Maz Jobrani: Building Cultural Bridges, One Laugh at a Time

AS IT IS 2016-07-07 Maz Jobrani: Building Cultural Bridges, One Laugh at a Time

Maz Jobrani likes to make people laugh.

The Iranian-American knew early in life that he wanted to become an actor or comedian¹. His path to stardom was a long journey.

His immigrant story is not unusual. He was born in Iran’s capital Tehran, but grew up in America.

Jobrani came to the U.S when he was six years old, just before the Iranian revolution in 1979. He and his parents moved to California where he attended school.

Jobrani says he grew up around a lot of people that made him laugh. His introduction to acting² was an audition³ for a school play.

“And when I was 12, I ended up trying out for the school play and I fell in love with being on stage...”

Jobrani says he had many friends who were funnier than he, adding to his interest in being a comedian.

“A lot of my friends were the funny people in school. I have friends from when I grew up that were funnier than I was!”

Jobrani tried a conventional career path, studying political science in college and even starting a Ph.D. program at UCLA.

But the comedy of Eddie Murphy was a more powerful influence.

“The reason I’m a comedian is because I’m a fan of comedy. I think what inspired that was Eddie Murphy because back then I used to love watching comedy and I believe I discovered Eddie Murphy probably by watching Saturday Night Live and from there I just wanted to be like Eddie Murphy.’

Now as a full-time⁴ comedian, Maz Jobrani uses comedy to bridge the cultural divide caused by Islamic extremism. His performances both ridicule⁵ that extremism and challenge American stereotypes⁶ of Muslims.

And his recent movie does the same.

Maz Jobrani co-wrote and stars in “Jimmy Vestvood: Amerikan Hero.”

He says the film playfully makes fun of American preconceptions of the Middle East.

“You know most people when they see people of Middle Eastern descent on film and television in America, they tend to see people in the news, burning flags and protesting and being anti-American. We wanted to make a movie about a guy who loves America, who wins the green card lottery⁷ to come to America from Iran. Who wants to be a cop like his hero Steven McQueen was back in the day when he used to watch Steven McQueen movies. But once he comes to America, he realizes that America of the 21st century doesn’t embrace immigrants the way he thought they would and the only job he can find is working as a security guard in a Persian grocery store and from there he has to go on to save the world.”

Jobrani also says the movie sends a message to Americans that they have not seen before.

“I feel that this comedy does have a message, it has a message of peace, it has a message of diplomacy⁸. More importantly, it has a message of showing Iranians in a very different light then what were used to seeing Iranians. I show them in a fun light. I show them in a light that I don’t think most Americans are used to seeing.”

Maz Jobrani can turn that which frightens him into something funny.

For example, the comedian was alarmed when he first heard the phrase “axis of evil.” President George Bush used the term to describe Iran, Iraq and North Korea.

But he soon realized it could also make a great name for a series of shows. So, in 2005, the ‘Axis of Evil Comedy’ Tour came to be.

The shows featured Jobrani and three other comedians⁹ of Middle Eastern descent. The group first appeared on the American television channel Comedy Central.

Jobrani says it is always a good feeling when people laugh at your jokes.

“It’s a good feeling because then you realize that it’s working, it’s relating. The worst feeling is when you’re doing stand-up and for whatever reason there is a crowd that doesn’t relate to you. Those are the nights when you think to yourself, 'Wow, I can’t wait to get off the stage.' But when they get you it’s a great feeling and it’s probably one of the reasons you stay up there. It’s this drug that keeps feeding you. It’s kind of like what I would assume surfing could be because every laugh is like a wave. You want to catch that wave and ride it out until the next laugh comes. So whether it’s doing stand-up comedy or putting on a movie, your goal as a comedian is to make people laugh.”

Life as a comedian has been good for Maz Jobrani. He has appeared in numerous films and television shows. He has toured much of the world and performed for the King of Jordan.

Maz Jobrani also has a bestselling book, ‘I’m Not a Terrorist, But I’ve Played One on TV.” It tells the story about his life in a very funny way.

Words in This Story

stardom – n. the state of being a very famous performer

introduction – n. the act of making a person known to others or to something

audition – n. a short performance to show the talents of someone who is being considered for a role in a play

conventional – adj. common and ordinary: not unusual

challenge – n. an action, statement, that is against something

ridicule – n. the act of making fun of someone or something in a cruel or harsh way

preconceptions – n. an idea or opinion that someone has before learning about or experiencing something directly

embrace – v. to accept something readily or gladly

alarmed – v. to worry or frighten (someone)

1 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。

2 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

3 audition   

n.(对志愿艺人等的)面试(指试读、试唱等)

参考例句：

• I'm going to the audition but I don't expect I'll get a part.我去试音，可并不指望会给我个角色演出。
• At first,they said he was too young,but later they called him for an audition.起初，他们说他太小，但后来他们叫他去试听。

4 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

5 ridicule   

v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄

参考例句：

• You mustn't ridicule unfortunate people.你不该嘲笑不幸的人。
• Silly mistakes and queer clothes often arouse ridicule.荒谬的错误和古怪的服装常会引起人们的讪笑。

6 stereotypes   

n.老套，模式化的见解，有老一套固定想法的人( stereotype的名词复数 )v.把…模式化，使成陈规( stereotype的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Such jokes tend to reinforce racial stereotypes. 这样的笑话容易渲染种族偏见。
• It makes me sick to read over such stereotypes devoid of content. 这种空洞无物的八股调，我看了就讨厌。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 lottery   

n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事

参考例句：

• He won no less than ￡5000 in the lottery.他居然中了5000英镑的奖券。
• They thought themselves lucky in the lottery of life.他们认为自己是变幻莫测的人生中的幸运者。

8 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

9 comedians   

n.喜剧演员，丑角( comedian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The voice was rich, lordly, Harvardish, like all the boring radio comedians'imitations. 声音浑厚、威严，俨然是哈佛出身的气派，就跟无线电里所有的滑稽演员叫人已经听腻的模仿完全一样。 来自辞典例句
• He distracted them by joking and imitating movie and radio comedians. 他用开玩笑的方法或者模仿电影及广播中的滑稽演员来对付他们。 来自辞典例句