I'm Not a Terrorist, But I've Played One on TV

Maz Jobrani tackles the absurdity of post-9/11 Hollywood typecasting, drawing on his own career of playing one-dimensional Middle Eastern villains. His transition from actor to stand-up comic talking about acting gives the material an inside-baseball quality that elevates it above basic cultural-clash observational comedy.

Filmed at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles, the 2015 special coincides with the release of Jobrani’s memoir of the same name. By this point in his career, the founding member of the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour was a regular on NPR’s Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! and a frequent television guest star. He uses his platform to highlight the differences between Arab and Persian cultures, the strictness of immigrant parenting compared to permissive American styles, and the bizarre nature of modern geopolitical tension.

Notable routines cover the perils of being a brown guy at the airport, how easily Americans mistake Indians for members of ISIS, and the specific way Persian parents throw parties. Jobrani keeps his stage presence physical and animated, which balances some of the sharper political observations with pure silliness.