HAIFA, Israel, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Arab comedians in Israel find a home for their ironic, dark humor of checkpoints, torture and suicide bombings.
Ayman Nahas and Hanna Shammas pack theatres in Israel with their political humor and Richard Pryor-style language, The Washington Post reports.
They consider themselves Palestinian because they identify with residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and use real situations to convey their humor.
In one popular skit Shammas plays a Palestinian at a military checkpoint with Nahas playing a new soldier.
"Don't say 'please,'" Shammas tells Nahas. "You should hit me with the rifle butt -- three times on my left shoulder."
The duo also poke fun at what they see as Arabs living within Israel being privately disinterested in the Palestinian struggle. They complain of Israeli Arabs going to demonstrations but doing little else.
Nahas is a trained actor and gives lessons to Arab-Israeli youth.
He said he sees humor as a way to survive the killing going on around him.
