Tehran Von Ghasri:
"What's in a Name? Everything"
Exhibit by Elinor Amir-Lobel and Joseph Meyer
Tehran Von Ghasri travels the world performing comedy and is an incredibly profound individual. He can pull meaning and depth and nuance out of every person and concept, and with a mixed bag of Iranian, African American, Egyptian, and Mizrahi Jewish heritage, his upbringing gave him the tools necessary to understand language in a much deeper way than most, listening closely to others’ speech and pulling the finer details out of accents. Growing up in a household rife with so many different languages and accents—Farsi, Arabic, Hebrew, French, “and sometimes English”—gave him an appreciation for the importance of language contact and the intersectionality of culture within it. He notes that while accents in the US are often seen as a sign of lesser intellect, accents should be a reminder that a person has knowledge of additional languages and has received a multidimensional education which should not be underestimated. Tehran’s religious background spans Judaism, Islam, and Zoroastrianism, with the former being the most prevalent. In his comedy he celebrates his heritage, making light of how society perceives his identity and using humor as a bridge to connect strangers. One such stranger and fellow USC student, when asked about her thoughts on Tehran’s comedy, was ecstatic to describe her previous experiences meeting him and how, as a Jewish and Persian fan, his comedy has resonated with her own life.
Tehran talks Iranian food, growing up mixed, and Persian culture—and does it all in Farsi!
Analysis of video
In a video produced thirteen years ago, a younger Tehran demonstrates his Farsi fluency. He orders Iranian food, talks about his parents, his Farsi acquisition—which he summarizes by saying about his dad, “I either had to learn Farsi or he had to learn English”—and his memories of visiting Iran, including one particular memory of a sacrificial lamb. Tehran was born and raised in Washington, DC, where his parents met in college, and at the time of the video was studying law at Georgetown University.
The video ends with a satirized “test” of Iranian vs. American ethnicity. Questions such as “Are you usually early or late to your appointments?”, “Moeen or Michael Jackson?”, “Is Obama with us or not?”, and “Dentist or basketball player?” determine that Tehran is, at heart, “30% American, 30% from both cultures, and 40% Iranian.” These questions, of course, oversimplify each culture by its stereotypes, but they do show Tehran’s uniqueness and individuality. His preferences and behaviors are his, and his alone, whether they seem more Iranian, American, or other.
Analysis of comments
Under the YouTube video, the comments range from compliments on Tehran’s excellent Farsi to his hilarious comedy. A very large number of the comments come from fellow Iranians and mixed Iranians describing Tehran as a “role model” and taking pride in his commitment to Persian culture. A few commenters used terms of endearment in Farsi—“Azizam [my dear] so cute, I’m so proud of you”—or Farsi slang—“LMAO!!! This video is the GREATEST! I laughed my ass off. Sheytoonee [shrewd/tricky, used as a compliment]!”—to demonstrate their specific connection to Persian and Farsi.
Tehran hosts the 2018 Love International Film Festival, making jokes about Persian culture, Jewish moms, and his mixed ethnicities.
Analysis of video
In a host set four years ago for the Love International Film Festival, a celebration of film across an international community, Tehran immediately begins his set with an impersonation of an Iranian man surprised at his fluency in Farsi. “‘Oh my god, I cannot believe it, you speak the Farsi, it doesn’t even look like you speak the Farsi’, and I’m looking at him like ‘Oh my god, I cannot believe you speak the English.’" Italics in the above quote represent Tehran’s mock Iranian accent in English. Tehran told us in our interview that while he doesn’t consider himself to be good at doing voices or accents, he is able to replicate specific phonological details by listening closely to others. His accent in the video includes song-like intonation between clauses (marked in the italicized quote by commas), and pronunciation differences such as “gaahd” instead of “god”, a voiced alveolar lateral approximant in the world “believe”, instead of the unmarked English “l” sound, and a generally higher pitch. The added word “the” in “the Farsi” and “the English” are used to demonstrate the subject’s lesser familiarity with English and English grammar as a result of the subject being an adult language learner. Tehran delves into the relationship between his cultural identities and being an American, as despite his cultural and ethnic backgrounds, he is still often perceived as a born and raised American. This is reflective of the importance of an accent in American perception of nationality and ethnicity—a mainstream American accent trumps superficial perception of American versus non-American identity.
Further along in his set, Tehran talks with an Iranian man in the crowd about language contact in the United States between Farsi and English within his family. Tehran specifically delves into his father’s accidental switches between using Farsi and English. “He’ll say the meanest things to people. He’ll just be like, ‘Tehran, fat ugly girl!’ Like bubba, she understands ‘fat, ugly girl’, like that’s not Farsi bro.” This linguistic behavior of accidental switches shows that through his father living in the United States over the past thirty years, his contextual usage of Farsi and English has often coalesced through translanguaging, which is a linguistic “theory [that] dismantles named language categories and takes up an internal perspective to describe the languaging of speakers who are said to be bilingual or multilingual” (Vogel and García 2017). The theory holds that rather than languages being separate in a multilingual speaker’s mind, they exist together in a singular repertoire from which items, regardless of named languages, are pulled when speaking.
Analysis of comments
While there is not a very broad array of comments publicly shared, many are supportive, with one comment showering him in much adoration, reading, “He's extremely funny to people who love to laugh, hate to laugh or never laughed ever. The man is a talented genius that everyone recognizes.” Responding to Tehran’s video there is one negative comment that simply notes, “He’s not funny.” However, one of Tehran’s Iranian supporterss responds with more shared love to Tehran, dismissing the negative comment. Tehran speaks to a proud, shared community within his comedy, which greatly appreciates Tehran’s emphasis on his own heritage and backgrounds.
Respondent interview
Eve, a Persian Jewish University of Southern California student, recalls a show she attended with her sister and her sister’s boyfriend. “Look at this guy!” Tehran gestures to the boyfriend. “He’s so Middle Eastern he looks like his name is KKHHHHH!” Eve said that this was hilarious, and everyone (including the boyfriend) burst out laughing. Tehran’s usage of “KKHHHHH” in the joke refers to a marked feature that Americans most commonly associate with Middle Eastern languages. There is a sense of camaraderie when interacting with members of your ethnic ingroup, and the humor that resonates only with those that share your experiences and understand your personal story creates a deeper connection than any other. When shown the video of Tehran doing a Persian accent Eve noted that, although it is not perfect, it can clearly be understood as an Iranian immigrant accent and that it reminds her of certain family members. When asked about the acceptability of accent imitations, she responded that she thinks that, “The line between offensive and not offensive is blurry, but it has to do with which groups have been discriminated against or marginalized historically. Aside from a comedian’s own background, for example, it is generally acceptable for anyone to imitate a European accent.” Eve also talked about the intent behind the accent, stating that a comedian “can also do any accent tastefully as long as the culture, the ethnicity, or the people from which the accent is taken is not the butt of the joke.”
When asked about Jewish comedy, Eve prudently noted that it is simultaneously self-deprecating and self-affirming. Jews share a dark history filled with atrocities, yet, inversely, there is a tendency towards being proud of Jewish identity rather than apprehensive or ashamed. In Tehran’s words, “There is a difference between being proud of who you are and having pride. Being proud means you love yourself, and having pride means hating others in order to love yourself.”
Comedian interview
Here are some excerpts from Tehran's responses to our questions:
“There are times when I feel like people don’t know how comedy works. They don’t understand what comedy is about. They don’t understand the exaggeration and absurdity that comes along with comedy. I’d like to just say to a lot of people, just because you’re offended doesn’t mean you’re right. On the flip side, just because something’s offensive doesn’t mean it’s funny. True comedy lies somewhere in between. There’s a fine line in that. There are times where people are or have been, even though it’s very few, they’ve been offended by my portrayal. I express, much like there’s an amazing show on Hulu called Ramy, based on my friend Ramy Youseff, who’s an amazing comedian and brilliant mind. That show isn’t called 'Arabs,' and it’s not called 'Arab American' and it’s not called 'Egyptians' or 'Egyptian Americans' or even 'Egyptian Americans in New Jersey.' The show is called Ramy. It is based on Ramy. You can’t tell Ramy how to be Ramy, which is why everything I do is basically under the understanding of the moniker of Tehran. My shows are based on Tehran. They are based on me. You can’t tell me how to be me or do me or act like me or my family or my experiences. I have them and they’re extremely valid. That’s why comedy is so important. Comedy is the stage for people to share and tell their stories. That space includes everybody.
Tehran discusses sensitivity within comedy
“There are a lot of jokes in Hebrew for example with different dialects of Jews. And I don’t do those jokes because they’re putting them down. And I’m sure [Elinor] knows exactly what I’m referring to. And in Persian it’s the same, there are different groups of people who speak Farsi with an accent, and those jokes are meant to put them down, and I don’t do those jokes either. I don’t find humor in hurting people. They’re utilizing it in the historical way, and that there’s this new modern progressive way which has changed it. And it’s created a conflict, especially in regard to Jewish identity. With my background of course being Mizrahi Jew, that’s one of the things that I’m very aware of. How there’s a certain amount of at times separation between that type of Judaism and it also falls on lines of ethnicity and race because of the skin tone that may be part of the ethno-religious aspects of it as well.”
Tehran speaks in depth about offensive Mizrahi dialect imitation
“Interestingly enough, I feel like it made me more of a savant when it comes to different dialects and different groups of people. I can understand people with accents better than the average person might be able to because I’m so used to different accents. It also made me a master of codeswitching. There are times I find myself speaking to people who have accents or speaking to my family members, and I speak with a slight accent in order to help them understand more of what I’m saying. On the other hand, I have siblings that actually had to take English as a second language even though they were born and raised in the United States because of all the languages that were spoken in the household. They had to go to a class and take courses to help them with their English because it wasn’t the common vernacular that people were used to. So that happened as well. It’s just an interesting dynamic and mixture.”
Tehran dives into the different accents in his home and how that’s affected him and his siblings
Implications
The topic of sensitivity is a hotly debated subject within the field of comedy, and it has become particularly relevant within the 21st century. The issue of sensitivity in mocking accents, exemplified in the mock-Asian critiques of Asian-American comedian Margaret Cho, were brought up in the interview with Tehran and were further contextualized in a backdrop of impersonation for comedic effect. In discussing Cho’s use of mock-Asian within her own comedy, Chun (2004) wrote, “Ideologies of legitimacy depend on assumptions about the relationship between communities, the authentication of a speaker’s community membership, and the nature of the interpretive frame." During our interview, Tehran also stated, “I’d like to just say to a lot of people, just because you’re offended, doesn’t mean you’re right. But on the flip side, just because something is offensive, doesn’t mean it’s funny… True comedy lies somewhere in between.” This ideology of valid comedy existing between a spectrum of shock value and sensitivity is frequently cited by comedians throughout the field, with an emphasized understanding of an individual comedian’s background and community. However, as this spectrum is not rooted in anything beyond an individual’s personal interpretation of comedy, it is often difficult to fully recognize what will and what will not be internalized as offensive.
Mocking accents within the context of self-deprecating ethnic humor has become especially prevalent in recent years, as comedians of color aim to dissect their own experiences not only for comedic purposes but also to connect with a community (Chun 2004). However, even within mocking ‘one’s own’ community, there is a subjective level of insensitivity when an individual may feel that negative stigma is perpetuated, while another may disagree. The over-pharyngealization of the Hebrew pharyngeal segments /ħ/ and /ʕ/ in imitations of Mizrahi Jews is performed by comedians and Ashkenazi Israeli media to mock Mizrahi Jews, with attached connotations of being lower class or less smart. When speaking about this form of impersonating the accent in a rude manner, Tehran specified that he steers away from mocking certain dialects of Jews as they often put down the group. There is an interesting, contrasting duality that exists between this pharyngealization, socially, as it is stigmatized for an association with a lower caste group, yet more correct, prescriptively (Gafter 2020).
One of the most interesting topics that came up about Tehran’s multilingualism is that he and his siblings each speak different languages with very different fluency. While he speaks fluent Persian along with English and some Hebrew and some Arabic, his siblings might speak fluent Hebrew or Arabic and some even attended classes to gain English fluency despite being born and raised in the US. He attributes this phenomenon to “which grandparent was in the house” during his and his siblings’ formative years.
Many studies have been conducted about name pronunciation. One such study found that “the pronunciation of a proper name is influenced by both a speaker’s native language as well as the language of origin of the name itself” (Maison 2003). In our interview, we asked Tehran about his name. Of course, his name pays tribute to Tehran, the capital city of Iran, but here in the United States, its pronunciation has no standard. Tehran told us that he pronounces his name as Iranian as he can (Te-Hrun), and that it taught him that the answer to “That age-old question: What’s in a name?” is “Everything.” Despite a common tendency, particularly among youth, towards “name-based microaggressions,” a name can be a reminder of your heritage and your family. But more than that, it marks you as who you are (Schlote 2018), which comes into play in Tehran's comedy sets. He told us that while people may have complaints about his representation of Persians or of Black Persians or even of Black Persian Jews, he has never claimed to be a representative of anything other than his own experiences—Tehran’s experiences.
In terms of pronunciation, even within his own mixed family there is no consistency. Some pronounce Tehran as “Tey-rahn” while others, he says, will over-emphasize its Farsi characteristics. This conversation led us into a deeper discussion of foreign names in America—the idea that no name is actually “difficult” to pronounce, it just takes practice and good intent. Tehran reminded us that though once upon a time the name “Jose” may have been a complete shocker to English-speaking Americans, now its pronunciation is unmistakable. When people “go out of their way” to mispronounce names, it is a sign of disrespect and mistrust, but if we start to try harder it would be a step toward greater connection.
During our interview with Tehran, we gained a greater understanding of how language ideologies and practices develop around an individual with an incredibly diverse background and culture. Tehran Von Ghasri possesses not only valuable linguistic insights, but a true passion and zeal for his comedy. Throughout his career, Tehran has been able to positively impact many marginalized groups by sharing his unique story and celebrating his individuality. Tehran maintains a refreshing autonomy within his work, bringing his personality into everything he does, and making a name for himself as an international comedian with no bounds in sight. At the very end of our interview with Tehran, we asked him for his best Jewish joke. His answer? “For that, you’ll have to come to Tehran Thursday at the Laugh Factory.”
Bibliography
Chun, Elaine W. 2004. “Ideologies of Legitimate Mockery: Margaret Cho’s Revoicings of Mock Asian.” Pragmatics 14(2-3). 263-289.
Gafter, Roey J. 2020. “Using Pharyngeals Out of Context: Linguistic Stereotypes in Parodic Performances of Mizrahi Hebrew Speakers.” In The Routledge Companion to the Work of John R. Rickford. Ed., Renée Blake and Isabelle Buchstaller. London: Routledge. 232-241.
Maison, B., S. F. Chen and P. S. Cohen. 2003. "Pronunciation modeling for names of foreign origin," 2003 IEEE Workshop on Automatic Speech Recognition and Understanding (IEEE Cat. No.03EX721), pp. 429-434, doi:10.1109/ASRU.2003.1318479.
Schlote, N. 2018. "'Too Hard to Pronounce': Examining Immigration Ideologies in the Treatment of Newcomer Youths' Names." Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 5304. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/5304.
Vogel, Sara, & Ofelia García. 2017. “Translanguaging.” In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education. New York: Oxford University Press. 1-12.