Cornerstone Arts Week 2013
February 4 – 8, 2013
“What’s So Funny ? Humor, Faith, and Politics.”
Highlighting the vital role the arts play within the liberal arts, the annual Cornerstone Arts Week focuses on a theme, posed as a question, that is examined through exhibitions, performances, films, lectures, and special events. Cornerstone Arts Week 2013 explores the ways in which the arts create bridges between cultures, belief systems, and yes – even political parties.
Colliding Currents?
Exploring the Boundaries of Humor, Faith and Politics
Wednesday, February 6, 7 pm
Richard F. Celeste Theater
Edith Kinney Gaylord Cornerstone Arts Center
825 N. Cascade Avenue, Colorado Springs, CO 80903
Admission:
General Public: $10
CC ID: $5
Tickets available at Worner Center, 902 N. Cascade Avenue beginning January 28
Cornerstone Arts Week Keynote presenter Maz Jobrani is best known as a founding member of the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour, which featured some of the top Middle Eastern-American comics in the world. The Axis of Evil Comedy Central Special premiered in 2007 as the first show on American TV with an all Middle Eastern/American cast. The DVD was also released in 2007. The tour started in the US and later went to the Middle East in the fall of 2007, selling out 27 shows in Dubai, Beirut, Cairo, Kuwait and Amman (where they performed in front of the King and Queen of Jordan.) Maz followed up his Axis of Evil Tour with his own solo international tour titled “Maz Jobrani; Brown and Friendly.” Maz was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he caught the acting bug after portraying the lead in his eighth grade production of “Li’l Abner.” He studied theater throughout high school, and then went on to earn a BA in Political Science and Italian at UC Berkeley. In the fall of 1994, while beginning a Ph.D. program in Political Science at UCLA, he visited the university’s prestigious theater program – and was immediately hooked back on acting. This led to him dropping out of the Ph.D. program to pursue his childhood passion. Maz has done standup on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson,” “Lopez Tonight,” “The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn,“ Comedy Central’s “Premium Blend,” and England’s Paramount 2 Network. He is also a recurring panelist on NPR’s “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me,” and has his own podcast with 2 other comedians called “Minivan Men.” His sketch comedy performances at the ACME Theater in Los Angeles were hailed as “devilishly funny” and “extraordinary” by LA Weekly.
