LOS ANGELES: US Egyptian Moroccan comedian Dina Hashem, who is known for her trademark cynical sense of humor, is heading from the standup stage to TV screens with the upcoming animated series “#1 Happy Family US,” by Golden Globe-winner Ramy Youssef and Amazon.
The show revolves around a US-based Muslim family in the era after the September 11 terrorist attack, and Hashem voices a lamb called Lammy.
The series logline describes “#1 Happy Family USA” as an exploration of “the experiences of a Muslim-American family that must learn how to code-switch as they navigate the early 2000s: A time of fear, war, and the rapid expansion of the boy-band industrial complex.”
Unlike other comedians, Hashem’s standup act is based on cynical views on life, marriage, her Arab upbringing and living in America.
“The things I think are funny are usually more extreme than what people do on stage,” she remarked, highlighting the nuanced specificity of her humor. “Because with standup, you have to be kind of broad because you’re talking to a large group of random people, so it can’t be that specific a lot of the time. And I feel like my sense of humor is pretty specific.”
In a landscape where many comedians gain fame by addressing the negative impacts of societal prejudices, Hashem distinguishes herself by exploring the complexities of familial dynamics and personal struggles.
“The ones who are most famous right now talk about the negative impacts,” she noted. “They talk about how the world has treated them negatively because of their identity. Whereas in my life, a lot of the negativity came from my own family rather than people out in the world. So, I feel like that's sort of what makes my act a little different from theirs.”
Hashem said that growing up, she had “so many issues communicating with people” due to anxiety and mental health issues.
“With standup, I was learning how to communicate and realized that people wanted to hear what I had to say and I never really felt that way at home before,” she said.
Hashem currently writes for “The Daily Show” and has written for the HBO Max comedy series “The Sex Lives of College Girls.”
