Maysoon Zayid, Palestinian comedian, actress, graphic novel author and co-creator of the NY Arab-American Comedy Festival, joins us on the afikra podcast to talk all things comedy, Palestine, Arab-America, and advocating for the disabled community.

Maysoon talks about how she grew up to be the confident, unapologetic, publicly Palestinian comedian we know and love today. She gives us an insight into the world of comedy: from testing new material, getting bored of making fun of Donald Trump, and being vilified as an Arab comedian in the United States. Finally, she tells us about her upcoming graphic novel "Shiny Misfits".

0:00 Introduction
1:45 Becoming a Comedian
5:11 Being Palestinian in the US & Working in Comedy Since Oct 7th
8:20 Entertainment Sector After 9/11
10:13 Early Career & Reaction to Arab Comedy
15:52 Evolution of Comedy Audiences & Virtual Comedy
20:20 TED talk: I Got 99 Problems…Palsy is Just One
24:25 Living with Disability in the US vs the Arab World
31:00 Evolution of Maysoon’s Comedy
33:42 Comic Book: Shiny Misfits
44:54 Confidence & Self-Acceptance
47:15 Talking about Palestine

Maysoon Zayid is a Palestinian comedian, actress, writer and disability advocate who was born and raised in New Jersey. She is the co-founder and co-executive producer of the New York Arab American Comedy Festival and The Muslim Funny Fest.

Connect with Maysoon 👉https://www.instagram.com/maysoonzayid/

Theme music: Peninsular, Tarek Yamani 🔊 https://spoti.fi/47I59ns

Hosted by:
Mikey Muhanna 👉 https://www.instagram.com/mikey_mu/?hl=en-gb

THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK
Explore all episodes in this series: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfYG40bwRKl5xaTkBDrUKLCulvoCE8ubX&feature=shared

ABOUT AFIKRA
afikra | عفكرة is a movement to convert passive interest in the Arab world to active intellectual curiosity. We aim to collectively reframe the dominant narrative of the region by exploring the histories and cultures of the region – past, present and future – through conversations driven by curiosity.
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