Iranian-American Actor/Comedian: Maz Jobrani, Original Photo: MazJobrani.com

Iranian-American actor and mega-comedian, Maz Jobrani, is set to star in ABC’s first Iranian-American comedy pilot based on Firoozeh Dumas’s book about growing up in the 1970s in Newport Beach, California: Funny in Farsi.

For those that know, Persian humor is truly some of the most clever and unique form of comedy. And with Maz Jobrani’s timing and skills, we’re positive that he’ll be providing some authentic Persian flavor to the mainstream tube; which will surely prove to be funny in English as well.

How does Maz feel about being a part of this project?

“Like Tony the Tiger,” he tells us. “Grrrrrrreeeat!”

East-Coast-bred Iranian comedian, Max Amini, is set to tape a comedy show for the Showtime network: “Bridging the Gap: The Middle East Comedy Talks“.

“I will be doing a live taping for Showtime Saturday, Dec. 12th,” the comedian tells us. ”The show will be hosted by Ahmed-Ahmed and the line-up is great.”

In addition to his Showtime gig, Max was also recently chosen to be a part of the “NBC Diversity Showcase” this year. Read the full story

Washington, DC — Anyone who has seen the aftermath of the Iranian election on the news or online, has been undeniably rocked to their human core by the violent backlash Iranians have received for speaking up and asking for their long-overdue freedom(s). Yet, the original party-people and poets of the world: the Iranians, have taken their rebuttal to Ahmadinejad’s statement about the people who protested the outcome of this year’s Iranian election (and his “presidency”) to a new, perhaps romantic level.

Read the full story

The Shahnameh (Book of Kings), was written by Persian literary-master: Ferdosi (also spelled Ferdowsi). The Persian literary masterpiece, amassed over several decades in the tenth and eleventh centuries, is a collection of some 60,000 couplets full of Persian Miniatures created to illustrate scenes from the Persian epic, and has now reemerged in the form of HYPERWERKS‘ highly-entertaining comic book  series: Rostam – Tales from the Shahnameh.

Read the full story

Photo Credit: Hilary Jones

WASHINGTON, DC – From the release of Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi (who is incidentally half-Japanese) to the elections in Iran, Iranians continue to be quite the headline-nabbing theme du jour. And we’ve got another one for you to add to the list of Iranian notables: Dr. Reza Aslan. An assistant professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside, Aslan is a coveted commentator on CNN, CBS, NPR, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. 

Read the full story

“Organized by the Smithsonian Institution’s Arthur M. Sackler Galleryin collaboration with The Moscow Kremlin Museums, this presentation features more than sixty exceptional objects that large embassies, diplomatic missions, and trade delegations from Ottoman Turkey and Safavid Iran offered to the tsars of Russia.”

Read the full story

Check out this animated clip from the comic book series Rostam: Tales From the Shanameh by Hyperwerks.

The Shahnameh (book of kings) which was “written by Ferdowsi over 1000 years ago [is about a] Perisan mythological hero, Rostam [who] battles his son, Sohrab.”

Read the full story

Click here to buy your copy of Mahbod Seraji’s compelling book: Rooftops of Tehran.

Be sure to check back soon to read Persianesque.com’s exclusive interview with the Iranian author.

Thirty years after the Iranian Islamic revolution comes a new novel, My Persian Girl, which describes the momentous events in 1979 through the eyes of an Englishman, involved in a dangerous relationship with the wife of one of the Shah of Iran’s senior secret police officers

Swirling unseen currents of religious, ethnic and social tensions lie under the surface of Iran’s booming capital, Tehran, in 1978 when unsuspecting Englishman, James Harding, arrives to take up a new job.

Read the full story

Looking for a way to start teaching your kids the Persian language?

Read the full story