
Palestinian American comic uses humor to process war in Gaza
Clip: 7/15/2025 | 6m 55sVideo has Closed Captions
Palestinian American comedian uses humor to process the war in Gaza
Comedy has long been a way to bring a different, lighter lens to heavy topics. That holds true for Palestinian American comedian Sammy Obeid, who has taken to the stage to spotlight the pain of the war in Gaza. Amna Nawaz sat down with Obeid for our arts and culture series, CANVAS.
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Palestinian American comic uses humor to process war in Gaza
Clip: 7/15/2025 | 6m 55sVideo has Closed Captions
Comedy has long been a way to bring a different, lighter lens to heavy topics. That holds true for Palestinian American comedian Sammy Obeid, who has taken to the stage to spotlight the pain of the war in Gaza. Amna Nawaz sat down with Obeid for our arts and culture series, CANVAS.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipWILLIAM BRANGHAM: Comedy has long been a way to bring a different lighter lens to heavy topics.
That holds true for Palestinian-American comedian Sammy Obeid who has taken to the stage to spotlight the pain of the war in Gaza.
Amna Nawaz has the story for our arts and culture series, Canvas.
AMNA NAWAZ: Comedian Sammy Obeid has built his career tackling the tough stuff, from politics to war.
SAMMY OBEID, Comedian: The night that Israel attacked Iran, there was a spike in pizza sales right next to the Pentagon.
AMNA NAWAZ: The former high school math teacher even jokes about that.
SAMMY OBEID: America is ranked 33rd in math in the world.
Japan had to count that for us.
It's pretty bad.
(LAUGHTER) SAMMY OBEID: I think, once I started doing math jokes, it just seemed like I can pretty much make any painful subject very funny.
And so I have never had a problem with that.
AMNA NAWAZ: At Mama Ayesha's, a Palestinian restaurant in Washington, D.C., Obeid said his work is often fueled by what others aren't saying or won't say.
SAMMY OBEID: There is certainly a void in stand-up on certain topics, specifically Palestine.
The fact that that void is there is very motivating for me to be like, oh, nobody's talking about it.
I will.
And I feel that way about any subject that people don't really touch.
AMNA NAWAZ: The Palestinian-American comedian grew up in Northern California, where his interest in politics took root.
SAMMY OBEID: I love being Palestinian because it's the one identity you bring up and it's instantly controversial.
(LAUGHTER) SAMMY OBEID: Growing up, I kind of -- I had to learn gradually that I was Palestinian, because... AMNA NAWAZ: What do you mean?
SAMMY OBEID: Like, I don't think I asked what ethnicity I was to my parents until I was maybe like 10 or 11.
My parents started inviting me to like pro-Palestine protests and vigils.
So I became more aware of it in my 20s, and then I started stand-up.
And at that point it was already kind of my identity.
AMNA NAWAZ: He was drawn to the voices willing to lean into the uncomfortable.
SAMMY OBEID: I think the first one that really inspired me was Chris Rock.
I watched a special of his when I was 15, and this is when I became tangentially aware of politics.
CHRIS ROCK, Comedian: So, when you white, the sky is the limit.
When you black, the limit is the sky.
(LAUGHTER) SAMMY OBEID: Just learning about what politics were and what was going on in the world, and then seeing him make it funny, I was like, whoa, that's so cool.
AMNA NAWAZ: Obeid first got national attention for a 1,000-day streak of consecutive comedy performances in 2013, culminating in a late-night booking on "Conan."
SAMMY OBEID: Crazy, because I'm Palestinian, my roommate is Jewish, so we're always fighting over where his room starts and mine ends.
(LAUGHTER) AMNA NAWAZ: But millions of people have seen Obeid's work in a new surge of interest fueled by his jokes about Palestine and a string of viral moments this one: WOMAN: The Palestinians or the Gazans there voted for Hamas.
SAMMY OBEID: Let's say 80 percent of the voting population showed up, so that's 20 percent of the total population now.
And 40 percent, what's 40 percent of 20 percent?
(LAUGHTER) SAMMY OBEID: Come on.
You may not be on a side.
You got to be on the side of math, right?
It's 8 percent.
At most, 8 percent of the people living in Gaza voted for Hamas.
AMNA NAWAZ: You detoured your show for an hour to engage with this person.
SAMMY OBEID: Yes.
Yes.
AMNA NAWAZ: Why?
SAMMY OBEID: Well, because it was really hard to not address the elephant in the room, which was that she was making some very bold claims that were arguing against some of the basic premises that I was setting up for my jokes.
And so I wasn't just going to let that sit there.
I had to say something.
Really, I treat comedy about Palestine like an illegal settler does land in the West Bank.
(LAUGHTER) SAMMY OBEID: Like, if I don't take this, someone else will.
(LAUGHTER) AMNA NAWAZ: You also joke sometimes about Palestinians having what you call a dark sense of humor.
SAMMY OBEID: Very much.
AMNA NAWAZ: Is that true?
SAMMY OBEID: I still think people don't understand how dark of a sense of humor Palestinians have and how necessary it is for us to deal with what we see on a daily basis.
Sometimes, during my show, I will tell a dark joke and people will be like, oh, do I laugh at this?
And I'm like, look at the Palestinians.
And they look at the Palestinians and they're just busting up laughing.
I'm like, it's OK.
This is how we cope.
Say hi to everybody here.
AMNA NAWAZ: His fans in Gaza are watching.
One even FaceTimed in during his D.C. show.
MAN: We are appreciating everything you do for Palestine and for Gaza.
SAMMY OBEID: Thank you so much.
Thank you so much.
AMNA NAWAZ: But it's another fan in Gaza who Obeid says he's in touch with almost every day and whose family he's been helping after connecting online.
SAMMY OBEID: His house was bombed in November 2023 and him and his family of 18 who lived in that house had to evacuate.
They recently had to evacuate from their tent.
And so now they're living under a piece of nylon on the beach.
Now they're just living day by day on the little food they have.
I have watched him grow thin.
I mean, it's just -- it's insane.
It's insane that they are the lucky ones and they are living a life that anyone here in America would go (EXPLETIVE DELETED) crazy just experiencing for one day.
AMNA NAWAZ: That connection inspired Obeid to launch a platform called Pal Collective allowing people to link with and support a family in Gaza however they can.
SAMMY OBEID: They can essentially be your adopted family.
You can basically talk to them on a daily basis, send them money, whatever you feel comfortable doing.
Or if you want to provide therapy services, or if you're a doctor, you want to give free medical consultations, you can basically sign up to do that.
AMNA NAWAZ: On stage, Obeid somehow continues to find a way to make light of dark topics.
SAMMY OBEID: I wish I could be telling people about A squared plus B squared equals C squared.
But I'm here trying to put out A's fire, I'm trying to put out B's fire, and that requires cease-fire.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
(CHEERING) AMNA NAWAZ: Do you ever reach a point where you're like, OK, this is too much, there's no way to make people laugh about what's going on here?
SAMMY OBEID: Yes, I mean, there's definitely days where it's just so dark, what happens is so dark, the news that comes out of Gaza is so dark.
But I will say, to be honest, most things, I can kind of find a way to talk about it while also making humor.
AMNA NAWAZ: And that's a lot of pressure to try to make people laugh about very heavy topics.
SAMMY OBEID: I definitely have felt the toll from this just emotionally as a person.
I have these people who come to my shows and will listen to what I say every night.
And so I feel I have my form of therapy.
So, as long as the world is functioning the way it is, yes, unfortunately, I'm going to have to be talking about it for a while.
I would love it to stop immediately.
But when it stops, you better believe I will be doing math theorems.
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