Dan Ahdoot

Comedian Dan Ahdoot returned to Linfield to perform Nov. 6 in Ice Auditorium.
Ahdoot performed at Linfield in January 2009, but he came back to bring more laughs.
Ahdoot opened by asking about the audience’s cultures because of Diversity Week. Language and content caused several people to leave during his act. He apologized but got quick laughs from the audience.
“He was very funny, and I think it was cool that he got all his material from the students instead of having it rehearsed,” freshman Anamaria Maldonado said.
Ahdoot is known for revolving his jokes around his heritage as an Iranian Jew, such as in the joke he used on the “Jay Leno Show”: “Iranian Jew; it’s really one of those classic combinations, like peanut butter and cat.”
Ahdoot has been featured on “The Jay Leno Show,” Comedy Central’s “Premium Blend” and was a guest at the “Comedy Central South Beach Comedy Festival,” according to Ahdoot’s website.
He was also a finalist in the second season of the show “Last Comic Standing.”
Ahdoot is also an actor and a writer. He was featured in a McDonald’s commercial and has written for MTV’s “Short Circuitz” and a roast of Gene Simmons.
Ahdoot went to Johns Hopkins University and graduated with honors and planned to be a medical student. Instead he decided to become a comedian.
“It was something I always wanted to do when I was a kid,” Ahdoot said.
According to his website, he is one of the most booked college acts in America and has performed at more than 300 colleges.
“He is really popular in the college circuit and he is in very high demand and a big deal,” junior Linfield Activities Board Special Event Chair Rachel Coffey said.
Coffey organized the event. She said she remembered him from a past performance at Linfield.
“He came my freshman year during Jan[uary] Term,” Coffey said. “He has been the best comedian that has come to Linfield and he is just so funny and he rules that stage when he is up there. I was in tears for most of the show.”
Coffey said she liked the last part of Ahdoot’s act.
“At the end of the show, he’ll make a prank call. The prank call really brought down the house,” she said.
That is exactly what he did this year. He asked the audience for a volunteer so he could call their parents. He called a girl’s father and asked for permission to date his daughter.
There is a long process in choosing a comedian to perform at the college. As Coffey said, she spent most of her summer going through talent agencies and watching comedian’s YouTube videos.
“We spend three days watching performers. It’s mainly just like research for anything else you would do,” she said.
Coffey said she was excited to bring Ahdoot back and numerous students said he is a hilarious comedian.
Tim Marl/Staff reporter
Tim Marl can be reached at linfieldreviewculture@gmail.com. - The Linfield Review

By NICK WORT
Staff Writer

Published: Sunday, March 31, 2013

On Tuesday, March 26, the Northside Recital Hall was packed with students eager to hear comedian Dan Ahdoot.
The event, which was open to IUSB and Ivy Tech students, was hosted by the Titan Productions team.
Ahdoot, who has come to IUSB before, has been featured on Comedy Central’s “Premium Blend,” NBC’s “The Last Comic Standing” and “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” Ahdoot also stares in Disney’s TV show “Kickin It,” Adult Swim’s “Your Pretty Little Ahdoot, who has come to IUSB before, has been featured on Comedy Central’s Face Is Going to Hell,” and will be appearing in an upcoming ABC sitcom called “Friend Me” this spring.
Ahdoot began his set by talking to the audience, and even giving a few audience members nicknames. This had much of the audience laughing, even some of the members he called out. These audience members and their nicknames were mentioned and brought into jokes throughout the night.
Though most of Ahdoot’s jokes focused on controversial topics, the audience as a whole did not seem too affected by it, and laughter seemed to be at its peak during his racier moments.
Ahdoot’s routine lasted around an hour and covered a wide range of topics including his family, upcoming holidays, drugs and American culture in general.
After the show, Ahdoot walked up the steps of the Recital Hall, high fiving students as he went and even stopping at the top to take pictures and talk with students and Titan Productions members.
More information on Dan Ahdoot can be found online at standupdan.com. More information on future Titan Productions events can be found at iusb.edu/titanpro or on Facebook at facebook.com/titanpropresents. - The Preface (Indiana University of South Bend)

This is like a very ghetto version of Frost/Nixon right now," he cracked as we sat with the voice recorder between us.

But to expect Ahdoot to be as bawdy as his on-stage persona would prove false, as he in fact is a reserved, thoughtful individual. Not too surprising, since the Hopkins grad was granted a degree with honors in Romance Languages and Literature in 2000.

As he often references in his act, Ahdoot was also on the pre-med track as an undergrad and even waded through the mire of the application process to get accepted to med school before ultimately deciding against going into medicine.

"I got in, and when I got my acceptance letter, I had a nervous breakdown," he recalled.

He continued, "I realized, 'Something is not right here.' My friends got their acceptance letters, and they were, like, jumping for joy, and I just collapsed. So I realized I needed to take some time off."

So Ahdoot headed home to New York City to do just that, taking a day job doing data entry at the offices of Comedy Central.

It was, ironically, this dull 9-to-5 that led to his first shot at professional writing.

Already a veteran prank-caller by this time, Ahdoot approached the folks at Crank Yankers and asked for a shot at writing for their show.

"They were like, 'Yeah, give us eight concepts tomorrow,' and I gave them 30 the next day," he said.

But nights and weekends were spent working the open-mic circuit in Manhattan, and it was there that Ahdoot exercised and strengthened his comedy muscle.

The diversity of the audiences in New York, he explained, helped him to hone his ability to interact with the crowd, a unique skill not mastered by all stand-up acts.

"[The audience] would be rich, they'd be poor, they'd be heroin addicts," he said, and in the days following 9/11, "there'd be firefighters, pissed off firefighters, so I got really good at reading a crowd quickly and being able to navigate through that."

It's a skill he continues to use and build in his act today, as anyone who has seen him perform knows quite well.

On Friday night in Shriver, Ahdoot began by picking on a student with leopard print-covered crutches and continued to have spontaneous chats with audience members throughout the show, which, as usual, culminated with prank phone calls to the parents of students in the audience.

("Hi, this is John Ackerman, an RA at Hopkins. We had a group of students streak through the campus tonight, and your son was one of them.")

His frequent and well-received stand-up gigs landed Ahdoot a spot as a contestant on the second season of NBC's Last Comic Standing and a slew of bookings on college campuses. In 2005 he visited 122 colleges, making him the most booked of any college act that year. (He's currently got a one-man show in the works about that tour.)

Of course, making it as a comedian wasn't as easy as it sounds in a neat little newspaper article. Ahdoot estimates that it was four or five years before comedy actually became profitable for him, and until then, his family and friends remained skeptical.

"I come from a family of immigrants, and success is very important," Ahdoot, who is an Iranian Jew, said.

"So [at first] they weren't very happy, but then once I started making money, they were like, 'I always said you should become a comedian!'"

Success and, oddly, his education from Hopkins were strong motivators for Ahdoot.

"The good thing that Hopkins did for my career is it really raised the stakes. It was like, 'Dude you're giving up a lot to pursue this, so pursue it well,'" he explained.

Now that he has that success, Ahdoot is working hard to maintain it and go further. For the foreseeable future, Ahdoot is more than happy to stick primarily to his stand-up gigs.

"It's like my baby, and you can't say no to it. And it keeps me grounded," he said.

The comedian plans to head to Los Angeles for a pilot season and recently pitched a show to the Food Network. But Ahdoot admits that there is something special about stand-up that will keep him coming back for more.

"There's nothing like being on a stage alone with a microphone and a light on you," he said.

If the past few years are any indication, that spotlight won't be dimming anytime soon. - The Johns Hopkins News-Letter

Last Comic Standing" finalist Dan Ahdoot performed Thursday night in the Union Ballroom before approximately 150 students.

Within minutes of coming onstage, Ahdoot informed the audience that performing at the UA was "going to be the highlight of my career."

"I love when there are three times as many seats as there are audience members," he said.

Ahdoot tours college campuses during the fall, and he opens for and tours with other comedians during the spring and summer.

Ahdoot said he is currently the most-scheduled standup comedian in the United States.

Ahdoot brought a wide variety of excitement to the ballroom with his assorted blend of ethnic and "coming from experience" humor.

As an Iranian Jew, Ahdoot admits he struggled making friends growing up in Long Island, N.Y.

"No one ever wanted to come eat at my house for dinner, because my mom was making this crazy ethnic food that no one had ever heard of," he said.

He further explained that his looks didn't make it any easier.

"I have a receding hairline and proceeding eyebrows," he said.

Ahdoot has had trouble fitting in as an adult as well, he said.

"Ever since Sept. 11, I've been telling people I'm Puerto Rican. The whole Iranian thing doesn't go over too well anymore. Really it's just easier, anyway."

Ahdoot graduated from Johns Hopkins University and headed for Johns Hopkins' prestigious medical school, "but I soon decided to nix medical school for a more self-rewarding job, comedy," he said. "My parents were thrilled."

Despite negative criticism toward his decision, Ahdoot quickly achieved success. Within months of beginning his stand-up campaign, he was a guest on the Comedy Central show "Premium Blend" and was opening for comedians Jay Mohr and Dave Chappelle.

Later, Ahdoot found success as a freelance writer for Comedy Central's show "Crank Yankers".

Ahdoot soon after finished in second place as a cast member of NBC's "Last Comic Standing." He describes the show as "more of a reality TV show than an actual comedy competition". - The Arkansas Traveler

COMEDY REVIEW
Comedian Dan Ahdoot set himself apart from his pre-med classmates when he decided to take a less traditional route in medicine. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University with honors and went on to heal by means of laughter. His parents may not have been ecstatic, but his audience at the Bison Feb. 19 is pleased with his choice.

Ahdoot’s performance was full of hilarious jokes based on everyday observations, perfect for his college audience. The topics had a wide range, from ethnic humor to pop culture. Even topics that risked offending the crowd, such as religion and race, were well-received due to Ahdoot’s likeable personality and responsiveness to the audience.

During rare lulls in the laughter, Ahdoot responded, “Oh, you didn’t like that. Yeah, that was terrible.” From there he would go off on another tangent leading to more genuine amusement.

Ahdoot used his unique life experiences as foundation for a lot of his jokes. Growing up as a first generation “Iranian Jew” provided him with a plethora of humorous insights. The crowd seemed to love his openness as their heads rolled back in fits of laughter.

An anonymous member of the audience admitted, “I snorted water up my nose a couple of times.”

Perhaps the best-received part of the show was when Ahdoot brought out his cell phone for a bit of his Comedy Central act, “Crank Yankers.” The crowd was in stitches as he contacted an ex-boyfriend and parents of random audience members. He had a female student’s irate mother convinced that she had been streaking in the quad with 70 men. The spontaneity of the dialogue made it all the more entertaining.

“I really liked the prank phone calls. They were a very unique routine,” said Nicole Calma ’08.

This up-and-coming comedian is on the road to success. It seems certain that in the eight years it would have taken him to become a medical doctor, he will have made it big as a comedian, a bet currently underway between Ahdoot and his father.

Having already created a name for himself, Ahdoot has done freelance writing for Comedy Central’s “Crank Yankers” and was a finalist on season two of NBC’s “Last Comic Standing.” He has opened for Lewis Black, Dave Chappelle and Jay Mohr. He was awarded first prize at the 2003 Philadelphia Comedy Competition and at the 2002 New York City Triad Comedy Competition. Ahdoot performed at colleges and comedy clubs and was an honorary guest at the exclusive HA! Comedy Festival in Manhattan. He has been featured on ABC’s “20/20” and the 98.7 KISS-FM morning show.

He has a special charm, obvious both on and off stage. His good-natured personality, witty ideas and determination promise a great future in comedy. To find out more about him check out his Web site, www.standupdan.com.





- Bucknell

Growing up as an Iranian Jew in the United States, Dan Ahdoot certainly faced adversity throughout his life. Fortunately, he has been able to take his experiences and incorporate them into a hilarious stand-up comedy routine. Recently, Michigan State University Hillel and the Michigan State University Activities Board co-sponsored "Last Spartan Standing," an event open to the entire campus and community, which brought Ahdoot to East Lansing to engage individuals in an eye-opening experience - all while rolling in laughter.

Since Adhoot was a finalist on a recent series of the television show, "Last Comic Standing," MSU decided to play up his small screen fame by holding open auditions for "Last Spartan Standing." More than 75 students auditioned for the gig, which was judged by members from both Hillel and the University Activities Board.

On the night of Adhoot's appearance, 11 MSU students, both Jewish and non-Jewish, kicked off the night with a Spartan-style comedy competition. Each participant was allotted between seven and nine minutes to perform their best material. After all of the participants took their run of the stage, more than 1,000 audience members voted for their favorite comedian. Adhoot also cast his vote for the best comic at MSU, with his vote counting as one-third of the final decision. After an exhaustive hour and half of various performances, Hillel student Jesse Gibbings won the competition, along with a $75 gift certificate to Best Buy.

After warming the crowd up with "Last Spartan Standing," Ahdoot took the stage to the applause of more than 1,000 fans. He kept the audience cracking up in their chairs the entire time and even ended with some late-night phone calls to parents of students at the show, in the fashion of "Crank Yankers" - a hit television show on Comedy Central, on which Adhoot is a featured writer.

While Adhoot's comedy was hilarious, the goal was to shed light on a subject almost always kept in the dark. His ability to make light of being both Jewish and Iranian proved as an effective way to identify the stereotypes that both Iranians and Jews face.

"I am Iranian and Jewish which means that when people first meet me, they aren't sure whether to hate me…..or to hate me!" he said.

Adhoot's popularity allowed MSU Hillel to draw one of its most diverse crowds in recent history. Adhoot also was instrumental in helping the 11 participants relax before performing, many of them for the first time, offering advice and talking about his experiences doing stand up.
- Michigan State University

Part of this week's homecoming celebration, stand-up comic Dan Ahdoot will perform Friday at AASU
Posted: February 24, 2010 - 6:50pm
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Standup comedian Dan Ahdoot will perform Friday at Armstrong Atlantic State University. (Courtesy of New Wave Entertainment)

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By Emily Goldman
Dan Ahdoot graduated from Johns Hopkins University and was accepted into medical school before he decided to take up comedy full time.

Being a stand-up comic, he jokes is a more stable career.

"A lot of my friends went to med school and they are still struggling in residency," Ahdoot said with a laugh. "The worse they do, the better I feel about my career choice."

Ahdoot will be performing as part of Armstrong Atlantic State University's homecoming week Friday at 8 p.m.

Although he jokes his parents are proud of his decision - in the beginning he said they weren't, now they probably actually are.

Ahdoot got his first big break on NBC's "Last Comic Standing" and has since been featured on "The Jay Leno Show" and Comedy Central's "Premium Blend."

Ahdoot is edgy - but with an inviting stage presence.

He disarms his audience with innocence, then zings them with jokes about controversial topics, including race.

"I like to push the envelope and 90 percent of the time I can get away with it," Ahdoot said. My stage presence is sort of disarming. I think that combination allows me to get away with a lot of stuff other comics can't get away with."

He usually makes himself the first victim of his own humor, playing on the fact that he is of Jewish-Iranian heritage.

His family often makes its way into the show as well.

His rule though, is not to tell the really embarrassing stuff while they are in the audience.

"But they are cool with it," Ahdoot said. "They know they are crazy so everyone else might as well know."

Ahdoot has also written for MTV and Comedy Central as well as starred in a McDonald's commercial.

His strategy for coming up with material, is to be open to every day life.

"A lot of this stuff happens to all of us," he said.

What sets Ahdoot apart from the rest of us is he records what he thinks is funny as it happens in his iPhone.

"I'm a nerd about it," Ahdoot said. "I have folders devoted to this stuff."

Although always the class clown, Ahdoot never thought he would turn it into a career until he joined an improv troupe in college.

His first stand-up performance was during an open mic night in Baltimore. What he described as a hodgepodge night of beat poetry and someone who performed an abstract, disturbing monologue about the inner city.

"I guess if I can make people laugh after a hooker-infused story about the inner city, I figured I was okay at this," Ahdoot said.

IF YOU GO

What: Comedian Dan Ahdoot

When: 8 p.m. on Friday

Where: Fine Arts Auditorium at Armstrong Atlantic State University, 11935 Abercorn St.

Tickets: AASU students are admitted free with a Pirate card and the general public is admitted free with a donation of two non-perishable food items for a Haiti earthquake relief program

Information: 912-344-2504

This weekend in homecoming at AASU

Today

Powder Puff Football Game, 8 p.m., Intramural Fields

AASU Invitational Alumni Art Exhibition, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Fine Arts Hall

"Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," 7:30 p.m., Jenkins Hall

FRIDAY

Comedian Dan Ahdoot - Savannah Now

“It sucks being Iranian these days,” a Jewish comedian of Iranian heritage Dan Ahdoot jokes in his stand-up act. “People ask me the dumbest questionsâ?¦ “Yo, Dan, level with me. Are they making the nuclear weapons or what?” Like thereâ??s this big e-mail list that goes out every month to anyone who’s Iranian, that reads, “Greetings from Tehran. Everything is going according to plan. Soon all the Americans will die! And now birthdays: Mahmoud from Virginia is celebrating his 34th!’”

It’s no secret that Iranian Jews living in America have attained substantial success as doctors, lawyers, real estate developers, professors and entrepreneurs. The final frontier in careers that we have yet to conquer is in the entertainment field—and Dan Ahdoot is slowly but surely making a name for himself and our community in the industry. I first interviewed the Long Island native two years ago for an article about Iranian Jews getting into the entertainment business. I was literally in tears laughing at his hilarious routine which is based on growing up as a child of Iranian Jewish immigrants in America. I think his comic take on the challenges of trying to please his Iranian Jewish parents who have high expectations of their children not only resonates with younger Iranian Jews but other young Americans. Though not necessarily for the reasons he outlines in his onstage routine, life has not been without its



difficulties for Ahdoot. In 2000, after graduating pre-med from Johns Hopkins University, he was set to enter medical school. But before he could even crack open an anatomy book, he decided to change course and take a shot at becoming a professional comedian. He took this brave step despite the opposition he faced from his family. So far, the gamble has paid off and Ahdoot has achieve some success after becoming a finalist on Season 2 of the NBC reality show â??Last Comic Standing”. He has opened for such well known comedians as Lewis Black, Jay Mohr, and Dave Chappelle. He was awarded first prize at the Philadelphia Comedy Competition in 2003 and the 2002 first prize at the NYC Triad Comedy Competition. He currently tours colleges around the country sharing his humor and I recently had a chance to catch up with him about his career:

Whatâ??s been going on with your stand-up career since we last spoke?

My work at the colleges have really taken on a life of its own. For two years in a row now Iâ??ve become the highest booked comedian at colleges across the country. So thatâ??s really taken off and been good to me. Iâ??ve signed on with new managers that are very successful in L.A. I finished writing for a show for MTV called â??Short Circuitâ?? with Nick Cannon and its airing now. Iâ??ve been traveling non-stop across the country and I did a really cool benefit for a charity called â??Patha Communityâ?? up in San Francisco. Itâ??s a charity for community services for the Iranian community in the Silicon Valley. A lot of corporations are hiring me to do shows.

How has your stand-up material youâ??ve been doing changed? Are you still focusing on your life as an Iranian American Jew?

I think that as long as Ahmadinejad continues to say stupid things, Iâ??ll have a wealth of material. I donâ??t know if my material is centering around the Iranian stuff anyone, Iâ??m writing more about myself as an individual. I consider myself a comic who happens to be Iranian and Jewish not an Iranian Jewish comic, I think thatâ??s important because a lot of people are identifying themselves by race as opposed to who they really are.

Your family has been supportive of your career as a stand-up, unlike many Iranian Jewish parents who discourage their kids from getting into entertainment. Are they still on board with your career choice or have things changed?

No, theyâ??re still on board, they realize that Iâ??m still doing well thank god. Now theyâ??re nudging me to get married, itâ??s getting on my nerves that my job causes me to be out of town all the time and I canâ??t meet up with any of the â??khasetgarsâ?? (Persian word for a person who wants to get married and goes through a formal courtship). No khasetgar action going on in north-western Missouri where I am now!

How do you feel about young Iranian Jews who look up to you as a source of inspiration for not getting into a traditional career in medicine or law?

I still feel that thereâ??s still a big gap in our community of what people want to do and what they end up doing. It doesnâ??t take much to be an inspiration to the Persian community—if you do what you want to do instead of what your parents want you to do, youâ??re suddenly an inspiration. I donâ??t feel like Iâ??m that inspirational, but think it strikes a cord with them when youâ??re doing something that you love and youâ??re successful at. A lot of people in our community think thatâ??s impossible to do something you love and be successful at it. They think youâ??re either going to be poor doi - Jewish Journal - Karmel Melamed

Television:
NBC’s The Jay Leno Show
Comedy Central’s South Beach Comedy Festival
Comedy Central’s Premium Blend
NBC's Last Comic Standing II

Comedy Central Crank Yankers
ABC’s 20/20 w/ Barbara Walters & John Stossel
Nick Cannon’s Short Circutiz
Comedy Central’s Roast: Gene Simmons
MTV’s MVP
McDonald’s Commercial


Radio:
98.7 KISS FM Morning Comedy Special
NPR
Sirius Satellites “Unleashed” with Jim Breuer

Festivals / Competitions:
Montreal Comedy Festival
Philadelphia Comedy Competition
New York Triad Stand-Up Comedy Contest
HA! Comedy Festival
South Beach Comedy Festival
Comedy Clubs and Venues:
Stand-Up NY
Caroline’s On Broadway
The Comic Strip
Boston Comedy Club
Gotham Comedy Club
New York Comedy Club
Gramercy Comedy Club
HA! Comedy Club
Comedy Cellar
• The Waterfront Warehouse in Halifax
- Sophie K. Entertainment