Dan Ahdoot, Jewish Iranian American comic, on holidays and life in America

FINDING MY RELIGION
Dan Ahdoot, Jewish Iranian American comic, on holidays and life in America
David Ian Miller, Special to SF Gate
Monday, December 11, 2006


The latkes will have all been eaten, the menorahs blown out and the dreidels put away. Hanukkah will be over by the time Christmas rolls around this year. So what's a Jew to do on a day when nearly everyone else seems occupied?

On Dec. 25, many Jews adhere to an ancient tradition: going out for Chinese food and a movie. But in San Francicso there is another option: Kung Pao Kosher Comedy. The annual event features four hot-and-sour Jewish comics and a seven-course Chinese banquet, complete with Yiddish proverbs in the fortune cookies. The evening has a distinctly Jewish flair, but anyone who has overloaded on "Jingle Bells" and "It's a Wonderful Life" is welcome.

On the roster this year is comedian Dan Ahdoot, a first-generation Jewish Iranian American who has opened for Lewis Black, Jay Mohr and Patton Oswalt. I spoke with Ahdoot recently about the holiday season, religious heritage, hecklers, and what it's like to be Sephardic -- a Jew of Arabic, Persian or Iberian lineage -- in a country where most Jews are Ashkenazim.



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A lot of Jews -- and other non-Christians as well -- aren't too sure what to do with themselves on Christmas. It can be a strange time. What do you usually do?
It's a day where I like to reconnect with all my Jewish friends -- they're the only ones with free time.

You're a first-generation Iranian Jew. Did your ethnic background make it more interesting to be Jewish even in a city as diverse as New York?

I grew up in Great Neck, N.Y., which is actually a hotbed of Iranian Jewry, so I didn't really know that I was very different until I went to college. That's when I realized, "Weird! People haven't met someone from a group that's, like, .0001 percent of the population in America!"

Was your family religious?

They would go to synagogue on Saturday and keep kosher in the house. Nothing too crazy, but Jewish identity was definitely a big part of my upbringing.

Your family is Sephardic Jews. How does that differ from growing up in an Ashkenazi home?

I guess the biggest thing would be that we have flavor in our food [laughs]. And, of course, we have thicker eyebrows!

It's very tribal. Sephardic Jews tend to be very family-oriented. My family gets together every Friday night for Shabbat [the Sabbath] -- my grandparents and all of my cousins. There are about 60 of us. And we do that on all the Jewish holidays.

What do you do when you're together?

We hang out, talk, eat. There's a lot of debate and a lot of loud conversations about politics and stuff. It's kind of a crazy scene, but it's all very loving -- men kissing one another on the cheek and stuff like that.

When and why did your family leave Iran?

My family left in the early '70s because they saw that things were not looking too great for them. Religious persecution has been sort of status quo there for thousands of years, at least since the Islamic invasion. It was normal that Jews weren't allowed to go outside while it was raining, because people said they were going to dirty up the streets and stuff like that. At the time they left, it was starting to get a little crazy, with religious extremists getting more power. It was time to get out.

Did all your family get out?

Some relatives weren't as lucky as we were and left in '78 or '79. They had to escape through the mountains. There are still family members there, but most of them are here now.

You were born here. Have you ever visited Iran?

No.

Does that bother you?

Yeah, very much so.

I guess you could go, right?

Well, sure. I could get in easily, but leaving might be tough. My last name is kind of a prominent Jewish last name in Iran. They can create a lot of problems for you if they find out you're Jewish.

You hear a lot of grim stories about life in Iran, and sometimes it's difficult to imagine how people there live their everyday lives. Is there Iranian comedy? A specific sort of Iranian humor?

I'm not sure, but I have a feeling the censors would try to make it very unfunny.

Does the classic borscht belt kind of kitschy Jewish humor appeal to you?

Not really. I don't really consider myself a Jewish comedian. I consider myself a comedian who happens to be Jewish. You know what I mean?

So your ethnic background isn't front and center in your act?

It's definitely a big part of it, but it's not the whole thing. I have things that happen to me every day that don't even relate to me being Iranian or whatever. But pretty much every show I have some material about being Jewish and Iranian.

I think people have a lot of misconceptions about both groups. I've done shows in the middle of the country where people think Jews are just people with black hats and curlicue sideburns. And they assume most people from the Middle East are terrorists. I'm not kidding. I like to think I show them that's not the case.

You once said that "I was an Iranian up until Sept. 11, and now I'm Puerto Rican. It makes life a lot easier." Is it difficult to be part of a cultural heritage that isn't universally beloved?

I was joking, of course. But it's true that sometimes people misjudge you based on appearance. I'm actually very pro-American, and I'm pro-Israel, but physically I look like I'd be pro-Taliban.

You were accepted into medical school when you decided to become a comedian. And I know you make jokes about your parents not being able to say, "My son the doctor." How did your parents react when you took up comedy as a profession?

They were pretty devastated. You know, they went from having everything in Iran to basically starting over in America. They wanted us to all have very secure lives, which is normal, I guess. And what's more secure and Jewish than being a doctor? So they sent me to Johns Hopkins and paid hundreds of thousands of dollars, and then I decided to go on my own.

Have they since forgiven you?

I don't know if it's a matter of forgiving. They have accepted what I do now, and they are actually big fans of my act.

Do you consider yourself a pretty religious person?

No, not really. I consider myself Jewish by identity, but I'm not much into the religion.

But you do consider yourself culturally Jewish? That's important to you?

Very much so. I just feel a bond whenever I meet a Jewish person. It's like having the same heritage or similar upbringing. And I can feel it as much with an Ashkenazi as I can with an Iranian. There is just something there that can't be denied.

Do you believe in God?

Not really. I'm more of an agnostic. I don't know what's up there, and I'm fine without having an answer.

Does it bother your parents that you're not very religious?

It does. I think they are somewhat in denial. My mom still thinks that I keep kosher in the house, which is not true. She doesn't want to admit to it.

Don't they want you to settle down with a nice Jewish girl?

They've been wanting that since I was 12. They keep talking bout grandkids. They keep saying it's time.

And what do you tell them?

Anything that will get them off my back.

You've done comedy shows since you were in college. Has your shtick changed over the years?

Well, my shtick is more real to me and I'm a lot more confident onstage. I'm performing five or six days a week, so I'm definitely honing my skills.

Do you ever get heckled?

Oh yeah. Of course.

How do you handle that?

I put the heckler back in his place. I mean, I don't pull a Michael Richards, but I've done probably 10,000 comedy shows, and I've been hit with everything. So I know how to handle it.

Do you have any advice for Jews during the Christmas season?

Stay away from Mel Gibson.

Were you always a funny guy? Did people laugh at your jokes when you were a kid?

I was always the class clown -- less so now, actually, since I do it for a living. I feel like I'm working when I'm offstage and trying to be funny. But yeah, I was always the smallest kid in school, so I kind of had to -- people made fun of me and stuff -- so I had to get back at them, you know? And make fun of them.


Kung Pao Kosher Comedy takes place in San Francisco, Friday, Dec. 22, through Monday, Dec. 25. For more information, visit www.koshercomedy.com.


Finding My Religion wants to hear from you. Send comments on stories and suggestions for interview subjects to miller@sfgate.com.



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During his far-flung career in journalism, Bay Area writer and editor David Ian Miller has worked as a city hall reporter, personal finance writer, cable television executive and managing editor of a technology news site. His writing credits include Salon.com, Wired News and The New York Observer.