East meets West – comedy’s long history of anti-establishment politics

For American comics, the end of the Trump years was bittersweet. It was a social and political faux pas to admit it, but his policies and antics provided and endless supply of jokes.

With Biden in the Oval Office, it’s the end of a comedic era. But rest assured, the novelty of having a half sensible Commander in Chief will soon wear off. Comedy will return home to its anti-establishment roots, it always does.

Centuries ago, jokes at the expense of a head of state or government were made simply and plainly to their faces. Holding an envied immunity, jesters and buffoons could fearlessly poke fun without facing consequence. In 16th century India, Tenali Rama spent his days making jokes at King Krishnadevaraya’s expense. The story goes that Rama persuaded the King’s guru to carry him on his shoulders and, appalled by his own personal holy man’s humiliation, the King then ordered him to be beaten. Sniffing trouble Rama hopped off and begged for the guru’s forgiveness. As penance, Rama insisted the pious man sit upon his shoulders. The guards, playing their part perfectly, then confused the two men, attacking the guru. The King, taking delight in this tomfoolery, offered Rama a seat at his table.

In 1848, Persia boasted a similar tradition. The tyrannical Shah Naser al-Din Shah Qajar had all cowering in fear. All, that is, except Karim Shir’ei who never hesitated before turning the Shah into a punchline. Peering around, the Shah often enquired as to when more food would be arriving and in response Shir’ei would dust off his favourite jibe shooting back, “yes … I see you have only eaten five times today.”

But, the times of ancient India and Persia have long passed. As kingdoms fell and empires were built anew, authoritarian rule swept through eastern countries. Rather than shy away from this, eastern comedy itself evolved to be anti-authoritarian. Iraqi comedian Mahir Hassan is a good example of this. The comedian’s favourite joke consists of a jape at the expense of Saddam Hussein.

The gag had the dictator visiting a convention of the blind in Baghdad on the eve of the American attack in 2003. Addressing the crowd, he reassures them that “God willing, you will see our victory”. The pun is, of course, Hussein’s chances of victory weren’t blinding.

Hassan only dared make such jests in Northern Iraq, under the safety of Kurdish control. Make these remarks further south and there would have been a bullet with his name on it. In fact, there already was one.

Hassan’s fame had become infamous when he wrote and produced a comedy film ridiculing Hussein in the 1990s. Goran Faili, Hassan’s friend who was the spitting image of the authoritarian leader, scored the role of Hussein, playing him one sandwich short of a picnic with an exaggerated Tikrit accent. The plot involved 50 Iraqi soldiers, played by Kurdish Guerrillas, singing Long Live Hussein in a parody of Iraqi propaganda. Hussein couldn’t find the funny side, and ordered the entire cast killed.

In India, Mumbai based Muslim comedian Munawar Faruqui can only dream of making the jokes Rama once made. Earlier this year, when delivering a routine in Indore’s Monroe cafe, he was pre-emptively arrested on suspicion that he was about to mock Hinduism in his jokes. Faruqui was handed to the police, along with four others, and spent 25 days in jail.

Assassination attempts and arrests come and go, but the jokes keep coming. Laughter may just be the one thing authoritarian rule cannot take from its people, try as it might.

Look westward and the idea anti-establishment humour may be washed away by the Biden years seems ill-founded. Comedians hesitating now before jibing at Biden, because Trump is gone, will wane. Biden will trip and stumble soon. When he does Alex Moffat will be ready, armed with white hair spray and Delawarean folksy charm to act out this blunder on Saturday Night Live. On the Late Late Show, James Corden will soon reveal a rendition of another musical song at the expense of Kamala Harris when she gets it wrong.

From King Krishnadevaraya to Hussien, Trump to Biden, sooner or later leaders’ always end up with egg on their face. They are a comedic target too good to resist, too large to miss.