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Promotional art for Dark Little Whispers
Cover image credit: Promotional image via Prime Video

Dark Little Whispers

Dina Hashem

Prime Video · 2023 · 49 min

Quiet, low-energy deadpan about family, religion, and absent fathers.

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.

The set list

7 bits

  1. Balancing being a stoner with being a devout Muslim

    Joking about the absurdity and difficulty of attempting to find the direction of Mecca while high

  2. Voting for Donald Trump

    Satirically asserting she voted for Trump solely to keep her absent Egyptian father out of the United States

  3. Post-9/11 slogans

    Imagining a corporate pitch meeting trying to brainstorm cultural slogans to unite Americans after 9/11

  4. Surrogacy request from family

    Analyzing the uncomfortable thought process after being asked by her brother and sister-in-law to carry their baby

  5. Funding an abortion

    Concocting a reverse-ransom tactic to pressure a partner into paying for an abortion

  6. Quarantine coping, shrooms, and digestive health

    Joking about taking mushrooms in lockdown, wishing for a benign coma to escape family, and experiencing temporary relief from intestinal issues

  7. Vitriol directed toward soft-spoken people

    Calling out hostility directed at introverts, punctuated by an act-out impression of an overbearing extrovert

How it plays

Tone
Dark, dry, self-deprecating, and silly
On stage
Understated, deadpan, shy, and droll, introducing her stage vibe as tired, upset, and confused
Pace
Low-key, soft-spoken cadence with quiet pauses, juxtaposed against blast-beat hardcore metal music framing the opening and credits
About
growing up Muslim in New Jersey, first-generation Arab-American identity, psychedelics and marijuana, abortion, death threats and hate mail, family relationships

What the critics said

Praised by critics for sharp writing, deadpan timing, and clever turns of phrase, with The New York Times naming Hashem one of the best deadpan artists working

In the room: Intimate room with audience members seated up close and on the floor around the small stage

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: bbfc.co.uk, npr.org, pastemagazine.com, primevideo.com, decider.com, letterboxd.com, imdb.com, en.wikipedia.org.

Backstory

Released in November 2023 shortly after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict, creating complex timing for an Arab-American comedian touching on identity and Middle Eastern political discourse

Details

Released
Taped
2022, Lincoln Lodge, Chicago
Runtime
49 min
Where
Prime Video
Director
James Webb
Honors
The New York Times' '3 Great Specials to Stream Over the Holidays' (2023)
Topics

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