Category Archives: Blog

I was drawn to this door at my favorite Sufi shrine in Karakalpakstan–I have a special place in my heart for tiny doors!

I love the mint shade decorating my favorite Sufi shrine in Karakalpakstan — an autonomous republic in Uzbekistan…

I’m just about ready to blast off to another planet — this one seems good (recognize it?)! I’d be happy to call it home.

I had a ball wearing this Darth Vader mask on the set of Star Wars in the desert of Tunisia — fun to play dress up…

Recently, I’ve been at work on a spec script for Law and Order SVU, but in the wake of Carrie Fisher’s death I’m thinking that I need to get back to writing more comedy. Aren’t we all in desperate need of a comedy infusion/revolution? Last fall, when I was in the Himalayas speaking at the Royal Palace in the Kingdom of Bhutan at an international conference on happiness, I realized that there were no lectures on humor — and said as much to actress and comedian Cheryl Hines (Curb Your Enthusiasm) who was there with her husband Robert Kennedy Jr., the closing speaker. How strange, we laughed, to have left comedy out!

Happiness and humor go hand-in-hand. Instead of talking about upping our nuclear reserves, why not increase our comedy reserves? Instead of competing in which nation has the most weapons of mass destruction, why not compete in which country has the best jokes and comedians?

Laughing, for me, is one of the best parts of being human, being alive. Other animals can kill each other too, but they don’t have the luxury and gift of comedy. So why not tap into our unique human gifts, and make the world not just a better place, but a funnier one too?

When I spent a year interviewing Malcolm X’s mentors and friends in Sudan and Lebanon, I was struck by something they all felt compelled to share — Malcolm X had an amazing sense of humor. He used humor as a weapon diffuse tensions, bring people together, and make searing critiques. For me, Carrie Fisher and Malcolm X are two prime examples that from deep pain springs great humor. Struggles for equality and justice — be they against racism or mental health stigma — need humor as much as rage. We aren’t fully exploiting humor’s role as an agent of change. Comedy is subversive (and fun), and it costs nothing to make a joke.

I’ve had the opportunity to work with and meet some amazing comedic actors — Cheryl Hines, John Krasinski, Olympia Dukakis, Candice Bergen, Meg Ryan, Matthew Broderick, Aasif Mandvi, Sandra Bernhard, Kirstie Alley, Jennifer Aniston, Faith Ford, Dave Walton, John Ritter, Tara Summers, and more. To me, comedians are national — international — human — treasures. But inside all of us, there is the potential to be funny — and to consciously expand our creative comedic abilities. Every moment and experience (even / especially the painful and unbearable ones) contains within it a seed of comedy. Look for it. It’s there. Waiting for you.

Some people make New Year’s resolutions to lose weight and get fit. My resolution this year is the same as last year — to be funnier. To make 2017 a year of comedy. To take the drama of daily life less seriously. To laugh at myself more. To make more people giggle. To look despair and pain in the face and dare to make a joke. Personally, I’d rather laugh — than scream and cry — my way to the grave. So I have a dream — of a humor revolution. Of the entire world exploding in laughter not bombs. Won’t you join me? Let’s all get a helluva lot funnier in 2017. The world needs it. May the force — of comedy — be with you all.

I got back into the Star Wars spirit while exploring Tunisia — might need to do a movie marathon over winter break…

When I was in Iran this fall giving a series of lectures for the Commonwealth Club of California, we had our final dinner in the private dining room of the Abbasi Hotel in Isfahan — a three-hundred-year old converted caravanserai. The ceiling of this charming dining room is stunning — an allusion to the elegant music room of Ali Qapu Palace in Isfahan’s Imam Square.

Here are some words about the history of the hotel from the hotel website: This complex was built at the time of king Sultan Hossein of Safavids about 300 years ago. King Sultan Hossein attributed this magnificent complex of building to his mother. That is why it is called “the school and caravansaray of Madar-shah” (which means king’s mother). Madar-Shah caravansaray likewise owns a square courtyard in the middle, each side of which amounts to eighty meters. In reconstruction of this caravansaray, this dusty courtyard has changed into a garden…Simplicity and strength of this building with its open pleasant area is reminiscent of the glory and grace of Naghsh-e-Jahan square which is the precious treasure left from the Persia of the Safavids periods.

Enjoying our last meal together on the road in this special dining room was the perfect way to end our grand adventure through the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The trailer above is for the wonderful film Kumare. Here is an official synopsis: Sri Kumaré is an enlightened guru from the East who has come to America to spread his teachings. After three months in Phoenix, Kumaré has found a group of devoted students who embrace him as a true spiritual teacher. But beneath his long beard, deep penetrating eyes, and his endless smile, Kumaré has a secret he is about to unveil to his disciples: he is not real. Kumaré is really Vikram Gandhi, an American filmmaker from New Jersey who wanted to see if he could transform himself into a guru and build a following of real people. Now, he is conflicted — can he unveil the truth to these disciples with whom he has spent so much time, and who now look to him for guidance?

Vikram takes us back to where his story began. From an early age, he questioned the meaning of religion and spirituality. Was it all just make believe, or was there something real beyond the realm of our understanding? As a young adult, Vikram found himself perplexed that, just as he was leaving his Hindu faith behind, America was embracing Indian spirituality in the form of yoga studios and gurus who claimed to be on a higher spiritual plane. When he began filming these gurus for a documentary, he discovered there was nothing special about who they were or what they did — they were no more holy than anyone else. In order to prove this, Vikram decides to transform himself into one of them…So he grows out his hair and beard, acquires the bells and whistles of Indian mystics, affects an accent, and transforms himself into the wise Indian Guru Kumaré.

One of the many reasons I feel at home in Xinjiang (and Central Asia) is because I’m not the only one wearing a hat!

I watched these scenes from Carrie Fisher’s Postcards from the Edge dozens of times while training as an actor.

I was very fortunate to see Carrie Fisher perform her solo show Wishing Drinking in Boston (full show below). My friend and I laughed so hard through the whole thing. I had been a fan of hers since seeing Star Wars as a child, but it was her work as a mental health advocate and comedic writer that really inspired me as a young adult when I was working in television and film. Her ruthless honesty and self-deprecating wit were unparalleled. Her candid mental health advocacy was trailblazing (one of her quotes: “I am mentally ill. I can say that. I am not ashamed of that. I survived that, I’m still surviving it, but bring it on. Better me than you.”). I drew inspiration from her brave example of discussing mental illness without stigma or shame when I began my work with the National Alliance on Mental Illness in the United States (running a program to destigmatize mental illness in high schools), and more recently while raising mental health awareness in high schools and universities in the Middle East. I feel so sad by her untimely death, but also renewed in my desire to live with honesty, empathy, and wit — and without shame, judgment, and fear. Most of all, I feel reinvigorated to live a a life infused with humor and dedicated to helping to alleviate the suffering of those who are struggling with mental health around the world.

While on a Fulbright in Indonesia (where I was studying Advanced Indonesian, Islam, Javanese gamelan, and martial arts), I had the opportunity to explore Indonesian islands other than Bali and Java. Since I had longed for many years to explore the island of Lombok, I booked a stay at the Oberoi there — which is now one of my absolute favorite luxury hotels in the world (it was paradise, really). From Lombok, it was just a hop, skip, and a jump (well, really a quick boat ride) to the Gili Islands nearby: Gili Trawangan, Gili Air, and Gili Meno.

Once we reached the Gilis, I jumped off the boat to snorkel — and found even more beauty below the surface of the water in the clear, turquoise waters. While swimming with dozens of turtles and florescent schools of fish, I lamented not being a fashion designer — so I could take some of the insanely stunning patterns displayed on the fish and transplant them to a runway. The captain of the boat took us to several different dive locations so that we could experience snorkeling off the coast of all three islands. After a nice afternoon of snorkeling, we retreated for a relaxing lunch on the beach of Gili Trawangan — and took one last swim before returning to the Oberoi in Lombok (wish I could live there, checking out was hard).

Since my memory of the Gili Islands is such a peaceful one, I was surprised to read last week that two foreign tourists in the Gili Islands were forced to take a walk of shame around Gili Trawangan for alleged bicycle theft with cardboard signs around their necks reading: “I am thieve [sic]. Don’t do what I did…!!!” I hope this news story doesn’t dissuade tourists from going to the Gili Islands — the snorkeling is really some of the best in the world and not to be missed.

Last night, while in deep slumber, I dreamt of Konya in Turkey — now, all day long, I’ve been feeling like I’m at Rumi’s shrine and mosque there. So I spent the morning translating some of Rumi’s Persian verses of poetry. If you make the journey to Konya, stop by Dervish Brothers for great Sufi hospitality and shopping — good people gather there.