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" Your stereotypical L.A. Persian kids were not working at Sbarro pizza in the mall, but I was. "
Maz Jobrani
Pizza
Were
Working
Related Quotes:
" I've grown so accustomed to my life in L.A., going to a Coffee Bean or getting breakfast at Kings Road Cafe. I've seen a lot of the world, but the diversity we have here is different. It's a mishmash, which is a nice comfort. "
Maz Jobrani
Life
Breakfast
Coffee
" 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
" 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
" The fact is, there's good people everywhere. That's what I try and show in my stand-up: good people everywhere. All it takes is one person to mess it up. "
Maz Jobrani
People
Person
Try
" 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
" Racism has always existed, and a big part of it is people just not knowing others. I think humans change other human's minds, and it's hard for someone in the middle of America to hate Syrian refugees if they've been able to befriend them. "
Maz Jobrani
Racism
Change
Hate
" You know the Middle East is going crazy when Lebanon is the most peaceful place in the region. "
Maz Jobrani
You
Peaceful
Know
" I was in awe of my father. His generosity was beyond anything I ever could imagine. The reason I say he's like Don Corleone is he was always breaking off hundreds. I'd be like, 'Hey Dad, I'm going to McDonald's with my friends,' and he'd just whip out a hundred: 'Here, go, have fun.' "
Maz Jobrani
Generosity
Father
Say
" One of the jobs of comedy is to expose hypocrisy. When you look at countries like Iran or North Korea that don't have freedom of speech, we who do should push it as far as we need to. "
Maz Jobrani
Look
Freedom
Freedom Of Speech
" One of the first memories I have, we went to - actually, we stopped in New York for a little bit, and I remember going to Macy's with my mom. And I was a big fan of the color orange, and they had Snoopy orange gloves, hat and scarves. And I bought it, and it was the best thing ever. I loved America right there. That was it. "
Maz Jobrani
Best
Mom
Memories
" 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 don't consider myself an Iranian comedian; I consider myself a comedian who happens to be of Iranian descent. "
Maz Jobrani
Happens
Comedian
Consider
" The first time I performed at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles, I was in the back of the room doing vocal exercises. 'Me-me-me, my-my-my, mo-mo-mo.' And I'm looking around, and no one else is doing it. I'm like, 'They must have done it before they came to the club.' I came to realize that I was an idiot. "
Maz Jobrani
Back
Comedy
Done
" I want to show another side of Middle Easterners. My hope is that I would be able to play a variety of parts, and not always be the guy with the accent. "
Maz Jobrani
Show
Variety
Always
" I remembered, like, when 'Not When My Daughter' came out, I'm serious, I think dating for Iranian men became a lot harder. Dude's name, Shahrokh - became Tony. Mehsud became Mike. "
Maz Jobrani
Men
Like
Daughter
" I really love D.C.; it's one of my favorite places to perform. I always say when I come here, I feel like my IQ increases by 20 points. "
Maz Jobrani
Like
Love
Places
" Anyone who's gotten their passport in America will tell you, when you get it, it still says what country you were born in. So I remember getting my American passport. I was like, 'Woo-hoo! I'm going to travel.' And I opened it up. It said, 'Born in Iran.' I'm like, 'Oh, come on, man!' "
Maz Jobrani
America
Man
Remember
" 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
" Unlike the U.S., Iran has no problems with low-voter turnout in elections; the last time, the government got the support of 110 per cent of the population. "
Maz Jobrani
Problems
Time
Got
" 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
" 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
" 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
" Trump doesn't go a day without worrying me. It seems like every day there's something new. "
Maz Jobrani
Without
New
Me
" 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 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
" I was at UC Berkeley as an undergrad when my father lost a lot of money in real estate investments in Northern California. He wanted a change of pace, so in the early '90s, my family moved to L.A., right in the middle of Tehrangeles. It was a culture shock for me. "
Maz Jobrani
Father
Change
Culture
" The way we censor in America is the dollar. That's who censors. "
Maz Jobrani
America
Who
Way
" A cultural thing that is funny to me is that every time I go out in D.C. after a show, all the nightclubs and restaurants are owned by Iranians and Afghans. It's funny to me how we lost our countries but we gained the nightlife. "
Maz Jobrani
Time
Funny
Go
" 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
" 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