Sina Khani

Sina Khani at the premiere of Creeps 5, held at The Unsafe House. alt=Sina Khani at the premiere of Creeps 5, held at The Unsafe House.

Sina Khani (born 1982) is a German‑Iranian multidisciplinary artist, musician, comedian, and filmmaker, active in Amsterdam, Berlin, and Bochum. He is the creator and lead performer of the satirical web series Creeps From The Middle East, known for blending absurdist humor, mockumentary elements, and social critique.

Career

Early work and The Sina Khani Show Sina Khani graduated from the Rietveld Academie Amsterdam in 2008. His graduation project The Sina Khani Show, produced via Mediamatic, mimics the late‑night talk show format with a subversive twist: “Sina Khani is the new David Letterman. Without the budget, without the connections and without the humor.”

Among his early works is the student short film Inhalal Versus Exhalal, which was screened at the Netherlands Film Festival.

Music Khani has released several offbeat singles at Blowpipe Records. In a 2015 interview, he described transitioning from comedic performance to music and listed “Shrek” among his early releases. He directed the music video for the song "The Sky-Fun Reels And Angelica Kneels" by Dutch singer-songwriter Harry Merry (2014).

In 2016 performed a hymn for the German football club VfL Bochum, expressing his admiration for the team.

Writing Khani is the author of The Artist-Mullah-Construction-Essay, published by Veenman Publishers, a work exploring aspects of diasporic identity and cultural archetypes.

In February 2026, Khani founded The Unsafe Journal, a literature magazine that describes itself as a “safe space for unsafe ideas.” The publication has featured works from contributors including the Russian protest art collective Pussy Riot, Arash Sedighi, Paul Rhoads, Veli Silver and Willehad Eilers.

Creeps from the Middle East Khani is the principal creator of Creeps from the Middle East, a black-and-white, semi-scripted comedy series. The series blends satire, performance, and confrontation.

The series has featured a range of contributors from music, theatre, and comedy, including Mohsen Namjoo, Gover Meit (also known as Stefano Keizers or Donny Ronny), Adelheid Roosen, Aerea Negrot, San Proper, Michiel Lieuwma and Tarik Sadouma.

Media engagement and controversies In 2024, FeltenINK reported that Hans Teeuwen was considering legal action over a scene in Creeps from the Middle East, following provocative interactions involving Khani.

Sina Khani appeared as guest in Open Geesten #26, a podcast episode where he discussed his independent format and creative philosophy.

Khani is a member of The Unsafe House, an Amsterdam-based art collective. The group has described its work as engaging with classical artistic themes and practices through contemporary and experimental methods. In collaboration with Curtis Yarvin, The Unsafe House proposed a project for the U.S. Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale, intended to present an alternative approach to conventional exhibition formats.

In the Unsafe House Podcast, Khani and Ruth Spetter interviewed Tarik Sadouma, Mohsen Namjoo and Ronja Brainstorm.

Khani has made several public performances, including an appearance on the German dating show First Dates, during which he stated that no woman should date him.

Sina Khani co‑authored the satirical manuscript Fart School with Tunç Topçuoğlu while studying at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie. The work was originally canceled by their tutors Linda van Deursen and Will Holder due to its provocative content but was published independently seventeen years later for its irreverent critique of institutionalized art and artistic censorship.

Reception and criticism Khani’s work often divides audiences. Ray Jackson of FeltenINK frames Creeps from the Middle East as deliberately provocative, pushing boundaries to expose ideological contradictions in art, religion, and media.