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"A funny, insightful memoir" (Kirkus Reviews) about growing up Iranian in America, and the quest to make it as an actor in Hollywood without having to wear a turban, tote a bomb, or get kicked in the face by Chuck Norris. After he emigrated with his family to the US during the Iranian Revolution, Maz Jobrani spent most of his youth trying to fit in with his adopted culture--learning to play baseball and religiously watching Dallas. But none of his attempts at assimilation made a difference to casting directors, who only auditioned him for the role of kebab-eating, bomb-toting, extremist psychopath. When he first started out in show business, Maz endured suggestions that he spice up his stand-up act by wearing "the outfit," fielded questions about rising gas prices, and was jeered for his supposed involvement in the Iran hostage crisis. In fact, these things happened so often that he began to wonder: Could I be a terrorist without even knowing it? And when all he seemed to be offered were roles that required looking menacingly Arabic, he wondered if he would ever make it in America. This laugh-out-loud memoir chronicles a lifetime of both killing it and bombing on stage, with "plenty to say about matters of race, assimilation, embarrassing family members, life in America for brown-skinned people before and after 9/11, the vagaries of international pop culture, and making it in big, dumb, fizzy, sometimes beautiful America" (The New York Times).… (meer)
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This was mostly memoirs highlighting important milestones in his life and he generally had a very amusing way of telling the tales. Of course the biggest problem he had was with his parents which I think is fairly common with children of immigrants. Most parents embarrass their children. Children of immigrants have the added issue that their parents are different and do and say ‘weird’ things.
Jobrani’s family happened to be pretty rich and his dad drove a Rolls Royce which helped him stick out in a crowd. Being picked up from school in a Rolls tended to garner attention, which is not what you want when you want to ‘blend in’.
He also had to fight against the family pressures to become a doctor, lawyer or some other ‘respectable’ profession. So he didn’t have much support when he tried acting and standup. But then how many really funny comics come out and say, “ya my family thought I was funny and pushed me into stand up comedy…”
Overall, I enjoyed the book and I think he did a good job of bringing up a topic that he has been working on for years, and is particularly timely right now with the current US election going on. And that is just being a Muslim doesn’t make someone a bad person wanting to blow up Americans. As a matter of fact there are plenty of American Muslims out there that adore our country as much as the rest of us. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. ( )
Informatie afkomstig uit de Engelse Algemene Kennis.Bewerk om naar jouw taal over te brengen.
Dedicated to Joe Rein, the man who reminded me to pursue my dream
Eerste woorden
Informatie afkomstig uit de Engelse Algemene Kennis.Bewerk om naar jouw taal over te brengen.
Hello there! Thanks for picking up my book.
Citaten
Laatste woorden
Informatie afkomstig uit de Engelse Algemene Kennis.Bewerk om naar jouw taal over te brengen.
What I'm saying is if we could all concentrate on the things we have in common and celebrate those things together, then we might succeed in making the world a better place and looking up, so that the next time a tree is about to fall on us we could zigzag and survive. Only to later be eaten by a bear.
"A funny, insightful memoir" (Kirkus Reviews) about growing up Iranian in America, and the quest to make it as an actor in Hollywood without having to wear a turban, tote a bomb, or get kicked in the face by Chuck Norris. After he emigrated with his family to the US during the Iranian Revolution, Maz Jobrani spent most of his youth trying to fit in with his adopted culture--learning to play baseball and religiously watching Dallas. But none of his attempts at assimilation made a difference to casting directors, who only auditioned him for the role of kebab-eating, bomb-toting, extremist psychopath. When he first started out in show business, Maz endured suggestions that he spice up his stand-up act by wearing "the outfit," fielded questions about rising gas prices, and was jeered for his supposed involvement in the Iran hostage crisis. In fact, these things happened so often that he began to wonder: Could I be a terrorist without even knowing it? And when all he seemed to be offered were roles that required looking menacingly Arabic, he wondered if he would ever make it in America. This laugh-out-loud memoir chronicles a lifetime of both killing it and bombing on stage, with "plenty to say about matters of race, assimilation, embarrassing family members, life in America for brown-skinned people before and after 9/11, the vagaries of international pop culture, and making it in big, dumb, fizzy, sometimes beautiful America" (The New York Times).
Jobrani’s family happened to be pretty rich and his dad drove a Rolls Royce which helped him stick out in a crowd. Being picked up from school in a Rolls tended to garner attention, which is not what you want when you want to ‘blend in’.
He also had to fight against the family pressures to become a doctor, lawyer or some other ‘respectable’ profession. So he didn’t have much support when he tried acting and standup. But then how many really funny comics come out and say, “ya my family thought I was funny and pushed me into stand up comedy…”
Overall, I enjoyed the book and I think he did a good job of bringing up a topic that he has been working on for years, and is particularly timely right now with the current US election going on. And that is just being a Muslim doesn’t make someone a bad person wanting to blow up Americans. As a matter of fact there are plenty of American Muslims out there that adore our country as much as the rest of us. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. ( )