Eman El-Husseini and Jess Salomon, Photo by Colin Boyd Shafer
Ever hear the one about the bisexual-Jewish lesbian-Palestinian duo? NYC based stand-up comedians Eman El Husseini and Jess Salomon resolve all their marriage conflicts with love and humor. And this Arab-American lesbian of Jewish and Catholic descent (yeah me), is pretty darn impressed.
The couple’s cartoon depictions of married life, illustrated by Jesse Brown, poke fun at religion, weight gain, winning arguments, and so much more.
This particular cartoon, had me at “Yassir”:
El Husseini says, “So if we have a boy, I’m thinking Yassir, Mustafa, Hammad, Ahmed…” Salomon answers, “Are those baby names or a No Fly list?”
Speaking as someone who has been pulled off a plane for having a “No Fly” worthy, very common, very Arabic last name… oh-mah-gah… It’s not funny when it happens in real life (at all), but the cartoon is pretty hilarious.
During her stand-up, Salomon announces their engagement in a joke, “I mention ‘bisexual’ and a lot of people think ‘threesomes’ …and I don’t want to disappoint you guys, but I did just propose to my girlfriend, so, ‘off the market’…I’m Jewish, she’s Palestinian, it’s gonna be a tiny wedding. So far it’s just Noam Chomsky and the BDS movement.”
Salomon and El Husseini had a very small wedding with no parents present… But the couple likes to tell people that their parents introduced them, just for kicks.
Just this month, Time Out put El Husseini on their list of POC (people of color) comedians that they’re “obsessed with right now.”—On race, religion and sexuality, El Husseini said, “Being gay in NYC is wonderful. Being Arab and Muslim, on the other hand…not so much. Luckily for me, I don’t necessarily fit the profile of a typical Muslim woman. I’m not a hijabi or niqabi, I’m more of a cleavage-y Muslim.”
Her favorite joke: “My wife and I are thinking of having kids. If we do, we’d have to get a sperm donor, because we tried and tried and it didn’t work.”
Wanna hear more, only live? El Husseini and Salomon, a.k.a. The El-Salomons, will be at Union Hall in Brooklyn, on 10/24, performing a combo platter of solo stand-up and duo banter.
ϼ?ê?ä?èϺ Ï»?èϺ?åϺ –Julia Diana Robertson is an award-winning author and journalist. You can find her at facebook.com/JuliaDianaRobertson & twitter.com/JuliaDRobertson & www.juliadianarobertson.com JD, lesbianing all day every day ©PSPhotography
