“This is why I’m Hot” , the theme song to Lebanese Comic Nemr Abou Nasser. Nemr represents a grand sector of Lebanese population that was forced to immigrate out of Lebanon due to the war. After living in the USA for a period of time, Nemr returns to Lebanon to study at the American University in Beirut (AUB) and single handedly start the Lebanese comedy circuit. His jokes are mixed with sexual comedy, cynical comedy, and cultural eccentricities.
Nemr associates with Bassma (a social development initiative sans political or religious association) and Children’s Cancer Center Lebanon.
Peter the persian, the self proclaimed comedioligist is a blast. Born in Tehran “the Denver of the Middle East”, Peter spent most of his young life in Iran before moving the United States to persue his higher education. Having majored in Political Sciences and earned his JD, Peter is both a practacing lawyer and a professional comediologist in his current how town of Los Angeles and you can usually catch him as a regular at the Comedy Store.
Peter’s favourite comedy sets include a lot of satirical comedy which he delivers with mastery, I literally could not stop laughing the first time I watched this clip:
Maz Jobrani is a very intelligent comic. He likes to build up his jokes really well and delivers fierce punch-lines. Honestly, Maz seems to be an over-worked actor having a long list of roles on both big screen and small screen shows in different dramatic and comedic situations. Maz is born in Tehran, Iran and he grew up in California. After starting a degree path for a PhD in political sciences, Maz had an epiphany during a conversation with a 60 year old coworker (who never got to see his dreams come to fruition) and returned to his passions of theatre and acting.
Drawing material from oddities in both the political parties in the United States and in Iran (during the Bush / Ahmedinajad darama) Maz put together his best known material on both figures …
As with many other Middle Eastern American comedians, Maz is now working towards giving back to his community both in Iran and to the immigrant Iranian population wherever they reside, in this interview Maz talks about his work and his ambitions …
Aron Kader is a Palestinian-American, Muslim morman comedian from DC. Unlike several of his fellow Arab-American comedians, Aron is a professional performer who studied in the performing arts and honed his comic skills both within the Los Angeles comedy club circuit as well as in the “The Groundings” Sunday sketch theatre company.
One of the things that makes Aron unique is that he gives back to the Middle Eastern community, not just through countless hours of fun and entertainment, but also through formal education. Aron is the first person to formally teach comedy in the Middle East both in 2008 when he taught comedy to a classroom of Jordanian students prior to the “Amman Comedy Festival” -- cofounded by his fellow comic Dean Obeidallah- and in 2009 when he set-up a four week comedy workshop during the Dubai Shopping Festival.
Dean Obeidallah is a uniquely Palestinian, Italian, American Comic. Born in New Jersey and educated in Law, Dean somehow ends up as a world renown comedian and the co-founder of the Arab American Comedy festival along with Maysoon Zayid.
Dean’s style of comedy is typically very personal where he uses events from his life growing up in a multicultural house-hold in America to connect with his audience and deliver a very personal message from a very nice guy. Dean draws from the personality clashes of an Arab-Muslim father, with a Sicilian Mother growing up in a primarily Italian-American community in New Jersey. He also delivers a wealth of political comedy and satire that is understandable considering the unique role that Arab American comics play as Ambassadors for the Middle East in the United States, as well as Ambassadors for the general American public to the Middle East.
Be sure to check out Dean’s shows on the comedy central online channel …
After breaking all box-office records at the Edinburgh Festival and then going on a forty date sell-out tour across the UK, this is Omid's greatest show, recorded live at The Long Palladium captured in all its glory.
