Q&A Albert Brooks

In Albert Brooks’ latest directorial project, Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World, the U.S. government sends the funnyman to South Asia and he almost starts World War III.

There was controversy over the film’s title. People being afraid of the word Muslim is the reason I made the movie. It doesn’t attack religious beliefs. There are R-rated sex comedies that are far more offensive.

You were nervous about screening it in Dubai. Did you really think Arabs were that uptight? When we turn on the TV, there are people saying that everyone there hates America. So what did I know? But they were one of the best comedy audiences I’ve ever had. They were grateful to see an American movie where Muslims weren’t the bad guys. I don’t know why this country doesn’t do more on a human-to-human basis around the world. We can still bomb them if that’s what we choose, but it wouldn’t hurt to take a few more people out to dinner.

Why shoot in India, a country of Hindus? This is dealt with in a scene. A government official tells me, “There are over 150 million Muslims in India. That enough for ya?” Even if I wanted to shoot in the Arab world, I wasn’t able to.

Did you film in Pakistan? I’m not going to say. We were near the border, and we might have stepped in.

So what makes Muslims laugh? The Muslims on my crew told me Sikh jokes like “How many Sikhs does it take to play a game of chess?” I had a Hindu driver, and guess what he told me: Muslim jokes.