Comedians You Should Know: Maz Jobrani

October 1, 2010 Features 0

I’ll bet there are a lot of people reading this who know this week’s comedian, but I wanted to make sure all of The Discriminating Fangirl’s readers got the chance to meet him. He’s an American, but born in Iran and moved to America when he was six years old. Since then, he’s worked to become American by eating apple pie and playing baseball (sometimes even at the same time!) He’s not the first Persian to be featured here (that would be Omid Djalili), but he is the first Iranian-American. And he’s not a terrorist, he’s “Brown and Friendly”! It’s Maz Jobrani!

Maz Jobrani from an exclusive photoshoot for Life.com. Credit: Michael Schwartz/WireImage

As with many other comics of Middle Eastern descent, Jobrani has spent the last nine years or so trying to remind Americans that “Middle Eastern” ≠ “Arab” ≠ “terrorist”. What’s more, “Iranian” ≠ “Arab”, “Iranian” = “Persian”. This first clip is one of my favorites. In it, Jobrani makes clear that Persians ≠ Arabs. Okay, I just wanted the chance to use the ≠ symbol a lot. It’s a fun symbol. (Standard adult language and theme warnings apply for all videos.)

That was from the “Axis of Evil Comedy Tour” where he and three other comics of Middle Eastern descent got together and toured to try to dispel some of the anti-Muslim sentiment after 9/11. In this next clip, he talks about how Iran wound up in the political Axis of Evil and racial stereotypes:

Jobrani has a suggestion for a new Iranian PR campaign. He also distinguishes between the different types of Indians, explains why Buddhists could never be terrorists and why gays should be allowed to serve in the US military:

Maz Jobrani is usually pretty animated in his stand up routine but in this next clip, he’s really animated! It’s about his grandfather’s secret technique for picking watermelons. I can attest that the “flicking” method works! My dad taught it to me, though he called it “thumping”, and I can pick you the best watermelon you’ve ever tasted! Come with me, Maz! I’ll show you how!

The next two clips show Jobrani making with the funny for a good cause. The first is a commercial by the US Census Bureau to try to get Iranian-Americans to fill in their census forms, since no one really knows how many Iranians are living in the US – for many of the reasons comically illustrated:

This next one is his PSA for an initiative Queen Rania of Jordan has put forward to combat Middle Eastern Stereotypes:

Since Maz Jobrani is American, he’s got a lot of good stuff out there on Region 1 DVD. In addition to “The Axis of Evil Comedy Tour” and his one man show “Brown and Friendly” (both of which are also available on Netflix and streaming through Instant Netflix), he also has been in movies like “The Interpreter” and “Friday After Next”. He’s also done guest stints on shows like “Better Off Ted” (an under-appreciated quirky show), “24” and “Malcolm in the Middle”.

Some additional links:

Barnes & Noble