Pardis Parker

Pardis Parker is the creator and star of Comedy Central's "Mideast Minute," the creator of "Free," a new half hour comedic drama in development at Amazon Prime with Plan B Entertainment, and the co-creator of "Uncivil," a new single-cam comedy in development at NBC with Universal Television and Hazy Mills Productions.

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, Weekly Humorist, Lit Hub, and McSweeney's.

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.

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.