Jamie Masada ( fa, جمی ماسادا ; born in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

) is an American businessman and comedian. He is the founder of the

Laugh Factory Laugh Factory is a chain of comedy clubs in the United States. The chain is owned by Laugh Factory Inc., and the founder and current chief executive is Jamie Masada. Endurance record The Laugh Factory keeps track of an endurance record fo ...

, a chain of

comedy clubs A comedy club is a venue—typically a nightclub, bar, hotel, casino, or restaurant—where people watch or listen to performances, including stand-up comedians, improvisational comedians, impersonators, impressionists, magicians, ventriloquists, ...

in several states.

Early years

Masada is a

Persian Jewish Persian Jews or Iranian Jews ( fa, یهودیان ایرانی, ''yahudiān-e-Irāni''; he, יהודים פרסים ''Yəhūdīm Parsīm'') are the descendants of Jews who were historically associated with the Persian Empire, whose successor s ...

immigrant from Iran who had arrived in America as a teenager. Despite the fact that he was living in a garage and barely spoke English, he combined

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

and

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

and soon was working with professional

comedians A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolish (as in slapstick), or employing prop comedy. A comedian who addresses an audience dir ...

Richard Pryor Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor Sr. (December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. He reached a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style, and is widely regarded as on ...

Jay Leno James Douglas Muir Leno (; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and actor. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show'' from 1992 to 2009. Beginning in September 2009 ...

David Letterman David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He hosted late night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982 debut of ''Late Night with David Letterman' ...

and

Redd Foxx John Elroy Sanford (December 9, 1922 – October 11, 1991), better known by his stage name Redd Foxx, was an American stand-up comedian and actor. Foxx gained success with his raunchy nightclub act before and during the civil rights movement. ...

Career

Laugh Factory

In 1979, Masada used a loan from

Neal Israel Neal Israel (born July 27, 1945) is an American actor, screenwriter, film and television producer, and director best known for his comedic work in the 1980s for films such as '' Police Academy'', ''Real Genius'', and '' Bachelor Party''. Biogr ...

to open the Laugh Factory on Sunset Boulevard. While other comedy club owners in Los Angeles were not paying the comedians, his goal was to create a venue where comedians could perform and earn money by "splitting the door".

''The Laugh Factory Presents''

''The Laugh Factory Presents'' is an online

stand-up comedy Stand-up comedy is a comedy, comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of One-line joke ...

series, which Masada created for up-and-coming comedians to spread their material to a wider audience via YouTube and Amazon.com. Masada's plan is to film comedians' shows on the Laugh Factory stage and allow them to keep 80% of the profits made from the specials. With the help of Laugh Factory New Media, Masada produced two The Laugh Factory Presents specials, ''The Laugh Factory Presents Tim Gaither Live from Las Vegas'' and ''The Laugh Factory Presents Raj Sharma Live from Las Vegas''.

Honors and awards

In recognition of all his hard work, Masada is the recipient of the

Ellis Island Medal of Honor The Ellis Island Medal of Honor is an American award founded by the Ellis Island Honors Society (EIHS) (formerly known as the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations (NECO)), which is presented annually to American citizens, both native-born ...

, the

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

Freedom of Speech Award and the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

Freedom Award. In 2011, Masada received an award from Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services for being a Comedy Innovator and Humanitarian and for offering comics a listening ear to deal with their personal demons.

Philanthropy

In an effort to support under-privileged children, Masada created the Laugh Factory's Comedy Camp for children in 1985. Through this camp, he has worked with over a thousand children, using comedy as a way to build their self confidence. Since 1979, Masada has hosted free Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners at The Laugh Factory for the homeless, the poor, or anyone who doesn't want to be alone for the holidays, with over 5000 attending in 2008. The Laugh Factory also hosts free services during the

High Holy Days The High Holidays also known as the High Holy Days, or Days of Awe in Judaism, more properly known as the Yamim Noraim ( he, יָמִים נוֹרָאִים, ''Yāmīm Nōrāʾīm''; "Days of Awe") #strictly, the holidays of Rosh HaShanah ("Jew ...

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...

References

External links

*
Official website of the Laugh Factory
{{DEFAULTSORT:Masada, Jamie Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) 20th-century births Businesspeople from California Entertainers from California Iranian company founders Iranian emigrants to the United States Iranian publishers (people) Iranian stand-up comedians Living people American magazine founders American male comedians Nightclub owners Iranian television producers American television producers American people of Iranian-Jewish descent 20th-century American Jews Iranian Jews 21st-century American Jews