Episode 1619 - Mo Amer
Marc:all right let's do this how are you what the fuckers what the fuck buddies what the fuck nicks what's happening how's everybody holding up how are you doing how's that thing you went to see what's going on with that thing on your hand i'm sorry i'm sorry that you lost your job
Marc:How are you doing with all the insanity weather-wise?
Marc:How are you doing with the snow, the floods, the fires?
Marc:How are you doing with all the insanity that's going on culturally, politically?
Marc:What's happening?
Marc:Are you holding it together?
Marc:Are you eating correctly?
Marc:Try to stay engaged in a way where you can manage it.
Marc:Try and be realistic and adapt and figure out how to move forward.
Marc:Because as old Hunter said, in a generation of swine, the one eyed pig is king.
Marc:And that is that's diplomatic in terms of where we're at now.
Marc:But old Hunter knew what he was talking about.
Marc:Going to go back and read some of those books.
Marc:So I don't know, man.
Marc:Today I'm here.
Marc:I'm here and I'm aware and I'm trying to figure out a way through day to day, figure out how I can help, what I can do.
Marc:Who needs help?
Marc:How can I help them?
Marc:That kind of stuff.
Marc:Being charitable, being decent, being respectful, having tolerance, having empathy.
Marc:Stay on top of it, will you?
Marc:Stay on top of it.
Marc:Today, actually, I get to have a real conversation about real, real global things.
Marc:With Mo Ammer.
Marc:He's a comic with two stand-up specials on Netflix.
Marc:He was a cast member on the series Rami.
Marc:He's got his own series on Netflix called Mo, which is now in its second season.
Marc:And it's terrific.
Marc:You know, I welcome and I completely consume and learn from television series created by artists who are of a certain background that is not necessarily contextualized culturally.
Marc:Good examples are Sterling Harjo.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And Rami, Rami Youssef, like these are things, the world of the reservation, you know, I knew nothing about.
Marc:I just didn't.
Marc:And maybe that's on me.
Marc:And Rami's experience as an Arab Muslim here in the States was unique to me in terms of what that community was like, what that what that the struggles within the community, his struggles with Islam, all that stuff.
Marc:in terms of how these communities live in this country.
Marc:And with Mo's series, he's a Palestinian-American and comedian, and his family is Palestinian.
Marc:And what they've lived with and been through and what they hold on to historically, traditionally, and familially in terms of being in this country was an eye-opening, mind-blowing experience.
Marc:And we were able to really kind of have a discussion
Marc:About that, about his life, about Palestine, about American Palestinians.
Marc:And, you know, I as a Jew and Mo as a Palestinian.
Marc:But the bottom line is, and oddly, the most important thing about the conversation is that we're both comedians.
Marc:And we both love comedy and have a personal history with comedy and some heroes in common.
Marc:But we are able to talk about the other stuff.
Marc:Look, I talk about things.
Marc:I talk about my fears.
Marc:I talk about the politics of this country.
Marc:Look, I knew and know what's going on in Gaza is awful.
Marc:And I've stated that.
Marc:But...
Marc:I do get a little preoccupied with what's in my own backyard in terms of the ongoing shift from democracy into some sort of competitive authoritarianism, which is a documented term that you should probably look up.
Marc:There's been some articles about it.
Marc:It's sort of what Hungary is and what Hungary became through that autocrat, Viktor Orban.
Marc:who is a big hero to some of the right wing pseudo intellectuals in terms of the shameless shift that they support away from liberal democracy in this country.
Marc:And as it's starting to unfold, you know, it's just look, we're going to start hearing questions we haven't heard in a long time, if ever.
Marc:Oh, so what, you got polio?
Marc:Damn, dude.
Marc:Damn.
Marc:Well, you know, Tesla has an iron lung available.
Marc:It's pretty, you know, it's kind of weird looking, but it's bulletproof.
Marc:So that's good.
Marc:And wait a couple of years.
Marc:So how was Paris?
Marc:You know, I haven't been there since it's been part of Russia.
Marc:Yeah, these are all possible questions.
Marc:Have you gone to Canada lately?
Marc:Yeah, they won't let Americans in.
Marc:I guess rightfully so.
Marc:Yeah, it's all going to get more and more exciting.
Marc:But the bottom line is, for me, it's understanding, you know, what is happening to the best of my ability with real facts and adjusting to that.
Marc:And then hopefully...
Marc:As we move into this, figure out how we can resist in a way that's not just personal or self-centered or self-righteous in terms of the small things you can do in your life to push back.
Marc:Because I don't know how much that really affects anything.
Marc:I got a friend of mine who's, you know, boycotting Amazon.
Marc:All right.
Marc:Well, good luck with that.
Marc:Good luck with it.
Marc:Boycotting Whole Foods.
Marc:Good luck with it.
Marc:I don't know if that's going to make a big difference, but if it makes you feel better, I guess that's not nothing.
Marc:But actually, it might be nothing.
Marc:Look, I'm in Asheville, North Carolina at the Orange Peel this Thursday, February 20th.
Marc:Nashville, Tennessee at the James K. Polk Theater this Friday, February 21st.
Marc:Louisville, Kentucky at the Baumhart Theater Saturday, February 22nd.
Marc:And Lexington, Kentucky at the Lexington Opera House on Sunday, February 23rd.
Marc:Back at Largo.
Marc:Here in Los Angeles on Tuesday, February 25th.
Marc:In March, I'll be in Oklahoma City at the Tower Theater on Thursday, March 6th.
Marc:Dallas at the Majestic Theater, Friday, March 7th.
Marc:Houston at the White Oak Music Hall, Saturday, March 8th.
Marc:And San Antonio at the Empire Theater on Sunday, March 9th, before I head to South by Southwest that week.
Marc:Then I'm coming to South Carolina, Illinois, Michigan, Toronto, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York City.
Marc:Then at the end there for my special taping, go to WTF pod dot com slash tour for all of my dates and links to tickets.
Marc:All right.
Marc:I'll tell you, it's funny.
Marc:Talking to Mo Ammer, I kind of knew him, but I didn't really know him.
Marc:And, you know, he's a Texas guy.
Marc:So we were able to sort of get into that history of Texas comedy.
Marc:You know, I was sort of involved in some ways with the legacy of that through Kennison.
Marc:And I'm back into the original Houston Outlaws.
Marc:But Ammer's been doing it a while and he's been doing it since he was a kid.
Marc:These American comedy histories about places you came up in if they have a comedic personality or profile or backstory.
Marc:So that was good.
Marc:It's all very weird entertainment business right now.
Marc:I watched that SNL 50 and it's just...
Marc:I don't know, man.
Marc:That was quite a room full of people there.
Marc:That was quite an audience outside of the people that have been on the show.
Marc:Man, that just must have been a battle of the publicists to get people into those seats, the ones who wanted them.
Marc:And yeah, I looked at that.
Marc:I looked at show business.
Marc:I looked at all of them in one room and fucking Keith Richards was there, which always makes me happy when he's sitting anywhere, to be honest with you.
Marc:But there were a lot of people in there and I'm looking at him.
Marc:I'm like, oh, my God.
Marc:Is that the face of the resistance?
Marc:We've got to broaden that thing.
Marc:We've got to get the people out there.
Marc:People are getting out there, which is encouraging.
Marc:But also people are getting so old.
Marc:It's difficult.
Marc:I don't know that I'm comfortable with old and I'm getting old myself.
Marc:It was quite stunning that Garrett Morris got out there and sat in a chair and he almost looked like a character Garrett Morris was playing.
Marc:He was playing an old Garrett Morris.
Marc:And that conversation I had with him was kind of amazing.
Marc:But I do like seeing everybody in the room and having a good time.
Marc:And some of the stuff was funny.
Marc:But Jesus Christ, I mean, come on.
Marc:Eddie Murphy doing Tracy Morgan outside of Sandler's song was really probably the high point of that thing.
Marc:It's kind of incredible when you see... Oh, anytime you see Eddie Murphy choosing to turn on the juice, you know, to be funny, Eddie Murphy, is always a treat.
Marc:So look, Mo Ammer...
Marc:is here.
Marc:We get into it.
Marc:But more than anything else, it's two comedians talking.
Marc:One a Palestinian-American and one a Jew.
Marc:It's just people.
Marc:We're just humans.
Marc:And this is me talking to Mo Ammer.
Marc:So I didn't realize you still live out there in Texas.
Guest:Yeah, I'm in Houston.
Guest:I never wanted to leave.
Marc:There's like that one place like when I go to Houston, I always like Houston more than the other places.
Marc:It's my favorite.
Marc:Well, there's so much fucking great art around.
Marc:And then there's like this Indian place I eat at some mall.
Guest:Oh, in the mall?
Marc:Oh, in the strip mall?
Guest:No, it's in...
Marc:No, it's in like— Himalayas.
Marc:No, it's in like a fancy kind of shopping area.
Marc:They do kind of a hip Indian thing.
Guest:Oh, man.
Guest:Listen, man, in Houston, it's all about agas.
Guest:Agas.
Marc:That's the Indian?
Guest:Yeah, it's Pakistani, but same shit.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:It's like the greatest South Asian food you've ever had.
Guest:These guys have like 13,000 Google reviews, and it's 4.8 stars.
Guest:Oh, yeah, it's right there, agas.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:What the fuck am I thinking of?
Guest:August is like insanely delicious.
Guest:Now that I'm like vegan, I'm always.
Guest:Oh, you'll love it.
Marc:Oh, Pondicherry.
Marc:That's what I'm thinking.
Marc:Pondicherry.
Marc:Yeah, I know Pondicherry.
Marc:That's all right.
Guest:My wife loves Pondicherry.
Marc:Yeah, it's good.
Guest:It's all vegetarian, I think, right?
Marc:Yeah, I think so.
Marc:But it's good.
Marc:It's a little hip.
Marc:It's not like traditional.
Marc:It's good.
Guest:No, no, no.
Guest:There's also like a Hindu temple like up north.
Marc:That's the thing about Houston.
Marc:It's so fucking huge.
Marc:And there's so many different kinds of people.
Marc:It's crazy.
Marc:It is.
Marc:It's the most diverse city in America.
Marc:That's what I was just going to say.
Marc:I used to live in Queens, in Astoria.
Marc:And I thought that's pretty diverse, but there's not as many people.
Guest:No, no.
Guest:Nowhere near as many people.
Guest:But also, I think that once you think of Texas, you imagine the South, the deep South.
Guest:That's what you imagine.
Guest:No, but Houston's.
Guest:It's the most diverse city in America, according to Forbes magazine.
Marc:It's crazy.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:And when I was pitching my show, I was like, yo, this is kind of insane that no one's ever filmed a series in Houston.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Because of the diversity.
Guest:It's diversity, but also like the export of music that's come out of Houston.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:From the hip hop scene.
Guest:I mean, my God, Beyonce.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Everything in between from Bum B to the hip hop scene itself.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Slim Thug, Paul Wall, all these guys.
Guest:I mean, Lizzo's from there.
Guest:Travis Scott's the top grossing artist in the world right now.
Guest:It's all Houston.
Guest:Yeah, but nobody like 50 Cent just moved there, but he's not from there, but he's kind of like- 50 Cent moved there?
Marc:Yeah, he just moved to Houston.
Marc:And back in the day, the comedy outlaws, Hicks, Kennison.
Marc:Yeah, of course.
Marc:Who was it?
Marc:Freddie Asparagus, Friedman, a couple other guys.
Guest:Yeah, Ron Chalk.
Marc:Ron.
Guest:Ron is one of my all-time favorites.
Marc:I interviewed him years ago, and then he died.
Marc:Ron was kind of fun.
Guest:I actually filmed his, helped put, like, they asked me to put together a camera crew to film his, like, last film.
Guest:The one here?
Guest:Oh, before he died?
Guest:No, before he died.
Marc:Get the fuck out of here.
Guest:It was at the comedy showcase in Houston.
Guest:I really get emotional thinking about it because to me, he's one of the greatest storytellers I've ever seen in my whole life.
Marc:Yeah, he was great.
Guest:And so that footage has never been released.
Guest:I don't know what happened to it.
Marc:Oh, really?
Guest:You don't know what happened to it?
Marc:No, it's not mine.
Guest:I just helped direct it and put it together.
Marc:Being up in Canada with him, he'd always be stocking up in those Tylenols with codeines.
Marc:He'd get like a year's supply.
Guest:Those Tylenol threes?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:My back.
Guest:My back.
Marc:Yeah, whatever.
Marc:You don't even need to complain in Canada.
Marc:They're right there on the shelf.
Guest:Well, that's nice.
Marc:So I can't remember.
Marc:When did we meet?
Marc:I remember having some moment where we were on the show, same show together, and I didn't even know you, and I just looked at you and I'm like, ah, fuck, do I got to follow that guy?
Marc:I don't know what he's going to do.
Marc:I don't even remember, honestly.
Marc:I don't know what he's going to do, but it's going to be big.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:It's just kind of like everything kind of mashed into, like, you know, you see comedians in all these different settings.
Guest:It's hard to remember exactly.
Marc:Well, I think it was at the store.
Marc:Yeah, it was definitely at the store, too.
Marc:At the comedy store is when I saw you first.
Marc:But, like, I didn't know your shit that much.
Marc:And then I watched...
Marc:I watched both seasons of the show.
Marc:You saw the second season?
Guest:I did.
Guest:Oh, amazing.
Marc:Yeah, it's great.
Marc:The whole thing's great.
Marc:Thank you.
Marc:I love it because there's so much I don't know.
Marc:I had the same experience watching Rami's show, and I'm like, I didn't know about this.
Marc:These Muslim guys are just living here.
Marc:They got whole communities and lives.
Marc:I just know halal guys.
Marc:That's it.
Marc:Easy on the hot sauce.
Marc:But I just don't know, and I think it's a unique thing that the way of life and the community is represented.
Marc:I felt that way when I watched Reservation Dogs.
Marc:I'm like, how the fuck...
Marc:We have this sense of what natives or Arabs are like, but you can't frame them in just a sort of ordinary context unless you know them.
Guest:No, absolutely.
Marc:Because we don't travel.
Marc:There's not a lot of crossovers.
Guest:No, there isn't.
Guest:There isn't.
Guest:And it's not like there's been a great depiction in film and television at all.
Marc:Oh, of course not.
Guest:Yeah, of course not.
Guest:If any, you know what I mean?
Guest:It's always been like Jafar.
Guest:It's like some guy on a carpet flying around, which is very entertaining, honestly.
Guest:Yeah, it is.
Guest:And those carpets, why, don't they?
Guest:They do.
Guest:I mean, if you pray enough, if you really pray enough, you could teleport to another dimension.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:I will tell you, after watching the last special and both seasons of the show, my appreciation for hummus and olive oil has taken—it's in new depth.
Marc:I have new depth.
Marc:Well, you know, I always liked it, but it's so omnipresent in both the special and the shows.
Marc:I'm like, holy fuck, I've really got to consider this in a real way now.
Marc:Yes, please do.
Guest:Please do, because it's wildly irritating when people don't.
Guest:Like you just walk into a fucking restaurant and they're like, here's your hummus.
Guest:I'm like, it's grainy.
Guest:It's like in a soft side and it's like carrots and fucking, what is this?
Marc:What is this?
Marc:Yeah, well, I'm relatively, I understand the purest approach to it because when I was in Astoria, you go up to the Egyptian place and they give you hummus and you're like, I can't, no matter what kind of food processor I have, I can't, I can't get it to this texture.
Marc:There's, like, no way I can get it this smooth.
Marc:And I get obsessed with it.
Marc:And even watching your show, I'm like, what is this special grinder that's going to get it this smooth?
Guest:Yeah, no, you're right.
Guest:It's really—I even have problems with it.
Guest:Because you talked about it.
Guest:The smoothness is kind of an issue.
Guest:Yeah, for sure.
Marc:But you don't know what the hell they use?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:No, it's—we use it at the house.
Guest:Man, I'm just blanking out right now.
Guest:My son's like obsessed with the machine.
Guest:No, it's the one that's, like, $1,000.
Guest:The Vitamix?
Guest:Yeah, Vitamix.
Guest:Oh, the blender.
Guest:Yeah, the Vitamix.
Guest:No, there's blenders and there's Vitamix.
Marc:No, the Vitamix blender.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:So you use that?
Guest:Yeah, we use the Vitamix.
Guest:And that brings it in.
Guest:And it's also like in the lemon.
Guest:People forget, like, you got to use lemon juice.
Guest:A lot of lemon juice.
Guest:Yeah, a lot of lemon juice.
Marc:Garlic and tahini, right?
Guest:Well, I prefer no garlic myself.
Marc:So you just go lemon juice, tahini, and that's it?
Guest:Yeah, it's just simple.
Guest:It was lemon juice, tahini, salt, of course.
Guest:Yeah, right, right.
Marc:But no cumin, no garlic.
Guest:You can do cumin, a little bit of cumin if you want, just for the gas, to counteract the gas if you want.
Marc:Yeah, no garlic.
Guest:But I avoid cumin at all.
Guest:Falafel, in the falafel I do cumin.
Marc:Yeah, but no garlic in the hummus.
Marc:I prefer no garlic.
Marc:But is that a purest thing?
Guest:It's a preference thing.
Guest:So you can be in?
Guest:Palestinians don't.
Guest:Palestinians, I know as a whole, really don't mess with garlic in the hummus itself.
Marc:But garlic in general is okay?
Guest:Yeah, garlic in general is fantastic.
Guest:Yeah, of course.
Guest:Oh, you can eat it whole.
Guest:We eat it whole.
Guest:We don't mess around.
Guest:If you have a fever, you put onions in your socks or something.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:Apparently that works.
Guest:No, it doesn't.
Guest:I've never done it.
Marc:People will do anything if you tell them it'll work.
Guest:I ate raw onions the other day.
Guest:I was like, oh, man, I'm fucking getting old.
Guest:Who does that?
Guest:What, eat raw onions?
Guest:It's just like.
Guest:Like what, a sweet onion, just yellow onion, blue onion?
Guest:Just a white.
Marc:Oh, really?
Guest:I mean, I ordered Persian food at the house, and I just saw them.
Guest:I never eat them.
Marc:I just had the Persian food.
Marc:What'd you have?
Guest:I'm going to do that.
Guest:You know, the Kubi Day, the classics, the Kubi Day.
Marc:I always get, like, I'm vegan, so I get the ful.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:I love the ful.
Guest:Well, ful is like an Egyptian thing, for sure.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Well, it all seems to cross over a little bit.
Guest:You know, I think these guys, they come up here and they're just like, hey, I'm just going to mismatch my menu.
Marc:I hate that shit.
Marc:Well, I know.
Marc:I don't like it.
Guest:You should make Persian food.
Marc:This is what you do.
Marc:It's literally the B story of both seasons of...
Marc:of your shows your your problem with food mixing yeah yeah i'm obsessed but you're telling me that persian that there's not crossover yeah i mean i know it is like they put an insane amount of garlic in their hummus yeah like their hummus is like garlic with a side of chickpeas it's like unbelievable you eat it you're like wow but the persian baba is fucking great delicious no persian baba is probably the best baba is that smoked eggplant yeah it's fantastic yeah yeah if it's done well no
Marc:Even the worst Persian spot does it decently.
Marc:Now I got to ask the guy if Fool is Persian?
Guest:No, no, no.
Guest:Fool is definitely an Egyptian thing.
Marc:Right.
Marc:But now I got to question his integrity.
Guest:Yes, I do.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:I have to say to him, so what is the story on Fool?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Is your mother Egyptian?
Marc:Who's Egyptian in the family?
Marc:Why are we having this?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:What's your expertise?
Guest:Who gives you the license to start making food?
Guest:That's what I want to know.
Marc:The first time I had food was at a place in Boston that was, I guess it was Egyptian.
Marc:It was a hookah place, which is another theme of everything you do.
Guest:It does cross over to like Palestine and Lebanon because they do like touch borders.
Guest:So it's like ish, you know, something like very, very close.
Guest:So they do like leak over.
Guest:Like we do, for instance, like food with penny in the middle.
Guest:like and then drown yeah no tahini oh tahini yeah yeah yeah so i have to i have to pronounce things yeah yeah yeah so i like get on myself if i say if i say like falafel yeah i'll die inside yeah i mean yeah a little bit yeah a part of me like disappears how do you say my history like goes away hummus hummus hummus yeah yeah and tahini is tahini tahini yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah i love it man no it's the best yeah and when you're vegan it's like great but then how about that persian cabbage salad that's the fucking best
Guest:You know, you lost me.
Guest:You lost me at cabbage salad.
Marc:Really?
Guest:Good, yeah.
Guest:Cabbage rolls, it's a whole other thing.
Guest:That's cooked.
Guest:Raw cabbage salad with the garlic and the mint and the tomato.
Guest:Yeah, I'll just skyrocket into space.
Guest:I mean, how much cabbage you've been farting all day.
Guest:Yeah, well, I mean, but it... So much gas in that.
Guest:I mean, like, I figured, like, the cook would help out.
Marc:You get used to it, dude.
Marc:You get used to it, yeah.
Marc:The combo of the foo and the cabbage, you're good.
Guest:You're good.
Guest:Oh, my God.
Marc:You're sad, bro.
Marc:You'll surprise yourself.
Guest:You'll kill everybody in sight.
Guest:I'll get deported tomorrow.
Guest:It'll be over.
Marc:So this is a good conversation for me to have with you around, like I imagine the first season.
Marc:So the first season came out, what, 2023?
Marc:22.
Guest:Now, when my luck has been extraordinary.
Guest:We were pandemic push, push, push to had all kinds of issues with that.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:We had the writing strike.
Marc:Right.
Guest:This season.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:We were behind five.
Marc:So you're saying it's bad luck.
Marc:No, no.
Guest:Just like it just happened.
Marc:It just happened.
Marc:But but how like in in the wake of October 7th.
Guest:My nephew's birthday.
Guest:No, I'm just kidding.
Marc:It's not a good joke.
Marc:What show was I just watching?
Marc:Was that your show?
Marc:It wasn't your show.
Marc:About the September 11th thing?
Guest:Yeah, he's like, oh, when's your birthday, 9-11?
Guest:I go, actually, it is.
Marc:No, but I saw some show where somebody induced labor on the 10th so they wouldn't have a September 11th baby.
Marc:I can't remember what it was.
Guest:I respect that a little bit.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:Good for you.
Marc:But when that happened, what were your feelings then on that day in terms of Palestinian-Americans and what was happening?
Marc:How did you feel on that day?
Yeah.
Guest:Devastated, shocked.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Just to give a little background, we started the writing room.
Guest:This is the only Palestinian show in America.
Guest:Like, it's the first.
Guest:In history.
Guest:It's kind of in history.
Guest:Sure, yeah.
Guest:I show run the show.
Guest:I run the show.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's my baby, and I have, you know, we started April 1st, and we went on strike May 1st, and we came back October 1st.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And then six days later, October 7th happened, and of course, like,
Guest:you know, it's kind of pandemonium, right?
Guest:Everyone starts reacting, everyone online, and then our writing room is just chaos.
Guest:You know, everyone is in a state of shock.
Guest:How do we handle it?
Guest:How do we handle it, right?
Guest:How do we handle it?
Guest:What's the next step?
Guest:What's the next move?
Guest:And me being, like, a stand-up in front of the camera in a Palestinian, so everybody kind of, what are you going to say?
Guest:What are you going to do?
Guest:Like, the pressure started happening and mounting, and, you know, I just, I'm a person in, like,
Guest:real distress i stay calm yeah and i watch yeah and i listen because i feel like everyone was just being wildly um just um reactive sure versus just like hey what's actually going on here what's happening yeah because i was mortified i was like oh this is gonna be it because the bombings and guys has been happening for quite some time yeah you know yeah i remember filming black adam and there were bombing guys yeah
Guest:And I have to walk on set and there's like rubble everywhere.
Guest:It's just like it was kind of messing with my mind a lot, actually, and my emotions and my psyche.
Guest:And so just seeing that, I was just mortified, honestly.
Guest:I was mortified for what happened.
Guest:I was mortified for the hostages.
Guest:I was mortified for what's going to happen to Gaza.
Marc:And also how people will see Palestinians in that moment.
Guest:How people will see Palestinians in that moment.
Guest:Also, like, what's the story?
Guest:Like, it's just kind of, you know, I just just as a just as a logical.
Guest:But forget that I'm Palestinian.
Guest:Like, I'm very I try to think things through and see what happened.
Guest:How could this even happen?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:This is supposed to be like this.
Guest:You know, you have the Israel has the.
Guest:It's the most advanced technology in the world.
Guest:You have an Iron Dome.
Guest:I don't even know how the fuck that even works, right?
Marc:So how do guys on parachutes just like— And then there's the stories about Netanyahu knowing about it.
Guest:Yeah, it just sounds very similar to like 9-11.
Guest:Right.
Marc:Did they let it happen for political reasons?
Marc:Right.
Guest:But I think the interesting thing is it's just fucking noise because in the end, the people are dead and people are both sides because you radicalize both sides.
Guest:Like no matter what, like this is a really, really terrible thing.
Guest:Either way you look at it.
Marc:Well, that's it.
Marc:Like you said, like as a Palestinian, that happens and all of a sudden everyone's looking to you.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And then, you know, as the attempted annihilation of the Palestinian people progresses from that point on behalf of Israel, which is, you know, clearly, you know, a heinous moral and human tragedy that they set out to, you know, clearly destroy the Palestinian people.
Marc:Then me as a Jew, people are like, well, what do you think?
Guest:Right, yeah.
Marc:You know, like, well, I'm a Jew.
Marc:I live in Los Angeles.
Marc:Right, right.
Marc:But, you know, you're kind of put in this position, you know, to make these statements.
Marc:I'm like, I'm a comic.
Marc:Exactly.
Marc:You know, because once it becomes political, especially stateside, that people need to be validated in their points of view that you are with them.
Marc:Exactly.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:And for me, from my perspective, I'm like, I spent my entire career being myself.
Guest:Right.
Guest:I've never like, you know, I'm not like...
Guest:I mean, this is kind of an example.
Guest:I'm kind of throwing him under the bus, but everybody kind of knows.
Guest:It's like DJ Khaled.
Guest:Nobody really knows.
Guest:Right?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Nobody really knows.
Guest:He doesn't talk about it.
Guest:It's not part of his, like, ecosystem.
Guest:It's not what he's known for.
Marc:What's his backstory?
Guest:He's Palestinian.
Guest:Right.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:He's Palestinian.
Guest:I'm saying nobody really, like, it's not part of the zeitgeist.
Guest:Nobody really, like, knows that.
Guest:Mm-hmm.
Guest:You know, like, this has been my...
Guest:Foundation because most people don't know what the hell I am and what that means and where I come from That's why I did the specials the way I did and what the show is about And so I have to stop answering these questions and kind of fill this massive gap, right?
Guest:Right.
Guest:So when that started happening, it's like man, I Of course you have to say something But how you say it and how you deal with it is like everything well as a public person, you know, it's expected of you sure and
Marc:But then you get into a zone where if you are not careful about how you speak about it, on either side, you become a representative of something.
Marc:Exactly.
Marc:And even though what you're going to say isn't necessarily going to solve any problems, is that people need the alliance.
Marc:Right.
Marc:So they validate their own point of view.
Marc:There's no denying...
Marc:The fucking horrible massacre and annihilation on behalf of on the part of Israel in relation to Palestinians.
Marc:But if you start the dialogue on whatever platform you have, you're expected to continue that dialogue every day.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:You are.
Guest:And that's like a massive trap.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:A massive trap.
Guest:That's why I didn't even talk about it within the season itself also.
Marc:Well, that was yeah, because I was wondering about that because, you know, you're in the shadow of this thing.
Marc:But yet your choice and I think on stage as well to identify as a Palestinian American to the point where in the second special, you know, you talk about, you know, white Americans don't have to put anything before American.
Marc:Right.
Marc:But or Arab American.
Marc:But but there is this this this need to like as an American.
Marc:You know, you are an American.
Marc:Exactly.
Marc:So the community that you have both, you know, with peers and with your Palestinian family as Americans is the story.
Marc:Right?
Marc:So, and the way I thought you handled it in the second season, you know, because the tensions have always been there.
Marc:There's never been a time in your life or my life.
Guest:It's like you have to contextualize everything.
Guest:Right.
Guest:You can't, it almost makes it sound like everything started on October 7th.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And it's just...
Guest:couldn't be further from the truth.
Guest:And then also you have to factor in, by the time the show comes out, it's a year from filming, right?
Guest:Almost 14 months from writing it.
Guest:So all the things that could change and unfold within that time frame.
Guest:So you kept it within the family.
Guest:You have to keep it within the family.
Guest:I started writing about it.
Guest:We tried.
Guest:I tried.
Guest:I attempted to go down that rabbit hole, and we started going through it, and it became really didactic, and it became not about the characters.
Guest:We're really attached to each other's emotions.
Guest:It just became about the thing.
Guest:And it was just, it was a trap.
Guest:It was a clear trap to me.
Guest:I saw it so clearly.
Guest:I was like, oh, you know what?
Guest:We end on October 6th, actually.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:The whole season ends on October 6th.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:So, you know, you caught that little nugget.
Marc:In the show?
Marc:Yeah, in the show.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:There's like a little hidden nugget at the end.
Guest:I don't want to, you know, spoil it, but yeah.
Marc:But in and because of that, you're able to address the the historical and what has been an ongoing threat and tension of, you know, from it because your family in the show is in the West Bank, right?
Guest:Yes, they are.
Guest:And they are actual in reality and everything that we show in.
Guest:Like all the cutaways, all the village in the West Bank is the actual footage of my family's, you know, village.
Guest:And it's my grandparents' house.
Guest:It's actually my grandparents' house.
Guest:Like I was very deliberate about all of that just to be as realistic, as grounded as possible.
Guest:And Burin also as a village is very unique in itself, which had a lot of artists come out of there.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And my family's contribution to that village has been significant.
Guest:And what is given to us has been huge as well.
Guest:So I'm so tied to it.
Guest:I wish I could live there, honestly.
Guest:I wish I was able to go.
Guest:I wish my mother, who was born there, could even move freely and go there.
Guest:Even now?
Guest:Yeah, even now, of course.
Guest:I mean, obviously I wish the situation was different.
Guest:I mean, my aunts can't even go to the doctor.
Guest:I mean, it's like a 10 minute ride.
Guest:It's six hours.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:That's crazy.
Guest:You know, you can't go anywhere.
Guest:You're completely confined to your home and then there's all the settler violence.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And so that you can't like any day could be your last.
Guest:I guess it's terrifying.
Marc:That's fucking horrendous.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And I thought that the way you handled that in the show was good because it kept it personal that, you know, you finally get to go over there.
Marc:Yeah, it's my genuine experience.
Marc:For the first time.
Marc:And then, like, you've got to deal with it.
Marc:It's not even the Israeli army.
Marc:It's the fucking settlers.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Now I'm going to get in trouble for just saying fucking settlers, let alone if any, you know.
Marc:I, Mo Amber, did not say fucking settlers.
Guest:No, I'm just kidding.
Yeah.
Marc:And this is not my real last name.
Marc:No, but I mean, it kept the conflict and the reality of the conflict personal.
Marc:It had to be.
Guest:Yeah, it had to be anything outside of that is not true for myself.
Guest:And then that's the best story I could tell.
Guest:Right.
Guest:How could I tell the most honest story?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Is by, you know, my own personal direct experience.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And of course.
Guest:There were some storylines, you know, some news cycles or anything that I would, you know, just hear would happen in the village.
Guest:I would, you know.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I would write down.
Guest:I mean, there was one that didn't even make it into that.
Guest:It was like a flashback I kind of wanted to do in the show.
Guest:But it would never fit.
Guest:It was like my mom told me this story how the settlers came down to our village.
Guest:They stole all the...
Guest:all the olives that they had picked for the press.
Guest:They stole everything.
Guest:And so what did the Palestinians do?
Guest:They went up to the settlements, which was very dangerous, and they stole their donkeys.
Guest:And then the two elders got together, and they did a swap for donkeys and olives.
Guest:I wanted to call the episode Donkeys and Olives.
Guest:I just thought it would be a really funny episode to do, but also a little insight on how you exist there.
Marc:That there was a negotiation.
Marc:Exactly.
Marc:Exactly.
Marc:But now you have aunts that still live in the West Bank?
Guest:Yeah, aunts, cousins.
Guest:Yeah, plenty.
Guest:On both my father's side and my mother's side.
Marc:And are they okay?
Guest:I mean, yeah.
Guest:Well, they're alive?
Marc:Yeah, they're alive.
Guest:Yes, thank God.
Guest:Yeah, they're alive.
Guest:There's no... It's not a normal life.
Guest:You're confined to your home.
Guest:And my grandparents' house was ransacked recently.
Guest:It's just so...
Guest:I don't even know how to describe it, man.
Guest:It's like your heart being ripped out of your chest.
Guest:This is my grandparents' house.
Guest:I want my son.
Guest:I just had a baby boy a little bit over a year ago.
Guest:I want to go experience this with him.
Guest:I want him to see where he comes from.
Guest:I'm mortified this is all going to be gone soon.
Guest:They're just going to take it.
Guest:It's fucking.
Guest:It's just like, you know, it's so disappointing because my, there's all these wonderful stories from my grandfather and the relationships they had with Jews, Palestinian Jews that lived there pre 48.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And it was just like, they used to watch each other's kids.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Oh really?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:They used to watch each other's kids.
Guest:Because, like, you know, and they had this kind of life where they just would hang out all the time.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And actually, like, as far as, like, yeah, coexisted in a beautiful way.
Guest:And they're both Abrahamic religions.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:They both believe in one God, one existence.
Guest:It's like they're really very similar.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And both worked off the lunar calendar.
Guest:Everything kind of cycled together.
Guest:And it was just like a—it was really—
Guest:a beautiful life from what I've heard.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Pre 48.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I mean, obviously there was some, um, you know, a lot of refugees that were coming in from Europe, even within world war one.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And that was escalating, but it wasn't anywhere near as bad as 48.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And like, just not, you not to make any comparison in any way, but you know, it's that the association that happened, you know, immediately and implicitly on the left was that, you know, Jews are Israelis.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:That there was no, you know, like it's the other way around.
Marc:Israelis are generally Jews, but Jews, diaspora Jews, you know, it's a complicated thing to understand given what you're taught.
Marc:And that's where it's sort of, you know, kind of.
Marc:It was kind of bizarre that it kind of moved into almost anti-Semitism, that any Jew is aligned with this annihilation of Palestinians.
Guest:It doesn't make sense.
Guest:Also, the whole thing just doesn't make sense.
Guest:If everyone's trying to kill you, wouldn't you want to not be all in one place?
Guest:It feels like the Jews are being set up, too.
Guest:They're fighting it.
Guest:They're fighting it.
Guest:It feels like, hey, everybody wants to kill us, so we're going to go all to one place, make it easy for everybody.
Guest:Hold on a second.
Guest:Okay, so then who am I going to work with?
Guest:Evangelicals.
Guest:What do they want?
Guest:They want to put you all in one place.
Guest:Yeah, so Jesus can come back.
Guest:Come back and kill us.
Guest:What is going on?
Guest:Just on a logical level.
Marc:I'm not equipped to really speak to the history of it.
Marc:But ultimately, I thought you depicted it in a very honest and visceral way so that people, even like me or anybody else, can understand the way of life and the cultural history.
Marc:Thank you.
Marc:You know, even as a Jew is fragmented.
Marc:Very few people have a real sense of historical community.
Marc:And I think that what comes across in the series, both seasons, is not like the way that religion is...
Marc:It's not like Rami's show.
Marc:Rami's got a crisis of faith.
Marc:He talks about religion, but in your show, it's just a given.
Guest:Yeah, it is.
Guest:It's unbreakable faith.
Guest:It's different.
Guest:It's a fine line between
Guest:Religion, this is the thing.
Guest:I think in this day and age, people say, I'm not religious, I'm spiritual.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Whatever that is.
Guest:And I heard a beautiful summation of this.
Guest:There was a man that converted to Islam, and he used to be a crackhead.
Guest:He used to be in jail, all this, and he changed his life, transformed everything.
Guest:And he says, religious people don't want to go to hell.
Right.
Guest:But spiritual people have been to hell and don't want to go back.
Marc:Yeah, it's like an AA thing almost.
Guest:Yeah, is it?
Guest:Yeah, I'm not familiar.
Guest:But, you know, I believe the family is definitely, you know, mom is religious, praise all the time.
Guest:I think, you know, Mo tries.
Guest:He fucks up a lot, you know, in the show.
Marc:But it's not a question.
Guest:Yeah, no, it's not a question at all.
Marc:They do believe.
Marc:You just get a little lazy.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:Definitely.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Yes.
Marc:Because like secularism in my mind is that you identify as the religion, but like, yeah, I don't go to the mosque.
Marc:You know what I mean?
Marc:You know, I'm not, you know, I don't go to church.
Marc:You know what I mean?
Marc:You're culturally Jewish, but religiously maybe not.
Guest:Right, right.
Guest:We still pop in for sure.
Guest:We still go to the mosque once in a while.
Guest:We don't show it in the show, but we pop in.
Guest:We check in with God regularly for sure.
Marc:But even in greetings, it's kind of beautiful that there's just this, like, it's all inclusive.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And, you know, just the beginning of any social interaction.
Guest:It's actually one of my favorite things.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:with Kareem and Patrick shout out and he they were he would always comment on like man I love how you guys speak to each other you know it is like that it's like the greeting peace be upon you and may peace be upon you and unto you and your entire family it's like wow and then you say hey listen did you pick up the fucking tiny you know what I mean it's like that
Guest:But also like in the time of the prophets, he used to say, they used to say before him, they used to say, kifak means how you do it.
Guest:And then after him, he would say kifal hal, which is how is your state?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:How is your state?
Guest:How is your heart?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So it's this, it's just one word, but it changes everything.
Guest:Wow.
Guest:It's not just like, hey.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:How you doing?
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:No, how is your state?
Marc:How are you really doing?
Guest:How are you really doing?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So all these like,
Guest:little nuggets to me that are just really special in communication, in connection, in understanding your spiritual self, the heart, the cleansing of the heart, the mind.
Guest:I'm not equipped to talk about it at all.
Guest:What little I know blows my mind.
Marc:But the habit.
Marc:It's beautiful.
Marc:The habit is beautiful.
Guest:Yeah, because it keeps you connected and it does have meaning.
Guest:And it's very sad, though, because even, you know, Arab Christians will also greet each other this way.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But it's become such a stigma because of how Muslims are depicted.
Guest:And so they won't even say Salam al-Aikum anymore, which it doesn't make.
Guest:It's not everyone.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:There is some that feel like some kind of tension about it because, and I understand like the history of it all is, is so baked with so much tension.
Guest:So they kind of want to separate themselves, but it's really not good.
Guest:It's actually, you should, you should power through it and maintain this beautiful tradition where you greet each other with such, you know, uh, love.
Guest:And I talk about it in my special, Mohammed in Texas, when it's just like, Hey,
Guest:How are you?
Guest:Versus really, really greeting each other.
Guest:Having that connection.
Guest:Yeah, having that connection with the intention of it.
Marc:I'm really tuned in.
Marc:And this is like all the friends you grew up with and from the community.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:It comes from my elders, for sure.
Guest:My uncle passed away a year and a half ago.
Guest:He's easily one of the greatest men I've ever known.
Guest:What a...
Guest:Just a beautiful man.
Guest:He was so consistent, never wavered.
Guest:He's just an example of a human for me as a real man.
Guest:He took care of his seven kids.
Guest:He's so successful.
Guest:He was in Texas?
Guest:No, no.
Guest:He was in Amman, Jordan.
Guest:And he worked for the United Nations, actually.
Guest:He spent his whole life making sure that kids who were affected by war received restitution and were taken care of.
Guest:Essentially, he spent his whole life just, you know...
Guest:He was a doctor.
Guest:I had a doctorate.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Law degree.
Guest:The guy's just an overachiever, basically.
Guest:But you knew him.
Guest:He had a relationship.
Guest:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:Because I lost my dad when I was 14, and he was the one that always, like, he was, like, my guiding light with my mother.
Guest:He was always that for me.
Marc:It's amazing because, you know, I read a book recently about, like, the fact that...
Marc:There is no cultural adhesive anymore for people from anywhere because even people from places don't necessarily have a community.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You know, they may have a history or they may have, you know, like, you know, something that they came from.
Marc:Right.
Marc:But I think what's great about your show and what you're talking about is that the connection to the people that you come from is active.
Marc:Mm.
Marc:And also you have a community here.
Marc:Absolutely.
Marc:So it has, you know, it runs deep.
Marc:Absolutely.
Marc:And for, you know, for centuries.
Guest:No, absolutely.
Guest:And when I came to Houston, it was Hakeem Olajuwon for me.
Guest:It was like the, I was like, oh, that's the guy.
Guest:It was like, I didn't know.
Guest:I didn't see any other Arabs really.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I didn't see like many Muslims.
Guest:How old were you?
Guest:I was nine when I first came to the States.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:and uh hakeem was like that guy yeah he's like oh my god he's fasting yeah during playoffs and like yeah like i i would have failed for sure like he's so better than so much better than i am but just like he was the guy in houston that i looked up to like oh there is a sense of community and then you see how diverse houston kept getting and and then you start meeting all these people and you create your own community yeah in your own pockets and
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And you become like the guy like, oh, he's from, you know, he's the first Palestinian or he's the first Iraqi guy.
Guest:And the more war that would happen in the Middle East, the more Iraqis would pop up.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Which is really funny.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's not funny.
Guest:It's just how it works.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Well, that's interesting, too, that like Hakeem represented a way to maintain your cultural identity.
Marc:It did.
Guest:And he was so attainable.
Guest:Like he was, I would see him at the mosque.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:He'd just pop in.
Guest:And he would spend time with everybody.
Guest:He was so nice.
Guest:And actually, before my dad passed, he became friends with his brother and took me to a Nigerian mosque.
Guest:And he just won the championship.
Guest:He's like, at that point, the best son in the game.
Guest:And just signing, hanging out, saying hi, high-fiving kids, being a great guy.
Guest:Zero like I gotta go last autograph nothing.
Guest:Yeah, you guys good.
Guest:Yeah done boom leave you like felt like this Muhammad Ali type presence Wow to him where it was just so special So you got there when you were nine with all your siblings?
Guest:No, no, it was my sister and I yeah, we So my mom got us on a bus went through Iraq
Guest:during the kuwaiti war i really hate saying at all we went through there yeah during the gulf war yeah uh part one and then took us to jordan and then got us on a flight and ended up to houston and then um yeah i just had a brother there that was studying and then so that's how you know and eventually my mom followed my brother my other brother followed and my dad came about two years later and then he passed away like three years later
Guest:What happened?
Guest:He had a heart attack.
Guest:He had a heart attack.
Guest:He was in the hospital.
Guest:I really believe, first of all, rags to riches and then riches to rags.
Guest:He was in his 50s.
Guest:I got to start over.
Guest:I think that all just took it out of him.
Guest:It just really, really took him out.
Guest:I really believe it was just the stress of everything.
Marc:The fact that whatever education or position they held, I had a landlord in Queens.
Marc:Well, I think he was Colombian and he was a dentist in Colombia.
Marc:And he was now the landlord because he owned this building.
Marc:And if your oven would fuck up, he'd come in and be like, you know, if it was a mouth, I could fix it.
Guest:My father was a telecommunications engineer.
Guest:He worked for the Kuwaiti oil company.
Guest:He went to school in England.
Guest:I mean, he was the first guy to really, like, introduce electronics to the village in Burin.
Marc:Oh, yeah, that's in the second season.
Marc:Yeah, it is.
Guest:But he owned an electronic shop there, and he would teach people how to, you know, this is what this is, this is what that is, how this works.
Guest:And I was surrounded by this tech, like this early tech and what he would do with it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's part of my life.
Marc:Well, it's so sweet that the second scene honors him all the way through.
Marc:Like that was sort of like the destination of the thing is to honor your people and then to honor your father.
Marc:Absolutely.
Marc:Because that scene in the mosque where you got to do the call to prayer, it's kind of funny, but kind of sweet.
Marc:Tear jerker.
Guest:It's a real thing.
Marc:I know.
Guest:I saw it in the special.
Guest:Yeah, it was a real thing, and I wanted to add another layer to it.
Guest:It's like what really happened is when I found out, I kind of snuck away and just lost it.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:It was like joy and sadness all at the same time.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:It was just filled with it.
Guest:It just immediately hits me every time I think about it.
Guest:But it was just, yeah, it's just really special to be able to tip the hat.
Guest:And the whole video camera thing is also real.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:That was a whole...
Marc:Like, miracle.
Marc:Was the encounter with the Israeli customs guy real?
Guest:Yeah, I had... Not with the VHS tape, but there was, like, several other things that I had from my grandparents' house.
Marc:It's kind of interesting that you went out of your way to...
Marc:I don't know if it was driven by empathy, but you humanized even the worst of the people in the show.
Marc:Did I really?
Marc:A little bit.
Marc:I mean, you like, well, not specifically that guy with the VHS tape, but certainly the person, the woman asking the questions.
Marc:Sure.
Marc:And you did it by making them comedic characters.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And so that makes them a real person as opposed to like this fucking monster.
Marc:Right.
Guest:No, no, no, no.
Guest:I think it's important to like break through.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:We spend so much time like seeing the other version.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Regularly.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I think seeing that part where it breaks through, even the dream in episode eight.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Where he's just like these Palestinian families are like moving back and just joyful and leaving and seeing the guns being melted by the IDF.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And then the reveal of Bob Ross.
Guest:But Bob Ross is just like me just speaking to them.
Marc:Speaking to everyone.
Marc:Yeah, that was funny.
Guest:Just speaking to everyone.
Guest:It's like, it's amazing what you can do when you change your mind.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You know?
Guest:Right.
Guest:It's amazing what you can do when you change your mind.
Guest:No more guns.
Guest:No more war.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:That's nice.
Guest:I'm in my happy place.
Guest:You know?
Guest:It's just telling them like, man, think.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Think what it could be without all this nonsense.
Marc:I don't know that people, like because people are so brain fucked,
Guest:I don't know how, like, historically, like, Jews who were fleeing persecution in Europe went to, like, Morocco, Tunisia, these Muslim countries and sought refuge, and they were fine.
Guest:Why are they the enemy?
Guest:This is why I'm like, man, I don't trust anything.
Guest:I don't trust it.
Guest:I feel like it's a setup.
Guest:Like, the whole thing is a setup.
Marc:Yeah, so you just put that as your foundation and then move through your life.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I mean, what am I supposed to do?
Guest:Like, I just don't believe what anybody says.
Guest:It's hard to believe.
Guest:Like, this is a world of fake news.
Guest:Like, I don't know what's real, what's wrong, who's personal interests, who's doing what.
Guest:I have to maintain who I am, stay grounded in the stories that I tell is from my own lens, from my own experience.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:And keep it moving.
Guest:And stand-up is just like, that's why I fell in love with stand-up when I saw it when I was 10 years old.
Guest:Who'd you see?
Guest:When I was 10, I went to—my brother took me to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And it was co-headlined by the band Alabama Cosby.
Guest:Wow.
Guest:This is a pre-Monster Cosby.
Guest:Pre-Monster Cosby.
Guest:He was America's dad at that time.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I didn't even know who that was.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I mean, I just—I've been in the country like six months.
Guest:I have no clue what—
Guest:Alabama is livestock.
Guest:I arrived like two days before Halloween.
Guest:Two days later, I thought Americans were out of their fucking minds.
Guest:I've never seen cleavage.
Guest:I didn't even know what the hell this is.
Guest:It just freaked me out.
Guest:Everything freaked me out.
Guest:I was like, this place is a nightmare.
Guest:I couldn't believe it.
Guest:I was like, what is going on?
Guest:Why are they dressed like this?
Guest:It's freaking me out.
Guest:I just didn't know what to do with it.
Guest:I didn't know anything.
Guest:Even when I first started stand-up,
Guest:In the late 90s, there was all these comedians.
Guest:Oh, you sound like this guy.
Guest:You sound like that.
Guest:I'm like, who's Sam Kennison?
Marc:I don't know who you're talking about.
Marc:I've been in the country eight years.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:I don't think you sound like Sam.
Guest:No, I mean, back then I was 17.
Guest:I was screaming like, yeah.
Marc:I'm 17, bro.
Guest:I'm so excited.
Guest:You're full of it, yeah.
Marc:I'm full of it.
Marc:But so Cosby made an impression.
Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, Cosby, Cosby, just seeing him tell stories.
Marc:It's interesting how many comics that, and I didn't see it till later, but Bill Cosby himself, that special.
Guest:Well, they showed it in our school also.
Guest:They would show it in free time because it was clean.
Guest:They would bring it in and watch it.
Marc:Yeah, it's sort of an astounding, because that approach to stand-up, which that, you know,
Marc:regrettably he is who he is, but that special changed my approach.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:That jokes are important, but stories are all jokes.
Marc:No, absolutely.
Guest:You construct the story.
Guest:And I come from a storytelling tradition.
Guest:My mom would tell me all these amazing stories, and it's within my family.
Guest:So when I saw it live in front of like 70,000 people on this rotating stage on a pile of sand, and he had everyone...
Guest:Just at the edge of their seats, including me.
Guest:I don't even know the fuck he's talking about.
Guest:I'm nine.
Guest:But I just realized it was so funny.
Guest:And his act outs was just like the way he told the story and how deliberate he was and how patient he was.
Guest:It just blew up.
Guest:My little nine-year-old mind.
Guest:I just couldn't believe it.
Guest:I looked at my brother.
Guest:I was like, this is what I'm going to do for a living.
Guest:And you were 10?
Guest:Yeah, I wasn't even 10 yet.
Guest:I was nine.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, and he goes, you're out of your mind.
Guest:He's like, okay.
Guest:I was like, no, you don't understand.
Guest:And it stuck with you.
Guest:This is what I'm supposed to do, idiot.
Guest:That was your moment.
Guest:I'm like, okay, nobody gets it.
Guest:Religious moment.
Guest:Yeah, it was.
Guest:It was absolutely that.
Guest:Saw your whole life ahead of you.
Guest:Yeah, no, four years later, I started doing stand-up.
Guest:When you were 15?
Guest:I was actually ninth grade in high school.
Guest:I was 14 years old.
Guest:My father had just passed.
Guest:I was skipping school.
Guest:I was like, didn't care about anything.
Guest:That sent you on a tailspin?
Guest:Sent me out.
Guest:I mean, I didn't give a shit.
Guest:I was gone all the time.
Guest:I would go to ball games, sit on a third baseline.
Guest:Like, I didn't give a shit.
Guest:I was just gone with my buddy.
Guest:Because you were sad.
Guest:I was very, very sad.
Guest:I was very, very sad, distraught.
Guest:Like, my life was so...
Guest:everything's upside down.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Completely.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Everything's, I'm living, we're living in a one bedroom apartment.
Guest:Like what's happening?
Guest:Right.
Guest:So, um, so yeah.
Guest:So my teacher, my English teacher is the one who actually changed my life.
Guest:She goes, don't you want to be a comedian?
Guest:I was like, yes.
Guest:She goes, also, don't you want to graduate high school?
Guest:I was like, of course.
Guest:It'd be embarrassing.
Guest:She goes, how would your father feel if you don't graduate?
Guest:Oh, wow.
Guest:I was like, you're a weird bitch.
Guest:I was like, you're evil.
Guest:Like this is fucked up.
Guest:Right to the, right to the kisser, man.
Guest:I was,
Guest:And I started to cry.
Guest:I was like, oh, my God, it would be terrible.
Guest:And she said, listen, if you do stand up in class and incorporate anything that we're studying, which was Shakespeare at the time, then I'll give you extra credit and help you get by this year.
Guest:But you're probably going to fail.
Guest:I was like, that's fine.
Guest:I was like, I'll do it.
Guest:I was like, can I do it now?
Guest:She was like, yes.
Guest:I went up and did some stuff for Macbeth.
Guest:And if I'm right out of the book, we had a text.
Guest:I was doing it with the British accent.
Guest:To me, you don't do me.
Guest:And the kids ate it up.
Guest:Kids, I was their age.
Guest:And everybody's dying laughing.
Guest:I was like, can I do it tomorrow?
Guest:And she was like, yeah, she let me do it every Friday.
Guest:And then she took me to the arts department.
Guest:No, no, no.
Guest:I would just write my own material and do whatever.
Guest:So you're doing like 14-year-old kid stuff.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:And then she took me to the theater arts department.
Guest:She's like, listen, Lugene, this is my theater teacher.
Guest:She was like, this kid's been doing all these accents, original material I've never heard before.
Guest:I think he belongs here.
Guest:And then the following year, I was like...
Guest:Doing leads and plays.
Guest:And then you were able to lift up your other grades?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Marc:Because you felt better about yourself.
Guest:Pass with honors.
Guest:Graduated early.
Marc:Graduated 17.
Guest:So it gave you a sense of self-worth.
Guest:Changed my life.
Guest:Bro, I would skip.
Guest:I got so good at it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I would put like the little Chris Farley jacket on.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Fat guy in a little coat.
Guest:And I would roast the class.
Guest:I would roast all the class as Chris Farley as a fat guy in a little coat.
Guest:I got so good at it, my Spanish teacher, Senorita Ferreira, she was like, can you do it for my other classes?
Guest:So she literally wrote me a note to skip the other classes.
Guest:I had three shows in one day.
Guest:I'd be out in the hall wearing the little jacket.
Guest:Everyone's like, Mo, what are you doing?
Guest:I got two shows.
Guest:I got two more gigs coming up.
Guest:Just hang out.
Guest:Just do these things.
Guest:I couldn't believe it was happening.
Marc:Getting as many sets in as I can.
Guest:I got to do it, man.
Guest:I'm about to graduate.
Guest:Got to go up the hall.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:And that's it.
Marc:That's interesting that it saved your life because who the fuck knows if you weren't able to process that grief.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You know, who the hell knows?
Guest:I felt so alone.
Guest:Like everybody was dealing with so much.
Guest:My mother was dealing with so much.
Guest:It's like, he's just like, I was by myself.
Guest:I felt very alone.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Very alone in the process.
Guest:But I wouldn't change a thing, honestly.
Marc:So when do you start doing clubs?
Guest:I did immediately.
Guest:This is hilarious.
Guest:So Arab moms will volunteer you to other Arab business owners for work.
Guest:So I didn't even have a social at that point.
Guest:So when I woke up one morning, my mom was like, you have a job.
Guest:I was like, I'm going to be a comedian mom.
Guest:She's like, no.
Guest:So she forced me to work at this flag shop.
Guest:We sold fucking flags.
Guest:And import, export shit.
Guest:So I'm reading the Houston press.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I see Houston's Funniest Person competition at the Laugh Stop.
Guest:When it was still around.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:When it was like one of the best.
Guest:Was Babbitt there?
Guest:He was.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:He was.
Guest:He was.
Guest:And so I go.
Guest:It was like, oh, shit.
Guest:Today's the deadline.
Guest:I call my buddy Nick.
Guest:I was like, you got to take me.
Guest:I have a car.
Guest:He drives me over.
Guest:I sign up.
Guest:Before we went in there, Nick goes, you ready, Mo?
Guest:This is the first day of the rest of your life.
Guest:He's like being corny.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But he was also very serious.
Guest:I signed up.
Guest:And then I went up on stage, you know, the next day I had to write some new shit.
Guest:I was like, I've been writing for like high school.
Guest:There's just like adults in there.
Guest:Oh my God.
Guest:You know, I gotta like figure this out.
Guest:So I wrote a bit, figured out like you needed five or six minutes, came in the next day, did well, like made the wild card position and Babbitt walks up to me.
Guest:He goes, listen, this is great.
Guest:How old are you?
Guest:I was like, I'm 17.
Guest:He goes, no shit jokes.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:If you want to ever work this club again, no shit joke.
Guest:I'm like, I'm fucking 17, bro.
Guest:It's all shit jokes.
Guest:17.
Guest:It wasn't even all shit jokes.
Guest:It was just like one.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I was like, just like, I'm 17.
Guest:Oh, because he saw you do a shit joke.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I was like, don't ever.
Guest:I was like, I'm 17.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I just got here.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Shit is funny.
Guest:What are you talking about?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, I was like, okay, I get it.
Guest:There's always that guy, though, dude.
Guest:I'm gonna build that shit.
Guest:He was a huge prick to me.
Guest:He was a huge prick to me.
Guest:But then Danny Martinez, who owned the Comedy Showcase, was like, everybody was like, go develop there.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I just saw everybody, like, just getting hammered.
Guest:And I'm like, man, I gotta...
Guest:Arab mom to prove wrong.
Guest:You know what I'm saying?
Guest:I gotta get out there, bro.
Guest:I gotta get this going.
Guest:And you can't get hammered.
Guest:You can't get hammered.
Guest:And Danny Martinez, who took me under his wings, who won the comedy showcase, mentored Ralphie Mae, when nobody would put him on stage.
Guest:Ralphie was like 700, 800 pounds.
Guest:And nobody would put him on stage.
Guest:It was hard to get him up there.
Guest:It was hard to get him up there.
Guest:Rest in peace, Rob.
Guest:Rest in peace.
Guest:So it was like one of those things.
Guest:And he mentored him and mentored Tishon Shannon, who wrote for SNL for many years.
Marc:Well, that was also like Ron White probably was around.
Marc:I'm not sure.
Marc:Ron White was around.
Marc:He's old school.
Guest:He was more last time.
Marc:Oh, he was.
Guest:Yeah, he was more last time.
Marc:But Tishon had a brother, too, that did stand-up, I think.
Marc:Yeah, Charlie Shannon.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:I knew Tishon.
Guest:What the fuck happened to that guy?
Marc:I think he retired.
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:Well, he was around for a while.
Guest:He was a head writer at SNL for like 10 years.
Marc:And then he wrote some other stuff.
Marc:He wrote books.
Marc:And he was kind of around.
Marc:He's great.
Marc:But I haven't heard his name or talked to him in a long time.
Guest:I think after his brother died, it was really tough.
Guest:Because they used to do like the Shannon's Christmas.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:And all that.
Guest:I can't even imagine what that felt like.
Guest:And Charlie was hilarious.
Guest:Probably just so funny.
Guest:He's spontaneously hilarious.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Maybe he's back in Texas.
Yeah.
Marc:Maybe.
Guest:I got to check on him.
Guest:I got to see.
Guest:I'm sure somebody has his number.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Usually if we have these conversations, someone will chime in.
Guest:Someone will chime in, right?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:No, he's great.
Guest:He's great.
Guest:And so he took me on his wing and Danny like literally mapped my entire career.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:He goes, listen, you're 17 years old.
Guest:He's like, all right, did a set of his spot.
Guest:He goes, listen, this is what's going to happen.
Guest:By the time you're 20, you're going to be headlining clubs.
Guest:By the time you're doing this, 25, you're going to be headlining all over the country, traveling the world.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:This and that.
Guest:He's like, by 20 years, you're going to have your own TV show.
Guest:You're going to have your own specials.
Guest:But if you don't listen to me, I'm not going to waste my fucking time.
Guest:He goes, do you want it or not?
Guest:I was like, yes.
Guest:Immediately, yes.
Guest:What's this guy's name?
Guest:Danny Martinez.
Guest:I didn't know that guy.
Guest:Yeah, Danny's the one who knew, like, you ran with the Ron Shocks.
Guest:And he said he told me this great story.
Guest:I mean, I had to fire Bill Hicks one night.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:He hired him at the showcase.
Guest:That's a long list of people.
Guest:He was hammered, walked the whole club, and he apologized to Danny.
Guest:He's like, listen, tomorrow I swear I'm going to give you the best shows of my life.
Guest:And he let him come back and get two standing O's.
Guest:Oh, yeah?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Next night.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I couldn't believe it.
Guest:But he was like with the Ron Shocks and Jack Mayberry.
Marc:You know Jack Mayberry.
Guest:Yeah, I do.
Guest:Is he still alive?
Marc:Yeah, he's still alive.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:Jack Mayberry.
Guest:He used to do Ross Perot on, like, Tonight Show and all these.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:I remember Jack Mayberry very well.
Guest:But these were all, like, my mentors.
Guest:Like, Danny was, like, the real— They were all still alive.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:But Danny was a comic or just a producer?
Guest:Danny was a stand-up comedian.
Guest:Yeah, he was stand-up.
Guest:He did, like, radio disc jockey for a while.
Guest:And then he—Jack Mayberry is the one who got him into stand-up.
Guest:And then he started doing that at, like, the time where Kennison and Hicks were around.
Guest:Sure, the outlaws.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:But he stayed in Houston.
Guest:He stayed in Houston.
Guest:He started his own club.
Guest:He's like, I don't want to like, I don't think he really like wanted it.
Guest:Wanted it.
Guest:He just wanted to, he loved staying up.
Guest:Being part of it.
Guest:He did stand up.
Guest:He toured.
Guest:He did all the runs and stuff.
Guest:But he just like opened up his own club and became like this developmental place in Houston.
Guest:That's great.
Guest:And man, that's where I. But it wasn't the workshop.
Guest:No, it wasn't the workshop.
Guest:No, no, no.
Guest:He did do stand up at the workshop.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Was that around when you started or was it gone?
Marc:No, no, no, no.
Guest:It was gone.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I was too young at the end.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Well, it's amazing that you were able to see it's a it's a real gift because like when I was a doorman at the comedy store at 23.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You know, you know, in the 80s, I got to see all these days.
Marc:That's amazing.
Marc:And it's a life changer because you can see all the different styles.
Marc:You can see that like it's really up to you.
Marc:You can do whatever the fuck you want.
Marc:Just figure it out.
Marc:And, you know, if you had some guy teach – well, what did you learn from him?
Marc:How did he take you through the paces?
Marc:Yes.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:What did you learn from him, though?
Guest:What, from Danny?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Oh, my God.
Guest:I learned everything.
Guest:Like, just like from eye contact to, you know, mic technique to – Oh, really?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:To, like, you know –
Guest:being thoughtful with your words to... What's eye contact?
Guest:I don't think I know that one.
Guest:Well, the eye contact thing is like, you know, you bring the audience closer.
Guest:Like, you just don't be afraid of eye contact.
Marc:I think a lot of comedians don't.
Marc:I end up locking in on one poor fuck.
Marc:Yeah, no, I don't.
Guest:I switch it up.
Marc:And I don't realize that I'm doing it.
Guest:And these poor people are like, they're terrified.
Guest:I switch it up.
Guest:I always switch it up.
Guest:And then he said, you know, you'll spend most of your life trying to be yourself.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:Well, that's it.
Guest:It's like imagine this brick wall.
Guest:And then every time you go up on stage, a little piece of that brick falls.
Guest:And eventually there's no more wall.
Marc:Oh, that's nice.
Guest:And it's just you.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And it kind of made sense to me.
Guest:Because I do like, when you look, when I watch myself at like 17 or whatever, I have all those DVDs and stuff.
Guest:And I look and I'm like, who is this kid?
Marc:Look at this kid.
Marc:It's funny.
Marc:I just saw some old stuff of mine because some guy's making a doc about me.
Marc:And I gave him all these old tapes I haven't watched in forever.
Marc:That's awesome.
Marc:and you know i see these these bits and pieces of me in my 20s and i'm like i had all this swagger yeah but there was no there's no joke no there was no there there yeah it was just like you know who was i pretending to be that's right so you got to come into it but like when i watch it i'm like oh my god who do i think i am you know you're reminding me of jimmy pineapple do you know jimmy pineapple when he said swagger do you know that guy uh no i don't jimmy pineapples for you
Guest:He used to run with Hicks.
Marc:Yeah, he did.
Marc:I knew Freddy Asparagus.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:But yeah, right.
Marc:Jimmy Pineapple used to be one of those guys.
Guest:And what's the other guy?
Guest:I knew I was it.
Guest:I was always it.
Guest:Even on the playground, this kid walked up to me and goes, you're it.
Guest:And I go, you're goddamn right I am.
Marc:Who was that other guy that used to run with them?
Marc:What was it?
Marc:Stevie Epstein?
Marc:Epstein?
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:Like he was another guy.
Guest:I didn't know him, yeah.
Guest:Riley Barber.
Guest:Riley Barber.
Guest:I knew Riley.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I used to see Riley.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:Oh, wild.
Guest:God, geez, all these names.
Guest:You got to see him.
Guest:I was so young, man.
Guest:I was so young and I just watched these guys and they were just, it was a whole different world to just like observe.
Marc:And when does it take off?
Marc:When do you, do you just go the route?
Guest:I started touring immediately.
Guest:I just started touring.
Guest:As a middle?
Guest:Yeah, I middled for like a year and a half, and that was it.
Guest:And then it was like headlining right after that.
Guest:I was just like so on the grind.
Guest:I would just add it, man.
Guest:I just wanted it so bad.
Guest:I didn't spend too much time as a middle.
Guest:Yeah, I didn't give a shit.
Guest:I hosted for like a month.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:And then you middled, and you're like, nobody wants to follow you.
Guest:And then you're gone, and then you start headlining.
Marc:Yeah, you just have to figure it out.
Marc:You got that 40 minutes, and then you're like, I can make up the other 10.
Guest:I had to like survive.
Guest:That's why when somebody says like, oh, I got a job and I just stand up, I'm like, oh, you're not fucking real.
Marc:No, of course not.
Marc:You're not real.
Marc:You can't do it.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:If you're not like, where am I going to live?
Guest:How am I going to survive?
Guest:Absolutely.
Guest:You're not going to be successful.
Marc:No, no.
Marc:You're never going to be successful.
Marc:You can't have a plan B or a second job.
Guest:What are you talking about?
Marc:It doesn't even exist in your head.
Marc:You're still an engineer.
Guest:You're a failure.
Marc:Yeah, it's crazy.
Marc:You're never going to make it.
Marc:I was just fortunate that I started, after I was here as a doorman, I got fucked up on drugs, went back to Boston.
Marc:And that was a whole- That's a great spot.
Marc:But it was a one-nighter economy.
Marc:And they were two-man shows.
Marc:So the way I avoided road middling was I'd go out on these two-man shows when I was just starting out.
Marc:I was just thinking about it because I watched this shit the other night.
Marc:I was like maybe two or three years in.
Marc:Amazing.
Marc:And I get like, what the fuck?
Marc:You know, when I see two, three-year comics now, I'm like, holy shit, you can't do anything.
Marc:No, you can't do anything.
Marc:And they're all in one place.
Guest:They don't travel.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:But I'm going out to these fucking hell gigs, one-nighters, and I got to do a half hour.
Marc:Have to.
Marc:And so, like, after, you know, a couple years of that, I was, you know, I was ready to headline.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You know?
Marc:But it was... And I thank God that I avoided that whole opener middle kind of thing.
Marc:I middled a bit, but not much.
Guest:So Danny really fucked with me.
Guest:He goes... He kept having me open, you know, whenever he started actually paying and all that.
Guest:Yeah, at the club.
Guest:I was like, why are you doing this to me, man?
Guest:I'm...
Guest:So much better than some of these guys.
Guest:Like, what are you doing to me?
Guest:He goes, Mo, I want you to be an amazing MC.
Guest:Until I see you're an amazing fucking MC, I'm not going to do it.
Guest:Because if you're an amazing MC, one day you might host the Oscars.
Guest:One day you might host the Globes.
Guest:Maybe you'll ask me to host some giant MCs.
Guest:The great MCs always come back.
Guest:Look at Billy Crystal.
Guest:I was like, oh.
Guest:Interesting.
Guest:But then I looked at hosting in a completely different light.
Guest:It's a job of a comic.
Marc:A comic is a comic.
Guest:He goes, look at you.
Guest:You always say, let's keep the train rolling.
Guest:You guys ready?
Guest:The show has already fucking started.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:What do you mean you're ready?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Are you ready to get the show started?
Guest:You just did a set, asshole.
Guest:The show already started.
Guest:So you're not part of the show?
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:Until you stop doing these little stupid things that you keep repeating...
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Oh, let's come on.
Guest:Let's keep the train going.
Guest:Everybody's keep the train going.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You're saying the same shit.
Guest:It's not interesting.
Guest:That's why you're not moving up.
Guest:Wow.
Guest:But you're ready.
Guest:You could, yeah, you could feature, you could headline them tomorrow.
Guest:Yeah, I'm sure you could.
Guest:But not here?
Guest:But not, but not, not until you start doing this stupid, stupid like rookie shit.
Marc:I guess it makes you, it gives you a sense of graciousness too.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You know, you, you know, it's your job to hold the show together.
Marc:Yes.
Guest:yes yeah yeah but also he taught me he was like you can't host you you know you're like you only got like you know 30 minutes or something you need like an hour to host to host that's what he would tell me i was like okay i was like i need an hour to host i was like why yeah why he goes well there was a time where i was on stage yeah and the guy wasn't ready or the guy wasn't there yeah and i ended up opening yeah with 47 minutes yeah
Guest:You got to be ready.
Guest:That shit's going to happen.
Guest:So I toured Chappelle for years, right?
Guest:Dave is filming Equanimity.
Guest:With Chappelle.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And he's filming Equanimity.
Guest:He hits me up to go do the shows with him.
Guest:I don't even know.
Guest:It's just he and him.
Guest:Usually Donnell and I hanging out with us.
Guest:It's just Dave and I doing it, the tapings.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then I'm on stage, and I see Cena.
Guest:He's like, five more minutes.
Guest:I was like, yeah, no problem.
Yeah.
Guest:No problem.
Guest:Five more minutes.
Guest:Boom.
Guest:Oh, they're waiting for Chappelle and you're stuck up there.
Marc:Something's happening.
Guest:Stuck up there.
Guest:Are you kidding?
Guest:It's the fucking Warner Theater.
Guest:Give it to me, baby.
Guest:You know, I'm in.
Marc:Let's go.
Guest:15 minutes, turns into 20.
Guest:Okay, no problem.
Guest:He runs out.
Guest:He goes, 10 more minutes.
Guest:I was like, okay.
Guest:Fucking great.
Guest:I hope Dave is okay.
Guest:I'm doing the jokes.
Guest:I'm thinking, I was like, I hope he's firing my shit.
Guest:I can't do another.
Guest:It's just like, we got two shows.
Guest:He's got a tape.
Guest:It's fucking not a joke.
Guest:So I do I'm like 30 minutes in right and I start doing it's like look at the clock I'm like okay.
Guest:I'm like 12 minutes.
Guest:I'm sure it's good now He hasn't come back out.
Guest:Yeah, so I'm about to say good night He runs out and goes 10 more minutes.
Guest:I was like well, I'm editing all the jokes Yeah, so cuz I don't want to go over right shit So I do another yeah another like fit I do 15 more minutes Okay, you get 45 I'm like 45 something minutes and
Guest:And I say, okay, thank you, goodnight.
Guest:He runs out and says, stretch.
Guest:Oh, my God.
Guest:So I already said, thank you, goodnight.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So I can't go back into materials.
Guest:So I freestyle.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Start fucking smashing, freestyling.
Guest:And it was like, that's what it was about.
Guest:That's what all that training.
Guest:That's right.
Guest:That's what Danny was trying to tell you.
Guest:It just hit me.
Guest:It was the first time I ever experienced that.
Guest:And it was at the biggest stage.
Guest:It was his home, D.C., big homecoming.
Guest:First time he does a special after all these years.
Guest:This and that.
Guest:It just was that.
Guest:What the fuck was the problem?
Guest:It was a patch.
Guest:Sewing a patch on his...
Guest:On his fucking jacket.
Marc:On his jacket.
Guest:A chapelle patch.
Guest:And I was doing this joke.
Guest:It was so funny.
Guest:He was cracking me up.
Guest:Because I was doing this joke.
Guest:I sat next to Eric Trump.
Guest:It became a whole thing or whatever.
Guest:And it was before I taped it.
Guest:And I said, yeah.
Guest:And I see Eric.
Guest:And he's wearing his own last name.
Guest:It was like, that's for like...
Guest:The stupid kid that don't remember where he's from.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Look at it.
Guest:And he was getting his name.
Guest:Dave was getting his name stitched on his jacket as I was doing that joke.
Guest:And he was like, oh, did you bust on Eric?
Marc:Yeah, I busted.
Guest:Yeah, fuck with him.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:Yeah, I remember when I sat.
Guest:It was right after his dad was elected the first time, and I sat with him, and I didn't intentionally sit with him.
Guest:Obviously, I got upgraded and all that, and I did that whole thing.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So by the time you work with Chappelle, you're a national headliner anyway.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:You've been going for a while.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But did that change the career trajectory?
Guest:Yeah, it was like whatever mentorship I had with Danny, it was another level that Danny didn't really know about.
Guest:Didn't experience it that consistently.
Guest:So it was a different level.
Guest:Yeah, it was a setup of more of like...
Guest:It was just a different grind and a different experience.
Marc:Well, yeah, Danny was like, this is how you work as a club comic.
Marc:Yeah, this is how you work as a club comic.
Marc:This is how you be great.
Marc:This is what you can do.
Guest:But then to experience it firsthand, to do it day in and day out, and then each venue is different than the other.
Guest:I mean, you could be in a huge outdoor.
Guest:You could be in a little theater.
Guest:You could be, you know, at Shoreline Amphitheater, which I'm sure you've done when they were doing those shows.
Guest:It's like, you could be following Nas one night.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:Right, yeah.
Guest:What are you going to do then?
Guest:Not exactly my world, but yeah.
Guest:I'm saying it could be any situation.
Marc:You're ready to go.
Guest:You have to be ready for it.
Guest:And then when you're just like, your gun's always loaded and ready to go.
Guest:Well, when did you feel like that you had your people?
Guest:I've always, it was so odd that I've had this very unique trajectory.
Guest:I started in the clubs, hammered away, and then there was this tour called Allah Made Me Funny.
Guest:And I was like, this sounds like Disney.
Guest:I'm like, what the hell is this?
Guest:What is this?
Guest:It's so religious.
Guest:I don't know about it.
Guest:And then there was two real comics that put this whole thing together in 2004 or 2005.
Marc:Muslim comic tour?
Guest:Yeah, it was a Muslim comedy tour.
Guest:But it wasn't like, this is for Muslims only.
Guest:It was just this community project.
Guest:And then it blew up.
Guest:And they asked me to be a part.
Guest:I was like, yeah, let me try it.
Guest:Let's see what this is.
Guest:And then we started touring the world.
Guest:Like the world.
Guest:Like the world, man.
Guest:We were doing the Apollo in London.
Guest:We sold like 8,000 tickets in South Africa in Australia.
Guest:We did, you know, Scandinavia.
Guest:We were just touring all these markets.
Guest:Before even Life Nation was there.
Guest:Now I'm going to pronounce it right.
Guest:Mostly Muslim audience?
Guest:Muslim audience.
Guest:Yeah, it was like, it was a mix.
Guest:We were like in Amsterdam and it was like half Muslims, half Dutch people.
Guest:And it was just mixed because of all the different, you know, politics that were going on in those regions.
Guest:So people were interested.
Guest:All these different reviewers would come out in England.
Guest:We did like 30 shows in 28 days.
Guest:Same thing.
Guest:And we're in a van just touring Europe.
Guest:I was just doing my own shit that I was doing in the stand-up scene.
Guest:It's something that Danny taught me early on too.
Guest:He's like, be clean.
Guest:You don't know when you're going to use it.
Guest:It's easy to be dirty, but learn how to be clean.
Guest:I was like, yeah, no problem.
Guest:So when I stepped into that world, I was still doing my regular material.
Guest:And then I would find new nuggets that I didn't get to experiment with before.
Guest:Yeah, it was completely clean, and I would come back to the States, do the club thing.
Guest:So it was like, I had my peoples, but I didn't, you know what I mean?
Marc:But that built you a huge audience.
Guest:It built me a huge audience.
Guest:It built quite a history of it, and it also inspired a lot of these kids that would come to these shows.
Guest:Sometimes there would be young teenagers that would come to these shows, because it was a clean, that eventually started stand-up because of it.
Guest:And we were in markets before even Live Nation got there.
Guest:I remember we...
Guest:connected like bill burr with the promoter in in copenhagen yeah yeah remin theater and yeah it was like yeah yeah we should you know you should get bill you should talk to bill sure doug stanhope yeah they weren't like there so it was just people couldn't believe like you're really doing shows over there like you still do stands before youtube like really popped off that was a while back
Guest:Yeah, it was a while back.
Marc:Because those are the markets.
Marc:I think I did Amsterdam.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I'm talking about like 2005, 2006, 2007.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:It was like a thing.
Guest:It wasn't like really a big thing.
Marc:Because I noticed in the special you taped in Houston that, and it's kind of beautiful that you do have a big Arab community that shows up.
Marc:Well, those people are Mexican.
Guest:Well, brown is brown.
Yeah.
Guest:What are you getting nitpicky for?
Guest:No, no, I was just saying, like, you know, from show to show, honestly, it's, I'm so blessed.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Because it'll be like, yes, it'll be a lot of Arabs for one show.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then the next show, it's like, we're, you know, two Arabs.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's like, what's going, like, it's just hilarious.
Guest:And also Arabs are kind of like lazy with buying tickets.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So they don't bitch at me, like, here, y'all, tickets are gone.
Guest:I'm like...
Guest:Buy tickets, bro.
Guest:Get on it.
Guest:And you really speak Spanish.
Guest:No, I do.
Guest:I'm conversational in Spanish.
Guest:Completely conversational.
Guest:Did you just pick that up?
Guest:Yeah, basically.
Guest:I learned it in three months.
Guest:I learned it in three months.
Guest:I fell in love with this girl when I was 19, of course.
Guest:She was Brazilian.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Still friends to this day.
Guest:Anyway, it doesn't matter what her name is.
Guest:But she spoke Portuguese and Spanish.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So, I mean, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese is like impossible to learn.
Guest:So in three months, I was like fully conversational in Spanish.
Guest:Figured it out.
Guest:And my mother and my family could not believe what was happening.
Guest:My brothers thought I was full of shit.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Then I'd be translating on the spot.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And they were like, I don't know how this happens.
Guest:I was like...
Marc:Because in the show, I'm like, wow, you're really fucking nosy.
Marc:No, no, no, I do.
Guest:It just takes me a couple of sentences just to feel comfortable, and then I can run with it.
Marc:But that must be helpful when you're performing in Houston.
Marc:It's great when I'm performing anywhere.
Guest:I'm in Europe.
Guest:I could just switch at any moment in time.
Guest:I could just...
Guest:Just getting through life.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:Just getting through life, period.
Guest:I wish I had a knack for it.
Guest:You must have a knack for it.
Guest:I think it's just learning Arabic first really helped everything for me.
Guest:Yeah?
Guest:My father was very diligent about education.
Guest:And in the beginning of, like, I was three years old, I was learning multiple languages.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:It was just... So you had... Yeah, I was going to school for English and Arabic.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:I would go to Arabic class, English class, and it was just mandatory.
Guest:Well...
Guest:The show is great.
Marc:Thank you, man.
Marc:Comedy's great.
Marc:It's good talking to you.
Guest:Comedy's great.
Guest:I can't believe it's over already.
Marc:How long are you in L.A.
Marc:for?
Guest:This week.
Guest:I'm just leaving Sunday.
Guest:You doing Fox?
Guest:Yeah, I'm going to pop in tomorrow night probably.
Guest:Over at the store?
Guest:Yeah, I think so.
Guest:I got to go up to Santa Barbara.
Guest:Oh, you sound like... You're so rich.
Guest:I just have to go to Santa Barbara.
Marc:No, no.
Marc:I got to do a show.
Guest:No, I'm just kidding.
Marc:I got to show Santa Barbara, and then I do San Luis Obispo, and then I do Monterey.
Marc:Going to take Blair Saki.
Marc:Oh, that's dope.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:Great.
Guest:Go do the shows.
Guest:No, I love it.
Guest:No, I just wanted to make sure that it was like...
Guest:clear about what the message of the show is.
Guest:It's really like about family.
Guest:It's really about this beautiful Palestinian family trying to be seen and trying to fit in a world where they are completely misunderstood.
Marc:And also you deal with like the whole notion of
Marc:of deportation.
Marc:And that's another, that device of getting you into Mexico without a passport and then, you know, and without having asylum status was very funny.
Guest:Thank you for recognizing that.
Guest:Thank you.
Marc:Well, but it was another case where you deal with that customs, that border official and you make him a person.
Guest:No, I did.
Guest:Yeah, that was something that really was important to me because it was just like, first of all, showing how privileged the character was in being a refugee.
Guest:Like, Mo is a character, even though he's a refugee, he's very lucky.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And he has it, he's so well off in comparison.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So just in a half hour show trying to execute all that
Guest:It's kind of difficult, so we're having a guy talking about his experience, navigating through the jungles of Panama, and dodging snakes, and then the cartel, and drinking the juice of a Vienna sausage can.
Guest:That's all we had to survive, and then he's asking, how'd you get here?
Guest:I took a bus to Mexico.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:But also, like, this detention center officer, too, which is very interesting to me.
Guest:Like, this guy's in a detention center himself.
Guest:Like, he's in jail himself every day.
Guest:He's there.
Guest:Like, I'm very curious about what he feels inside.
Guest:Yeah, it was good.
Marc:It was good.
Guest:So it was all that, just exploring all that.
Guest:But, yeah, thank you for having me, man.
Guest:Great, Matt.
Guest:I just love, always wanted to talk to Stand Up with you, and I knew that we would vibe on the heat to the scene.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Guest:It was great, dude.
Guest:It was dope, man.
Guest:Good to see you, man.
Marc:Good to see you.
Good to see you.
Marc:There you go.
Marc:Great conversation.
Marc:Great guy.
Marc:Funny guy.
Marc:His show, Mo, is streaming on Netflix.
Marc:Hang out for a minute, folks.
Marc:We've got new outtakes from recent episodes available for Full Marin listeners.
Marc:You can hear stuff that didn't make it into the shows I did with Ariana Grande, Demi Moore, James Mangold, and Bill Burr.
Marc:I still like the guy.
Marc:Just some people turn a certain way.
Guest:You hold on to what's good and you let go of the other stuff.
Guest:I know.
Guest:There are so many people that like, I just, you know, when I hear sometimes they'll say things and it's just like, have you ever just thought about like maybe taking a couple of days off the internet?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:No, no.
Guest:I mean, like it's a very hard.
Guest:No matter what you think, no matter how fucked up a thought you have, there is a website that agrees with you.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:Of course.
Marc:That's the latest bonus episode for full Marin subscribers.
Marc:We do bonus episodes twice a week and you get every episode of WTF ad free to subscribe to the full Marin.
Marc:Go to the link in the episode description or go to WTF pod.com and click on WTF plus.
Marc:And a reminder before we go, this podcast is hosted by a cast.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:Here's some, this is some good vibey guitar here.
Marc:Okay.
Okay.
Guest:guitar solo
Thank you.
Guest:Thank you.
guitar solo
Thank you.
¶¶
Guest:Boomer lives.
Marc:Monkey and LaFonda, cat angels everywhere.