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" Part of what's great about America, and Canada as well, is that we can talk about our political leaders in public. "
Maz Jobrani
Canada
America
Political
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" Humor is always important. There are people who help us deal with difficulty or hardship; from the concentration camps to the court jester, there was a need for humor. As long as these kinds of things exist, with repressive regimes, you need it to deal with the weight of daily life. "
Maz Jobrani
Life
Daily
Daily Life
" The fact is, the Middle East has been going crazy for 50, 60, 70 years. So it's not like, 'Oh, I need an ISIS joke.' "
Maz Jobrani
Going
Joke
Crazy
" Definitely in the West, we're all cast as the same now. Whether you're Indian, Pakistani, Arab, Iranian, Afghan or whatever, you just get thrown into this category. And nine times out of 10, you're depicted as bad. "
Maz Jobrani
Now
Bad
Same
" Comedy comes from tragedy, and being Iranian in America from 1979 on had been quite tragic. In stand-up comedy, I was able to take the reality and exaggerate it. "
Maz Jobrani
America
Reality
Take
" Coming from L.A. to D.C., I'm always impressed that in D.C., people are doing the things that the people in L.A. are pretending to do. Whenever I'm in D.C., I ask people what they do, and they say, 'I'm with the agency, or I'm with State.' In L.A., I ran into a guy who said, 'I'm working on an audition for a guy who happens to be with an agency.' "
Maz Jobrani
Ask
Say
Said
" As the weeks went on, I realized there was an important role comedy would play in healing the tragedies of September 11. Comedy can help people cope, and many people were coming to the clubs to laugh out the stress. "
Maz Jobrani
Stress
Healing
Help
" I played Li'l Abner and Batman in school plays; I wanted to be an actor to play all these different characters. "
Maz Jobrani
Actor
Batman
Different
" The first acting part I ever got was a guest spot on 'Chicago Hope' playing a security guard. I thought, 'Oh, this is going to be cool.' But a little bit later, I got a vague part on this short-lived show called 'Marshall Law' with Arsenio Hall and Sammo Hung. It was a poor man's 'Rush Hour.' "
Maz Jobrani
Cool
Thought
Law
" I don't consider myself an Iranian comedian; I consider myself a comedian who happens to be of Iranian descent. "
Maz Jobrani
Happens
Comedian
Consider
" I think comedy is a good way to help people change their minds. I think that if you're laughing and getting a message across, it's a lot easier than when somebody is screaming in your face. "
Maz Jobrani
Good
Change
Face
" I grew up in Northern California - Marin County, Tiburon. And it's interesting. It's a very rich place, but a lot of the affluent people are - they're not as showy. So, like, they might have, like, a Saab or a Volvo. And then here comes my dad from Iran. He buys a Rolls-Royce. "
Maz Jobrani
Place
Interesting
Like
" People think just because I'm from the Middle East, I'm an expert on the Middle East. So, like, I got a friend, like, any time the gas prices go up, he'll always ask my opinion about it. "
Maz Jobrani
Opinion
Think
Go
" You know the Middle East is going crazy when Lebanon is the most peaceful place in the region. "
Maz Jobrani
You
Peaceful
Know
" Comedy can take you a lot further in getting your point across. People are entertained, and then, by being entertained, they get your point. "
Maz Jobrani
Take
Your
You
" Be kind. It feels good. "
Maz Jobrani
Good
Be Kind
Feels
" As a Middle Eastern male, when you're in a Chuck Norris movie of the week, you know you're going to die. "
Maz Jobrani
Die
Going
Know
" Most comics point out what everyone else is thinking but hadn't thought of verbalizing. I guess, in a way, that makes most comics seers. It just depends in what category - some choose to be the seers of relationships, some are seers of racial issues, and some are seers of political issues. "
Maz Jobrani
Political
Thought
Thinking
" When you're a stand-up comic, you live and die by what you say on stage. There's no director or writer or producer who can tell you what to say and not to say. Once in a while, a club owner will ask a comic to work clean, or not say something, but that's few and far between. "
Maz Jobrani
Die
Say
Stage
" I thought, 'Oh, acting is going to be great - I get to play different parts.' And then these auditions started coming up for terrorist, terrorist, terrorist, and I'm going, 'Whoa, what's this about?' "
Maz Jobrani
Different
Great
Play
" The number one thing I've heard Trump supporters say - number one thing - 'I love him because he says what's on his mind. He just says what's on his mind.' He just says what's on his mind. You go, 'What are your thoughts on his policies?' 'I don't know about his policies. He just says what's on his mind.' "
Maz Jobrani
You
Say
Know
" I think it's funny that nobody wants to be liked by Washington. All the politicians go, 'I don't like Washington. They don't like me.' I always find it funny that people are trying to distance themselves from Washington as much as they can, even though they're all in Washington. "
Maz Jobrani
Think
Me
Funny
" It's true that some countries have more volatility, but each also has nuances we don't even know about. "
Maz Jobrani
More
True
Some
" 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. "
Maz Jobrani
Me
Waiting
New York
" Trump is good for comedy but bad for the world. "
Maz Jobrani
Comedy
Bad
World
" Don't get me wrong. I don't mind playing bad guys. I want to play a bad guy. I want to rob a bank. I want to rob a bank in a film. I want to rob a bank in a film but do it with a gun - with a gun, not with a bomb strapped around me. "
Maz Jobrani
Play
Mind
Me
" I took one acting class as an undergrad, and I loved it. I was in a very avant-garde play at UCLA about a closeted, married homosexual. I played his father. "
Maz Jobrani
Class
Play
Acting
" If you come from a place of love, and you're not saying, 'I'm better than you,' that's one thing that allows you to talk about different ethnicities. It's almost like laughing with each other. "
Maz Jobrani
Place
Saying
Better
" My mom was like, 'Get your law degree first, become a lawyer, and then you can tell jokes on the weekends. You can be a lawyer and just throw jokes into your presentations.' Now she's like, 'Listen, you need to come up with new material.' All of a sudden, my mom's a critic. "
Maz Jobrani
Need
She
You
" My parents come from that immigrant culture that places a lot of emphasis on doing well scholastically. Being a comedian or an actor is such an American thing. The Iranian culture is not about dreaming. It's about taking over your father's business, falling into line. "
Maz Jobrani
Culture
Parents
Father
" A lot of times in Hollywood, when casting directors find out you're of Middle Eastern descent, they go, 'Oh, you're Iranian? Great. Can you say, 'I will kill you in the name of Allah?'' I could say that, but what if I were to say, 'Hello, I'm your doctor.' "
Maz Jobrani
Allah
You
Name