- Maz Jobrani
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Maz Jobrani 
Maz Jobrani, May 2007Born February 26, 1972
Tehran, IranMedium Stand-up Nationality Iranian American Genres Observational comedy, Satire Subject(s) Racism/Race relations, Islamophobia, Muslim-Americans, Iranian Americans Website mazjobrani.com Maziar “Maz” Jobrani (Persian: مازیار جبرانی; born February 26, 1972) is an Iranian-born American comedian who is part of the "Axis of Evil" comedy group. The group appeared on a comedy special on Comedy Central.[1] Jobrani has also appeared in numerous films, television shows, including Better Off Ted, on radio and in comedy clubs. His filmography includes roles in The Interpreter, Friday After Next, and Dragonfly.
Contents
Life and career
Born in Tehran, Iran,[2] Jobrani and his parents moved to California when he was six years old.[3] He was raised in Tiburon in the San Francisco Bay area. He attended Redwood High School in Larkspur. Jobrani studied political science and Italian at UC Berkeley, where he received a B.A. degree. He was enrolled in a Ph.D. program at UCLA when he decided to pursue his childhood dream of acting and performing comedy.[4]
He has since made appearances on shows like The Colbert Report, The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Talkshow with Spike Feresten and regularly performs at top comedy clubs (in California and New York) such as The Comedy Store. He made an appearance as a dental patient on an episode of Still Standing, in the pilot episodes of Better Off Ted, The Knights of Prosperity and on an episode of Cedric the Entertainer Presents. He also made an appearance in 13 Going on 30. Jobrani will play Mohammed Jazeyeri in the upcoming ABC sitcom Funny in Farsi, based on the book of the same name.[5] He has toured with the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour. He provided the voice of Ahmed Farahnakian in the audiobook version of World War Z. Jobrani has written a movie with a friend called Jimmy Vestvood: American Hero[6]
Jobrani's jokes focuses on race, while outwardly poking fun at his own ethnic group, Iranians.
He is married to an Indian-American woman, an attorney.[3] They reside in California.
Jobrani has been a cultural ambassador with the Levantine Cultural Center in Los Angeles since 2005. He served as the presenter for a joint public program with the Levantine Cultural Center and PEN USA in September 2005, "Strange Times My Dear" which celebrated Iran and freedom of expression. In November 2009, Jobrani moderated a public forum for the Levantine Cultural Center, "Dismantling the Axis of Evil," which included on the panel comedian/actor Ahmed Ahmed, author and Islamic scholar Reza Aslan, actor and activist Shiva Rose, and author/attorney John Tehranian. On December 1, 2010, Jobrani performed at the Levantine Cultural Center's 9th Anniversary event, the East-West Awards, where Jodie Evans of CODEPINK: Women for Peace, Roxana Saberi and Bana Hilal all received awards.
He makes occasional appearances on NPR's news quiz show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
See also
References
- ^ "The Axis of Evil Comedy Tour". Comedy Central. http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/player.jhtml?ml_video=&ml_collection=77843&ml_gateway=&ml_gateway_id=&ml_comedian=&ml_runtime=&ml_context=show&ml_origin_url=%252Fmotherload%252Findex.jhtml%253Fml_collection%253D77843&ml_playlist=&lnk=&is_large=true. Retrieved 2009-01-22.
- ^ Rezaian, Jason (2007-09-08). "Talking with Maz Jobrani". The San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/persianality/detail?blogid=36&entry_id=20080. Retrieved 2009-01-22.
- ^ a b Maz Jobrani Comedy Central Special
- ^ Subramaniam, Gourishankar (2007). "ABC's The Knights of Prosperity bio". ABC. http://www.mazjobrani.com. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
- ^ "Iranian comic to star in ABC family sitcom". Reuters. 2010-01-11. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60A0KA20100111?type=peopleNews.
- ^ Downs, Gordon (2011). "Interview With Comedian Maz Jobrani". SanDiego.com. http://www.sandiego.com/comedy/interview-with-comedian-maz-jobrani. Retrieved 2011-02-14.
Further reading
- Bakshi, Amar (2007). "Maz Jobrani and Jack Bauer in How the World Sees America". Washington Post/Newsweek. http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/america/2007/08/jack_bauer.html. Retrieved 8 January 2011.
- Interview and photos
- Maz Jobrani speaks out about Democracy for Iranians
- Interview with SanDiego.com, 2/14/2011
External links
Categories:- 1972 births
- American comedians
- American stand-up comedians
- American people of Iranian descent
- Iranian comedians
- Iranian stand-up comedians
- Living people
- People from Tehran
- People from Marin County, California
- University of California, Berkeley alumni
- University of California, Los Angeles alumni
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