Saman Arbabi (; born 1973) is an

Iranian-American Iranian-Americans, also known as Persian-Americans, are United States citizens or nationals who are of Iranian ancestry, or who hold Iranian citizenship. Most Iranian-Americans arrived in the United States after 1979, as a result of the Irani ...

journalist, video director, cartoonist, host, creator, and executive producer of

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is an international broadcasting network funded by the federal government of the United States that by law has editorial independence from the government. It is the largest and oldest of the American internation ...

's satirical television shows '' Parazit'' and '' OnTen''. His work has been called "civic satire", comedy with a political and media mission.

Early life

Arbabi was born in

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

Imperial State of Iran Imperial is that which relates to an empire, Emperor, emperor/empress, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania ...

in 1973 and moved to France at the age of 12. He moved to France in 1985 and the United States in 1986. He has a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

in Communications with a Minor in Art from the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

University College.

Career

Saman Arbabi started his career as an intern for the popular DC-based radio show '' Diamond in the Morning'' after an ABC radio show producer, who liked his sense of humor, invited him to leave his job as a cook at

Hooters Hooters is the registered trademark used by two American restaurant chains: Hooters, Inc., based in Clearwater, Florida, and Hooters of America, Inc. based in Atlanta, Georgia, and owned by the private investment firm Nord Bay Capital (with Tr ...

and work with the station. In 2003, he was hired at

(VOA) as the first Iranian

video journalist Video journalism or videojournalism is a form of journalism, where the journalist shoots, edits and often presents their own video material. Background A predecessor to video journalism first appeared in the 1960s in the USA, when reporters had to ...

. As a video journalist and war correspondent, he covered

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a federal elective monarchy made up of seven emirates, with Abu Dhabi serving as i ...

and the 2006

IAEA The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was established in 1957 ...

talks in

Vienna, Austria Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. He produced and reported over 100 stories from the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

and

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

''Parazit''

In 2009, Saman Arbabi created the show '' Parazit'', a weekly half-hour Persian language satirical show. ''Parazit'' has been called "''The Daily Show'' of Iran" and "Iran's best and least-loved show" and was one of the most popular shows in Iran, with an estimated 35 million viewers. Arbabi's progressive and edgy style was copied so much in Iran, it prompted Iranians to coin a new term: "Paraziti," meaning "like Parazit," to refer to fans who dressed him. Parazit's success inside Iran prompted Iran's state-run media to launch character assassinations against Arbabi and his work, even creating its own satirical show to counter the effects of Parazit.

''The Daily Show'' appearance

On January 20, 2011, Saman Arbabi and co-host Kambiz Hosseini made an appearance on ''

The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk show, late-night talk and news satire television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central in the United States, with extended episodes released shortly after on Paramount+ ...

'' as guests. At the end of the segment,

Jon Stewart Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz, November 28, 1962) is an American comedian, writer, producer, director, political commentator, actor, and television host. The long-running host of ''The Daily Show'' on Comedy Central from 1999 to 20 ...

proclaimed, "I just want to tell you, you are like our show, but with real guts and I'm proud to be considered in the same fraternity of humor that you guys are in."

''OnTen and Tablet''

In 2011 he created the award-winning hit political satire show '' OnTen'', which has become Iran's second most popular satire show, after ''Parazit'', with over one million

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

fans combined. In 2015 he created the Persian show Tablet hosted by prominent human rights activist and journalist Masih Alinejad. Tablet has become the second most influential Iranian show since Parazit. The Iranian government continues to threat, scrutinize and attempt to discredit Arbabi's work.

Collaborations

In 2013 Arbabi gave a talk at

SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

entitled Iranian Outlaws: Satire vs. Censorship in which, among other things, he unveiled "Weapons of Mouse Destruction," the largest global art project against internet censorship. For Weapons of Mouse Destruction he worked with counter-culture artist

Shepard Fairey Frank Shepard Fairey (born February 15, 1970) is an American contemporary artist, activist and founder of OBEY Clothing who emerged from the skateboarding scene. In 1989, he designed the " Andre the Giant Has a Posse" (...OBEY...) sticker campa ...

, invited

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co-founder Evan Williams to participate in the campaign. In an election-day special broadcast on June 14, 2013, OnTen featured a segment on street artist JR's Inside Out Project and aired a special message to the Iranian people from U2's

Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by the nickname Bono ( ), is an Irish singer-songwriter and activist. He is a founding member, the lead vocalist, and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Bono is known for his impassioned voca ...

Awards/special recognition

*2004 - Voice of America Award for Excellence in Programming (coverage of Afghanistan) *2006 - Voice of America Superior Accomplishment Award (Lebanese-Israeli war of 2006) *2007 – Music Video "Edeaa" Tribeca Film Festival Selection *2008 - Winner of The World Academy of Arts, Literature, And Media (WAALM) *2009 - Voice of America Superior Accomplishment Award (Iranian election uprising) *2011 - Voice of America Gold Medal Award Winner (VOA's highest honor) *2012 - Bronze medal at New York Festival's Best Television and Films award *2012 - Washington Life magazine's "The Young And The Guest List" (Washington DC's up and coming young residents that could potentially help run our nation's capital). *2013 - CINE Golden Eagle Spring 2013 Special Recognition for Televised Series

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Arbabi, Saman 1973 births Living people Journalists from Tehran Iranian emigrants to the United States University of Maryland Global Campus alumni Voice of America people