NO BORDER FOR COMEDY
Maz Jobrani back for JFL
The good news is that Maz Jobrani will be back at Just for Laughs this summer to host the festival’s Ethnic Show series once again. The good news, for us anyway, is also that the Iranian-American comedian might be staying on in this country following the gig — which wouldn’t be such good news for Jobrani, whose career has been flourishing in the U.S.
But such is the possibility faced by many Americans whose roots may give pause to U.S. immigration officials. Though he has lived in the U.S. since he was six and is an American citizen, it is clearly marked on Jobrani’s passport that he was born in Tehran. And let’s just say that if they gave Muhammad Ali Jr. — son of the late/great boxing icon — a tough time recently at two U.S. airports over his lineage, they would have few qualms about making life difficult for Jobrani, who has been an outspoken — and hilarious — critic of ethnic divides in the U.S. on the talk-show circuit.
“There’s always that possibility that they might not let me back in the country after the festival,” Jobrani, 45, says in a phone interview from his L.A. base. “I assume they may question me further at the airport. The situation here hasn’t impacted me yet, but it has certainly impacted people I know.”
Jobrani cites the example of an Iranian-American friend who had to cancel his wedding to an American woman because his family wouldn’t have been able to attend because of the visa ban. Jobrani also has cousins, now living in Europe, whom he thinks would likely be turned away because of Iranian stamps on their passports.
“Even having a visa doesn’t help,” Jobrani says. “One guy I spoke to told me how his parents, who flew into Los Angeles with a visa, were put right back on a flight to Iran. Families have been split up trying to return to the U.S. Then there are the stories of people needing serious medical attention who were turned away.
“It has all been so poorly executed. They keep saying it’s been done to make America safer, but no one from those targeted countries has committed an actor of terror.”
What has really upset Jobrani is how the U.S. administration has been trying to sell to the public the notion that the travel ban was just inconveniencing a few people at American airports.
“But it’s been a lot more than that, with people having to pay thousands in legal fees just to get back to their homes. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I’m taking this pretty personally and have been protesting about it a lot. But I decided that the best thing I can do now is to share the real-life stories of people who are being affected by all this now.”
On the other hand, the situation in the U.S. has been a boon to comedy: “I’ve been saying that (U.S. President Donald) Trump is great for comedy — but bad for the world.”
Jobrani will be shooting a standup special for Netflix on April 15 at the Kennedy Centre in Washington, D.C.
“I’ve been working on material for the special for the last two years,” he notes. “It was running at around an hour long, but since the election here, it’s now running at an hour and a half. Which means it took me two years to write an hour and only three months to write another 30 minutes. It’s just been so hard to keep up with Trump. Now I’m trying to cut off any new material, but it hasn’t been easy. I just can’t keep adding any more.
“Every time I see Trump on TV these days, I’m waiting for him to burst out: ‘Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!’ That would make sense to me — that this has all been one long Saturday Night Live sketch. He’s like P.T. Barnum. He’s created a circus and has the whole world running around trying to put out the fires that he starts with his tweets.”
Jobrani’s career had really been on the upswing before the advent of Trumpian policies. He’s currently co-starring — as an Iraqi immigrant — in the CBS sitcom Superior Donuts and recently appeared as the lead in the award-winning indie comedy Jimmy Vestvood: Amerikan Hero.
He is a regular panellist on NPR’s Wait Wait ... Don’t Tell Me! Plus he has two solo comedy specials currently streaming on Netflix, Maz Jobrani: Brown and Friendly and I’m Not a Terrorist, But I’ve Played One on TV — the latter based on his bestselling book.
And Jobrani is not just cracking wise about the title of the Netflix special and book. He has played a terrorist on such TV series as 24 and Law and Order.
A founding member of the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour, Jobrani has been abundantly aware of cultural stereotypes well before the rise of The Donald. But his forte has always been bridge-building — in the comedic sense.
In the opening to his I’m Not a Terrorist show, he is most mindful of the fact that he must never falter on stage, because “Iranian bombs” would just send the wrong message.
No worries about that when Jobrani hits Just for Laughs this summer.
“I’ve been putting in the years in the business,” says Jobrani, who is married to an IndianAmerican
attorney, with whom he has a son and daughter. “This will be my 19th year of doing standup and acting professionally. So if you stay in the game long enough, they start giving you things. Yup, at 45, my career is happening, baby. But I love the journey and continue to love it, and whatever comes, comes.”
Joining host Jobrani at the Ethnic Show — running for 19 performances from July 12 to 27 at Club Soda and Metropolis — will be Jewish-American Jessica Kirson, Korean IrishAmerican Steve Byrne, ItalianCanadians The Doo Wops (John Catucci and David Mesiano), Portuguese-Canadian Mike Rita and Dominican-American Vlad Caamano.
Just for Laughs has also announced that Emmy Awardwinning writer and cut-up John Mulaney will be bringing his new spectacle, John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous, to the festival for one night only on July 29 at 7 p.m. at L’Olympia.
Mulaney, a fest favourite, starred in the Broadway hit Oh, Hello on Broadway, with comic Nick Kroll. Two years ago, Mulaney released his third solo special on Netflix, The Comeback Kid.
Mulaney first made his mark writing on Saturday Night Live in 2008 and appearing as a Weekend Update correspondent. He is also credited with co-creating such characters as Bill Hader’s Stefon on Weekend Update.