Persian diplomat

Iranian comic Maz Jobrani tries to help
Americans think beyond the idiot box

SCHOOLING THE WEST ON THE EAST: Jobrani

by NARCEL X

Nursing a broken ankle and eagerly awaiting the birth of his son, Maz Jobrani, the Persian element of the Axis of Evil comedy quartet, is no stranger to multi-tasking. From starring alongside Sean Penn in The Interpreter to being a staple voice at the world famous Laugh Factory, Maz is at his best under pressure.

From making fun of his heritage by saying Iranians refuse to be called anything but Persian (like the cat, he says) to teaching the crowd how to pronounce the current president’s name (Ahmed I’mma-need-a-job), Jobrani serves as a light-hearted diplomat in the ever-growing gap between the East and West. Hitting the stage for this year’s Just for Laughs, he spoke to me from his Los Angeles home about future plans, political misconceptions and his knack for Iranian spiced humor.

Mirror: With all the rhetoric and finger pointing at Iran in the last couple of months, what do you feel your role as a comedian is?

Maz Jobrani: It’s to educate and shed light on the origin of my people. A lot of Americans don’t think beyond the idiot box. Iran has been demonized and definitely simplified—there are 75 million people there. I think it’s important to humanize my people, and make the advocates of war realize the cost of war. Before war, there is diplomacy. That’s what I do, a form of diplomacy. I try to make people laugh and leave with a different perspective on Iran.

M: I see you are in a film called Looking for Lenny?

MJ: It’s a documentary about who the Lenny Bruce of our time is. They interviewed a bunch of comedians and asked them to find where that voice is.

M: Speaking of the originators, how’d you feel about George Carlin passing?

MJ: That was really sad. I’d seen him in some interviews recently and he looked a little tired and sick. He’s such a workhorse, it’s strange to see a workhorse fall. So it was heartbreaking and a reality check for most us comedians.

M: What are you working on besides the stand-up?

MJ: I’m working on a movie called Overnight—it’s a comedy about people taking a flight from L.A. to New York. I play a guy that looks Middle Eastern, but I’m really a regular joe from Indiana being profiled. At one point, I just lose it and reveal the truth behind who I am. Another film I’m working on is Jimmy Vestvood, it’s a pet project—a Persian Pink Panther! We are getting ready to film that and become the first Middle Eastern heroes in American cinema. I also wrote a concept based on my life out here called The Evil-Doers. It’s a play on the last name of a family called the Avandoers. All that, a solo tour and a baby boy! I got a whole new vision for the coming years.

Maz Jobrani performs as part of Jfl’s
Ethnic Heroes of Comedy, at Metropolis
(59 Ste-Catherine E.), on Thursday,
July 17. for tickets, call (514) 845-2322
or go to www.hahaha.com.