The Persian Pink Panther is a nickname that’s not only hard to ignore, but straight-up irresistible for journalists.
Names are clearly important to Iranian-American comedian Maz Jobrani: with tours such as The Axis Of Evil under his belt, and a book titled I’m Not A Terrorist (But I’ve Played One On TV), he’s comfortable making waves. But sadly, the Clouseau sobriquet he’s constantly being attributed with is actually being misused.
“I made a movie called Jimmy Vestvood: Amerikan Hero, which is a silly comedy that I co-wrote, co-produced and starred in,” says Jobrani. “The way I described it was, ‘The Persian Pink Panther meets Borat’. Someone got wind of that description, put it on my Wikipedia page and now whenever I do an interview it’s brought up,” he laughs.
One of the most important aspects of comedy is its ability to make social and political commentary through laughter. Jobrani wholeheartedly embraces this side of the job – in fact, he takes it incredibly seriously.
“I studied political science in college, so I was always interested in history and understanding our world beyond what’s going on today. I was born in Iran but I grew up in America, so when I started doing stand-up I would talk about my experiences being Iranian-American, and that led to being interested in the politics of a lot of stuff.”
He continues, “After September 11, I saw that the Bush administration was using that attack as an excuse to go into Iraq. I thought that somebody had to talk about these things, because comedy is a good way to broach serious subjects.
“The comedian D.L. Hughley once said comedy is like giving people their medicine in orange juice, so they don’t taste it. Laughter can bring us closer. Even if you’re on different sides of an argument, if you’re open to listening to a comedian, it may get you to think a little bit more than someone on the stage pontificating or screaming.”
Jobrani takes this philosophy all over the world, including to the Middle East. It’s interesting to hear how he alters his routine depending on his audience. “I think the differences come in how far you can push the envelope,” he says. “I was recently in Europe, and it was interesting because they’re liberal [enough] in Holland that you can talk about sexuality and they don’t blink twice. But in some other places, like some of the Arab countries, they’re a little bit more conservative and you really can’t touch on some of those topics.
“I once did a show in Saudi Arabia and they split the audience so it was families on one side and single guys on the other. It was funny because I would do a penis joke and the guys would all laugh and the families would have their mouths open in shock. But then I would do a political or family joke and the families would laugh and the guys would look bored to death.”
Jobrani’s personal brand of comedy has become so prevalent over the years that it even put him on the radar of royalty. “It was when I was doing the Axis Of Evil tour back in 2007 – they said that they wanted us to perform in Jordan. I said that we would love to but that it’s all in English and the guy answered with, ‘I’m speaking to you in English right now, you idiot.’ We were told that the king would be attending and it was during the Bush administration, so some of the jokes made fun of him and the former president of Iran. When I would get to those jokes I would look at the king like, ‘Yo, you could do something about it. You could help change the politics of the world.’
“It was interesting, because when we did the Bush jokes he wasn’t laughing as hard and it wasn’t until the day after, when he invited us to the palace, he made a good point. When we made those jokes, his brother was falling out of his chair with laughter. But the king said that he couldn’t be laughing that loud at some of the political jokes because people are going to see and it would become a world issue.”
Only a few days before our interview, the world had been shocked by the Orlando nightclub shooting. I wonder whether reactions to Jobrani’s routine change, or if he approaches his comedy differently, when controversy, violence and division are so prevalent in the news – particularly when the focus of hatred is on people with a Middle Eastern ancestry.
“That’s an interesting question, because my material involves social issues, political issues and my family,” he says. “Some jokes that wouldn’t be controversial become controversial when something big happens. For example, I was doing some jokes about the [LGBTQI] community, such as Bruce Jenner becoming Caitlyn Jenner. It was a very tolerant joke which pushed the envelope with certain audiences. If someone brings their parents who might be a little bit more traditional, or some of the Middle Easterners, I like to put that in their face to make them ease up a little bit. But given the victims of the shooting were [LGBTQI], it became really hard for me to do those jokes. If somebody misconstrues what I’m trying to say just a little bit, it becomes bad taste.”
Maz Jobraniappears for one night only atEnmore Theatre on Thursday July 14.
