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I'm Not a Terrorist, But I've Played One On TV: Memoirs of a Middle Eastern Funny Man by Maz Jobrani
golden_lily's review against another edition
4.0
Read This Review & More Like It At Ageless Pages Reviews
Maz Jobrani isn't a household name in this country, but you've probably seen him in bit parts, as Bhamba on Better off Ted, or on Comedy Central as part of the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour. (For my Disney girls, he's also playing Jafar in the new DCOM, The Descendants.) What you won't see him in is a turban. Since an ill-fated Chuck Norris movie, Maz has a strict "no terrorists" rule for all of his agents, which I find super admirable. It has limited his big screen roles, but it's opened up amazing stand-up opportunities, particularly in the Middle East.
This biography is structured very much like a stand-up set. It's full of asides, embellishments, and particularly when his mom's involved, punchlines that come full circle. No matter your mother's religion or ethnicity, jokes about becoming a lawyer/getting married/supporting her still hit. It's funny and relatable. If anything, I could have done with more information on Maz's personal life. I felt like we skipped right over his wife and his daughter.
Instead, a lot of Maz's stories revolve around his race and how he feels in America. He talks about his young life in Iran, before moving to America and feeling like an outsider as he tried to assimilate. His parents are embarrassingly foreign and it seems like ever other Iranian in the state wants to give him a hug. As he gets older, he struggles with stereotyping, flying post 9/11, and his own internalized racism. It's very interesting to read, especially since racism against Middle Easterners is so prevalent and not talked enough about.
It is a little hard to feel too bad for Maz, though. He's incredibly privileged. His father owned an electric company under the old Iranian regime, so rather than a traumatic story of sneaking over mountains into a neighboring country, Maz went on Christmas break to a posh New York hotel and never left the country. (I suspect there is more tragedy to the story, as he does mention his brother being left in Iran and it taking a long time to bring him over. Instead of including this genuine emotion, it's used as a set up to a joke about FAO Schwarz.) A lot of his stories about being a sad, rich Persian in a Rolls left me gnashing my teeth.
My favorite part of the book is when The Axis of Evil Comedy Tour became the first American stand-up group to perform in the Middle East. Over there, the members were rock stars, performing for princesses and kings. And Maz still managed to bomb during an art show. Just goes to show every comedian has a bad night. I also liked learning about the Comedy Store and how it worked, (and how Maz bombed in front of his idol there, too.) (Too conceited, the man is not.)
In all, Jobrani's biography is a bit more humor than memoir but I enjoyed it all the same.
Maz Jobrani isn't a household name in this country, but you've probably seen him in bit parts, as Bhamba on Better off Ted, or on Comedy Central as part of the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour. (For my Disney girls, he's also playing Jafar in the new DCOM, The Descendants.) What you won't see him in is a turban. Since an ill-fated Chuck Norris movie, Maz has a strict "no terrorists" rule for all of his agents, which I find super admirable. It has limited his big screen roles, but it's opened up amazing stand-up opportunities, particularly in the Middle East.
This biography is structured very much like a stand-up set. It's full of asides, embellishments, and particularly when his mom's involved, punchlines that come full circle. No matter your mother's religion or ethnicity, jokes about becoming a lawyer/getting married/supporting her still hit. It's funny and relatable. If anything, I could have done with more information on Maz's personal life. I felt like we skipped right over his wife and his daughter.
Instead, a lot of Maz's stories revolve around his race and how he feels in America. He talks about his young life in Iran, before moving to America and feeling like an outsider as he tried to assimilate. His parents are embarrassingly foreign and it seems like ever other Iranian in the state wants to give him a hug. As he gets older, he struggles with stereotyping, flying post 9/11, and his own internalized racism. It's very interesting to read, especially since racism against Middle Easterners is so prevalent and not talked enough about.
It is a little hard to feel too bad for Maz, though. He's incredibly privileged. His father owned an electric company under the old Iranian regime, so rather than a traumatic story of sneaking over mountains into a neighboring country, Maz went on Christmas break to a posh New York hotel and never left the country. (I suspect there is more tragedy to the story, as he does mention his brother being left in Iran and it taking a long time to bring him over. Instead of including this genuine emotion, it's used as a set up to a joke about FAO Schwarz.) A lot of his stories about being a sad, rich Persian in a Rolls left me gnashing my teeth.
My favorite part of the book is when The Axis of Evil Comedy Tour became the first American stand-up group to perform in the Middle East. Over there, the members were rock stars, performing for princesses and kings. And Maz still managed to bomb during an art show. Just goes to show every comedian has a bad night. I also liked learning about the Comedy Store and how it worked, (and how Maz bombed in front of his idol there, too.) (Too conceited, the man is not.)
In all, Jobrani's biography is a bit more humor than memoir but I enjoyed it all the same.
elizareads35's review against another edition
3.0
Overall, I liked it but didn't find it quite as funny as his stand up or appearances on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me.
sujata's review against another edition
4.0
Enjoyable and quick read, not laugh out loud funny but lots of stuff I personally related to.
jhstack's review against another edition
4.0
A little more worldly than Aasif Mandvi's recent memoir 'No Land's Man', but Maz still touches on a similar topic: ethnic casting and comedy. Definitely amusing and insightful, whether or not you're familiar with his stand-up, his acting, or his panelist gig on 'Wait Wait Don't Tell Me'.
kjones31's review against another edition
3.0
Wavering between 3 and 4 stars. I first saw Maz on "Better Off Ted" (which was canceled several seasons too soon, in my opinion) and really enjoy his comedy. This book serves an extra dose of depth by describing his experience as an Iranian-American (...who grew up in Marin County) in a post-9/11 world. His travel tales of doing comedy shows throughout the Middle East were also fascinating. I like the way he's reshaping stereotypes and pushing folks to stop treating Muslims and the Middle East as a monolith of terrorism and religious fundamentalism. Not an especially cohesive read, but a perspective I hadn't considered much. Recommended.
Addendum: I snorted with laughter when he described himself as "the Persian Elvis (a.k.a. Pelvis)." Too good.
Addendum: I snorted with laughter when he described himself as "the Persian Elvis (a.k.a. Pelvis)." Too good.
renatasnacks's review against another edition
3.0
I should probably just stop trying to read memoirs by standup comedians because they're almost never as good as... standup comedy by standup comedians.
There's some interesting commentary about growing up Iranian in California, but... a lot of it is stuff I've heard in his standup, so it's not exactly groundbreaking at this point.
Still: he's definitely a funny guy, and I enjoyed reading about him getting movie-killed by Chuck Norris and entertaining the King of Jordan.
There's some interesting commentary about growing up Iranian in California, but... a lot of it is stuff I've heard in his standup, so it's not exactly groundbreaking at this point.
Still: he's definitely a funny guy, and I enjoyed reading about him getting movie-killed by Chuck Norris and entertaining the King of Jordan.
ejdecoster's review against another edition
2.0
Some amusing parts, but some sort of "meh" ones as well, and some material that seems recycled. Jobrani's stories of traveling and performing throughout the Middle East are quite interesting, but overall the book doesn't seem to be one thing or another - partially humor, partially memoir, but they don't quite fit together.
mickified's review against another edition
3.0
The memoir parts are absolutely fascinating but some of the jokes were distracting and the chronology was a little hard to follow. However, Maz’s personality and wit shine through.
sujata's review
4.0
Enjoyable and quick read, not laugh out loud funny but lots of stuff I personally related to.
skitch41's review
3.0
(Full Disclosure: On the day the book was published the author came to my school to promote it and I got to meet him as well. And while my copy is autographed I have tried to review this as objectively as possible.)
Like other countries, America has trouble with racial and ethnic stereotypes (to say the least). But one of the great ways we have to overcome those stereotypes is comedy. In this short memoir, Iranian-American Maz Jobrani tells about his life growing up in America as an immigrant at the same time the Iranian hostage crisis was occurring. It extends beyond that into his family life and well into his career as a comedian. This book is split into three parts: the first about his adolescence leading up to his decision to go into comedy; the second talks about his struggles as a comedian in American from his earliest days to the present; and the third section are tales about his comedy tours in different Middle Eastern cities. Having just finished reading [bc:Run to Overcome: The Inspiring Story of an American Champion's Long-Distance Quest to Achieve a Big Dream|9331137|Run to Overcome The Inspiring Story of an American Champion's Long-Distance Quest to Achieve a Big Dream|Meb Keflezighi|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406506823s/9331137.jpg|14214408][b:Run to Overcome: The Inspiring Story of an American Champion's Long-Distance Quest to Achieve a Big Dream|9331137|Run to Overcome The Inspiring Story of an American Champion's Long-Distance Quest to Achieve a Big Dream|Meb Keflezighi|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406506823s/9331137.jpg|14214408] by [ai:Meb Keflezighi|4359316|Meb Keflezighi|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1314102467p2/4359316.jpg][a:Meb Keflezighi|4359316|Meb Keflezighi|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1314102467p2/4359316.jpg], another immigrant story, it was interesting to hear a similar story from a different perspective. The jokes that he writes in here didn't always hit home with me though. It's either because I am not as familiar with Mr. Jobrani's work as I would like to be or because humor doesn't always translate as well on the written page as it does on the comedy page, but I do think fans of Mr. Jobrani will enjoy this book more. Another problem I had was that Mr. Jobrani tries to write certain dialogue with a Persian accent. But, like other books I've read that have tried to write dialogue with accents, it just makes things more confusing. This is even more frustrating considering that many of Mr. Jobrani's jokes come about through his dialogue with other people. Thus, again, I must say that those who are already familiar with Mr. Jobrani's stand-up work will get more out of this than I did, but it was still interesting.
Like other countries, America has trouble with racial and ethnic stereotypes (to say the least). But one of the great ways we have to overcome those stereotypes is comedy. In this short memoir, Iranian-American Maz Jobrani tells about his life growing up in America as an immigrant at the same time the Iranian hostage crisis was occurring. It extends beyond that into his family life and well into his career as a comedian. This book is split into three parts: the first about his adolescence leading up to his decision to go into comedy; the second talks about his struggles as a comedian in American from his earliest days to the present; and the third section are tales about his comedy tours in different Middle Eastern cities. Having just finished reading [bc:Run to Overcome: The Inspiring Story of an American Champion's Long-Distance Quest to Achieve a Big Dream|9331137|Run to Overcome The Inspiring Story of an American Champion's Long-Distance Quest to Achieve a Big Dream|Meb Keflezighi|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406506823s/9331137.jpg|14214408][b:Run to Overcome: The Inspiring Story of an American Champion's Long-Distance Quest to Achieve a Big Dream|9331137|Run to Overcome The Inspiring Story of an American Champion's Long-Distance Quest to Achieve a Big Dream|Meb Keflezighi|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406506823s/9331137.jpg|14214408] by [ai:Meb Keflezighi|4359316|Meb Keflezighi|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1314102467p2/4359316.jpg][a:Meb Keflezighi|4359316|Meb Keflezighi|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1314102467p2/4359316.jpg], another immigrant story, it was interesting to hear a similar story from a different perspective. The jokes that he writes in here didn't always hit home with me though. It's either because I am not as familiar with Mr. Jobrani's work as I would like to be or because humor doesn't always translate as well on the written page as it does on the comedy page, but I do think fans of Mr. Jobrani will enjoy this book more. Another problem I had was that Mr. Jobrani tries to write certain dialogue with a Persian accent. But, like other books I've read that have tried to write dialogue with accents, it just makes things more confusing. This is even more frustrating considering that many of Mr. Jobrani's jokes come about through his dialogue with other people. Thus, again, I must say that those who are already familiar with Mr. Jobrani's stand-up work will get more out of this than I did, but it was still interesting.