After starting his career in stand-up comedy, Athari began collaborating with Muslim-American comedians
Hasan Minhaj,
Asif Ali, and Fahim Anwar on sketches under the group name
Goatface. An hour-long special of their sketch work aired on Comedy Central in 2018. He had a recurring role on the final season of HBO's
Silicon Valley as Gabe. Athari also cohosts the improvised podcast "This Is Americans Live," a parody of the radio show
This American Life. In 2021, Athari was cast as a featured player on
Saturday Night Live, alongside fellow newcomers
James Austin Johnson and
Sarah Sherman, for its
forty-seventh season. He was the second
Iranian American and second
Middle Eastern American cast member in the show's history, after
Nasim Pedrad. He did not return for the 48th season of
SNL. == Personal life ==