COMEDY'S NEW MECCA ALBERT BROOKS BRIDGES THE HUMOR GAP WITH 'MUSLIM WORLD'.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Writer

It could have been called ``Clueless in Delhi,'' but Albert Brooks insisted on calling it ``Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World.''

Which is why audiences almost didn't get to see the latest film from the ``pioneer in the cinema du squirm,'' as New York magazine has dubbed him.

``Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World'' - from the writer-director-star of such admired cult comedies as ``Mother,'' ``Lost in America'' and ``Modern Romance'' - ran afoul of studio politics that were almost as unnerving as the international kind the film pokes fun at.

Originally made for Sony's TriStar Pictures division and scheduled for release last autumn, ``Looking for Comedy'' is opening today via Warner Independent Pictures. We'll get into why later. But first, why would Brooks, whose personal films have invariably concerned one man's limited, neurotic universe in the past, want to take on a subject as vast and open-ended as the disconnect between Western and Muslim world views?

``After 9/11, I couldn't think of any subjects that were appealing to me before, like 'Mother,' '' the 58-year-old comic explained at a Studio City deli. ``It just seemed like, 'Wait a minute. It's not King Kong, this is the 10,000-pound gorilla sitting in the room.' And one thing I've never seen at all is comedy having to do with this subject, of any kind. The new theme is humanizing terrorists. That's something that's emerging, and that will be explored. But the idea of bringing a subject into the room where all other comedy lives is the healthiest thing you can do.''

It's not a documentary

Although Brooks has enjoyed a fairly distinguished career acting in other filmmakers' movies (Martin Scorsese's ``Taxi Driver,'' James L. Brooks' ``Broadcast News,'' voicing the dad fish in Pixar's megahit ``Finding Nemo''), he plays variations of himself in his own projects. In ``Looking for Comedy,'' his character is named Albert Brooks (the only time that's happened since his first feature, the seminal mockumentary ``Real Life''), and he's derided on-screen for appearing in a blah remake of ``The In-Laws,'' which Brooks actually did.

In the movie, the U.S. government hires Brooks for his comic expertise, then sends him to India to learn what makes Muslims laugh. Clueless and with barely any backup support, Brooks blunders about, trying to get a handle on Islamic humor. He fails spectacularly in these efforts, and almost starts a war between India and Pakistan in the process.

Just speculating here, but maybe a big reason why the mission fails is that Brooks is searching in a predominantly Hindu country, although India does boast a massive Muslim population of around 150 million.

``The truth is, if I was invited to roam the streets of Iran, I would've considered it, but there was never a chance,'' explained Brooks, who adds that, since he is Jewish, he would not be allowed to enter certain Muslim countries, such as Saudi Arabia, let alone film a satire in them.

Perhaps just as well. Filming in Delhi was culture shock enough for a filmmaker who grew up in L.A. (he's the son of comedian Harry Einstein) and has shot all of his previous movies close to home.

``It was more difficult for every reason,'' Brooks admitted. ``Logistically ... I'm a person that likes to stay here and make movies pretty much in California locations. To think of this idea and then say to myself, 'Wait a minute, what're you doing?'- I don't like to travel that much, and this is the most traveling you can do. But I let the comedy be the guide, let the idea simply take over my fears and my laziness about leaving Los Angeles.''

Although India has the largest film industry on Earth, the movie is mostly centered in Mumbai, far south of the capital. While Brooks praises the efforts of his local crew, which was a combined force of Hindus and Muslims, he notes that shooting in the crowded, chaotic environs of Delhi was the biggest challenge of his directing career.

The right joke

Still, unlike his screen character, he did learn a thing or two about what made people over there laugh.

``One thing I found was that the Hindus have a lot of jokes about the Sikhs,'' Brooks observed. ``And there are a lot of Hindus that don't like the Muslims in India, which is why there's a Pakistan. There were some derogatory jokes coming from them about that. That just shows you that, everywhere on the planet, there is some group of people that another group of people are making fun of. That's probably a universal truth. And there's probably no culture on the planet where, if a hated uncle slipped on a banana peel and hit his head, everybody wouldn't laugh.''

Brooks did finally get a read on whether he understood the Muslim sense of humor last month, when ``Looking for Comedy'' world-premiered at a film festival in the oil-rich Persian Gulf emirate Dubai. The screening was attended by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, crown prince of Dubai.

``They got everything,'' Brooks said of the Arab audience. ``And I came away feeling that the world was made up of two kinds of people: the people who want to do the destruction, and all the other people who don't want that. And even if they live in Saudi Arabia, it doesn't matter where they live, they still don't want that. So the tension is tension for them, too.''

That view has already prompted the New Republic to attack the film, fearing liberals will be as ``tickled by the naive premise that a little laughter will heal our problems in the Middle East.''

Brooks, however, bears no diplomatic illusions.

``I'm never going to be able to solve this issue,'' he noted. ``If you could, you wouldn't be able to do it in a movie anyway; maybe a 28-part PBS documentary! But you wouldn't send a comedian to do that kind of work, because a comedian comes with these preconceived ideas.

``But it's a good idea for the United States. All that this movie's saying is, 'Let's find out other things, also. You can spy, you can bomb. Find out what a guy likes to eat, it can't hurt.' ''

Now, from geopolitics to studio politics: Initially, Sony executives responded positively when Brooks showed them a rough cut of ``Looking for Comedy'' last March.

``Then, a week after that Newsweek article where the Quran was flushed down the toilet and which Newsweek later retracted, I get a call from Steve Bing, who financed this movie,'' he recalled. `` 'So, they don't want to release the movie with this title.'

``I can't say that this came to me as a surprise, because they never looked at me like, 'Oh boy, this'll be fun, our phones might ring because of you. Thank you.' So they said, 'Look, everything else is the same. We'll release the movie, we'll go to the Toronto Film Festival. We just want to call it ``Looking for Comedy.'' '

``And I said, 'No. What's it gonna be about? You gonna let me advertise it? It's still gonna be the subject.' Then I actually saw a trailer that they made that had avoided everything. They made it look like a kooky comedian is gonna do a performance around the world. It just wasn't for them.''

Timing is everything

Warner Independent bought the picture's distribution rights, but there was no room on the specialty distributor's release slate for another 2005 opening. Brooks lobbied for the earliest free spot he could get in the new year, in order to beat any other satiric take on the subject. (As he puts it, ``I didn't want to see an Al-Jazeera sketch on 'Saturday Night Live' '' before the one in the movie got out there.)

Shrewd thinking. ``American Dreamz,'' a satire about an Arab terrorist who makes it to the finals of an ``American Idol''-type entertainment competition, is scheduled for an April release. It's directed by Paul Weitz, who's best-known for the youth comedy hit ``American Pie.''

Which is exactly the kind of comedy that Albert Brooks doesn't make. Never a blockbuster kind of guy, Brooks admits that ``Looking for Comedy'' was harder than usual to get financed and, obviously, distributed. But he wouldn't expect to have it much easier with less-controversial subject matter.

``Every day I get older, it gets harder, as it does for all of us,'' Brooks mused. ``It's just true. I have the same issues everybody does. But especially the movies, and especially movie comedies, seem to be driven for the most part by youngsters. But I still like the movies, they're intriguing to me, and I will try to keep going for as long as I can go. I have not thought it's impossible, because I got this made and I believe I can get other movies made. But I'd be a liar to say it's not hard. It's much harder.''

As for that next project ... ``It's about aging, actually,'' Brooks said with an ironic grin. ``That's gonna be an interesting fundraising experience. 'Can the grandfather be, like, Orlando Bloom?' 'No, he's too young.' ''

Well, there's always the possibility of looking for money in the Muslim world.

``Listen, Woody seems to have found English financing,'' Brooks said. ``I haven't explored other continents. I'm goin' to Dubai! I'm loved there!''

Bob Strauss, [phone]

bob.strauss(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) DELHI LAUGHS

Albert Brooks found humor - and some cultural surprises - while `Looking for Comedy in Muslim World'

(2) no caption (``Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World'')

(3) Albert Brooks - with Sheetal Sheth, left, and Duncan Bravo - ran afoul of studio politics in the pursuit of making ``Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World,'' which revolves around the U.S. government hiring Brooks for his comic expertise, then sending him to India to learn what makes Muslims laugh.