Using comedy to poke fun at anti-Muslim prejudice
Aasif Mandvi sounds relieved, pleased 鈥� and maybe a little surprised. His web-based sitcom 鈥淗alal in the Family鈥� 鈥� which centers on an American Muslim family 鈥� is being noticed.
鈥淚鈥檓 excited about the amount of attention it actually has gotten,鈥� says Mr. Mandvi, who spent a decade as the 鈥渟enior Muslim correspondent鈥� on Comedy Central鈥檚 鈥淭he Daily Show with Jon Stewart.鈥� 鈥淲hat this has shown us is that there鈥檚 an appetite. People want to see an American Muslim family at the center of a sitcom. There seems to be some excitement about that.鈥�
Mandvi鈥檚 creation, released on the Web April 9, is really a send-up of the sitcom formula that uses humor to point out serious issues related to the Muslim experience in the United States.
He hopes it will offer a modest beginning to a greater visibility for Muslim Americans in all their variety and, yes, normalcy, in American media.
鈥淲e want to satirize the bigotry and the Islamophobia and the racism, and so we created this family that鈥檚 trying, overly compensating to fit in to America,鈥� Mandvi said in a telephone conversation earlier this week. 鈥淲e鈥檙e obviously sending up a particular kind of idea that all Muslims are terrorists and bad and dangerous and to be feared.鈥�
To that end, for example, viewers meet Muslim characters who are Caucasian and African-American. The series centers on the 鈥淨u鈥檕sby鈥� family, a middle-class Muslim family consisting of a father and mother of two teenagers 鈥� a boy and a girl. Despite their extreme efforts to fit in, they are constantly tripping up, such as when the father, played by Mandvi, overdoes his Halloween decorating and creates the impression that the family might be terrorists.
The series鈥� theme song lays out the premise:
鈥淲e鈥檙e just an ordinary family/ living in your town. We like monster trucks and football/ even though we鈥檙e brown. Welcome to our clan/ we promise there鈥檚 no plan/ to change the way you live or how you pray. 鈥機ause we鈥檙e just here to obey (various laws and ordinances)!鈥�
Mandvi wrote the series with Miles Khan, a producer on 鈥淭he Daily Show鈥� who had created a short comic routine in 2011 based on biases against Muslims.
The four five-minute episodes, which are free to view, can be seen at or . Other websites may be picking up the series as well. Guest stars who make cameo appearances include 鈥淒aily Show鈥� cast members Samantha Bee and Jordan Klepper.
To create 鈥淗alal,鈥� Mandvi teamed with Moore + Associates, a communications consulting firm that works with groups interested in social change. It helped connect him with funding sources and organizations working on this issue, which became an advisory council to the show.
The groups, which include Muslim and civil rights organizations (such as the Center for New Community, ACCESS/National Network for Arab American Communities, and SAALT) suggested topics, such as bullying at school, bias in the news media, and politicians who exploit anti-Muslim prejudice for political gain. These issues are woven into the situations the Qu鈥檕sby family members face.
The series breaks new ground, says Mik Moore, the founder of Moore + Associates.
鈥淭here really is no Muslim family on TV, or even in a web series,鈥� he points out. 鈥淪o while it鈥檚 a parody of a sitcom, and not a pure sitcom, I think there really is a huge hole to be filled in the media landscape around American Muslims.鈥�
These episodes, he says, could start to expose people to a different version of Muslims than they see on the news or what they hear from politicians, 鈥渨hich is overwhelmingly negative and focused on issues such as terrorism.鈥�
The 鈥淗alal in the Family鈥� website also features a 鈥済et involved鈥� page () with ideas on how people can learn more or take action.
After its first four days online the series had about 100,000 visitors, Moore says. Funding came from a wide variety of sources, including the Ford Foundation and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. About 15 percent also came through an online crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo.
[Editor's note: The original version of the above paragraph misstated the percentage of funding that came through Indiegogo.]
The two inspirations for 鈥淗alal鈥� were the classic sitcoms 鈥淎ll in the Family鈥� and 鈥淭he Cosby Show,鈥� Mandvi says. For many white Americans in the 1980s, 鈥淭he Cosby Show was the first time they鈥檇 invited a black family into their home.鈥�
He鈥檇 be pleased if 鈥淗alal in the Family鈥� could come into American homes in the form of new 20- or 25-minute episodes on network or cable TV. But he鈥檚 keeping all options open, including staying on the Web. 鈥淲e just wanted to create something and put it out there,鈥� says Mandvi, who was born in Mumbai, India, and whose Muslim family emigrated to the United States when he was 16. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 want to wait for TV executives to green light something, you know?鈥�
As 鈥淭he Daily Show鈥� has proved, comedy offers a fresh way to examine politics and culture. Politicians are often trapped into taking extreme or simplistic positions. 鈥淗umor is a way into these conversations,鈥� Mandvi says. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 have a nuanced conversation [in the political sphere].
鈥淚 don鈥檛 have that burden. I鈥檓 a comedian, an actor, so we can try to 鈥β� present things in a more complex way, hopefully.鈥�
But the first consideration, he says, is that it has to be funny. 鈥淲e weren鈥檛 going to do anything unless it was funny, and it was entertaining. And then the challenge was 鈥楬ow do I talk about issues and fold that into the funny?鈥� 鈥�
