Maz Jobrani is an Iranian-American comedian who is using wit and humor to change the tainted view in America of people of Middle Eastern descent. Jobrani's comedy pulls from his background as an Iran-born kid raised in Northern California. He pokes fun at cultural stereotypes of all kinds -- starting with the stereotype that Middle Eastern actors can only play a few kinds of roles in Hollywood. He was a founder of the "Axis of Evil" Comedy Tour, which featured some of the top Middle Eastern-American comics in the world and was a groundbreaking tour of the US and Middle Eastern countries, where it sold out 27 shows in Dubai, Beirut, Cairo, Kuwait and Amman. Since then he has toured solo with his "Brown and Friendly" comedy show, followed by "Brown and Friendlier" comedy show, which he is currently on.
Jobrani starts his show laughing at his fellow Persians, then widens his scope to the whole Middle East. His Indian wife – "not casino Indian, computer Indian" – gets no mercy. Before the end of the show, Mexicans, white Americans, Japanese, the Swiss and more get lampooned, in a variety of perfect accents.
"If you come from a place of love, and you're not saying, 'I'm better than you,' that's one thing that allows you to talk about different ethnicities," Jobrani said in an interview. "It's almost like laughing with each other."I've had people come up to me after the show and say, 'Why did you not make fun of Pakistan?' People are actually upset you didn't talk about them. When you do, it's like, 'Cool, I'm in the circle.'"
"I try, with my stand-up, to break stereotypes, present Middle Easterners in a positive light -- Muslims in a positive light -- and I hope that in the coming years, more film and television programs come out of Hollywood presenting us in a positive light. Who knows, maybe one day we'll even have our own James Bond, right. "My name is Bond, Jamal Bond."
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