Negin Farsad

Comedian/Filmmaker |

Iranian-American comedian/filmmaker Negin Farsad was recently named one of the 50 Funniest Women by the Huffington Post. She has written, directed and/or performed on various series for MTV, Comedy Central, PBS, Nickelodeon, and IFC and web shows for AOL and MSN among others. You can frequently see her spinning political jokes on shows like Current TV’s The Young Turks and CNN’s Joy Behar Show. She is director of the upcoming docu-comedy THE MUSLIMS ARE COMING! (featuring Jon Stewart, Rachel Maddow, Janeane Garofalo). She also directed the award-winning comedy feature NERDCORE RISING (featuring Weird Al Yankovic, Prince Paul).

Presentations from Facing Race 2012

Culture Trumps Politics: Or Does It?

When political times get hard, creative people turn to influencing the way race is lived instead of the way it is legislated. This session will focus on the relationship between cultural and political change, from the perspective of the nation's leading artists.

Speakers: Jeff Chang, Lolis Eric Elie, Negin Farsad, Rinku Sen, MS, Jose Antonio Vargas

Like Racism, But Funnier: Social Change Through Internet Jokes

Jokes are the original "viral" medium, changing minds and sneaking in new ideas since the invention of language. But our era's jokes are often at the expense of people of color and other disenfranchised folks ? and they're being made by people who should know better. How do we reclaim comedy from the status quo? In this no-holds-barred workshop, three of your favorite social justice joke scientists lay out case studies and strategies for making people laugh (and think), for putting dehumanizing comedy on blast, and for turning the inevitable backlash into positive change.

Speakers: W. Kamau Bell, Negin Farsad, Samhita Mukhopadhyay