{{Short description|Israeli comedian}}
{{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Noam Shuster-Eliassi | honorific_suffix = | image = File:Noam Shuster-Eliassi at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival 05.jpg | image_upright = | landscape = <!-- yes, if wide image, otherwise leave blank --> | alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --> | caption = Shuster-Eliassi in 2025 | native_name = נועם שוסטר אליאסי | native_name_lang = he | pronunciation = | birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name --> | birth_date = {{Birth based on age as of date|31|2018}}<ref name="brandeis" /> | birth_place = | baptised = <!-- will not display if birth_date is entered --> | disappeared_date = <!-- {{Disappeared date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (disappeared date then birth date) --> | disappeared_place = | disappeared_status = | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (enter DEATH date then BIRTH date (e.g., ...|1967|8|31|1908|2|28}} use both this parameter and |birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> | death_place = | death_cause = <!--should only be included when the cause of death has significance for the subject's notability--> | body_discovered = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline}} --> | burial_place = <!-- may be used instead of resting_place and resting_place_coordinates (displays "Burial place" as label) --> | burial_coordinates = <!-- {{coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline}} --> | monuments = | other_names = | siglum = | citizenship = | education = {{plainlist | * Brandeis University (2011) * Harvard University (fellowship at the Harvard Divinity School) }} | alma_mater = | occupation = | years_active = | era = | employer = | organization = | agent = <!-- Discouraged in most cases, specifically when promotional, and requiring a reliable source --> | known_for = | notable_works = <!-- produces label "Notable work"; may be overridden by |credits=, which produces label "Notable credit(s)"; or by |works=, which produces label "Works"; or by |label_name=, which produces label "Label(s)" --> | style = | net_worth = <!-- Net worth should be supported with a citation from a reliable source --> | height = <!-- "X cm", "X m" or "X ft Y in" plus optional reference (conversions are automatic) --> | television = | title = <!-- Formal/awarded/job title. The parameter |office=may be used as an alternative when the label is better rendered as "Office" (e.g. public office or appointments) --> | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | movement = | opponents = | boards = | criminal_charges = <!-- Criminality parameters should be supported with citations from reliable sources --> | criminal_penalty = | criminal_status = | spouse = <!-- Use article title or common name --> | partner = <!-- (unmarried long-term partner) --> | children = | parents = <!-- overrides mother and father parameters --> | mother = <!-- may be used (optionally with father parameter) in place of parents parameter (displays "Parent(s)" as label) --> | father = <!-- may be used (optionally with mother parameter) in place of parents parameter (displays "Parent(s)" as label) --> | relatives = | family = | callsign = | awards = | website = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} --> | module = | module2 = | signature = | signature_size = | signature_alt = | footnotes = }}
'''Noam Shuster-Eliassi''' ({{Langx|he|נועם שוסטר אליאסי}}; born {{Birth based on age as of date|31|2018|noage=y}}), is an Israeli comedian and activist. She performs in Hebrew, Arabic, and English.
== Biography == Shuster-Eliassi was born to an Iranian-born Jewish mother and a Jerusalem-born father whose parents were Holocaust survivors from Romania.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title='It's impossible to reduce me': The most up-and-coming Jewish comedian dares you to put her in a box |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/MAGAZINE-meet-the-jewish-activist-comedian-who-refuses-to-be-reduced-to-a-single-identity-1.6826888 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190110175134/https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/MAGAZINE-meet-the-jewish-activist-comedian-who-refuses-to-be-reduced-to-a-single-identity-1.6826888 |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 10, 2019 |first=Tsafi |last=Saar |date=2019-01-10 |access-date=2021-06-16|website=Haaretz |language=en }}</ref> From the age of seven years, she was raised in Neve Shalom/Wāħat as-Salām ("Oasis of Peace"), a community north of Jerusalem where Jews and Palestinians live together by choice.<ref name=":1" /> Therein, she learned Arabic quickly and was often mistaken for an Arab.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://variety.com/2025/film/reviews/coexistence-my-ass-review-sundance-noam-shuster-eliassi-1236285757/ |title ='Coexistence, My Ass!' Review: Urgent and Brilliant Documentary Finds Radical Ideas Following Israeli Stand-Up Comic's Peacekeeping Efforts |last=Laffly |first=Tomris |publisher=Variety |date=2025-01-26 |access-date=2025-04-30 }}</ref>
Shuster-Eliassi performed national service instead of serving in the IDF, then attended New York Film Academy for a year.<ref name=":1" /> She played a part in Talya Lavie's 2006 short film "The Substitute" before attending Brandeis University on a scholarship, graduating in 2011.<ref name="brandeis">{{Cite web|title=Funny Girl|url=https://www.brandeis.edu/magazine/2019/spring-summer/featured-stories/funny-girl.html |first=Naomi |last=Zeveloff |date=Spring–Summer 2019 |access-date=2021-06-16 |website=Brandeis Magazine }}</ref> Through an internship with Women's Equity in Access to Care & Treatment (WE ACT), she went to Rwanda to help women obtain medical treatment.<ref name=":1" />
When she was in her early twenties, Shuster-Eliassi became a co-director of Interpeace, an organization founded by the United Nations.<ref name=":1" /> She worked on a project in Israel that aimed to involve groups that had been excluded, or had excluded themselves, from conversations about a peaceful future with Palestinians. Her outreach included ultra-Orthodox Jews, Russian-speaking Israelis, Palestinian Israelis, and even those strongly opposed to a Palestinian state, such as religious Zionists and settlers. After directing Interpeace for five years, the United Nations shut the program down in 2017 due to "political concerns".<ref name="brandeis"/><ref name=":1" /> Looking for another position, she applied to become a member of the Jewish engagement and social change leadership program ROI Community, and delivered a stand-up comedy routine at an ROI Summit talent show in Jerusalem, where she realized that she needed to perform comedy as part of her activism.<ref name="brandeis"/>
In 2019, she attended Harvard Divinity School as a fellow under the Religion, Conflict, and Peace Initiative, where she was to develop her one-woman show to be performed at various venues in major US cities.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=How comedian Noam Shuster-Eliassi became the woman who proposed to MBS |url=https://theworld.org/stories/2019/09/05/noam-shuster-eliassi |first=Naomi |last=Zeveloff |website=www.pri.org |publisher=Public Radio International |date=2019-09-05 |language=en |id={{Proquest|2284889141}} }}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web|title=WATCH: Al Jazeera produces a film on Israeli stand-up comedian|url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/watch-al-jazeera-produces-a-film-on-israeli-stand-up-comedian-1.9929595|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210623081913/https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/watch-al-jazeera-produces-a-film-on-israeli-stand-up-comedian-1.9929595|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 23, 2021|access-date=2021-06-23|website=Haaretz.com|language=en |last1=Izikovich |first1=Gili }}</ref> However, with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, she returned to Israel, where she contracted the virus and stayed at a "coronavirus hostel" in Jerusalem until testing negative.<ref name=":3" />
She was the subject of the mini documentary ''Reckoning with Laughter'', directed by Amber Fares and produced by Al Jazeera.<ref name=":3" /> The film was released in 2021.<ref>{{cite magazine | url =https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-documentary/peacebuilding-through-jokes-in-reckoning-with-laughter | title =Peacebuilding Through Jokes in "Reckoning with Laughter" | last =Ostfield | first =Gili | date =2021-12-22 | magazine = The New Yorker | access-date =2025-04-30}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url =https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/jul/06/from-peacekeeper-to-joke-maker-israeli-comedian-noam-shuster | title =From peacekeeper to joke-maker: Israeli comedian Noam Shuster | last =Shabi | first =Rachel | date =2021-07-06 | work = The Guardian | access-date =2025-04-30}}</ref> Their further collaboration resulted in the 2025 feature documentary ''Coexistence, My Ass!'', directed by Fares.<ref>{{cite web | url =https://businessdoceurope.com/sundance-world-cinema-comp-coexistence-my-ass-by-amber-fares/ | title =Sundance World Cinema Comp: Coexistence, My Ass! by Amber Fares | last =Macnab | first =Geoffrey | date =2025-01-24 | publisher = Business Doc Europe | access-date =2025-04-30}}</ref> In ''Coexistence, My Ass!'' Fares follows Shuster-Eliassi's path from a diplomat to stand-up comedian.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.screendaily.com/news/coexistence-my-ass-wins-golden-alexander-at-thessaloniki-documentary-festival/5203005.article | title='Coexistence, My Ass!' wins Golden Alexander at Thessaloniki documentary festival | last=Grivas | first=Alexis | date=2025-03-17 | publisher= Screen Daily | access-date=2025-04-30}}</ref> The movie won several awards, including the Golden Alexander Award for Best Documentary at TDF 2025,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/475113/ |title=Coexistence, My Ass! wins big at the 27th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival |last=Economou |first=Vassilis |publisher=Cineuropa |date=2025-03-17 |access-date=2025-04-30 }}</ref> and the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Freedom of Expression at Sundance 2025.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://festivalplayer.sundance.org/sundance-film-festival-2025/play/675dd52fa0877808ed0af103 |title=Coexistence, My Ass! |publisher=Sundance Film Festival |date=2025 |access-date=2025-04-30}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url =https://deadline.com/2025/03/2025-thessaloniki-international-documentary-festival-awards-1236327780/ |title ='Coexistence, My Ass!' Wins Top Award At Thessaloniki Int'l Documentary Festival; 'Free Leonard Peltier' Earns Three Awards – Winners List |last=Carey |first=Matthew |publisher=Deadline |date=2025-03-16 |access-date=2025-04-30 }}</ref>
=== "Dubai, Dubai" === Shuster-Eliassi had a viral moment in Arab media January 2022 in response to her performance of a satirical song called "Dubai, Dubai" in Arabic on the program "Shu Esmo" ({{Lang|he|שו־אסמו}}, {{Lang|ar|الشوسمو}}) on the Arabic Israeli station Makan 33.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news |title=בעולם הערבי לא מפסיקים לדבר על הישראלית ש"עושה צחוק מהאמירויות" |language=he |work=הארץ |url=https://www.haaretz.co.il/gallery/music/2022-01-16/ty-article/.highlight/0000017f-e134-d38f-a57f-e77616040000 |access-date=2022-10-14}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Guyer |first=Jonathan |date=2022-01-29 |title=Why an Israeli comedian went viral in the Arab world |url=https://www.vox.com/22903017/israeli-comedian-noam-shuster-eliassi-dubai-arabic |access-date=2022-10-14 |website=Vox |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Online Controversy: Israeli comedian's viral satirical video mocking UAE normalization divides viewers |url=https://www.arabnews.com/node/2007836/amp |access-date=2022-10-14 |website=Arab News |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=@AJArabic |date=January 14, 2022 |title=مغنية إسرائيلية تنشر مقطعا ساخرا عن التطبيع مع إسرائيل.. كيف كانت تعليقات المستخدمين؟ #نشرتكم |url=https://twitter.com/ajarabic/status/1482200874147618818 |access-date=2022-10-14 |website=Twitter |language=en}}</ref> Performing as "Haifa Wannabe" (playing on the name of the Arab pop star Haifa Wehbe),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-01-20 |title=Satire. Une artiste israélienne fustige les Arabes des Émirats, qui ont "oublié la Palestine" |url=https://www.courrierinternational.com/revue-de-presse/satire-une-artiste-israelienne-fustige-les-arabes-des-emirats-qui-ont-oublie-la |access-date=2022-10-14 |website=Courrier international |language=fr}}</ref> she delivered searing punchlines satirizing the Abraham Accords and the Emirates' normalization of relations with Israel and mocking the hypocrisy of Israel's relations with Arab countries.<ref name=":4" /> The song was written by the program's editor, Razi Najjar.<ref name=":5" />
== Awards == In 2018, Shuster-Eliassi was named "Best New Jewish Comedian of the Year" in a competition sponsored by JW3, also known as Jewish Community Centre in London.<ref name=":1" />
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shuster-Eliassi, Noam}} Category:Israeli stand-up comedians Category:Women stand-up comedians Category:Israeli women comedians Category:Jewish Israeli comedians Category:Jewish women comedians Category:Israeli activists Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Anti-racism activists Category:Jewish Israeli activists for Palestinian solidarity