Skip to content
Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy
Promotional art for I'm Not a Terrorist, But I've Played One on TV
Cover image credit:

Source

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

Maz Jobrani

Showtime · 2015 · 77 min

A physical, energetic set about overcoming Middle Eastern stereotypes.

Watch on Showtime(opens in a new tab)

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.

The set list

7 bits

  1. A friend's warning about performing at the venue

    Joking that if he did not perform well, the headline would read 'Iranian Bombs Wiltern', before officially opening the show with a Persian dance.

  2. Faking fluency in foreign languages

    Interacting with a Mexican audience member and demonstrating how repeating known words with conviction ('Burrito adios, burrito adios') sounds like fluent speech.

  3. Iranians' love for chandeliers

    Seguing from a crowd work exchange with a Korean-Danish audience member into Iranian home decorating tropes.

  4. Lengthy Iranian greeting customs

    Using repetitive cadences ('Hi hello hi hi hi') to show how Iranian greetings delay everything, including negotiations.

  5. Mother confusing a 401(k) retirement plan

    Telling his mother he had acquired a 401(k), which she mistook for a new Mercedes-Benz model.

  6. Translating dirty jokes to parents

    Acting as a surrogate audience member mortified at having brought their immigrant mother to the comedy show and having to translate dirty jokes.

  7. Soy milk and Sex and the City

    Joking that drinking soy milk high in estrogen led him to enjoy watching Sex and the City.

How it plays

Tone
Warm, lighthearted, celebratory, and culturally self-aware.
On stage
Expressive, relatable, celebratory, and culturally observant performer who engages playfully without cruelty.
Pace
High-energy with rhythmic repetition and physical expressiveness.
About
Immigrant life and family, Iranian and Middle Eastern culture, Language quirks and communication, Hollywood stereotyping and acting, Parenting and generational differences

What the critics said

Praised by critics as an unabashed celebration of cultural diversity featuring skillful crowd work and relatable premises that steer clear of cruel stereotypes, though some viewers criticized repetitive immigrant themes and accent work.

In the room: Ecstatic and multi-generational; reviewers noted audience members falling out of their seats laughing, standing, and applauding.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: imdb.com, netflix.com, allmovie.com, exclaim.ca, simonandschuster.com, npr.org, en.wikipedia.org, theworld.org, simonandschuster.co.uk.

Backstory

Stand-up special tied to the release of his 2015 memoir recounting his experiences as an Iranian-American actor navigating stereotypes in Hollywood and life in America.

Details

Released
Taped
The Wiltern, Los Angeles
Runtime
77 min
Where
Showtime
Director
Maz Jobrani
Topics
After
Immigrant (2017)

More from Maz Jobrani

If you liked this