Jobrani has the special gift to portray reality in a manner that is both entertaining and painfully truthful. He is arguably the funniest of the “Axis of Evil” troupe (sorry, Ahmed Ahmed, we still love you) and that is apparent from the amount of people who showed up to his show. Despite all the seats being taken, many die-hard fans still showed up to stand for the entire show. Now, that’s what I call “halal l-o-v-e.”
After sitting with the man and watching him perform to a packed show in Jeddah, I realized his jokes are not only funny (because they are true) but also possess a message. And that message is clear: “We should yell out how many kisses we’re going to do before we greet the other person, because it gets way too confusing.”
Okay, perhaps that’s not his message, but rather part of his act. I still think it’s a great suggestion! The point Jobrani is really trying to make is that all cultures — East, West, North and South — have their weird idiosyncrasies and out-dated customs and it’s okay to laugh about it. And, to poke fun at ourselves is not self-hating, but cathartic.
Exposing our afflictions — Dubai’s addiction to malls, Lebanon’s addiction to plastic surgery and Saudi’s addiction to Al Baik — Jobrani knows that laughter is the best medicine. Consequently, he is filling prescriptions out all over the Middle East with his “Brown and Friendly” comedy tour brought to us by Peter Howarth-Lees of SMILE Productions.
And yes, I must confess that I lied at the beginning of this article. The guy is pretty freak’n hilarious! Also, he’s Persian… Just like the cat. So, how can you not love him? Excerpts from the interview:
Unfortunately, I don’t get to stay here that long on my visits — it’s two days then I’m off. But I do get to see the crazy driving which is something we share. The whole region that is, except for Oman! They are the like best drivers — an exception to the rule. It’s unbelievable, they stay in their lanes and they actually get tickets for things!
Also, our women both have a taste for the labels! I’ve definitely noticed that.
Being funny. Comedy definitely comes first. I wanted to do stand up when I saw Eddie Murphy doing it. And then I began to refine my taste, paying attention to comedians that have a message along with their acts. Richard Pryor became a huge influence, and that’s when I saw how comedy could be used to comment on social and political issues. But the key is definitely to be funny first or else no one will be able to appreciate the message.
Well, my sister was saying that she didn’t want to give out that kind of information to the census. But I said, ‘You know what? Nowadays, all I have to do is Google your name and I can find out where you live and show up.’
You’re not hiding from anybody. People think, ‘Oh, if I fill this out on the census form, the government will come get me.’ However, the government already knows your background! Filling out the census correctly isn’t going to change that. And, that’s my point. They already know everything about you — you’re not giving out any new information. Trust me, the neighborhood knows your Saudi when you pull up in your Mercedes,same with us, Iranians. We’re not exactly ‘low key.’
Also, you have to look at it in the opposite way: Americans and British are both so strict about it. They ardently believe in the system and hence, they are organized. People complain that they are running the world. Well, now here is a way for us to organize in order to get benefits and recognition as a minority. Look at Latinos and other minorities who have organized themselves. If someone goes on air and slanders their ethnicity, they can be like, ‘There’s 40 million of us in the US and if you do this we’re going to protest your network.’ Because they are organized, there are now repercussions.
Also, look at the hospitals. Nowadays, there has to be a certain number of Spanish-speakers working in them. That would happen to us — Arab and Farsi speakers — as well if the government had our numbers. So it really does make a difference — I encourage people to write “Iranian-American” or “Arab-American” in the “ethnicity” box.
On the ‘West Wing,’ I played a Saudi Ambassador, which was really cool to do. I put on an Arab accent with a slight British touch to it. I had watched Faisal Al-Turki on the news and heard that slight British coming out, obviously from a British education. It was cool when I got it.
I think Hollywood is getting smarter and smarter in saying that, ‘This is a Syrian and this is a Lebanese.’ It’s not just an Arab anymore. But that being said, you can still kind of get away with doing a generic Arab accent.
As I’ve mentioned in my act, Arabs speak English fast while Iranians much slower. Yet, when you’re working with TV, versus a film, you’re told to adjust your speaking to speak faster. You have to annunciate your words or else the audience won’t get it. So, sometimes there are technical restrictions that force you to modify your accent in order for the audience to understand it. People don’t realize that there are many factors involved.
Yeah, I think if down the line I had the right show and the right show idea, I would. It would have to be something in those lines of ‘The Daily Show.’ It would be fun to be a foreign correspondent for some of those. It would have to be comedic and political, though.
Every time I come to this part of the world, I’m amazed at how much is going on here and how little of it is reported in the West. It would be cool to find a way to let America know how it is here.
So, basically, if the Daily Show were CNN, my idea would be to do CNN International: Get the news from around the world and make it entertaining.
To be honest with you, at this show I didn’t really get a chance to watch them. Due to the setup of the venue, I wasn’t able to just hang in the back of the audience and watch the show. However, I have seen some of them before and I know that there is a lot of potential there. I think that the main obstacle for all these guys is that there aren’t enough opportunities for them to perform on a consistent basis and hone their skills. I always tell guys in the region that they need to create their own opportunities by organizing stand-up shows on a weekly basis. Most comedians in the US get on stage 5 to10 times a week whereas some of the local guys in the Middle East only get a chance to perform 5 to10 times a year. That is simply not enough to develop.
Well, after they have stripped down to their tightie-whities, I would recommend getting on stage as much as possible and writing as much as possible. I once read that someone asked Chris Rock for advice about getting into comedy and he said, ‘Move to LA or NY.’ The reason for that wasn’t because there are agents and casting directors in those cities, but rather because those cities have so many venues for people to perform in. Really, if someone is serious about developing as a stand-up comedian, they either need to move to a place like LA, NY or London where they can perform 5 to10 times a week. Or, they need to take the initiative and create open-mic nights in the region. If enough comedians started open mic nights in different cafes and restaurants, then they would be able to perform enough to develop.
Yes, they do and one of the big reasons is because of the Internet. I think that because of the way the world is today, people all over the world know what’s going on in the West. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work the other way around — the West doesn’t know as much about the Middle East as the Middle East knows about it.
That said, I also like to do local material wherever I go because (a) it’s fun to look around and see what strikes you as funny anywhere you are and (b) I think the audience likes to hear an outsider’s perspective on their city or country.
Al Baik is Al Great!
