MEET DEAN OBEIDALLAH

You may have already heard of comedian Dean Obeidallah. He's an American comic with Arab roots (his father is Palestinian). Dean's act uses comedy to diffuse the often tense and misunderstood relationship between the Arab world and the West. Badly needed after 9-11, Dean and a few other comics formed the Axis of Evil comedy tour to help show American's that Arabs can in fact laugh at themselves. Dean is in town to headline the 3rd annual Amman Stand-Up Comedy Festival. He is also the executive producer of the hugely popular event. I convinced Jo magazine to let me try to do something more conceptual than sending a staff photographer to take a picture of Dean in the hotel lobby. To their absolute credit, they said yes. Less than 24 hours after flying in from New York, Dean agreed to do this shoot in his bathroom at the Hyatt. It was tighter in there than I thought, so I couldn't quite get my lights the way I wanted them. I also regret not putting a little toothpaste foam dripping down from his mouth.