Saman Arbabi facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Saman Arbabi
Saman Arbabi on location in Lebanon in 2006.
Born	1973 Tehran, Imperial State of Iran
Occupation	Journalist

Saman Arbabi (Persian: سامان اربابی) was born in 1973. He is an Iranian-American journalist and video director. He is also known for creating and producing two popular TV shows for Voice of America: Parazit and OnTen. These shows use humor to talk about important political and media topics. People often call his work "civic satire," which means it's comedy with a purpose.

Early Life and Education

Saman Arbabi was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1973. When he was 12 years old, he moved to France in 1985. The next year, in 1986, he moved to the United States. He studied at the University of Maryland University College. There, he earned a degree in Communications with a special focus on Art.

Starting His Career

Saman Arbabi began his career by working as an intern for a popular radio show in Washington, D.C. called Diamond in the Morning. A producer from ABC radio liked his sense of humor. This producer invited Saman to leave his cooking job and join the radio station.

In 2003, Saman started working at Voice of America (VOA). He was the first Iranian person to be hired as a video journalist there. As a video journalist, he reported from many places. He covered events in countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria. He also reported on important talks in Vienna, Austria, in 2006. Saman created many stories from the Middle East and North Africa regions.

Parazit: A Hit Show

In 2009, Saman Arbabi created a show called Parazit. This was a weekly show in Persian that used humor to discuss serious topics. Many people called Parazit "The Daily Show of Iran." It became one of the most popular shows in Iran, with about 35 million viewers.

Saman's unique and bold style became very popular. People in Iran even started using a new word, "Paraziti," to describe fans who dressed like him. The success of Parazit made the Iranian government's media unhappy. They tried to spread negative stories about Saman and his work. They even made their own humor show to try and stop Parazit's influence.

Appearing on The Daily Show

On January 20, 2011, Saman Arbabi and his co-host, Kambiz Hosseini, were special guests on the famous American show The Daily Show. The host, Jon Stewart, praised them at the end of the show. He told them, "You are like our show, but with real guts." He also said he was proud to be in the same group of humorists as them.

OnTen and Tablet

After Parazit, Saman Arbabi created another successful show in 2011 called OnTen. This show also used humor to talk about politics. It became Iran's second most popular humor show. Both OnTen and Parazit together gained over one million fans on Facebook.

In 2015, Saman created another Persian show called Tablet. This show was hosted by Masih Alinejad, a well-known human rights activist and journalist. Tablet quickly became the second most important Iranian show after Parazit. The Iranian government continues to try and criticize Saman Arbabi's work.

Special Projects

In 2013, Saman Arbabi gave a talk at an event called SXSW. He spoke about how humor can fight against censorship in Iran. During his talk, he revealed a project called "Weapons of Mouse Destruction." This was a big art project against internet censorship around the world.

For this project, he worked with famous artist Shepard Fairey. He also invited Twitter co-founder Evan Williams to join the campaign. On June 14, 2013, during a special election day broadcast, OnTen showed a segment about artist JR's Inside Out Project. They also aired a special message for the Iranian people from U2's Bono.

Awards and Recognition

Saman Arbabi has received many awards for his work:

• 2004 - Voice of America Award for Excellence in Programming (for his reports from Afghanistan)
• 2006 - Voice of America Superior Accomplishment Award (for covering the 2006 war between Lebanon and Israel)
• 2007 - His music video "Edeaa" was chosen for the Tribeca Film Festival
• 2008 - Winner of The World Academy of Arts, Literature, And Media (WAALM)
• 2009 - Voice of America Superior Accomplishment Award (for covering the Iranian election uprising)
• 2011 - Voice of America Gold Medal Award Winner (VOA's highest honor)
• 2012 - Bronze medal at New York Festival's Best Television and Films award
• 2012 - Named to Washington Life magazine's "The Young And The Guest List"
• 2013 - CINE Golden Eagle Spring 2013 Special Recognition for Televised Series