It has been hard for me to laugh since we learnt of the US election results. All the Trump memes that had entertained, all the cartoons that had evoked laughter now seem to have happened in another time.
And yet we must laugh. We must, as Walter Benjamin has reminded us, remember that our struggle maybe for “rough and material things” but that struggle does not always appear as such. Instead struggle presents itself as confidence, as courage, as cunning, as steadfastness, and yes, as humor.
If the President-elect wants to create a Muslim registry in this country we need to build the widest, the most intransigent resistance to it. We also need to learn from people from our collective past, and our present, who have built such struggles.
So today’s post is about Samia Orosemane, a woman who knows how to struggle, resist, and laugh. And as Marine Le Pen sets her eyes on even bigger pieces of the electoral map in France, we will need to learn how to do all three.
An interview with comedian Samia Orosemane
Guest post by Carmen Teeple Hopkins
Samia Orosemane is a comedian and actor based in Paris. She is currently performing a one-woman comedy show, “Femme de Couleurs” (Woman of Colours – referring to her colourful choice of clothing) in France, Belgium, Switzerland and North Africa.
The following interview with Samia Orosemane was conducted, edited and translated from French by Carmen Teeple Hopkins in Paris.
CTH: Tell me about your one-woman show.
I write sketches that are based on themes that are often painful and difficult to talk about. I take suffering and turn it into humour which I hope allows people to laugh and step back from the issues that they are dealing with. I talk about a lot of topics: ordinary racism in France, differences between cultures, expectations placed on women, and the raptures these social issues cause between generations.
I try to challenge mainstream expectations and show people that it’s essential that they are happy in their way of living.
CTH: When I saw you on stage, what really touched me was the political side of your work. Why is it important to have politics in your sketches?
Unfortunately, politics is a part of life. So at a certain point, we have to tackle them.
Politicians raise a range of issues to try to attract the attention of voters, even if the issues aren’t real problems. We point the finger toward members of the population and say that they are the problem. Each time that there’s a crisis, we find someone who’s guilty, blame her/him, and then other people get ahead because they have a common enemy.
CTH: What do you mean when you say that members of the population, that “they” are the problem?
At the moment there’s a lot on Muslims in the media. Politicians say Muslims are a problem and that they’re not compatible with the French Republic, with secularism [laïcité], with daily life and so on. We know that there are 6 billion Muslims in the world, and that if all of them were potential terrorists, the world would have exploded a long time ago.
Politicians have to stop treating us like trouble-makers and solve the real problems that we have, like unemployment.
CTH: How do you feel on stage?
I love what I do. It’s the only place where I feel really comfortable. There’s a lot of energy that’s exchanged on stage and when people tell me they had a great time after the show, that’s the greatest reward.
CTH: What do you mean when you say that it’s the only place where you feel really comfortable?
I’m the centre of the world for one hour. People look only at me. I can make them laugh, cry, reflect; they belong to me for one hour and it’s magical.
CTH: Have you had negative experiences in public space that influenced the sketches that you do?
Yes, for example, the skit on the veil is based on my experiences. There are people who’ll come up and talk to you as if you don’t understand French because you have a strip of cloth on your head. It’s judgements and a lack of knowledge. Generally racism is that fear of the other.
It was difficult at the time but after some distance I can laugh and talk about it on stage. It’s art therapy. Reality can be full of pain but if we share ourselves, with humour, we can get through it.
On Tuesday September 20, 2016 (the day that I interviewed Samia), former French president and current contender for leadership of the conservative Union for a Popular Movement party Nicolas Sarkozy made a statement that captured headlines within and outside France. Sarkozy spoke to migrants and said: “once you are French your ancestors are the Gauls”. Many people—including Samia Orosemane—immediately responded this statement. One of the main critiques was that French people come from a range of backgrounds and it is inaccurate to say that they are simply descendants of the Gauls.
CTH: What role does the internet play in your work?
A very important role. Because each time that something bothers me, I make a short video and I put it on the internet. There are people who send me messages, “as soon as something bothers me, I go on your [facebook] page to see if you’ve done something.”
I use a lot of sarcasm. I make fun of myself a lot. Like today I made a video on Nicholas Sarkozy because this morning he said that we were all descendants of the Gauls. So I made the video [available in French here] to give Sarkozy a history lesson.
CTH: Can you tell me about your past show, Samia and the 40 actors [Samia and the 40 comiques]?
In Paris, the first time that I asked to perform somewhere, there was a girl who was organizing comedy sets and she said, “you have to send me a CV, a list of everything that you’ve done, and a video”. And I said to myself, all that to perform in a basement? That was too much. So I decided to do all of the organizing myself. I rented and reserved a theatre, and I organized a set with actors that we called Samia and the 40 actors. The idea was to make people laugh without crude humour or profanity so that families could come. There’s a lot of crudeness in humour today. Organizing this show allowed another type of audience to come out.
I also knew a lot of comedians, a lot of talented people that were not getting the spotlight. So, I suggested that they come perform with me on the condition that they change their sketches so that they were not crude, didn’t deal with sex, etc. They agreed. We did a lot of shows and they got bigger and bigger and we also did big shows in Belgium.
After the terrorist attacks in Ottawa, Canada in 2014, Samia Orosemane created a short video, “Message to Djihadists, please choose another religion!” [available in French here]. After the attacks against Charlie Hebdo in 2015, Samia re-posted this video on-line which drew significant media attention.
CTH: It was also the video, “please choose another religion” that played a role in you getting the one-woman show. Can you talk about your transition to getting the one-woman show?
The first people to come out to my shows were people and communities that I knew in the Paris suburbs, the Muslim and African community, etc. Back then the media wasn’t interested in what I had to say.
And when I did this short video - in a fit of anger - I didn’t think that it would get so big. It was just like many videos I’ve done before. It got a lot of buzz and all the media outlets came to find me. They shed light on my work and said, “look, a nice Muslim woman!” Little by little the audience grew to include people who had nothing to do with who I am and where I’m from.
I didn’t think it would happen like that. In France people feel the need to put people into categories. If people are white and they do comedy, it’s considered culture. But as soon as you’re dark-skinned, it’s seen as only relating to and being funny for your ethnic community. But my show is universal; it can touch everyone. It’s about human stories. That video gave me the nice, kind, Muslim woman card which brought out a general audience that maybe would not have come otherwise.
CTH: How do you want to be represented by the media?
I don’t know, just, a funny woman. The woman who wears many colours, is generous and funny. That image is enough for me. But it’s always the same story: a woman who wears the veil, comedian, etc. When you introduce Anthony Kavanagh [a Haitian-Canadian comedian and actor], you don’t introduce him as a Black comedian. Or someone else as a Jewish comedian, you see? No, we make abstractions and we introduce them as comedians. I just want to be considered as a comedian, that’s all.
CTH: What do you think is the role of comedians?
I think they’re there to critique society and to make it less serious. For me, a comedian helps us laugh at difficult situations so we can get through it. Beyond that, the role is to convey important messages.
Comedians are lucky in that we get to express ourselves in front of a lot of people. I think we have to take advantage of that moment to convey our values, principles, and things that people need to live better together. It’s because of that that I talk about language, racism, and all sorts of problems in society. Things that need to change. And if I happen to change the mind of only one person, it’ll already have been worth it.
