Nosratollah Vahdat; A comedian, actor, and director

On the surface, you may think that a comedian tells jokes. While this is true, what they really do is surprise people. Something is funny precisely because it is so surprising – this is true of most of the best jokes you've heard during your life. The operative word in the term "punchline" is "punch" – at the end of a joke you're being hit in the face with something you didn't see coming, which is where laughter comes from in the first place.