A Vanishing Breed, Iranian Satirist Pokes Fun From Exile
RFE/RL / Golnaz Esfandiari
15-May-2009 (6 comments)

Ebrahim Nabavi is a diminutive man with an oversized sense of humor -- and a sarcastic wit that has twice landed him in jail.  Through his writings, Nabavi gleefully sheds light on what he regards as some of Iran's paradoxes. The 50-year-old Nabavi has been living and working in Belgium for about six years -- a self-imposed exile prompted by harassment from Iranian authorities related to his work. Yet he still manages to follow developments in Iran very closely, stay in tune with his audience, and occasionally succeed in rocking Iran's political scene from afar.

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.. he is the only one that at least "still" takes a stab at it

by Hossein Daneshjoo (not verified) on Thu Jun 04, 2009 03:04 PM PDT

...and therefore we can all criticize him all we want (which doesn't mean he is good), but let's at least acknowledge that he puts his time/energy into doing SOMETHING, unlike most Iranians, being a bystander and criticize, criticize with no real alternative...that in a nutshell is one of our main struggles.
I feel that Iranians always find something to nag/criticize about anything without doing offering any constructive alternative....it's just makes me puke!!


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Ali P.

Sad situation

by Ali P. on Fri May 15, 2009 05:56 PM PDT

Many Iranians who live in Iran find him hilareous.

I don't. In fact, I find him excruciating unfunny.

Had I stayed in Iran all these years, I would probably find him funny.

Khorsandi!

Now, HE, is more my kind of satirist...


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Parham

He's actually not

by Parham on Fri May 15, 2009 05:02 PM PDT

against the IRI. He criticizes it, that's all.


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Me tooo

by Anonymous_12344 (not verified) on Fri May 15, 2009 01:35 PM PDT

I hardly find him funny and his jokes are far from intelligent. If you say something against IRI, that doesn't make you automatically funny. His writings are
usually opportunistic and shallow.
Just for the comparison, read some of the Obeyd Zakani's
work and see the superiority of his work and the sad
truth that Iranian have retrogressed in the last couple
of hundred years not just in science and technology but
literature as well.


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Parham

Too bad...

by Parham on Fri May 15, 2009 09:19 AM PDT

... his political antics in support of Mousavi these days on Facebook makes one puke.
He lost one fan anyway.


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Maybe it's only me but ...

by I wonder (not verified) on Fri May 15, 2009 09:04 AM PDT

I always gotta pinch myself to laugh at his jokes ...
I don't find him funny.


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