6 min read
For many Arabs growing up in the diaspora, finding your place in the world where you feel you truly belong can be a struggle, as your identity inevitably becomes a mix between the cultures of your motherlands and that of where you live. Call it the age-old Third Culture Kid identity crisis.
For Syrian American stand-up comedian, social media star, and fan-branded āShawarma Kingā, , the tale reads similarly. Except, Nasser found his refuge through comedy, which helped him come home to himself as he accessed, connected to and embraced parts of his cultural identity like never before.
"I want to make Arab culture mainstreamā¦ weāve already been pushed away too much, it's time to bring our culture to the forefront and say, you like it? Amazing. You donāt? Then move to the side"
With an intention to revolutionise Arab-American comedy, Nasser ā who has amassed over 150 million views across TikTok alone ā is striving to push Arab culture into the mainstream entertainment world, as he continues to captivate audiences on his journey of unapologetic self-acceptance.
āI want to make Arab culture mainstreamā¦ weāve already been pushed away too much, it's time to bring our culture to the forefront and say, you like it? Amazing. You donāt? Then move to the side,ā Nasser told °®Āžµŗ.
His interactive comedy show ā which he has toured in Dubai and is soon taking across the US ā provides a unique experience that combines comedy, music, entertainment, and audience interaction, to create a traditional Arab āsahraā ā gathering.
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āSowing the Arab cultureā throughout the show is also important to him, as he strives to hold his shows in venues that offer traditional Arabic food and argileh ā hookah.
āThereās no way I could have a comedy show and people are eating chicken tendersā¦ youāre gonna be eating shawarma!ā he says laughing.
āThe whole set is about discovering who I am being an Arab-American, the jokes that come out of it, and the identity crisis, the back and forth between, am I Arab [or] American enough,ā Nasser stated, explaining the show is all āabout the audience having a good night.ā
However, forming this connection with his cultural identity took time. Living in a post-9/11 America and attending a Catholic school with no ethnic or religious diversity, the Muslim comedian felt the need to push his Arab identity āto the sideā to divert any negative attention his family feared could arise from it.
āYou do what you need to do to succeed,ā he told °®Āžµŗ, explaining events like the Boston Marathon bombings made āfitting inā harder, as he would become the butt of his peersā racist jokes.
However, attending an international college, and growing closer with his cousins who grew up in the Middle East, allowed Nasser to witness people being met with acceptance while being unapologetically themselves.
āIt started to bring me back into [thinking] you can be who you are and still be accepted, you donāt have to change the way you say your name or the way you talkā¦ my cousins really played a massive role in reminding me the beauty of that,ā Nasser told °®Āžµŗ.
āThat to me opened a doorā¦ by the time I graduated I realised I am so proud to be Arab, and that only grew,ā he added.
"I want my kids to grow up in a world where they donāt have to choose between being Arab and American, they can just be Arab American and be proud of who they are"
Before graduating in 2018, Nasser was used to creating media content for his schools and the extra-curricular activities he was a part of. However, post-graduation, he started to create content for his own channels.
It wasnāt until Covid hit in 2020, that he began to make videos about his cultural identity, and following his success realised he found his niche.
Creating such content naturally brought memories of what it meant to grow up as an Arab, flooding back, which further strengthened his connection to and confidence in his Arabness.
āThroughout this entire process Iāve got more in touch with who I am and being Arab than I did before, itās a process still, thereās still different ways the diasporaās affected by an identity crisis, but now Iām so much more confident in who I am."
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Talking about culture through a comedic lens has recently made Nasser more conscious about making what he calls ālow-hanging fruitā jokes, such as calling out ātoxic Arab men or womenā. Despite acknowledging that he too is privy to making such content, he voiced concern that such videos could reinforce harmful stereotypes and āself-inflicted hateā and says he is reconsidering some of his content as a result.
āIāve done this and Iām trying to do better by making content thatās more positive for the cultureā¦ when we make jokes about ourselvesā¦ they donāt push us forward,ā he says, stating he would rather move towards focusing on relatability in terms the way Arabs were raised and the ābeauty of the culture.ā
A series of videos Nasser is also loved for, as the āShawarma Kingā, are his shawarma reviews. Nasser has filmed dozens of reviews of shawarma across the world. Getting passionate about what makes the ultimate shawarma, Nasser told °®Āžµŗ the best place heās tasted it was in Syria and Lebanon.
āThey take the bread into the grill and [sound effects] pow pow, then they take it into the oil [sound effects] pow pow, it gets crispy and juicyā¦ the chicken has to be seasoned perfectlyā¦ and the bread meshes into the juices of the chicken and the zestiness of the toumā¦ habibiiii you lose your mind,ā he says, adding that it has to have been made with love.
The comedian intends to reach 100 shawarma reviews and eventually open his own shawarma store.
And thatās not all. With his sights set on becoming āthe biggest Arab comedian in the world,ā Nasserās ultimate goal is to be the first Arab-American and Muslim to host the Tonight Show, stating that āif you donāt think you can be the best and the biggest, you wonāt get there.ā
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Excited about the future, and the prospect of Arab culture becoming more widely celebrated, Nasser emphasised his willingness to work towards making his culture mainstream in the entertainment world, with hopes it could help Arabs across the diaspora feel more confident and unapologetic about their cultural identities.
āI want my kids to grow up in a world where they donāt have to choose between being Arab and American, they can just be Arab-American and be proud of who they are," he says.
āInshallah here is to more and more confidence in ourselves as we move forward. Confidence in our stories, in our culture, upbringing, in our names, in our families, in our food, in our music, in the way we dress, everything.ā
Aisha Aldris is a London-based journalist who writes on social and humanitarian issues alongside culture and the arts
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