It is 7:35 on a Saturday night, and a ready-to-laugh Comedy Catch crowd fills the dark showroom with applause as the voice of club co-owner Michael Alfano introduces his opening act.
As the lights come up, a dark-haired entertainer in a button-down shirt bounds onto the stage, grabs the mic and thanks the crowd for the warm welcome.
“My name is Moody Molavi. It’s short for …” and a 20-syllable, foreign-accented name rolls off his tongue to a smattering of happy laughter. “I know, right?”
Then he says, “I’m from Iran.”
And there is dead silence.