punchlines. She weaves in anecdotes about growing up Muslim in New Jersey...

(SOUNDBITE OF COMEDY SPECIAL, "DARK LITTLE WHISPERS")

HASHEM: Have you ever tried to find the direction of Mecca while you're high?

GOMEZ SARMIENTO: ...And pokes at the political divisions in the country, like when she talks about voting for Donald Trump.

(SOUNDBITE OF COMEDY SPECIAL, "DARK LITTLE WHISPERS")

HASHEM: But only because I have to vote for anybody who will keep my dad out of the country.

GOMEZ SARMIENTO: But "Dark Little Whispers" is coming out at an incredibly fraught time for Arab American and Muslim artists.

HASHEM: My jokes about my upbringing are self-deprecating and, you know, somewhat critical of the things I went through. And I would hate for someone to see those things at a time like this and then use it as an excuse to be like, you know, oh, see; this religion is bad, or, it's OK to be racist against these people.

GOMEZ SARMIENTO: I asked Dina Hashem what kind of conversations she had with Amazon about the content of the special and whether she was asked to change anything after October 7.

HASHEM: I don't know how much to say about that.

SAM MORRIL: I don't think she put anything in there that was ever malicious or ever - this has been in the can for a while. So, no, there was never even a question of cutting anything.

HASHEM: Stand-up comedian Sam Morril is an executive producer of the special.

MORRIL: I think we've become very used to, as comedians, us kind of talking carelessly.

GOMEZ SARMIENTO: At a time when some culture makers have lost work for criticizing the Israeli government, including the editor of Artforum magazine, Hashem is inadvertently walking a tightrope.

HASHEM: I've definitely been advised to sort of not lead with certain jokes, which is not in my nature to sort of censor myself. I just want to not dirty my soul as much as possible in this life. So I just have to say what I have to say. And if there's negative consequences, then so be it. And I'll figure that out when that happens.

GOMEZ SARMIENTO: So she commits to the bit on social media by trolling Senator Graham, who appeared to show no regard for Palestinian civilians when he said on October 10, quote, "I am with Israel. Do whatever you have to do to defend yourselves. Level the place."

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

HASHEM: Because if he wants Arab blood, I think he should be getting it from Americans here at home instead of outsourcing that abroad.

GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Dark humor is an inevitable human response to pain and insurmountable tragedy. Dina Hashem would love nothing more than for her Amazon special that airs today to be taken on its own terms. Its punchy jokes were written by someone who happens to be Muslim, who happens to be Arab, who stumbled into stand-up to impress a crush in college, someone who is actually quite shy and introverted.

(SOUNDBITE OF COMEDY SPECIAL, "DARK LITTLE WHISPERS")

HASHEM: And people will let you know when you're quiet, you know, during a conversation. If you don't say anything for, like, five minutes, like, oh, you're so quiet. It sounds like a slur when they say it. They're like, you're so quiet, not like me, the god of chit chat.

GOMEZ SARMIENTO: But when anxieties are high and people are triggered, "Dark Little Whispers" shows the value of listening and thinking hard about when to speak up, in which case maybe the timing of Dina Hashem's first special is not so terrible after all. Isabella Gomez Sarmiento, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF SIA SONG, "UNSTOPPABLE")

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