Iranian comedians - helping you find the right one

From time to time I go through the referrer statistics to find out what people coming to this blog from search engines are looking for. Many people have landed here following searches for Iranian comedians. That's good because this blog has the ultimate list of Iranian comedians.

Looking for 'Persian comedians in Los Angeles'? You'll be wanting Peter 'The Persian' Shahriari.

'Iranian comedian who does accents'? - that's probably Omid Djalili. He does some great accents ranging from his normal London 'geezer' and his wife's most refined English, Nigerian English (particularly a Nigerian parking attendant), Turkish, Indian, through to his career-defining high-pitched Arabic accent. Maz Jobrani, Ali Salimi, Elham Jazab all do accents too.

'British Iranian standup commedienne' (or 'shappi khorsandi hot', I'm sure she'd be happy to know that's what you think), 'comedy Iranian women UK' would all be looking for Shappi Khorsandi. Here's a snippet of Shappi Khorsandi on BBC Persian.

'Tissa Hami on YouTube'? You'd actually do better to search on YouTube, but this is the Internet, so I've done it for you! You want this, this and this.

'Best comediennes list' - might feature Shappi Khorsandi, Tissa Hami, Sheila Vossough, Mona Mahani, Elham Jazab, Negin Farsad who are all 'Iranian standup female comediennes'.

'Iranian comedian at the Laugh Factory'? I thought that was Kinner Shah, but I think I was wrong about that.

'Gay Iranian comedian'? Ali Mafi.

'Iranian comedians in the UK' - Patrick Monahan, Jody Kamali, Omid Djalili, Shappi Khorsandi and her brother Payvand Khorsandi. Matthew Nouriel has a British accent and links too. So add him to that list.

'Iranian comedian on Comedy Central'? Probably Maz Jobrani.

Looking for an 'Jewish Iranian comedian' or 'Iranian Jewish comedian'? That could be Dan Ahdoot, Marvin Karrazi or Matt Kazam.

'Middle Eastern 3 comedians'? Probably the Axis of Evil comedy tour with Ahmed Ahmed, Aron Kader and Maz Jobrani. Other comedy tours in a similar vein include Allah Made Me Funny (with Preacher Moss), Negin Farsad's Bootleg Islam, Co-exist? featuring Tissa Hami.

'List of Arabic comedians'? Not yet.

Maz Jobrani explains ta'arof

Looking for a good, quick introduction to the Iranian concept of ta'arof? Starting at 8:10, Maz Jobrani explains ta'arof...

The ultimate list of Iranian stand-up comedians and comics

This list probably isn't definitive, but hopefully it's a start. Following the series of blog posts, for all Wikipedia contributors, lazy newspaper journalists, other bloggers and comedy fans, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you... the ultimate list of Iranian stand-up comedians.

• Ali Mafi
• Ali Sadooqi
• Dan Ahdoot
• Ebrahmi Nabavi
• Elham Jazab
• Eslami Anthony Shams
• Jody Kamali
• K-von
• Marvin Karrazi
• Matin Zabzehroo
• Matt Kazam
• Matthew Nouriel
• Max Amini
• Maz Jobrani
• Mohammad Ali Salimi
• Mona Mahani
• Negin Farsad
• Omid Djalili
• Pardis Parker
• Patrick Monahan
• Payvand Khorsandi
• Peter Shahriari
• Reza Peyk
• Sean Tahmasebi
• Shappi Khorsandi
• Sheila Vossough
• Tissa Hami
• Yashar Kafi

This list of 28 comedians, stand-ups, jokers and comics, male and female, is almost entirely people in the Iranian diaspora and includes people who are half Iranian, have maybe never set foot in Iran and maybe don't know a single word of Persian. So some of them are only vaguely Iranian. And some may have only ever done one stand-up gig, but thankfully someone posted it to YouTube. Some have had their own TV shows, other merely bit parts. Some have crossed the globe and others merely become famous in their city's Iranian community.

Disclaimer: If you know of other Iranian or Persian stand-up comedians or other good videos of Iranians doing stand-up comedy then add them to the comments. Most of this information was found using Google and YouTube.

Iranian comedians - a wordy introduction

This blog has been running a series of posts about Iranian/Persian standup comedians, but has tended to just let their comedy speak for itself. The New Statesman magazine in the UK ran an article on British Iranian comedians featuring Shappi Khorsandi, Omid Djalili, Patrick Monahan and Jody Kamali. It gives an introduction to the four and a bit of background to their comedy. Worth a read!

Iranian comedian - Pardis Parker

Pardis Parker has an Iranian father and a Sri Lankan mother, so he makes it onto the list. He's a quick-witted, sharp stand-up comedian, actor and music video director. He's had nationwide exposure on several all-black comedy jams and will be touring his native Canada in 2009.

His stand-up routine focuses less on his ethnic make-up and culture and more on general observation, the problems with fitting into society caused by his unique personality and you can tell by his big smile in the last video that he's just riffing and enjoying himself onstage.

His handicapped friend

His lack of social skills

Pardis Parker onstage

Iranain comedian - Ali Sadooqi

Ali Sadooqi is a Persian comedian who does stand-up, comedy songs and more. All videos below are in Persian.

Tehran 2008

Tehran 2008 photos by Kamshots on Flickr.

Iranian comedian - Peyvand Khorsandi

Brother of Shappi Khorsandi, son of Hadi Khorsandi and comedian in his own right. His comedy is high-brow, but with a smattering of accents and misunderstandings.

Three kings visit Jesus

Talking about Andre Agassi

On Persian culture (or not)

Bit of an awkward interview about Persian/Farsi, Iranian/Persian. Not very funny, either! You have to feel a bit sorry for the guy interviewing him.

On 300

Iranians in an elevator

Peyvand Khorsandi is on Facebook and he contributes regularly at Iranian.com.

Iranian comedienne - Shappi Khorsandi

Daughter of the famous, exiled Iranian satirist Hadi Khorsandi, Shappi Khorsandi is a popular and frequent guest on the BBC. She regularly appears on Newsnight, radio panel games and standup shows. There is an indepth profile on the Times website.

Discussing political correctness

Live at the Apollo

On parenthood and pregnancy

(Note - it's Shappi not Shappy, Chappy or Shapi the Iranian comedienne.)

Iranian comedian - Omid Djalili

Omid Djalili is a British-Iranian standup comedian. He's been working the comedy circuit in the UK and USA relentlessly for more than a decade. He's starred (normally as a squeaky-voice Arab character) in many films, an HBO special and even in a TV series in the US with Whoopi Goldberg. His stand up focuses on cultural differences, immigration and specialises in flipping, inverting and skewering identity. And of course, the popular subject of being Iranian vs. being Persian. His TV sketch show in the UK was pretty poor, but his stand up is hysterically funny, constantly switching between accents, his identity as both British and Iranian, a Londoner and a fat, bald man.

Jews vs. Christians

Nigerian parking attendant

Omid in America

At the London Palladium

Find out more about Omid Djalili on his website: http://www.omidnoagenda.com/

Iranian Revolution photo gallery

British newspaper The Times recently added a gallery of photos from the Iranian Revolution to their website. Most of the pictures are depressing, black and white shots of Khomeini, the US Embassy, burning effigies of the Shah, etc. All very out of step with the beautiful multi-colour Iran found on sites like Flickr.

"My mother did not become beautiful" -- Persian poem

Here's a video of a reading of the (translated) Persian poem 'My mother did not become beautiful', over music.