Dark Little Whispers

Dina Hashem opens her debut hour with heavy metal music playing over the speakers (featuring herself on vocals and drums) before walking out and delivering some of the quietest, most understated deadpan on the modern club circuit. Filmed in late 2022 at Chicago’s Lincoln Lodge and released by Amazon Prime Video in late 2023, the special leans heavily into the tension of a room trying to figure out how much Hashem is actually kidding. Her flat, conversational rhythm makes even her darkest observations feel like casual thoughts she just remembered.

By the time the special aired, Hashem was already established behind the scenes as an Emmy-nominated writer for The Daily Show and The Sex Lives of College Girls. Executive produced by fellow comic Sam Morril, the 48-minute set earned praise from critics like The New York Times‘ Jason Zinoman, who called her one of the best deadpan artists working.

On stage, she turns that sharp writing inward. She spends much of the hour talking about her upbringing as a first-generation Arab-American in New Jersey, balancing being a stoner with growing up in a strict Muslim household, and trying to find the direction of Mecca while high. Some of her best material deals with her absent father, noting that any woman holding a microphone on stage is missing a dad. She also jokes about voting for Donald Trump for the sole purpose of keeping her Egyptian father from re-entering the country.

The set also touches on her experiences with abortion, awkward sexual encounters, and the quiet hostility of being a soft-spoken person in an extroverted world. Rather than trying to win the audience over with high energy, Hashem relies on precise writing and a deliberate pacing that lets the silence stretch before she hits them with a punchline.