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Comedian Dean Obeidallah and actress-comedienne Maysoon Zayid are in rehearsal for the New York Arab-American Comedy Festival. The two founded the annual event in 2003 in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks to both showcase Arab-American talent and to present positive images of their community.

As the Times Square bombing attempt and its aftermath triggers suspicion about members of their community,
Obeidallah says the festival continues to play an important role in fostering cultural understanding and diffusing tension.

“I’ll be honest when they first said he was white, you know, everybody who is brown we were very happy about that,” Obeidallah says. “It turns out that he happens to be Pakistani and while we are not Pakistani, but ethnically Arab, it’s certainly something we have to deal with. So at times we have to use our comedy, even in these difficult times, to show people we have a culture, we are not all defined by these horrible examples that might share our background, that we have a lot more to offer and this can balance.”

The producers says the sketch and standup comedy festival has come a long way since its humble beginnings, when it featured just three shows and about 20 performers. This year, audiences can expect nine shows and more than 50 performers from around the country and abroad.

“In the beginning we were begging people to do the show, people who had never done jokes were coming in doing standup just to try it,” says Zayid. “Now this is a professional-level festival.”

New this year is a "haram" or "forbidden" show for the 18-plus set.

The festival will also feature the first-ever United States standup comedy show done entirely in Arabic.

Mohamed Salem, a pioneer of Egyptian stand-up comedy is just one of a handful of comics performing in his native language. He made his first trip to New York to be a part of the show, and credits his craft to watching American comedians like Eddie Murphy on YouTube and DVD.

“How they wrote the jokes and how they acted and I’m trying to find my own style or my own persona from all of them,” he says.

The Arab-American Comedy Festival is playing at the 3LD Art and Technology Center in TriBeCa now through Sunday. For more information you can go to ArabComedy.org.