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The Bill Hicks Spirit Award
In 2005, The New York City Underground Comedy Festival announced the creation of The Bill Hicks Spirit Award For Thought Provoking Comedy. The award was created with the blessing of the Hicks family and was presented to Dean Obeidallah, an extraordinary emerging comedic talent who utilizes laughter to speak the truth & provoke thought.

The comedians nominated for the award were chosen by festival producers George Sarris and Jim Mendrinos and "In The Spirit of Bill: A Tribute To Bill Hicks" producer Luchia. After viewing footage of each comedian performing, Obeidallah was ultimately chosen by Bill's mother, Mary Reese Hicks.

The award was presented to Obeidallah at the "In The Spirit of Bill: A Tribute To Bill Hicks" Sunday October 9th at The Laugh Factory in Times Square. The show featured some of the best emerging talent in the city along with 20 minutes of rarely seen footage of Bill on stage!

For more information about Bill Hicks and the Bill Hicks' Foundation, please visit www.billhicks.com
This article can be found on the NY Underground Comedy Festival's website

"Mining the Middle East for Laughs"
Check out this Newsweek article by Lorraine Ali about the Comedy Central.com show I co-created with Max Brooks called "The Watch List." This is the first show ever released by a major American entertainment company to star all Middle Eastern-American performers.
"Hitting the Funny Bones of Contention"
Check out this Washington Post article by Paul Farhi about the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour and how it "Detonates Some Explosive Stereotypes."
"Muslim-American Comics Get Their Humor On"
This is Beliefnet.com's review of the PBS TV special I was featured in about the rise of Middle Eastern-American comedians.
"Comedians as Activists, Challenging Prejudice"
This is a NY Times article by Felicia Lee about the "Axis of Evil" TV special I appeared in on Comedy Central along with Ahmed Ahmed, Aron Kader and Maz Jobrani. The "Axis of Evil" DVD is available for sale on Amazon.com.
All news »

 

I'm one of the five comedians featured in the upcoming PBS documentary which airs nationally on PBS on May 11, 2008 entitled "Stand Up: Muslim American Comics Come of Age."



I'm co-producing with my friend Max Brooks a show on Comedy Central.com called "THE WATCH LIST" which stars all Middle Eastern-American comedians. To view the episodes, please click HERE.



Check out my recent appearance on ABC's "The View" by clicking HERE.