Pardis Parker is the creator and star of Comedy Central's Mideast Minute.
As a writer, his work has been published by the New Yorker, the New York Times, the New York Review of Books, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the Chicago Sun-Times, the New Quarterly, Weekly Humorist, Lit Hub, Electric Literature, and McSweeney's. His first piece of short fiction, Good Person, was named runner-up for the Peter Hinchcliffe Short Fiction Award, his humor piece, I am the NY Times Connections Puzzle and I am the Reason Everyone is Angry, was named Electric Literature's Most Popular Post of 2025, and his two half-hour television series, Free and Uncivil, sold to Amazon Prime with Plan B Entertainment, and to NBC with Universal Television and Hazy Mills Productions.
As a performer, he's a six-time Canadian Comedy Award nominee, a frequent guest on Comedy Central's @midnight, a contributing correspondent and writer for CBC's This Hour Has 22 Minutes, an actor who's appeared on shows for ABC, CBS, CBC, Showcase, Family Channel, Comedy Central, and others, and a stand-up comedian whose first TED Talk, I'm Tired of People Telling Me to "Grind," was recorded at TED2021, whose second TED Talk, I'm Terrified of Wanting to be a Billionaire, was recorded at TED2022, and whose third time on stage at TED was as a specially-invited guest host at TED2023. Repeatedly lauded for his "big, expressive eyes," Vulture called him a "great comedian," GQ Spain anointed him a "brown Steve Carell," Radio Canada dubbed him a "modern Mr. Bean," the Toronto Sun hailed him as Canada's next great comedy talent - the "next in line" after Mike Myers and Jim Carrey, Ottawa Life Magazine said that "his self-deprecating manner and friendly stage presence make him highly likeable," and the Kingston Herald described him as a "veteran performer who's at ease as he hilariously interacts with the audience, making it feel as though you're hanging out with a really funny friend."
As a filmmaker, his short films and music videos have received over 80 awards and distinctions from the likes of Disney-ABC, NBC Universal, the Toronto International Film Festival, the Athens International Film Festival, Montreal's Just for Laughs Comedy Festival, the Boston Comedy Festival, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Canadian Comedy Awards, and the National Screen Institute of Canada. The Playlist called him an "up and coming talent on the Canadian film scene," Film School Rejects said his work was "riotously funny, with a narrative flair that makes one hope he has a feature coming soon," CinemaSinema lauded his ability to "squeeze more heart from an 11 minute short film than many Hollywood directors can muster from feature length pictures," and Radio Canada gushed that he was "a kind of Seth MacFarlane - someone extremely multi-talented who can write, direct, and act."
