Laugh Factory holds charity show for Pakistan

In July, monsoon rains in Pakistan resulted in devastating flooding. More than 20 million people have been affected — more than the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and recent Haiti earthquake combined — with 2,000 deaths and millions more with damaged or destroyed homes. And yet, the Pakistani floods have received little media attention compared with these other events.

“People are disastered out,” comedian Max Amini said Wednesday night. He was part of Stand Up For Pakistan, a comedy benefit at the Laugh Factory designed to raise funds and awareness for the floods in Pakistan.

And he has a point. From the Haiti earthquake in January to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill this spring, the news has been filled with images of devastated areas and displaced people.

Laugh Factory Director of Marketing Zainulabedin Shah, USC alumnus from the class of 2009, agreed with Amini.

“People are fatigued from donating,” he said. “[The floods] are not getting enough media attention.”

Shah, who lived in Pakistan from ages 12 to 19 and whose parents still reside there, was inspired to organize Stand Up for Pakistan to bring awareness to a disaster that few Americans even know happened.

“What better way to bring people together than laughter?” he asked.

Shah was also the one to reach out to Relief International, the organization that received 100 percent of the Laugh Factory’s ticket sales Wednesday for its relief efforts in Pakistan. Relief International is a non-profit humanitarian organization that focuses on emergency response and long-term aid in developing countries. They have been in Pakistan since the 2005 earthquakes, and say the flooding is one of the biggest challenges they have faced.

Fortunately, the Laugh Factory was packed Wednesday and the lineup of standup comedians played to an enthusiastic, sold-out house. The large turnout proved that the issue of the Pakistani floods was important.

Amini, who hosted the event, said he is “very passionate about Pakistan” and was “honored to be picked for this event.”

“This isn’t about us performing,” he said, stressing the need to build awareness about the floods.

“United we stand is the idea,” Shah said. He crafted the lineup of comedians to cater to everybody. Maz Jobrani, who started the Axis of Evil comedy show, headlined, with Kumail Nanjiani, Ian Edwards and Chris D’Elia performing as well.

Jobrani brought a more political edge to his set. He commented humorously on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s absurd claim that there are no gay people in Iran and he satirized the stance of Al Qaeda after the failed Times Square car bombing.

Some of the hardest-hitting and funniest jokes came from Nanjiani, who spoke about the racism and cultural ignorance he faces as a Pakistani. For instance, within minutes of arriving in Irvine, Calif. for a show, he was offensively referred to as Kumar of the Harold & Kumar movies — one of the few images of a Middle Eastern person present in popular culture. Nanjiani also referenced the popular video game Call of Duty, which now takes place in the Middle East.

His hometown of Karachi had been turned into a battlefield in the game, and all of the street signs were in Arabic, even though Urdu is the language of Pakistan. Nanjiani joked about the ridiculous attention to aesthetic detail in the rest of the game that took years to design, saying “all they had to do was Google ‘Pakistan language.’”

There was an amazing energy in the Laugh Factory all night, as well as a sense of community. A couple in the audience received attention from all three Middle Eastern comics — the man was Indian and the woman Pakistani. After making them the butt of many jokes, each comedian genuinely applauded the couple’s ability to overcome its cultural differences and the history of conflict between each individual’s countries.

It was a show to remind people of the power of comedy on many levels. Hundreds of people turned out in support of the event, to raise money and awareness for the Pakistani floods.

But the culturally relevant standup also demonstrated the ability of comedy to both make light of and reveal major problems present in our society.

“One of the greatest ways to learn about culture is through comedy,” Amani said.

Stand Up for Pakistan proved how important and effective that can be.