Welcome to Off Message. I'm Isaac DeVare. Today's guest, Maz Jobrani, the comedian and actor,

whom you might recognize from the show's Superior Donuts, or Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me,

or his stand-up, or all the times he's played a terrorist. I fit the profile, he joked to me.

He's Iranian, came here when he was six, on a visa that it's possible he overstayed.

He said he never got a clear answer from his parents about it. They came right after the Iranian

revolution. Joe Brani has a new Netflix special out August 1st called Immigrant, which we caught up in

New York recently to talk about. Part of it is about that story, coming to America, understanding his place here.

He talks about how his thinking has been challenged and reshaped by the political moment we're in.

Do you risk losing an audience?

Do you risk minimizing things that you care about?

Do you risk being too earnest, so you're not funny?

Joe Brani has a whole bit, for example, about going to protest the travel ban at LAX and how

he totally fell in love with the idea of protesting.

But then, once the police showed up, how differently he realized he was taking to it than some

of the white people who were there, at one point he said to me, Trump has emboldened racists.

There's no joke, there's no punchline, he said.

But then he added, but I think if you do that, you better have a punchline coming soon.

So a little dose of comedy amid the politics for this one.

It was an interesting conversation, and the special is worth your time, too.

But before you Netflix and chill to watch it, remember to subscribe and rate us on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast platform.

Episodes coming up, former Massachusetts Governor DeVal Patrick, on what the 2020 presidential election might look like for him,

Alaska Governor Bill Walker on being the only independent governor.

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