Recent Comments
Re: “THEATER REVIEW: "Sister's Christmas Catechism"”
There's an English comedian named Stewart Lee who points out exactly why you don't see much comedy based on Islam. "Life Of Brian brilliantly used the intimate understanding its audience had of the chronology of Christ’s life to substitute him for a bewildered, normal bloke. But it’s not possible to take people under the skin of Islam in the same way, when it remains largely a mystery to most writers and audiences. Comedians who are ‘culturally Christian’ at least understand the taboos they chose to break when writing about vicars and virgin births, and do so knowingly. The Muslim world’s response to the Danish Mohammed cartoons remains deplorable, but the fireworks of the gags contained in them were drowned out by unexpected exploding landmines of depictions of the Prophet. Perhaps a rigorous and thorough satire of Islamic themes would be better executed by someone with experience of it? " http://www.stewartlee.co.uk/press/writtenf…
There are plenty of Muslim comics in the world who make light of their faith. The fact of the matter is that, as a majority Christian culture, we share the frame of reference in shows like Sister's Christmas Catechism. Comedy only works as a result of shared experience. So you'll have to wait until Islam is no longer a mystery to western culture before you see a similar show based on Muslim cultural traditions.
Re: “REVIEW: The Amazing Acro-Cats at MuCCC (through 8/11)”
Watch this space next week for the debut of a new column, "Eric's Kitty Corner."