By David Gavri

Maz Jobrani is a Persian American stand up comedian who was raised in the San Fransisco Bay Area, where he earned a degree at UC Berkeley. He was later accepted into UCLA’s Ph.D. program. While there, Maz visited the university’s prestigious theater program and was immediately hooked on acting—something he was involved with as a kid. He left the Ph.D. program and decided to pursue his childhood passion of acting and performing.

Maz’s first big break came as a founding member of the Axis of Evil Comedy Central Special, which premiered in 2007. It was the first show on American television with an all Middle Eastern American cast. The tour performed in the United States, and later went over to the Middle East, selling out shows in Dubai, Beirut, Cairo, Kuwait, and Amman, Jordan—where they performed in front of the king and queen.

Maz followed up his Axis of Evil tour with a Showtime special, Maz Jobrani: Brown & Friendly, for which he toured all over the world. He is currently working on his next special, Browner & Friendlier.

Since then, Maz has made TV appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Lopez Tonight, Comedy Central’s Premium Blend, and The Colbert Report. Maz has also played roles in Ice Cube’s Friday After Next and Sydney Pollack’s The Interpreter.

And after selling out the entire weekend at The Improv, Maz took the time out of his busy schedule to hang with us and share his story. Continue reading →