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Maz Jobrani Developing Animated Comedy With Curiosity Ink Media

EXCLUSIVE: Comedian Maz Jobrani (Pandemic Warrior, Superior Donuts) has teamed with Grom Social EnterprisesCuriosity Ink Media to develop an original animated sitcom that channels Jobrani’s experiences growing up as an Iranian-American immigrant in the U.S.

Co-created by Jobrani and Dustin Ellis (The Kingdom, The Iron Giant) Laugh On Lorb (working title), centers on an aspiring teenage comic who is selected to introduce Oprah Winfrey at an appearance at his school. He is mistakenly kidnapped from the stage by alien Lorbs who believe he is Oprah, and then taken back to their planet to meet their princess. After learning that she is on a mission to bring emotion back to Lorb to save it from disaster, he agrees to channel his inner Oprah to help her and, through the eyes of a teenage Iranian immigrant, share his own insight, wit and philosophy of life while learning about comedy – and himself- along the way.

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Jobrani and Ellis will oversee the writing, story development and overall direction for the potential series. Curiosity Ink Media and Mainstay Entertainment will produce.

Jobrani was born in Iran and relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area after his family was forced to flee during the Islamic revolution. His new standup comedy special Pandemic Warrior is currently streaming on Peacock and he is host of his own podcast, Back to School with Maz Jobrani on the All Things Comedy Network. As an actor, he was most recently seen playing Fawz on the CBS comedy Superior Donuts.

“Only the mind of Maz Jobrani could conceive an Iranian teenage standup mistaken for Oprah and aiming to please an emotionless race of aliens on the verge of extinction… and we love it,” said Russell Hicks, Chief Content Officer, Curiosity Ink Media. “Maz has an incredible ability to use his comedy to build cultural bridges and we’re thrilled that he’s partnering with Curiosity to bring his humor and endless good energy to this animated sitcom.”

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