Fri. April 13

You gotta have a gimmick, a catch-phrase, a hook. What's makes Comic A stand out from Comic B? Keep in mind we live in a world swimming in standup. Not much of it matches the heyday of the '80s, when the risk factor was higher, but the human condition is such that someone always finds the idiocy and irony in people's behavior. And with so much tragedy going on the axiom - tragedy plus time equals comedy - has never been so appropos. Also, it moves at lightning fast speed. Hence, the Anna Nicole Smith jokes that seemed to fly within minutes of her death. At any rate, three American comics with Middle Eastern roots have banded together for a tour called "Axis of Evil Comedy Tour." They are Egyptian-American Ahmed Ahmed, Palestinian-American Aron Kader and Iranian-American Maz Jobrani. (We wonder if they looked for North Korean comics? Probably not much to find - or extract - there.) But we're sure these guys, who had a Comedy Central special, will have plenty to say about perceptions after 9/11. It's still not easy territory. There's a lot of ambivalence about free speech and privacy and, yet, palpable concerns about What Happens Next and How. The state of America is uneasy. Probably will be so for some time. Let's hope these three can take us away from that for 90 minutes or so at Berklee Performance Center Friday April 13 at 8 p.m. Tickets: $33

136 Massachusetts Ave., 617-931-2000 axisofevilcomedy.com