Negin Farsad
Featured Comedian & Director/Producer
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Negin was born and raised by Iranian parents in the desert of Southern California. Her unwavering commitment to social change led her to Cornell University Government program as an undergraduate and then to Columbia’s School of International & Public Affairs where she earned a Masters in Public Policy. Before surrendering to the world of comedy, she worked as a policy advisor for the City of New York.
Negin is the director/producer of the current feature film release, Nerdcore Rising, a comedy about Nerdcore hip hop. The film premiered at the prestigious South by Southwest Film Festival, continuing on in the festival circuit to winning Audience Favorite awards, the jury prize for Best Documentary Film, and a Best Director award. The film had a limited theatrical release then went on to DVD, selling enough copies in its first month to be on Amazon’s top ten list.
Farsad also recently developed and wrote the MTV series, “Detox” and directed and produced the Comedy Central series, “The Watch List.” She wrote for the first season of the upcoming PBS cartoon series, “1001 Nights.” You can also see her as on-air host and writer for IFC News and for AOL. She originally earned her film chops as a producer and story editor on the film A Cricket in the Court of Akbar where she produced an 8-week shoot on location in Rajasthan, India. Her short film Iran-ing on Empty, which she wrote, directed and appeared in, has been a selection of numerous comedy festivals while her other short film Hot Bread Kitchen won first place in the Lifetime Television Women in Filmmaking Awards. She is thrilled to join Obeidallah for yet another project – the last time they worked together was for a short film commissioned by Queen Rania of Jordan for her video project to dispel Middle-Eastern stereotypes around the world. That film completed a series of shorts that garnered the Youtube Visionary Award for Queen Rania. As a standup comedian she has opened for the likes of (Senator) Al Franken in venues ranging from the Laugh Factory in New York, the Comedy Store in Los Angeles, and Town Hall on Broadway. Her work has been called “‘Smart, funny and fascinating” by the Wall Street Journal, “hilarious & delightful” by Salon, and a “a shining exception” by the Dallas Morning News.
Dean Obeidallah
Featured Comedian & Director/Producer
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Dean’s comedy comes in large part from his unique background of being the son of a Palestinian, Muslim father and a Sicilian, Catholic mother. Dean, an award-winning comedian who was at one time a practicing attorney, has appeared on “The Axis of Evil” Comedy TV special, which aired in the US on Comedy Central and in the Middle East on Showtime Arabia. He is the co-creator of Comedy Central.com’s critically acclaimed Internet series “The Watch List” featuring a cast of all Middle Eastern-American comedians performing stand up and sketch comedy. Dean has appeared twice on ABC’s “The View,” on the nationally syndicated TV series “Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen” and was one of five comedians profiled in the recent one hour TV Special entitled: “Stand Up: Muslim-American Comics Come of Age” which aired in the US on PBS and internationally on BBC World and Al Jazeera.
Dean is the co-creator/co-producer of the New York Arab-American Comedy Festival also serves as the Executive Director of The Amman Stand up Comedy Festival – the only annual stand up comedy festival in Middle East history.
Dean has appeared on numerous international and national television and radio programs including CNN’s “What The Week,” “American Morning” and “The Situation Room,” CNN Headline News’ “The Joy Behar Show,” PBS’ “Newshour with Jim Lehrer,” ABC’s “Nightline,” HD’s “Dan Rather Reports,” Fox News’ “Geraldo at Large,” Al Jazeera’s “Min Washington,” MBC’s morning show, “Democracy Now with Amy Goodman,” NPR’s “All Things Considered,” and CNN International’s “Inside the Middle East.” In addition, he has been featured in various publications including Time magazine, Newsweek, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The Los Angeles Times and he frequently writes for The Huffington Post.
He also co-created the comedy show “Stand up for Peace” along with Jewish comic Scott Blakeman as a way of fostering understanding between Arab, Muslim and Jewish-Americans.
Aron Krader
Featured Comedian
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Bio coming soon.
Preacher Moss
Featured Comedian
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Bio coming soon.
Karim Omary
Featured Comedian
Website
Bio coming soon.
Maysoon Zayid
Featured Comedian
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Maysoon is an actress and professional standup comedian, who received her BFA in acting from Arizona State University. She is the co-founder and co-executive producer of the New York Arab American Comedy Festival and can be seen on Comedy Central’s The Watch List, PBS’s America at a Crossroads: Muslim Comics Stand Up, and in Adam Sandler’s You Don’t Mess With Zohan. In the fall of 2006, Maysoon debuted her one-woman show LAW at LA’s Comedy Central Space which was produced and directed by the legendary Kathy Najimy. In 2008, her screenplay LAW was chosen for the Sundance Screenwriters Lab and is now slated to begin production with Maysoon as the lead. Currently she is a headliner on the Arabs Gone Wild Comedy Tour. As a professional comedian, Maysoon has performed stand-up in top New York clubs, and has toured extensively in the USA as well as Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. She has also appeared on As The World Turns, Law & Order, MTV, NBC Nightly News, CNN, ABC’s 20/20, The New York Times, and BBC. She is a graduate of The Hala Salaam Maksoud Foundation for Arab-American Leadership and a delegate from the great state of NJ to the 2008 Democratic National Convention. She spends 3 months a year in Palestine where she runs Maysoon’s Kids, a scholarship and wellness program for disabled and wounded refugee children and orphans.
Omar Elba
Featured Comedian
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Omar is an Egyptian-born actor/comic living in Los Angeles, California. Within a few months of doing stand-up, Omar has taken the comedy world by storm and has received international recognition from producers and seasoned comics alike. His accolades include a spot on SHOWTIME’s ‘Legally Brown,’ which premiers May 2011, and participation in comedy festivals and shows all over the world. Some of his credits include shows in New York, Texas, the Middle East, and in his home state of California. Having lived in Egypt, Europe and the U.S.A., his material appeals to a wide variety of audiences. His experiences and interactions with people from all over the globe, from the street vendors of Cairo to the gun-totin’ cowboys of Texas, have given Omar the unique insight of finding humor in all types of crazy this world has to offer! His ability to mimic voices and mannerisms brings these characters to life in hilarious impressions.
Also Featuring:
Aasif Mandvi
Aasif is the resident brown correspondent on the Daily Show. He has also been seen on numerous television shows; ER, The Sopranos, Sex and the City, CSI, Oz, Ed, The Bedford Diaries, Jericho, Sleeper Cell and various editions of Law & Order, including Criminal Intent, Special Victims Unit and Trial by Jury.
Maz Jobrani
Bio coming soon.
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