Coco Khan

shopify.co.uk slash podsave the UK.

This week, the US president has announced his so-called Board of Peace, which is set to run Gaza.

As we record this, I understand that Politico are reporting that Netanyahu has agreed to be on this board.

So it's sounding a bit more like a board of occupation.

Membership, nonetheless, does not come cheap.

He's asked countries to cough up a whopping one billion for a permanent spot.

It's a massive story, but frankly, we don't hear enough from any Palestinians themselves.

Well, someone who is challenging this is our guest today.

So, Alar Shahada is an actor and comedian.

He's also the co-founder of the Palestinian Comedy Collective.

A new documentary shows them crossing checkpoints and borders to perform in theatres across the region before the genocide began.

I love you.

You're amazing.

You're very, very, very funny.

They also started to get more notice internationally and came to London for a series of gigs starting on the 7th of October 2023.

As the conflict escalated back home, the group found themselves stranded.

Alar, welcome to Pod Save the UK.

Some listeners might be hearing you speak, hearing Tess Ingram speak and think, but why comedy?

You know, there's so much tragedy and hardship.

Why do you use comedy in the way that you're using it?