Muslim comedians in the West are having a moment. Satire targeting Islamophobia is thriving, with Hollywood comedians including Aziz Ansari, Hasan Minhaj, Ahmed Ahmed, Aasif Mandvi and Maz Jobrani enjoying success in diffusing tensions and humorously tackling misconceptions.
Jobrani's best-selling memoir, I'm Not a Terrorist, but I've Played One on TV, has chuckle-worthy anecdotes about the stereotypical terrorist roles he was given when launching his acting career, much to the despair of his mother. Her plaintive questions "Vhy you always terrorist? "Vhy you couldn't be doctor?" are duly quoted in the book. A few years ago he even made a satirical YouTube video titled Middle Eastern Acting School, which teaches actors all they need to know about portraying Middle Eastern characters, especially terrorists (apparently there's a proper way to take a hostage and carry an AK-47).
The Iranian-American comic’s Eid show in Dubai on Friday, at The Ritz-Carlton, will feature material based on his recollections of growing up as an immigrant, challenging stereotypes, and the experience of having two children.
“I think stereotypes and negative views are something we can joke about,” says Jobrani. “But I don’t think that any of the comedians that are Muslims or Arabs got into comedy saying: ‘Oh, this is an opportunity for me to break stereotypes.’ I think we all got in to comedy going: ‘I want to be funny’ – and then once you get in, you see that you can make fun of all these stereotypes.”
At the same time, he says, the current generation of Arab comedians – many of whom are the children of parents who moved to America as immigrants – are now finding their voice.
“I always say that when a group of people first come to America as immigrants, the first wave, their parents want them to be lawyers and doctors and they usually go off and do that,” he says. “But the next generation start to see other options.
“I know that Iranians have been in America for almost 40 years, so it feels like this generation is realising they can be filmmakers or artists.
“I think we are the generation that is realising we can actually make a living being comedians.”
Providing laughs
Jobrani was born in Iran, but his family moved to the United States when he was 6 – about the time of the 1979 Iranian Revolution. His wealthy parents hoped he would become a lawyer (“or at least a mechanic”), and did not approve of his decision to be a comedian – but they eventually came around.
“Unfortunately, my father passed away in 2009, and saw a few of my shows,” says Jobrani. “But my mother comes to my shows all the time now. She’s gone from being very worried about me doing this and thinking I’m almost crazy, to going 180 degrees in the other direction. She is one of my biggest fans. Just the other day, she was talking to the cashier at the bank about me. Now, I’ve got to ask her to downplay it.”
Jobrani’s passion for acting and comedy began when he was 12, but blossomed only after a push from Joe Rein, a producer and mentor at the advertising agency he worked at during his twenties (Jobrani dedicated his memoir to Rein).
Then September 11 happened and Jobrani found himself wanting to give it all up – but decided to stick around.
“I realised that the Bush administration was going to use September 11 as an excuse to go into Iraq, and politicise the whole thing,” he says. “I had to talk about this stuff, so it was a combination of that and the feeling that at this hour, laughter was needed.”
Watershed moment
In 2005, the Axis of Evil tour – featuring Jobrani and fellow Middle Eastern comics Ahmed Ahmed, Aron Kader and Dean Obeidallah – put them on the international comedy map, and Jobrani became a regular at Hollywood’s Comedy Store.
Offstage, however, his hustle to make it in TV and films was initially rocky. He says there was just one default role for him to play at the time – a terrorist.
"I think I played three such roles before I said 'No more'," he says. "One of them was small, for a jokey TV show called Marshall Law. The other one was in the series 24, and then a Chuck Norris movie, which is the first story I start off with in the book.
“In all honesty, all it took was that movie for me to go, ‘Ah, I don’t like doing this’. That was a long time ago and I haven’t done one since.”
Jobrani is currently working on the worldwide release of his award-winning film Jimmy Vestvood (which he co-write and produced), and has also released his new comedy special on Showtime. "It is named after my book and I'm working on promoting it," he says.
The Dubai show
“It’s amazing how much material your children will give you,” he says. “There is a lot of stuff about being a dad and stuff in the news, whether it be the Iran nuclear deal or Caitlyn Jenner.
“Fortunately, I don’t have to change my show for the performance in the Middle East. I don’t talk about sex or religion. With politics, it’s always world affairs, so it’s OK to make fun of leaders of other countries.”
• Maz Jobrani will perform at the Ritz-Carlton, Dubai International Financial Centre, on Friday. Also on the bill are local comedians Rami Salamé and Salman Qureshi. Tickets start at Dh295 from www.platinumlist.net
aahmed@thenational.ae
