Egyptian-American comedian Ahmed Ahmed was on our show way back in December 2004, along with his then comedy partner the ordained rabbi Bob Alper. They were touring synagogues and auditoriums with a show they called “One Arab. One Jew. One Stage.” and they aimed to bring people together through laughter. Ahmed is back in the DC area this weekend for a similar tour called Funatical: Taking Comedy to the Extreme an inter-faith, inter-cultural experience also known as the “We Come in Peace” tour. Ahmed has a great number of family and friends still living in the Cairo area, and he very closely followed the Egyptian revolution earlier this year. He and Bob also discuss the revolutionary drama still unfolding across the Middle East. You might also recognize Ahmed from his many appearances in television shows and movies like Iron Man, Weeds, You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, JAG, Girlfriends, Swingers, Roseanne, Virtuosity and Executive Decision where he is – no joke – credited with playing “Terrorist #4.” Ahmed makes his directorial debut for his latest project. For the documentary Just Like Us, he and a group of ethnically diverse comedians perform sold out shows in Dubai, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Egypt in an effort to show that despite our religious and cultural differences, the Arabs and Muslims who live in that part of the world are pretty much “just like us.”
Click here for the film’s synopsis.
And here is the trailer for Ahmed Ahmed’s documentary Just Like Us.