In the same way that they are restricted by religious censorship in the Middle East, stand-up comedians are subjected to censorship by advertisers in the United States, according to Iranian American Maz Jobrani.
The stand-up comedian, who shot his first outdoor special in Dubai on December 13 as part of The Peaceful Warrior Tour, said he’s not worried about restrictions in the Muslim world because he’s used to writing material that is subjected to censorship in the United States.
Speaking to Arabian Business, he said: “The first time we toured in the region, they said you can talk about anything you want; just no sex, no religion and no politics. I said well hello and goodnight… But one of the things I realised when I did a show in America and I submitted my material and they said you can’t do jokes about some of the sponsors… I realised in the Middle East, God is God and in America, the advertiser is God.”
Jobrani is in talks to feature the Dubai show – which was filmed using drones – on a major streaming service or television network, with his previous specials having already featured on Netflix and Showtime.
The stand-up comedian is known for his roles in the Comedy Central tour The Axis of Evil, as well as for his appearances on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Better off Ted and Superior Donuts.
Comedy: an olive branch?
Jobrani has performed across the Middle East including in Saudi Arabia, once the region’s most conservative countries, which has seen a wave of reforms under its ambitious leader Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, including the lifting of the women’s driving ban and guardianship system as well as the end of gender segregation in restaurants.
“It’s hard to keep people in the dark when they have access to the internet and see how everyone else is living and they say, ‘Well, we want to live like that. We want to be able to go out and enjoy a movie. We want to, as women, to be able to drive cars’. This is all progress and obviously there’s a long way to go still but the progress is being made and my hope is that people [in Saudi Arabia] embrace the progress and they’re not overwhelmed by it,” he said.
The stand-up comedian has been “embraced” by people in Saudi Arabia who have also seen beyond the kingdom’s political tensions with its political opponent Iran.
“The people of Iran and the people of Saudi Arabia all just want to live their lives. When they come to a comedy show, they just want to come and laugh. They’re not concerned about the politics of it all.
“When I did shows as an Iranian American in Saudi Arabia, I’ve been embraced by the Saudi people. They’ve just come out and had a good time and seen beyond the politics. I don’t represent a particular country. I’m just a comedian trying to be funny,” he said.
Jobrani said comedy acts as an “olive branch” between the people of Saudi Arabia and Iran, whose countries have been bitter rivals for decades.
“If anything it’s kind of an olive branch, it’s an outreach for peace when you do a show in a place where the countries are at odds but you can go out and do a show and after the show you have actual Saudis coming up to you and saying thank you so much for coming, we’re really trying to have entertainment here.
“As a matter of fact I had a young lady come up to me after a show and say: ‘It’s my first live comedy show, it was so great and I hope more comedians come from America to do more shows for us,’” he said.
Despite also performing in Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan and Beirut, Jobrani is unlikely to organise a show in his home country of Iran.
“Really the difficulty becomes the governments you run into. Again with Iran, I’ve made jokes or mentioned criticism of the government so I feel that if I were to go to Iran, there’s a possibility that somebody could bother me and that would unfortunately not be a good thing. I would love to one day be able to do a show in Iran but I think for the current time I can’t,” he said.
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