Preacher Moss

Moss was born in Washington, D.C. to African American parents, Clifford Moss and Mary Moss. He began practicing comedy at the age of seven, when he earned the nickname "Preacher" for his imitations of the pastor at his family's church. He was raised Christian in a Maryland suburb and was sent to a local military academy for his schooling. Moss started out doing sketch comedy when he was 17 and by his early 20s he began to make his way to comedy clubs.[1]

In 1988, at the age of 20, he converted to Islam. He graduated from Marquette University with a degree in journalism and a took a job teaching emotionally disturbed children in Milwaukee, while continuing to do standup comedy.[2]

In 1994, Moss was the opening act for a comic Darrell Hammond, Hammond hired him as a writer. In order to develop his comedy skills, Moss moved to Los Angeles. There, he continued to teach special education classes and worked as a writer for comedians, including Damon Wayans and George Lopez.[2]

Moss moved on to perform at mainstream comedy venues.[1] Moss wrote his own show, titled End of Racism. Beginning in 2000, he toured hundreds of national college campuses and high schools performing, teaching, and discussing poverty, racism, multiculturalism, civil rights, and critical race theory. He performed "End of Racism" for four years when he got an idea for another kind of progressive comedy experience which addressed another kind of prejudice, that was spreading rapidly throughout non-Islamic communities in post-9/11 America.[3]

In May 2004, Moss and other Muslim comedians Azhar Usman and Azeem Muhammad (later replaced by Mohammed Amer in 2006) launched a comedy tour titled Allah Made Me Funny, Allah Made Me Funny toured 30 U.S. cities during its first year, and also in Canada, Europe, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, and the Middle East.[4][5]

Moss has performed at the Global Peace and Unity Event in the ExCeL Exhibition Centre in London organised by Islam Channel.[6] He has also performed at the Oklahoma Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations banquet in Oklahoma City in 2010.[7] Preacher can be seen in the documentary, The Muslims Are Coming!, which features a group of Muslim American comedians touring the U.S. in an effort to counter Islamophobia.

In March 2013, Moss started the process of securing funds to develop a pilot for a sitcom Here Come the Muhammads.[1][8] In October 2013, production for the sitcom started.[9]

Moss talks about his conversion from Christianity to Islam.[10] He uses his experiences of being black and Muslim in America as a vantage point for asides on race and religion.[11]

In 2003, Moss married Yasmin, an Indian Muslim living in Toronto, Canada. When not on tour, he lives in Long Beach, California, and frequently visits his mother's home in Washington, D.C.[2]

• Official website
• Preacher Moss at IMDb

• Performance at Muslim Public Affairs Banquet at the University of Houston
• Comedy of the ‘Allah Tour’ Has Muslims Laughing," Beliefnet
• "Poor Righteous Preacher," Muslim Round Table Television
• "Clean Jokes and an Attempt to Foster Understanding". The State.com: South Carolina's Homepage
• Murphy, Caryle. Poking Fun, In Good Faith: Muslim Comics Laugh In the Face of Intolerance. The Washington Post. April 25, 2004
• The Fundamentals of Laughter. Muslim Entertainment. December 12, 2004
• Duffy, Conner. Comedians show funny side of Islam. ABC Online. November 21, 2006
• Ali, Dilshad D. Preacher Moss Performs ‘Allah Made Me Funny’. Onislam. February 10, 2010
• The Independent on Sunday on Sunday, April 1, 2007.
• India-West (San Leandro, CA), January 27, 2006, p. C1.
• Los Angeles Times, December 12, 2004, p. I10.
• Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), May 6, 2005, p. C3.
• Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Seattle, WA), October 1, 2005, p. C1.
• Seattle Times (Seattle, WA) April 14, 2004, p. H29.
• The Toronto Star, May 16, 2004, p. 15.
• Weekend All Things Considered (Washington, D.C.) August 14, 2005, p. 1.