Producer Bios
Dean Obeidallah
By Festival Co-Founder & Co-Executive Producer (2003-2008); Writer/Director: Arab President (2008), And now another word from our sponsors... and A Few Good Arabs (short promo) (2006), And now a word from our sponsors... (2005); Writer: Love Letter (2008); Comedian (2003-2008)
Oct 12, 2005

Dean performing during the taping of Comedy Central's The Watch List, a spin-off of the kind of humor you'll encounter at the Festival, co-produced with Max Brooks. (Photo: nigelparry.net)

Born in the Great State of New Jersey, Dean's comedy comes in large part from his unique background of being the son of a Palestinian father and a Sicilian mother. Dean, an award winning comedian who was at one time a practicing attorney, has appeared on ABC's "The View," Comedy Central's "Axis of Evil" Comedy special and is the co-creator and co-producer of Comedy Central.com's critically acclaimed Internet series "The Watch List," featuring a cast of all Middle Eastern-American comedians performing stand up and sketch comedy. He is also one of five comedians profiled in the upcoming one-hour documentary airing nationally on PBS in 2008 entitled: "Stand Up: Muslim-American Comics Come of Age."

Dean has appeared on numerous international and national programs including CNN's "American Morning" and "The Situation Room," PBS' "Newshour with Jim Lehrer," "Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen," Showtime Arabia, HD's "Dan Rather Reports," NPR, Fox News Radio, ABC's "20/20," "Al Jazeera," "Democracy Now with Amy Goodman" and CNN International's "Inside the Middle East." In addition, he has been featured in various publications including Time magazine, Newsweek, The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times.

Dean performing in summer 2006 in his one-man play, I Come In Peace, chosen by Time Out NY as one of the top 6 comedies to see in the New York International Fringe Festival. (Photo: nigelparry.net)

Dean is proud to have received the first annual "Bill Hicks Spirit Award" for "thought provoking comedy" (named after the late comedian Bill Hicks) from the NY Underground Comedy Festival and the Hicks' Family.

He also co-created the comedy show "Stand up for Peace" along with Jewish comic Scott Blakeman which they perform at colleges across the country in support of peace in the Middle East and fostering understanding between Arab and Jewish-Americans. (www.standupforpeace.com.) His one-man show, "I Come in Peace," a comedic look at his life as an Arab-American in post 9/11 America, was an official selection of the 2006 NY International Fringe Festival.

In addition to performing comedy throughout the US, Dean has performed in the Middle East in Beirut, Haifa, Dubai and Ramallah.

For more information about Dean, please visit: www.deanofcomedy.com.

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