A Saudi, an Indian and an Iranian walk into a Qatari bar ...
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0:01 - 0:06Hello, Doha. Hello. Salaam alaikum.
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0:06 - 0:11I love coming to Doha. It's such an international place.
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0:11 - 0:14This is like -- it feels like the United Nations just here.
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0:14 - 0:17You land at the airport, and you're welcomed by an Indian lady
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0:17 - 0:21who takes you to Al Maha Services, where you meet a Filipino lady
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0:21 - 0:24who hands you off to a South African lady
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0:24 - 0:26who then takes you to a Korean who takes you to
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0:26 - 0:29a Pakistani guy with the luggage
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0:29 - 0:30who takes you to the car with a Sri Lankan.
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0:30 - 0:33You go to the hotel and you check in. There's a Lebanese.
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0:33 - 0:36Yeah? And then a Swedish guy showed me my room.
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0:36 - 0:40I said, "Where are the Qataris?" (Laughter)
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0:40 - 0:43(Applause)
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0:43 - 0:45They said, "No, no, it's too hot. They come out later. They're smart."
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0:45 - 0:49(Laughter) "They know."
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0:49 - 0:53And of course it's growing so fast, sometimes there's growing pains.
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0:53 - 0:55You know, like sometimes you run into people that you think
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0:55 - 0:58know the city well, but they don't know it that well.
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0:58 - 1:01My Indian cab driver showed up at the W,
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1:01 - 1:03and I asked him to take me to the Sheraton,
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1:03 - 1:06and he said, "No problem, sir."
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1:06 - 1:08And then we sat there for two minutes.
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1:08 - 1:12I said, "What's wrong?"
He said, "One problem, sir." -
1:12 - 1:13I said, "What?" He goes, "Where is it?"
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1:13 - 1:16(Laughter)
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1:16 - 1:20I go, "You're the driver, you should know."
He goes, "No, I just arrived, sir." -
1:20 - 1:25I go, "You just arrived at the W?"
"No, I just arrived in Doha, sir. -
1:25 - 1:27I was on my way home from the airport. I got a job.
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1:27 - 1:30I'm working already."
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1:30 - 1:33He goes, "Sir, why don't you drive?"
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1:33 - 1:34I go, "I don't know where we're going."
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1:34 - 1:40"Neither do I. It will be an adventure, sir."
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1:40 - 1:43It is an adventure. The Middle East has been an adventure the past couple years.
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1:43 - 1:45The Middle East is going crazy with the Arab Spring
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1:45 - 1:47and revolution and all this. Are there any Lebanese here tonight?
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1:47 - 1:50Any Lebanese by applause? (Applause) Lebanese.
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1:50 - 1:52Yeah. The Middle East is going crazy.
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1:52 - 1:54You know the Middle East is going crazy
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1:54 - 1:57when Lebanon is the most peaceful place in the region.
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1:57 - 1:59(Laughter) (Applause)
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1:59 - 2:05Who would have thought? Oh my gosh.
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2:05 - 2:07No. There's serious issues in the region.
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2:07 - 2:10Some people don't want to talk about them. I'm here to talk about them tonight.
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2:10 - 2:12Ladies and gentlemen of the Middle East,
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2:12 - 2:14here's a serious issue. When we see each other,
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2:14 - 2:19when we say hello, how many kisses are we going to do?
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2:19 - 2:22Every country is different and it's confusing, okay?
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2:22 - 2:25In Lebanon, they do three. In Egypt, they do two.
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2:25 - 2:28I was in Lebanon, I got used to three.
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2:28 - 2:31I went to Egypt. I went to say hello to this one Egyptian guy,
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2:31 - 2:34I went, one, two. I went for three. He wasn't into it.
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2:34 - 2:39(Laughter)
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2:39 - 2:41I told him, I said, "No, no, no, I was just in Lebanon."
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2:41 - 2:48He goes, "I don't care where you were. You just stay where you are, please. Just stay where you are."
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2:48 - 2:52I went to Saudi Arabia. In Saudi Arabia, they go one, two,
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2:52 - 2:54and then they stay on the same side -- three, four, five, six,
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2:54 - 2:59seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18.
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2:59 - 3:02(Laughter)
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3:02 - 3:07Next time you see a Saudi, look closely. They're just a little bit tilted.
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3:07 - 3:09"Abdul, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I was saying hello for half an hour. -
3:09 - 3:13I'm going to be all right."
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3:13 - 3:16Qataris, you guys do the nose to nose.
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3:16 - 3:20Why is that? Are you too tired to go all the way around?
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3:20 - 3:23"Habibi, it's so hot. Just come here for a second. Say hello.
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3:23 - 3:26Hello, Habibi. Just don't move. Just stay there please.
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3:26 - 3:29I need to rest."
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3:29 - 3:33Every country — Iranians, sometimes we do two, sometimes we do three.
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3:33 - 3:36A friend of mine explained to me, before the '79 revolution,
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3:36 - 3:40it was two. After the revolution, three.
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3:40 - 3:42So with Iranians, you can tell whose side the person is on
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3:42 - 3:45based on the number of kisses they give you.
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3:45 - 3:49Yeah, if you go one, two, three -- "I can't believe you support this regime
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3:49 - 3:54with your three kisses."
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3:54 - 3:56But no, guys, really, it is exciting to be here,
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3:56 - 3:59and like I said, you guys are doing a lot culturally,
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3:59 - 4:02you know, and it's amazing, and it helps change the image
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4:02 - 4:04of the Middle East in the West. Like a lot of Americans
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4:04 - 4:07don't know a lot about us, about the Middle East.
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4:07 - 4:11I'm Iranian and American. I'm there. I know, I've traveled here.
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4:11 - 4:13There's so much, we laugh, right?
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4:13 - 4:15People don't know we laugh. When I did the Axis of Evil comedy tour,
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4:15 - 4:17it came out on Comedy Central, I went online
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4:17 - 4:21to see what people were saying about it. I ended up on a conservative website.
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4:21 - 4:25One guy wrote another guy. He said, "I never knew these people laughed."
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4:25 - 4:28Think about it. You never see us laughing in American film or television, right?
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4:28 - 4:33Maybe like an evil -- like, "Wuhahaha, wuhahaha. (Laughter)
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4:33 - 4:36I will kill you in the name of Allah, wuhahahahaha."
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4:36 - 4:41But never like, "ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha."
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4:41 - 4:43We like to laugh. We like to celebrate life.
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4:43 - 4:46And I wish more Americans would travel here. I always encourage my friends:
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4:46 - 4:49Travel, see the Middle East, there's so much to see, so many good people.
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4:49 - 4:52And it's vice versa, and it helps stop problems
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4:52 - 4:56of misunderstanding and stereotypes from happening.
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4:56 - 4:58For example, I don't know if you heard about this,
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4:58 - 5:00a little while ago in the U.S. there was a Muslim family
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5:00 - 5:03walking down the aisle of an airplane
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5:03 - 5:05talking about the safest place to sit on the plane.
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5:05 - 5:08Some passengers overheard them, somehow misconstrued
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5:08 - 5:12that as terrorist talk, got them kicked off the plane.
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5:12 - 5:14It was a family, a mother, father, child, walking down the aisle,
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5:14 - 5:17talking about the seating. Now as a Middle Eastern male,
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5:17 - 5:19I know there's certain things I'm not supposed to say
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5:19 - 5:21on an airplane in the U.S., right?
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5:21 - 5:23I'm not supposed to be, like, walking down the aisle,
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5:23 - 5:27and be like, "Hi, Jack." You know, that's not cool.
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5:27 - 5:29Even if I'm there with my friend named Jack, I say,
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5:29 - 5:31"Greetings, Jack. Salutations, Jack."
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5:31 - 5:33Never "Hi, Jack."
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5:33 - 5:36(Laughter)
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5:36 - 5:38But now apparently we can't even talk about
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5:38 - 5:41the safest place to sit on an airplane.
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5:41 - 5:43So my advice to all my Middle Eastern friends and Muslim friends
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5:43 - 5:45and anyone who looks Middle Eastern or Muslim,
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5:45 - 5:48so to, you know, Indians, and Latinos, everyone,
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5:48 - 5:51if you're brown --
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5:51 - 5:55here's my advice to my brown friends.
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5:55 - 5:57The next time you're on an airplane in the U.S.,
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5:57 - 5:59just speak your mother tongue.
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5:59 - 6:02That way no one knows what you're saying. Life goes on.
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6:02 - 6:04Granted, some mother tongues might sound
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6:04 - 6:07a little threatening to the average American, right?
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6:07 - 6:08If you're walking down the aisle speaking Arabic,
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6:08 - 6:13you might freak them out, if you're walking, "[Arabic],"
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6:13 - 6:15they might say, "What's he talking about?"
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6:15 - 6:17So the key, to my Arab brothers and sisters,
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6:17 - 6:19you gotta throw in random good words to put people at ease
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6:19 - 6:21as you're walking down the aisle.
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6:21 - 6:23Just as you're walking down: "[Imitating Arabic] --
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6:23 - 6:25strawberry!"
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6:25 - 6:32(Laughter)
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6:32 - 6:37"[Imitating Arabic] -- rainbow!"
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6:37 - 6:40"[Imitating Arabic] -- Tutti Frutti!"
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6:40 - 6:43"I think he's going to hijack the plane with some ice cream."
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6:43 - 6:45Thank you very much. Have a good night.
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6:45 - 6:50Thank you, TED. (Cheers) (Applause)
- Title:
- A Saudi, an Indian and an Iranian walk into a Qatari bar ...
- Speaker:
- Maz Jobrani
- Description:
-
Iranian-American comedian Maz Jobrani takes to the TEDxSummit stage in Doha, Qatar to take on serious issues in the Middle East -- like how many kisses to give when saying “Hi,” and what not to say on an American airplane.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 07:11
Camille Martínez edited English subtitles for A Saudi, an Indian and an Iranian walk into a Qatari bar ... | ||
Krystian Aparta commented on English subtitles for A Saudi, an Indian and an Iranian walk into a Qatari bar ... | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for A Saudi, an Indian and an Iranian walk into a Qatari bar ... | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for A Saudi, an Indian and an Iranian walk into a Qatari bar ... | ||
Thu-Huong Ha approved English subtitles for A Saudi, an Indian and an Iranian walk into a Qatari bar ... | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for A Saudi, an Indian and an Iranian walk into a Qatari bar ... | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for A Saudi, an Indian and an Iranian walk into a Qatari bar ... | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for A Saudi, an Indian and an Iranian walk into a Qatari bar ... |
Krystian Aparta
The English transcript was updated on 6/22/2015.