Springtime for Osama

Huh -

A musical featuring OSAMA BIN LADEN has premiered at a Scottish comedy festival. Jihad: The Musical has amused audiences at this month's (August 2007) Edinburgh Fringe Festival with its comedic portrayal of the Al Qaeda terrorist. Inspired by Mel Brooks' musical-within-a-musical Springtime For Hitler (from The Producers), the play features the lyrics, "I wanna be like Osama/Wear designer clothes beneath a robe/I want to kill people round the globe," among others. The Edinburgh Fringe Festival runs until 27 August, 2007.

Tom Gross over at NRO's Media Blog says "Yuk!" but I have to wonder: if this is a lampoon of OBL his own dead self, then I'd say it's a good thing to taunt and tease and mock. On the other hand, if the point of the show is to taunt and tease and mock those who are fighting against OBL and the boys or have been victimized by them, well, then "Yuk!" indeed. Can't really tell from the blurb.

UPDATE: The Politico seems to suggest that the Islamofacists are the target of the satire. There also seems to be some kind of manufactured "controversy" brewing, focusing on an e-petition to the UK guv'mint got up by one Tom Jervis. However, based on this review, it seems the petition itself is coming in for some ribbing. Good. The more I think about it, the more I agree with this sentiment from the review:

Personally, I wish this show all the best. Ridicule is the best weapon against mindless religious dogma - especially a dogma that advocates murdering innocent civilians.

Yep.

UPDATE DEUX: Here's a clip:

Yep, it's just plain silly, but "Heh" worthy.

UPDATE QUATR: Just for the heck of it, here's a little lampoon circa 1943:

Perhaps WWII wartime propoganda is somewhat different but it's still poking fun at Nazis, the same Nazis who were killing our boys in North Africa and knocking down our bombers over Europe! Would anybody consider that either tasteless or insensitive now?