The Downside with Gianmarco Soresi - #52 Mohanad Elshieky is Not a CIA Operative

Episode Date: November 23, 2021

The NYPD almost made Gianmarco miss a spot at at the Comedy Cellar and after complaining about that for a bit, Mohanad Elshieky shares what the police (or lack thereof) are like in Libya, the frustration of having your cartoons interrupted by Gaddafi speeches, living under a government that openly admits listening to your phone calls, helping translate for English-speaking journalists and then being accused of working with the CIA, hearing comedians complain about cancel culture when you’ve literally been shot at for your work, moving from Benghazi to Portland and then applying for political asylum because the government is looking for you, and we end by celebrating the end of pandemic comedy. You can watch full video of this episode HERE! Join The Downside Patreon for early ad-free episodes the Friday before they're released on Tuesday, two BONUS episodes a month (AUDIO & VIDEO), + the good feeling inside that you're helping keep my delusions alive. Follow MOHANAD ELSHIEKY on twitter & instagram Listen to MOHANAD ELSHIEKY's podcast I'm Sorry Watch MOHANAD ELSHIEKY's Comedy Central set Follow GIANMARCO SORESI on twitter, instagram, tiktok, & youtube Check out GIANMARCO SORESI's special 'Shelf Life' on amazon & on spotify Subscribe to GIANMARCO SORESI's mailchimp Follow RUSSELL DANIELS on twitter & instagram E-mail the show at [e-mail] Produced by Fawn Sullivan, Paige Asachika, & Gianmarco Soresi Video edited by Spencer Sileo Special Thanks Tovah Silbermann Part of the Authentic Podcast Network Original music by Douglas Goodhart Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, welcome to The Downside with me, Giamarco Cerezi. My co-host, Russell Daniels, is not here because he had a rehearsal for his sketch team, and I'm taking it personally because this is The Downside. But I'm excited because I don't think I need the backup conversation filler because I am joined by a comedian, stand-up comedian, writer, a very good tweeter, Mohana Dalshiki. Hey, thank you for having me, man.

I can't believe your co-host chose Sketch over me. This is the downside. That's fucked up, yeah. One, two, three. Downside. You're listening to The Downside. The Down cerezi so you hear that wrestle fuck you uh i don't know i don't know what happened he's pretty good he's pretty good yeah no one's

making money here right now so like it's one of these things i can't yeah i can't be mad i can't be like i'm gonna cut your pay you still gotta do it for the love of the game though love of the game yeah these podcasts they take a long time you just started a new weekly yes i did yeah you digging it i love it yeah i mean i've we talk about apologies every week which is there's an unlimited resource of that people keep fucking up and yeah what's a good apology who do whoizes the best? So far, we really haven't, like most recently, we haven't really found any good apologies.

Everyone just seems to be, I don't know what the fuck they're doing with that money. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because they're not hiring people to write those. I still think, I think the Kevin Spacey apology will go down as one of the greatest, the coming out apology. We talked about that.

We had like the nine worst apologies, and that was one of them. What was number one? I think Kevin Spacey maybe was number two. I can't remember what. Number one was whatever that chef was. I was about to say it. I was about to say it. I forget his name.

But who added a recipe at the end, at the end of the email. I also think, though, there's like, I know a couple of people, I don't want to name, but this one person who like came up with an apology. People were like, bad. This is bad. They took a couple of days and then they came up with a new one and people were like, better. And part of me is just like yeah they just reached out to their smarter possibly uh more diverse friends and said what is inappropriate

for this particular transgression exactly and so what are we applauding it's that they're that they're resourceful that they they had a better writer yeah they cared i cared, I guess. They put in the effort. It's insane. I mean, some people even can like, you know, I feel like you read the apology and I'm like, oh, you paid money for this. Yeah. You have a PR person.

Because this just hits all the right spots. Yeah. And also had like action at the end. I'm like, I'll be doing all of these steps. And I'm like, I can't call you out on anything because this is perfect. But I know you did not write it. Sure sure i always worry because i feel like what people want is emotion yeah and who gives a shit i always say you can't know what's in someone's heart so you can only look

towards actions but then you have the people like i remember famously like harvey weinstein like right right when it was happening one of the things he touted was he had given i believe it was two million dollars to the usc women directors program okay and like part of it and i think it's one of those things they return the money which i'm i hate that i'm like it's money it's it's a material good take it and don't give any credit exactly dirty money i'll just take it sticky money yeah i yeah i don't think there's a good way to apologize on the internet honestly yeah i feel like it's it's impossible well i mean one one thing you should do before you fuck up and have to apologize is be likable uh-huh and maybe hot sure that does not hurt at all because that will just you know people will

just like you know what points have been made yeah we forgive you we will we're gonna move on right now well i'm very curious with alec baldwin yeah where like people have been talking about uh i've heard a lot of like he can never do comedy again no one can but but it's all about who knows we don't know we don't know what the future holds. We don't know how much of the corner cutting was him to blame. But as a cynical person, I am always interested in kind of like,

how do you reset the public tone? Like is Alec Baldwin, and knowing him, he's probably just gonna, he can't not talk. He'll just go and say interviews and we'll see what happens. But how do you reset the conversation?

I honestly, because I mean, I know obviously he didn't do it on purpose, but he still killed someone. And I think that's just, I personally do not know how it would come out of that. How did Matthew Broderick get out of it though? What's that? Matthew Broderick, you know this? He was driving, I believe in Ireland with someone else and he he ran he killed someone but he killed someone in ireland well exactly that's the thing that's the thing it's like you know i think if you're cynically

minded you go like that that affects it like for some reason that affects it and that's illegitimate that should not affect it. Irish people are people too. That's always been our stance here at The Downside. I believe that too. They're the only people in the UK who I like. But I think it's just because

it's not in the country. Anywhere outside, as long as it's further away, people will... They're a little south of the border. Exactly. We'll forgive that one. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, thank you for being here i was i was gonna i would complain we're filming this uh recording this the day after halloween yeah and man i had a rough i had a rough uh uh the gross part of this story so i just started working at the comedy cellar okay and i'm i'm obviously very um i'm coming early to all those spots. None of these spots I'm coming close. If I'm doing nearby spots, it's got to be, there has to be a car option. If there's no car option in an emergency, I'm not doing it. I'll do walking because I can run. So I got to it 40 minutes early and there's the parade. There's the Halloween parade.

So I'm there 40 minutes early and I get out of this, I get out of the train stop. And it's the parade. There's the Halloween parade. Oh, shit. So I'm there 40 minutes early, and I get out of this. I get out of the train stop, and it's definitely crowded. But again, 40 minutes early, I was going to get dinner. No, I was super early. I get out of the train.

It's packed, very slow moving. And we get into the street, and they won't let me cross. I don't know what street it is. Maybe it's a Broadway or West Side or something. But it's across the street where I need to be for the spot. And I cannot cross. Jesus Christ.

And there's, so I started getting a little bit worried. But I have 40 minutes. So then they say, one of the cops says go up to 4th Street. So I go up to 4th Street. And the cop up there is like, you can't go here. You got to go down to Prince, which is pretty far away. And it's packed.

I mean, it's packed. So I still have time. I'm walking down every once in a while. I talked to an officer. I'm like, can I, this is my job.

My job is there. Like first, that's my appeals. I'm just like, I'm a job. I walk down, I get to another stop before they said Prince, you something else.

And then they wouldn't let me cross there. And every officer, I mean, could not be more unsympathetic. Doesn't give a flying fuck that it's my job. And they're just standing. There's so many police officers. There's so many police officers. And all of them are just like, yeah, no, you can't cross here. And I'm like, is it the next street? street they're like we don't really know this area and part of you is

like you don't know this fucking area that would be basic homework for you're gonna you're gonna guard the parade you don't know the area yeah they're like i live in jersey i don't know exactly yeah exactly and it's probably because most of them were probably from out of new york because there were so many they're all working uh and um And I saw one guy who was smoking a cigar. Something about that. I was just like, why don't you take the cigar, pull out a map, and learn the area right now. So I'm getting a little later. I'm just getting more nervous because it's so crowded.

I'm moving so slowly. So I start going through. I'm a little pushier. I'm surprised I didn't get punched. But I start saying, I just keep going, I have a job. I have to go to pushier, I'm surprised I didn't get punched, but I start saying, I just keep going, I have a job, I have to go to my job,

I'm sorry, job, job, I have a job, and I keep going, it gets, it starts getting close, and I start panicking,

because I'm like, I've been here a week, this is like, and you know, my mind, I'm like, I'll never work there again, no one will understand,

no one will believe me, and I have a moment, I'm like, I'll never work there again. No one will understand. No one will believe me. And I have a moment of thought of like, I'll jump. But there's a lot of officers. They'll get me. And so then I start changing my, I start telling the cops like, I just got past the cellar. It's a dream. It's a dream of mine. I start appealing to their sense of dreams and artistic art art and then and you

know nobody nobody and so i i finally get down all the way to prince and then that's the place you're gonna cross but you can't cross right away they just hold you there and they're like eventually we'll let people through and i'm like five minutes eventually like 50 because now i'm far away i gotta go cross angle all the way back yeah and they're like we don't know and the captain's right there because he's an all white or whatever and i'm like please can i talk to the captain i'm really if anyone filmed it it would look pathetic i mean i was begging and like i know i know it there's a lot of white privilege because for a moment i was like this is the worst thing the police have ever done uh and uh finally finally they they open it and I'm drenched in sweat

and I was able to get across I was able to make my spot but I really felt I really felt a real rage I felt a real rage at the incompetence at the like what are you doing oh and this was the other thing so as

we're waiting to cross the street and I'm like now I'm down to 15 minutes. And it's, I can make it. They're just letting the parade go. And not even like thick parts of the parade, like light. Like you could cross easily. And they always go, if I let you cross, I'll let everyone cross. I'm like, it's my job.

And then they have like the seamless, you know, half these parades are branded content. they have like the seamless you know half these parades are branded content yeah so like the seamless people like with their colorful food boxes and they're clearly not regular seamless workers they're actors and of course yeah they come over like hey here's a cookie and i am so uh uh and i i'm not you know this will make me look poor but i was like don't just keep going please we don't want the cookies i'm gonna lose my job i'm gonna lose my job and like people you know the parade they're so happy there's people with big syringes and i'm like i'm already vaccinated just go it's not funny it's not fun it was the first time i really felt like a very kind of the grinch of holly of halloween like grow the fuck

up i know this is oh is this for is this for like uh someone's rights for civil rights for an organization for something that matters no nothing get the fuck out of the way it does not i i love that what that if that would have been a story that you're telling you like well that's when i realized the police is bad i yeah i i know it was horrible is it's in and of course i i know the police are fucked up beyond belief, but it was, it was a, I think in that moment, I was just like witnessing the mass incompetency really up close. Exactly. For blocks and blocks.

What is it that you do? You do nothing. You're literally just standing right now and they're not helping you because they're like, well, if I help you, then what's next? Help other peoplehuh uh-huh of course of course and i'm like yeah i get that that conflict but like let me approve you i'll prove you on my phone right now that i work at this place i'll show you the thing it's my job i'll tweet about you officer anything please uh so it was just well was it a good set at least yeah it was the right kind of energy

I am fortunately I am activated when I have a dramatic experience something about me comes to the stage and I'm like fucking A so it was a good set that's good but fucking A

I just was so I think it's just and you know you always hear the defense of like oh you want to fund the police what are you going to do when when and i'm like well this is a moment of just like chaos and they just can't seem to do fucking anything they can't seem to manage a fucking parade so like oh so they're going to take care of something else yeah i don't know they're useless they're literally just like yeah we defund them and then who's gonna help you well again no one yeah yeah same same thing we'll use the money for something else i'll save money on making that i'll save a time making that call

to 911 yeah have you ever called 911 no never i have not no do you i mean i to be fair i've never been in a situation where i felt like I needed to. Sure, sure. Yeah, like not even like a small fire. Yeah. So I have no idea. Hopefully I'll never have to. Sure.

Yeah. I had two. One, I had a roommate. I thought he was like ODing on something. Okay. And the officers were helpful to be fair though like 15 came and again sometimes it's like when you see 8 officers hanging out

at the train stop I'm like why are you all here and they're catching it's a fucking hang yeah it's a hang and then the turnstile jumper then they're like we got him we got the guy and then one time there was drilling at 3 in the morning i was younger

in new york i regret i think i regret that call but they could they called me back and they said don't worry about it and hung up the phone on me and i was like okay useless useless so that is my that is my you know you know what i remember now i was with someone who called 911, and it was in San Diego. Because we got into an accident. And we called them, and it was on New Year's, New Year's Eve. And literally the reason we called them is it was just, you know, the person who got into their vehicle to continue driving was extremely drunk. He was going to go and kill people.

Oh, wow. Yeah. And we literally were like, hey, this happened. I don't know if you can send someone or whatever. And then they were like, did anyone die? And we were like, no. And they're like, then we're not going to come. And I was like, okay. I guess it's time to get to stabbing or something to get you guys to come here.

They're like, listen, we have to get three more speeding tickets tonight or our boss is going to be pissed. We can't focus on this shit. I was like, yeah, when that person kills someone, we will be there. We'll be there. But not now. Yeah. We don't prevent stuff. We're just here to outline the chalk, the chalk body.

That's what we do. Exactly. We enjoy it fun um well i am curious so you grew you were born in libya yeah what is what are the cops like in libya great question i i mean for the longest time there were no cops at all no cops at all yeah, so people who say abolish the police here, do you ever go like, do you go, I mean, you were, you were there for that.

Yeah. I mean, at least in Libya, were you like, this is better? See, because like we don't have like, you know,

like it's not police, but you have like, so you have like traffic officers, like people like who just do, you know, that's all they do. Just tickets and cross, don't cross.

And then everyone else is part of the military. So it's like... I see. So it's kind of like the police here, to be honest, because they're just very violent and just holding guns and shit. But at least they're very straightforward about it. They're just like, we're not here for you. We're not here to protect you.

This is the guy we're protecting here. It we're not here to protect you this is the guy we're protecting here it's nice at least some honesty yeah and if you try to fuck with him or anyone else around that we're gonna fuck you up sure but do not call us if you need something and who are they they're protecting in this moment just uh back then it was the president of libya you know that was the person they were uh they were protecting and i was just like well i appreciate the honesty yeah yeah at least at least you know that you have to deal with your own shit so if there's an emergency in your house no one to call i mean you gotta you gotta figure that out you just gotta figure it out yeah you gotta and you usually do because like you know it's it's

you know it's a very like tight like community so you're like you know everyone you know you do know everyone and like the the the idea that someone's gonna break into your house and steal something is not really gonna happen sure because you know like you'd be like david exactly david come on man because i remember i uh my uh my brother my younger brother he had his phone stolen and he was just like walking home and someone like literally just like pointed like a gun or a knife at him or something and stole his phone. And I, you know, I was like, okay, we'll figure something out. Then I went to where his phone got stolen. I didn't know someone who lives there.

And I just got there and he was like, okay, follow me. And it was just like, you know, just like follow him. And then there was this guy selling drugs on the corner and we told him what happened and he got so fucking pissed because someone uh stole someone's phone where because he's supposed to be doing that wow like it's like i am the one doing crime here this person is comes to my area and does crime fuck this shit i'll come get your phone with you so he he literally got with us in the in my car and we just like kept driving he just gave us directions and stuff and then we literally stopped at in front of someone's house he got in five minutes and came back with the phone that's insane yeah did it that seems dangerous he just goes in with he and

they were like oh my bad i said i wouldn't do it you're right yeah oh what block was it ah shit i forgot it was it was insane i was like i'm not gonna ask any questions yeah i just need the phone back thank you sir for you know not doing crime on my brother i mean frankly it's i've had my phone stolen or misplaced and it was harder to get back that seems a lot easier than my system ways yeah i lost it on the train once and they have a they have a shop i think in times square of like missing items you look at the wall and i mean it must be 500 phones just rubber banded together and you're like how do they even know though like what if i just take someone's phone i think you could i mean i don't i don't i'm sure people could get away with it

yeah but it'd be weird if you're like i lost 30 phones i lost that box that box is me yeah it's just all of them i just need them for my job i'm just a phone guy um so i don't know anything you grew up in where in libya in benghazi in benghazi yeah yeah not famous for anything obviously sure yeah sure well i even know very little that was pre like me getting learning anything about politics yeah yeah but i'm sure it's it's hard to avoid if you're living there um so were your parents born in bengh as well? Yeah. Everyone born there. Okay. And you were born there.

How many siblings do you have? I have four siblings, all younger than me. Okay. So you're the oldest. Yeah. I am the oldest. Okay. Are you, did any of them, are any of them in America?

Yeah. I have a brother who lives in San Francisco. What is he doing? He's an engineer. Yeah. He does material engineering. So a real job a real thing i am so you you grew up there i mean what is it like there like do you miss it i do i mean i miss my friends i miss like my uh you know my family and everything and it's just the whole vibe it's kind of like a weird thing i think it'd be like a stockholm syndrome kind of thing uh-huh It's kind of like a weird thing. I think it'd be like a Stockholm Syndrome kind of thing.

Uh-huh. It's kind of like a, you know, because I feel like I had two separate lives there. Like I had a life because before 2011, there was like, you know, we had like a president who was the president for like 42 years, you know? Okay. Yeah. Which is very long. When you first grew up, did you admire him?

Was he admired or was he always like no this is a bad force in the world it was we honestly i had absolutely zero feelings because we never talked about him really yeah even at the house we're just like nope we're not gonna talk about him because if you say something and then you repeat it back in school or something that's a problem it's a problem with who like would it get back to the authorities if at school? Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Even if you were like a little kid, they'd be like, this kid's parents is talking shit. They do not give a fuck. Yeah. They do not give a fuck.

It was just like, it was insane. It was a police state. Did you ever have a moment where your parents are putting you to bed and they're like, just so you know, you can't say anything, but this is really bad. No. You know what literally the only reason i hated that man was because i remember growing up we had just like you know cable television kind of thing and whenever it was sponsored by the government and whenever the president had like a speech they would cut all 20 channels and air his speech and sometimes it will get in the middle of a cartoon i'm watching and i'm like fuck this guy so he wasn't even doing the speech at like the 30 minute mark he was just like

whatever yeah it's literally whenever it can go for three hours four hours five it doesn't because it's just it's improv like it's not nothing is written he's just he just you know has he has talking points did he have charisma was he like a trump like yeah oh absolutely yeah it's it's points did he have charisma was he like a trump like yeah oh absolutely yeah it's it's insanely like trump just like the whole thing like it makes no sense but it it's kind of entertaining to watch yeah uh and i mean he was he was fucking insane what's his name uh gaddafi oh oh forget yeah of course okay yeah i'm putting it all together yeah all these pieces it's it's very embarrassing is it ever like americans in general i imagine know so little like i know who gaddafi is and now and now everything's coming together now but like you

know we learn at least in our primary school years very little about the rest of the world and i imagine you know more about american history than most people know yeah libyan history yeah well absolutely i mean we do i mean we do learn a lot in at school just in general about the about the world but we do it in a different in a weird way because like basically when you grew up in a place where you grew up in like you you kind of like you kind of like view the rest of the world as in just like uh you have to know about in, because like, you know, what you're being thought is that everyone is coming after you. Uh-huh. So you have to know because when you, so you can like navigate your way later.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And. Who are you most, was there a country you're most scared of growing up that they're going to come after us? Well, I mean, it was always the US. Mm-hmm. country you're most scared of growing up that they're gonna come after us well i mean it was always the u.s you know because like i mean the u.s was just like has bombed libya in the past multiple times i wasn't alive back then it was like what were the big incidents i believe there was one in 1986 okay where they uh like literally just like blew up like somewhere like in gaddafi like mansion or something okay and like people died uh yeah and that was like blew up like somewhere like in Gaddafi, like mansion or something. Okay. And like people died.

Uh, yeah. And that was like a whole, like a whole thing. Uh, and then you have like sanctions after that and all of that shit. And, and it's,

it's very easy for you to believe that everyone is like trying to, uh, get you. Yeah. You know, when you were growing up, did you have, did you feel like fuck America or was it just like everything fuck America? Or was it just like, everything's fucked?

I think it was like, everything is fucked. Plus, you also think, because before the internet and social media became a whole thing, you just assumed that everyone around the world just lives like this. So this is very normal. Growing up, never have i been like this sucks yeah yeah you know just like yeah i mean i i mean i don't know yeah this is just and then you get into like i remember like when facebook and social media like really became a thing you're like what the fuck man yeah no one lives like this i was just like do you remember seeing anything

in particular where you were like oh i gotta get out of here i remember you know what i remember in in i don't know where in in england maybe london or something like that there were people just protesting the prime minister there like the government and stuff like they're just holding signs just like yelling at the cops and stuff like that and i was just like you can just do that sure and just go home i was like that's fucking insane to me because like growing up like even like when we got the internet there were like some stuff you're not even supposed to get into like what like let's say like someone uploaded something about gaddafi on youtube or something like gaddafi's crimes or whatever or

like something about him and you were like under the impression if you go and look that up they will find out. Sure. And were they? Were they like tracking things down or were they not advanced in that way yet? I think the reason we thought that

because like they were advancing every other way like they were like they were listening to your phone calls and you know that because they tell you they're listening to your phone calls. They you know that because they tell you they're listening to your phone calls. They would say that. They say, we might be listening to your phone calls. No, we are listening to your phone calls. So do your thing, but don't talk about the government.

Don't do any of that shit. And it's just, that's what I liked about them at least. They were very straightforward with shit. They're like, yeah, we're listening. And just do your stuff talk shit about other people but not us did you were there some people who loved gaddafi like in your peer group absolutely but you knew did you know just in a deeper way that your family was not big fans eventually i did yes because i so i remember I remember, so I have, my mom's cousin, my mom's first cousin,

have some, like sometime in like 2010 or something, returned back to Libya. And I never knew that man existed. Like I knew everyone around, I knew his brothers, sisters, but no one has ever talked about him. Wow. Because back then, when he was he was you know he was in in his like 18 he was like anti-gaddafi and then he had to leave the country and because like you can't even talk on the phone like we just we just never knew that he existed yeah until he came back one day and i was just like that sounds fucked up. That sounds very fucked up.

And so Gaddafi was killed when? He was killed in 2011. And were you here yet? No. No, I only came here in 2014. 2014. Yes, I was there for the whole thing. I mean, not him being killed, but... Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I saw you in the video. Yeah, look, I was there. Just hanging, yeah, yeah. I saw it in the video. Yo, look, he's upstairs. Just hanging, just making content. I'm here laughing at the Gaddafi killing. Oh, my God. But no, I was there with the whole thing. That's why I was saying, like, I had two separate lives. So, you know, before Gaddafi and then 2011,

that's when the revolution happened in Libya and everything. And most of it was truly because of social media, you know, because I feel like everyone my age had the same realization. Yeah. Of just like, this shit is fucked up at the same time. Do you think like it was, because now you write, you know, you satire and critique the government. And like, did you feel when you were younger that you had that edge and it was just like released one day did you ever make an off-color joke and someone's like you shouldn't make that joke oh absolutely yeah yeah all the time and it's just like you know and

then you have people like and i mean my parents were like had the right to be worried and uh and who to talk to and everything because like the government literally had spies everywhere like you take a taxi the taxi driver might be someone who works for the government uh-huh uh so you cannot you cannot you can never trust who you're talking to yeah uh so when i do when i do things like this my i remember my dad is just being like just please shut the fuck up once he was killed did was did did you guys ever talk about it like hey that was crazy well i mean it truly only took a day or two into like the whole like uprising and everything for people just just like to literally just be like fuck fuck this shit. This is so bad. And I remember like the first four days I spent it, like just like researching as much as possible on the internet,

just like go watching YouTube videos and shit. I'm like, this is so fucked up. Cause you find so much about him and you're like, I didn't even know half this shit. This man is a criminal. Yeah. And then, and then, you know know you had this like you had like

that period of eight months where it was just like him him still being alive you have the like the like you know like have like western intervention people coming in and like so much shit happening and you're like in the middle of it were you scared for your life at any point no no i was not it was it was all very extremely exciting for me yeah at the time because i was like 20 and i was just like this is the best time of my life yeah you know like i i i like you know like you see people on the streets you see people like breaking into places and like i'm like yeah i fucking love this and then at some point i was doing i was i was one of the few people who like

spoke english like fluently back then to like be uh able to like you know do translation work and all of that so i like i would i worked with a lot of journalists who came to to libya and like the translation work and like uh and i also used to take them to the front lines to you know just so they can like do their reporting and stuff and that was very fun and very dangerous yeah because like now i think about most of this shit now i'm like that was very stupid like i would i could have got myself killed at any point but back then i'm just like this is so fucking cool this is the best you know like were they were you getting paid for this work too oh absolutely you make money you were working you're in the heart of history exactly i was doing i was doing everything

and i was you know i was doing like a lot of like also like other media stuff like i was hosting a radio show at the time and i was just like living my life you know and uh and it was not i mean it wasn't easy because you're literally just like, you know, the government is still in charge. They're just not as in charge as they were. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you have like, you know, like they know who you are. Because the idea was if this doesn't go well, we're fucked. If they come back and take power again, it's the end.

Yeah. Because we really went for it uh-huh and uh there is there's no coming back from this so you really have to commit to the bit at that point does it inform you does it does it uh change the way you you look at like january 6th like having seen you know a group uh beat the government essentially does it does it change do you look at it and think it's uh not as big a deal as everyone's making it to be you know you know what yes uh because i remember you know like at my at my job we're just like all like watching it we're just like watching the news and everyone we're just like paying attention to it and we're

like you know like we're not we're trying not we're not trying to make jokes today and stuff like that like let's keep it off on like on social media and stuff and i get it i understand you don't want to like come off as like insensitive but i remember i'm just like watching what's happening and like the news talking about i'm like this shit is cute yeah like this is this is nothing really he took a shit on nancy pelosi's desk and you're like okay a little bit funny yeah it's a little bit funny it's funny i mean i don't i obviously you know don't support it but i'm just like the way they talk about it now and they like you just will not shut up about it as like the most traumatic thing that happened to them i'm just like i mean yeah i guess yeah yeah i mean yeah sure i don't know man i know i know i know what you're saying i think it's just I mean, yeah, I guess. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, yeah, sure.

I don't know, man. No, I know what you're saying. I think it's just like America, we're just like, we're so, you know, it's the same way where if there's any terrorist attack and two people die, it's still like, you know, because we're just like, this doesn't happen here. And those visuals, those, I mean, I just remember, I just remember, you know, my girlfriend being like, you hear there's some people that went to the Capitol. And then I remember just seeing when you really saw the people on the steps or whatever. And I was like, oh, shit.

Yeah. I mean, I've never seen this in my life. It's, I mean, to be honest, it was more insane than I thought it was. It was at first when it was happening, like when I was watching the videos and stuff, I was like, okay, this is this was worse than i expected but then you compare it to something else but i also have to keep in mind that you know like everything has to be viewed within context sure you know because in the context of the u.s this is a big deal and a lot of us like went there as kindergartners or like i grew up in dc so i've been at different times but like people have been there like an enormous amount of America has been

in that place and it's like what what is this so yeah no I get it like you visualize like what if I was

I was there and they are there now and they're like you know smashing things or doing whatever but yeah I mean I was just like

yeah I mean that would have been a day for me in Libya I was just like yeah well here we go that's another day.

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Delivered right to your door on Skip Was there What kind of comedy was there When you were a kid? Were you getting any American stuff? British stuff? Did they have Libyan card? So, I mean

To be honest, pop culture wise on like tv and everything i feel like we literally had everything because you know i'm surprised the government would let everything everything but that's the thing because like when you because the re like when i like when i watch something like i'm just trying to think of a show now like i watch a lot of sitcoms and like movies and stuff but when you watch it you come at it from the uh from the the thing which is like it's acting yeah none of this is real though you can't do this in real life uh-huh you know what i mean so it doesn't really change like it's like watching what i want you watch a cartoon or something i mean none of this is real yeah i mean it's all it's all like you

know make believe and this is but then so it didn't really like make me think like, oh, we're living in a different universe. Well, I always think about it. I tried making a bit. I couldn't quite get it. Where in North Korea, there's an organization that really is dedicated to smuggling in USB drives with soap operas and episodes of Friends.

Like something about at least that particular area is so, I mean, I guess in theory, is so oppressed that seeing Friends. The joke I was trying is that, like, you got to be at a pretty shitty place if you, like, if you see Ross and Rachel and you're like, we got to march. Like, their apartment is fucking huge. Exactly. Like their apartment is fucking huge. Exactly. And it's just, you know, I'm always curious kind of how much does that pop culture stuff make people change the way people think

or make them think differently? But what were the shows you were watching? Oh, I've watched, so, I mean, definitely watch Friends, watch Seinfeld. Seinfeld. Like every like sitcom that was on the Disney channel, I've watched that. Like every movie

you can like think of it's just I and that's the thing like even like when I talk to my girlfriend now about like

stuff I watch like a lot of the stuff I've watched she has not watched at all and I'm like I guess I just spend too much time

in front of the TV because I know a lot well it's good at least it's your profession yeah did all Seinfeld like did any of Seinfeld like make sense of seinfeld like

make set was ever like why are they complaining about fat in the yogurt like oh well you're fucking whiny assholes exactly you're like well i guess that's how they live uh you know just like whatever man uh but yeah i mean it's but it didn't really change anything about like how i thought like other people lived, you know? Because, like, still you are in the mindset of, like, I am living a normal life. Yeah. And you want to, like, hold to that, like, so much that you refuse to believe that this is not normal, this is not okay. Yeah.

But then, you know, like, I feel like there was the period between 2011 to 2014 when shit drew just like bad and you're like this is bad did you ever feel because i'm always curious because like america i really did feel like i was taught america's the greatest country in the world and like that it's it's even more than like there's propaganda of course about like foreign intervention but there's like a deeper emotional propaganda that's really hard to kind of put the, and I'm sure I still have it. I'm sure it's like a part of my subconscious that America is the greatest country in the world. And like, did it feel like that was part of your upbringing in Libya, that Libya is the greatest country in the world? Yeah.

It's the same thing. Like even the history that you study just all paints Libya in the best way possible. And it was just like we're doing great things and that's why

everyone is upset at us because we're fucking killing it. I just wonder what it's like in like Denmark. Like America is so big. Like something about America being big too

it felt like well this makes sense. Yeah. We're all so big. But like if you're like a tiny little country just being like... Well, I guess that's the other thing

because Libya as well is probably the third biggest country in Africa. So it's massive as well compared to other places that you would go to in Africa. And you also only have like 5 million people who live there. So it's just like

you have all of this space. So it feels way bigger than it is actually. And you have all of that oil and stuff like that and it's just like uh you have all of this space so it feels way bigger than it is actually yeah and you have like all of that oil and stuff like that and it just feels like you're you're in control and to be fair the i mean gaddafi that's how he got away with more of this a lot of the stuff he did he had so much money and power and like oil that he can just call the shots uh so at some point you're like yeah we're fucking shit up yeah yeah yeah even the us can't fuck with us which is obviously not true but because he he tells you

that and the thing is like even like obama like everyone was like very nice to him because like he had like oil and stuff like that but then he took it like you know too far uh-huh and even like the u.s was just like we can't really bro like you're killing people on camera like it's being videotaped like we can't we have to do something now because everyone saw the shit you're doing yeah yeah when it was in the like in i do wonder when when politicians at that level have their private phone calls if there is a bit of like bro you gotta stop this dude i mean you can't film it man i mean they've released a lot of that because like they had like i think there was like a whole like a uh fucking like a scandal with like the prime minister of like england or something

of that just calling qaddafi and be like hey man yeah you can't do this like everyone's seeing what you're doing can you just can we do something about this where you can just keep it in the background yeah can you keep that youtube video unlisted exactly yeah stop saying this shit and he lost i mean he's i mean i get it in a way because like you know like you're i can't imagine being a president of a place for 42 years everyone is doing exactly what i'm telling them to do and then one day you have like two million people like fuck you yeah and you're like oh what do you mean fuck me i'm just gonna kill people and then you kill people and then it gets worse and worse and worse and worse and you're like i don't know what to do this is the first time i had to deal with this i think that's still i this might be

corny because it's over it up but the the quote the uh power corrupts absolute power corrupts absolutely i feel like that's just one of the truest just like what it is what i always think because it's so overdubbed, but the quote, the power corrupts, absolute power corrupts, absolutely. I feel like that's just one of the truest, just like what I always think about every time, every time, and I think like,

about if I, God, if I ever get the kind of success that I want, I'm like, and I will be corrupted. It's just also believing, it's not just that,

be careful, it's that you will, it's impossible not to be. It is. It literally is just, I i mean i worry about that too because it's just like you're like i don't know what i would do in a situation like this because like you would become a different person like it's not me now it will not be me it's not going to be the same idea same brain same everything so i'm just like i'm just just trying hoping to always be a good person

who knows yeah but i mean i don't know man i don't know if i get that much power to the point i'm controlling other people's lives through comedy i think i think life is i my theory is it's it's keeping people around you who challenge you constantly yeah i mean when i think about you know there's been so much talk about chappelle and there's just a part of me that's like it just must not be anyone in his life right now that's close to him going bro this fucking it's just trash dude he's just surrounded by yes men that's it you know he's employing them and like yeah you know but i also i don't have feeling when someone really when someone really challenges me on something and i'm like mad no i get it not like kick them off the tour

when you're mad at them like do you have the strength within you to exactly it's tough no i get it i mean that shit little thing is getting really boring now like at a point i'm just like bro shut the fuck that extra that the recent clip he released that one was like i was like what what is this yeah what you just you promised that on the special you were going to stop talking about it. You promised you'd take a break and you didn't even take a day. Exactly. It was a week ago. We all saw it.

And you're still talking about it. And I said this multiple times, but I'm just like, content aside, harm aside, it's just not funny. Well, I feel a real frustration and i was thinking about it another review i saw of a comedy special where i think sometimes critics they they never consider that something's a comedy special is just like underdone or lazy or just not good jokes they always think of it like oh this is what was intended this was something crafted or they'll be like yeah this was they intentionally kept this set like loose and free-flowing and i'm like no they did not do the work to make it good because they haven't seen sets like this at open mics and shit of course just like i'm like no this is bad comedy they only watch finished products they only watch finished products exactly i'm like this is this is this man is riffing

clearly he's just like thinking about stuff and just saying them you can tell there was no set They only watch finished products. Exactly. I'm like, this man is riffing, clearly. He's just like thinking about stuff and just saying them. You can tell there was no set list there. It's just, you know, I'm sure they had to edit stuff out because it was just incoherent and made no sense. Those COVID jokes were lazy. And then it's just like, I was just in Austin, Texas, and there are plenty of good comics,

and I don't want to paint the whole town of Austin, Texas. Yeah, no, I've been there. Go do a show there. And when you've seen three comics in a row, a cis comics in a row, talk about trans issues, using jokes that are just flipping genders in the middle of the thing or whatever,

you'll go like, Oh, this is done. But you don't see, they, they don't see that level. Critics see the highest level. And so they go like,

Ooh, he's, he's going places. Everyone is going exactly at lower levels when he did the thing where he said the lgbtq rsa and i'm just like dude this was a an open mic joke from like 20 years ago probably that maybe made sense once i was like oh yeah more letters that's funny yeah yeah and then this dude on a comedy special that is being paid million for to do was just like yeah i'm gonna do a fucking do this

especially but when you're that big you have so many fans you have so many fans where like this is the only stand-up they're seeing that year maybe yeah so like it's not hacked to them like it's people who watch even 10 specials a year maybe absolutely yeah but your fan base is so big you're dealing with people who don't even watch stand-up see that's my thing though because you have people who don't watch stand-up and i get that but like you have a lot of people who are like like claim themselves as comedy fans or like hardcore comedy fans i'm like you do not watch comedy you watch the same four people and you just watch all of their specials yeah and that's it but you literally have you don't know the local scene you don't know all the comics you have no idea what's happening the second tier like

yeah you know if you're not if you don't know who gary goldman is if you don't know who maria bamford is exactly uh yeah you know i but i i remember i always did for caroline's comedy club i did some man on the street type thing and like the number of people it's kevin hart is all they know dude yeah kevin hart is all they know that Dude, yeah. Kevin Hart is all they know. That's all the comics they know. Kevin Hart is the only comic they know. Yeah. And it's, I mean, I get it.

I mean, that's what has been shown to you. And it's just, these people are like, and it's just, it's so wild to me that you get big to a point where like you just don't write anymore. Yeah, yeah. You're just. Or it's just like, it's like like because i'm sure they have writers or like they you know i hear people they do their things they riff on stage people write it down they isolate it but it doesn't make up for the real thing and it's just like the and the thing is like if you're like if you're like i want to say what i want to say and whatever i want to joke

about whatever i want like that's one thing but what frustrates me is they believe that these people are actually like changing things. You know, they're like appealing to the masses. They're like, you know, there's a cultural shift happening because of what they're doing. And it's just like, no, they're not. Yeah, especially with Chappelle, like what's the cultural shift? People are less accepting of trans people in America. Is that the shift?

I mean, it was bad. It was bad before. Yeah, I'm like... You're agreeing with the majority of people. Exactly. And you just have people who... And at what point do you go back and be like, who are the people who like me?

And see the people who... If Ben Shapiro was just like, fucking love Mohamed El Sheik in his jokes and be like I am doing something really bad sure sure this is once in a while you know once in a while I think it's so you know sometimes you say something funny that will appeal to the worst person on earth

absolutely overall you're not like I think about all the time I think about you know and I still don't feel like I'm at a place where I'm like my fan base I know what my fan base is but I know for sure that if I had at a place where I'm like, my fan base, I know what my fan base is. But I know for sure that if I had a fan base that was all white dudes, that's not what I want. Then I feel like I'm not like,

I failed in a way. Well, you know, I get what you mean. I mean, it's the fan base, but also I guess the people who really defend you and your ideas. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the thing. Because if Penny Shapiro likes ideas yeah yeah that's when that's the thing because like you know ben shapiro like likes a joke that you said that's one thing sometimes you tell a joke that is really like have no you know yeah it goes to like no not right or left it's just a fun joke sure so anyone would like it but if ben shapiro

was like like fights for your right to perform and is like, stop, get off this man. I'm like, I am doing something so bad right now. So unethical. Because this man doesn't like comedy. He just likes

the fucked up shit I'm doing. That's what's so funny is like, all of these conservative papers, once Chappelle's special came out, all of a sudden, they were reviewing comedy specials,

you know. They're like, this is the greatest comedy. We've never talked about comedy before, this is funny we all laughed and and they read that and they're like yeah i guess i'm being uh and obviously you know they go with the whole like crusade and cancel culture and like you know they're coming after you they're trying to end you and and all of that shit and it's just like i mean to go back to the point about just like living in libya and doing all of that shit and whatnot it's really pathetic to me it's such like when someone is just like talks about like how they're like being canceled and they're like people just coming after them

and their life and shit like that and i'm just like this is like this is some of the weakest shit yeah ever to me because i'm just like because did you know in libya people who are actually canceled people who were dude i i mean not not not to make this podcast like i know people who like were killed yeah the stuff that they've said you know i've personally yeah yeah yeah you know like i've i've i've had my car shot at twice because of the shit I said on the radio, like people I worked with and stuff like that. Oh, my God. Tell me one of these times you were in your car. Were you in the car at the time?

Yeah. Well, one time I was in my car driving to, I was in college back then. I was like literally driving to college. And just like, just a bullet just goes in. The window just like literally just hits the seat next to me bullet just goes in the, the window. Just like literally just hits the seat next to me. It goes to the front window? Yeah.

And it hits this seat. Yeah. And it was just like, and I, I literally thought it was like, you know, it was like, it's a rock or something. Yeah. And I was just like, did it, like, I did not think much of it until I got like parked. And then I was just like, holy shit. There's just a bullet sitting right there did it shatter the window or was it just like a little hole it kind of i it i mean i

honestly just i mean i don't really know much about how bullets work in guns and shit like that it was just like it was just like it was just like a very small and then obviously cracked everything around it and shit like that uh but then it all broke down, you know. How scared were you? I was scared then. I was just like, this is insane. Were you scared to get back in the car? I mean.

Well, I mean, I didn't know what to do then. And it happened again like a few months after. But that was, you know, from the back. I was not in the car. I was like, I went to, I remember I went to the Nike store. There's a Nike store there that I went to. And after I came back, I closed my door. Like I opened the door, then I was just like,

I thought I forgot something or whatever. I just closed it. And then the glass, like, I don't know what they call it, the back window. Window paint. Yeah. They just like, it all fell. And I was just like, oh,

like someone like threw a rock at it or something and that was like i literally found like three bullets in the car and i was just like this this shit is fucked up i don't know how you did you have any thought of like maybe i should stop the radio or i'm gonna die well that was after like i've after i was done with the radio i was it was mostly because of the people I was like, because I was working with a lot of journalists and people like that. People who are mostly, when I say journalists, we're mostly like US journalists and stuff. And there was a whole, I want to call it stigma, a vibe that a lot of these people were just

like CIA agents and shit. And some of them were. Sure. Some of them were. Some of them were just like, yeah, you're too fluent in Arabic. I'm not comfortable. Really?

That's how you could tell? Yeah, yeah. I'm just like, ah, come on. There's no fucking journalist, like a CNN journalist or whatever who speaks Arabic fluently. You're trying to get something.

You're trying to befriend me. And I don't like that. So, you know, you work with these people and then so when you work with them like and you know them personally they're like okay you also work for the government yeah and then you're like uh for like a foreign government not your government yeah and there's nothing you can say to change their minds because uh you're like well no i don't like well that's yeah sure what else are you going to say?

Why do you hang out with these people? They like you. They seem to hang out with you a lot. And I'm just like, yeah, because I talk English fluently and you do not. And do you feel like when you were doing that stuff

with whether government or not, did you feel like you were at least, you were translating, did you feel like you were doing a good deed? You were setting the story, you were helping translate the story so the rest of the world knew what happened absolutely i mean i i i mean i believed in the work i did because i

because at the time there was a time where like no one no one who was interested in knowing what was happening in libya was getting was getting news or getting actual like you know facts and stuff like that so i mean that's what i wanted to do and and the reason i wanted to do the job because like you know you have people who taught speak english but like not really well so like a lot of get lost in the translation and you end up with like you know being like there's a wrong picture being painted so i was like i'm trying to get to the bottom of like the what is what and that's it did was there any like big at least how with america specifically or anywhere where you felt like the the story was painted incorrectly i mean yeah oh absolutely i mean like you sometimes like you watch the news about stuff that is happening in

your own neighborhood and you're like well i'm here none of this is happening sure you know like because i remember like they were just uh and a lot of it is just, like, not, it's not propaganda. It's just, like, exciting when you hear about, like, a whole neighborhood being, like, bombed or something. And you're like, well, I live here. And I would have heard it. I mean, it happens. And we're not saying it doesn't happen, but not right at this moment. Yeah.

It's not. it's not, it's not happening. You're just making shit up. Cause I guess it's a, it's a slow news day. Now, have you, what was the last time you were in Libya?

Was it? It was 2014. So it was like seven years, eight years now. Yeah. Do you ever want to, is there comedy there now? Any standup in Libya?

They are. There is actually. Yeah. People are like getting into it, doing standup and stuff. And i mean it's it's it's exciting i i don't think i see myself doing comedy there why it's i'm just used to doing comedy it's it's a different vibe you know like because like the um before there was stand-up in libya there was there was there was comedy but it was mostly theater so it was just like a lot of plays and stuff comedic plays and all a lot of that so there's this whole like thing to do like it feels like a lot of like monologue kind of yeah a lot of like storytelling funny stories but the whole like

uh set of punchline thing sure is not really a thing i wonder i always wonder if like it evolves there eventually where people get better or they you know there's something obviously addicting about like when you hit a really big pop you get a big laugh and like an evolution towards the most laughs kind of takes over

absolutely yeah but you could set that tone you could speed up evolution go down there show some set of punchlines and they go holy shit because especially But you could set that tone. You could speed up evolution, go down there, show some set of punchlines. No, exactly. And then go, holy shit. Because especially,

it's like you do a storytelling show as a stand-up comic. And sometimes if it's not a great storytelling show, you can fill the room, go, there's a new level of laughter that wasn't being unlocked before. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Yeah. I watched, because South Korea opened stand- up like super early during the pandemic like way you know because they they were just taking care of covet a lot better and uh i ended up watching like they have s i think it's called south korea saturday night live or snl korea so it's a clunky title but i watched like the star from that his netflix special yeah i mean man it was just god awful from my standards of stand-up because it's so new but it was just like it was uh it was like an open mic hour for a sold-out crowd it was i blew my mind i truly

think the most american thing about me is that I do not believe good standup comedy exists outside of the U S even, even England. Uh, I'm not really into it. I was watching some Juvie card today and I went, ah, he really writes a shitload of jokes.

He does. I mean, I'm not saying, see, I'm not saying it's just all bad. I'm sure they're like good comedians. They are like killing it and all of that. But I mean, the thing is like most of these people who do well in even the uk end up moving here sure to make it well i guess i guess when i say when i say there isn't a good

comedy outside of the us not not not content wise not all of that but like you know in order to make it in stand-up comedy yeah to actually like be the thing you have to be here I mean it's similar to how I feel about

New York more specifically where like it's tough to get the kind of time you can't hear so basically what you're saying is you agree with Chappelle that Hannah Gadsby is not funny

I do I do think Australians are are funny isn't she is she australian i thought she was uh new zealand i mean i i know she's like from a place called it was like tasmania oh that's australia so yeah i guess so yeah yeah i'm i'm sure whatever happens on the island of australia i'm sure she's very funny. And that's the only... You know what? That's the only person funny from Australia unless you remind me of someone else.

Sure. There's a music guy. I forget his name. What is the name of the other guy? Jim Jefferies. Is he also Australian? Oh, yes. Yeah.

Now I don't know if he's New Zealand. I think he's Australian. No, he's Australian. He's Australian. And I'm not saying I like his comedy, but I mean, he's big. He does some good stuff. His gun control bit was pretty amazing. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, I haven't really seen anything after that, really. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm not saying like, oh, he hasn't been good after that. I just haven't continued to watch his work after. So then you came to, you moved to Portlandland i moved to portland yeah yeah were you excited to to come here well the thing is like i i honestly did not know that even oregon existed before i moved there of course yeah i did not know gaddafi's name so no judgment from me yeah yeah exactly uh no i mean i came there on like through like a program, so I didn't really pick Portland. It was something I researched.

I'm like, oh, I want to go there. I was excited for sure, because once you know you're going to be there, you look up the city and the places and stuff like that. This is really cool. And I do like, to this day, I still like Portland as a city, despite everyone who lives there.

Yeah. But I was very excited like the first six weeks were just like you know great because like you're still in the program you're still like you're being taken care of were any big culture shocks anything you couldn't or did you kind of was it like was it like because you had seen so much of American yeah media exactly I recently had I I did a I'd never seen shows at the comedy cellar but i'd seen the village underground on tv so much i'd never been there and then going there it is very surreal when you go to a place you've seen the same with seeing a celebrity in real life where

part of you're just like you just want to be like whoa look it's here now i know no i i i totally get away and i didn't i guess the cultural shock shock I had with Portland was not because I was in the U.S. It was because it did not look anything like New York or L.A. Because that's the only thing you see on TV. And you're like, this doesn't look like the U.S. at all to me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's very green. It's just like you don't have the high buildings, just like every house is like, you know, one, two floors and that's it.

Yeah. So it kind of like looked very like strange to me yeah yeah but i guess the i guess the cultural chalk or like having to kind of like really like being like this is not as good as i thought was eventually like i i i had to stay in the u.s you know i and it was not it was not really my choice like i said like i've done so much work back in libya that got me in so like yeah that i got to a point where just like you can't go back so you you realize that when while i was i was like maybe like the fourth week how did you realize that what changed so i mean things things gotten like worse than they were when i was there and then uh they were no more access to any of the airports there.

So you can't even fly back. And because there was this whole thing about me before that I was working undercover with the U.S. government, and then now I am in the U.S. on a Department of State-funded program. And when you say, are these rumors on blogs? Is the government concerned?

No. So, I mean, it wasn't really a government back then. It was like a lot of, you know, you have these militias that just control parts of the government and everything. They kind of took over. So they have access to all the information. So if I go to the U.S. Embassy and I apply, they know.

So they know where you are. They know, like, you're aware about you. They know that you're in the U.S. And they, and, you know, as someone who's from Libya, especially back then,

it's very hard to get a visa and to go to the U.S. Yeah. You know? So because I got accepted in this program, it was, like, very quick. It was, like, you know,

it was, like, two days. And I got it because, you know, they've already done the background check and everything. It was like you know it was like two days and i got i got it because you know they've already done the background check and everything because it was you know quick and then they were like this doesn't seem right to us like this guy definitely works for the u.s government and you you just heard word did your parents say hey someone scary knocked at the door well they did twice they came to our house twice uh searched my room and everything and like they went through my papers and stuff like that and then my parents like and this is the first time this ever happened so my parents were just like man i don't know what's

the solution now because i don't think you should come back and i was just like i don't know what to do did that hurt i mean it's it it hurt in like in i mean not in a way i'm just like them saying that because like they they're just worried about me yeah but i was just like i don't know what to do like what is the process for something like this yeah because now you know i mean like now you hear about the word asylum a lot and everything back then even i did not know what that meant yeah and then you know i talked to like some people i knew there like they met through the program or like and i was just like what can i do and some one of them was like i know a good like immigration lawyer like let's go talk to them and figure something out and then that's

when i applied for like a political asylum uh and that was 2014 and then you know after that like once you apply you're like okay you're gonna stay here until you do your interview you do your paperwork and you don't have to leave uh but then that's when i was like you know now you have to find a job yeah you have to find how much money did all that cost all said and done lawyer dude it was a lot it was thousands and thousands of dollars it was and i luckily i had because you know i had money back home so i had like transfers and i but i burned into it like really quick of course you know of course and then you're like well i fucking have to get a job now

and the thing is like you know like your first like seven or eight months you're not you're waiting for something called a work permit yeah so you cannot work legally okay so they try to make it as tough as possible for you to want to stay here so the first eight months you have to figure something out so you know like you work under the table you're like you just like what was the first job uh well one thing i did i uh i know a lot of college students who were there like to study english so i was like doing like a lot of like tutoring and stuff like that that's great uh so I was like making money through that I also worked at this uh fucking uh food cart like a like a they're just like really paid me like shit because they're just like what are you gonna do complain of course to who uh and I worked

there until like I man I and then I got my work permit one day and I was just like, I just quit on the spot. I was like, fuck you. Yeah. You piece of shit. And you had, you had gone to med school in Libya? I did. Yeah.

I did for like three or four years. Yeah. Which is insane. Yeah. Then what, when you came to the program in Portland, what were you studying then? I studied business. I went to business school because it was just like, I studied business. I went to business school. And literally the reason I went to business school,

I remember I went to a college advisor. I was like, what is the quickest way to get a degree? And he was like, you should do this new program called Supply Chain Management in business school. And to this day, I have no idea what that means. But it was the quickest way out of college. Did you feel any bitterness? I went to college for musical theater. And are some times i when i am feeling depressed i'm like i can't believe i spent four years studying that i i shouldn't have should never have gone to college like i literally have do nothing with it now yeah but there's some people there's i

think of some of my siblings and i'm like, no, college was good for them. And then I think like someone like me who I feel like I knew what I wanted to do kind of and I had the drive to keep doing it.

I'm like, I shouldn't have gone to college. Like, there's certain people that I don't think need it. And certain businesses where it's like, you just need to start

hitting the ground running. Absolutely. I mean, at first, before I started doing comedy because I was like, you know, it was just like, I'm just going to get a college degree and then I'm just going to at first you know at first before I started doing comedy because I was like you know I was just like

I'm just gonna get a college degree and then I'm just gonna like you know get into whatever position this degree can get me but then like

maybe like two years in that's when I started doing comedy I started like really liking it and you're like why am I why am I still

going to college like I can just leave right now so did you not get your degree? No, I did. You did? I did finish.

Because luckily I had a lot of, like, my credits, like, transfers and stuff like that from my time. Okay, good. So I didn't have to do a lot. It was just, like, I had, like, what, like, a year left or something? I'll just do that. And when you started doing comedy,

was there any part in you that was, like, this is a terrible choice. You don't have, your family's not here to like help you out. It doesn't feel like you can go back to Libya right now. This is a crazy thing to do. Or were you like, I'm going to make it and I'm smart and I will figure it out.

It was, I mean, it was, it was neither really, it was, but I did really enjoy it because like it was it was one of the only times, because like, you know, like you're in a new place, you're not,

you're still like having a hard time communicating with people, like finding yourself. Yeah. You know, and even like when I had like friends and stuff like that, it's very hard for you to really communicate what you want to say. You know, there's always like someone who's just like, you still like, I had like friends and stuff like that, it's very hard for you to really communicate what you want to say. You know, there's always like someone who just like,

you still like, I mean, for me, you know, like you still feel like this, like outsider vibe. Yeah. You can't weigh in or like no one wants to hear from you.

And I feel like comedy was the first time I was like, Oh, people actually care about what I say. Sure. And they like it and they think it's smart or funny or whatever. So for me, personally, it just gave me so much confidence

to even like outside of comedy to just be like, no, this is what I think and I want to say it instead of just being like, I don't think, I don't know

if I should say this. I'm just going to keep it to myself. So how do you feel, you do a lot of political comedy. Yeah. How do you feel

about, I sometimes feel like a lot of satire of political satire yeah is i don't know if i'd call it soft or i don't know if i'd call it like use it sometimes it feels like it's all just fluff it's all like none of it is none of it shocks none of it none of it like really shakes things up or feels like... I don't know. And of course, there's plenty of exceptions. I haven't watched Samantha Bee in a long time. But John Oliver will occasionally...

When he goes after AT&T, I think he went after AT&T. That felt good compared to... I know there was the whole thing with Jimmy Fallon and the Alexa. I don't know if you remember that. There was something where... Listen, I don't know if you remember that. There was something where like, listen, I don't know all the details behind it, but what it looked like on his face was that John Oliver,

they were doing some game with Alexa. Okay. And John Oliver was like asking Alexa about the union in Amazon and like, you know, asking it some pointed questions. Oh, yeah. And Jimmy Fallon in that moment

seemed like he was like, let's move on. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I know i i get exactly what you mean yeah i mean so so i mean having been in a place where where the political upheaval feels much more visceral and feels i think even more connected to life death your future like how do you think comedians do you think comedians are doing a good job with american politics or what do you wish you saw more of i mean some of them yeah for sure but i mean i don't know about late night shows honestly it just feels like it just feels like whatever the network allows yeah and it just doesn't feel like some sometimes i'm like i don't even know if that person who are doing these jokes really believe in everything they're saying. Sure. Or they think more of like, they want to say more.

So it just, it just feels very entertainment kind of just like, you know, I don't know. It just feels, I'm not. Aside from the people you work for. So out of that question,

who's your favorite? Who's your favorite right now? I mean, I do, I do, I do like John Oliver a lot and I still like him because it's just, you know, like,

I feel like you do learn something outside of even just him going hard. I'm like, I didn't know, had no idea about this topic. Yeah. And there's also this whole thing about also offering solutions. Sure. So there's at least something there. Have you watched Jon Stewart's show yet? I've watched maybe clips.

It's really serious i like it really is like it really felt like the most news yeah or like 60 minutes almost some of the segments felt really there's just a part of me that i'm like i'm like uh comedy entertainment comedy education it's all useful to a degree but sometimes sometimes I go like look something's either funny or it's news and at a certain point you can only mix the two so much

before they both get they both get weakened the comedy isn't that funny or the news isn't that

informative or biting I don't know it's it's we're like we're it's clearly a booming business absolutely yeah and i feel like the people who drive that business a lot of them are like the same people who get the shirts that say i'm a biden bitch and i'm like i don't i don't i don't think that's good man i'm just gonna say when someone like that likes one of my tweets or replies to it and really likes it, I delete it.

Because I was just like, this is not good. This is not the crowd I'm trying to spread. But if you continue to grow as you have, you've had a lot of success on Twitter, it will be a wide swath of your fan base. And it'll be your decision of are you going to say the thing? Are you going to be the one who then makes the joke about biden doing some shit it's so funny to me when i have like a lot of these people like follow me for like whatever joke i said and then i something see say something vaguely about biden and i feel like they forget why they followed me in the first place because they're just like you fucking russia

bitch yeah shit and then they just unfollow me and i'm just like or block me or something and i'm just like i mean you get what you get I'm not sure what to tell you. On Instagram I've had some reels that did well on Instagram and I'll get comments sometimes like I never followed you why the fuck am I following you and I'm like

you paid for this and I was like I promise you you followed me I promise you click the button at some point and you're forgetting no one can make you do that it's it's such a funny phenomenon and they're like what what do you do i don't know maybe you were drunk maybe you're high maybe you have a problem yeah also don't tell me just unfollow me and go who cares who gives a fuck no but i mean to your point i just feel like you know with you know i feel like like comedy needs to decide

what it what it is and what it wants to be kind of as just like i i am i i feel like to some extent that's just like it's mostly people are watching it because they want to laugh and they want to see something well written and funny uh so the whole thing about like comedy just like changing stuff on policy. No, that's what activism is for. That's why we have activists. You're not really doing that. And that's fine.

You should just accept that. Sure. And that's okay. Of course. No one is asking. But then you have the other side of people who just see comedy as news. Uh-huh. And they ask too much of it.

They wanted to change something. They wanted to change something. They wanted to do something. Why don't you talk about it? Why didn't you say this? I'm just like, because it's a fucking comedy show. But it's so hard. I think about maybe the Sandy Hook shooting

where every late night host kind of addressed it. And it was one of these things where I'm like, especially in America where there's so many fucking shooting, it's like, so things where i'm like especially in america where there's so many fucking shooting it's like so every time there's a tragedy in america does the late night person need to be that that front face and address it or maybe just go off the air that night like they're just as a strange yeah and i think like if you actually like want something to change like monologue is not you have to address it obviously i get it but it's just like i don't know you make so much money donate something it's just money i mean to me i'm very just like we'll just give money if that's where your your heart is just yeah and

and i don't care show us how much money you gave and recommend that other people give money or ask to add people you're putting commercials between all this shit ask them to advertise for a charity for some you know exactly what the thing they were just like and that's like just not late night but like even like stand-up comedians who are just like

you know modern day philosopher yeah yeah just like man if you're not coming at it from the mindset I'm like

you have to be funny first and you have to have good jokes first I am not listening this is bullshit like you have to be funny like no one no one's coming

to a fucking TED talk no one cares I think it's funny with the Chappelle thing because I do think it was a fair critique of plenty of liberal comics like a Hannah Gadsby

at times where they were like this is just this isn't stand up but now one of their dudes is doing the same shit and now they're not being like

where's the jokes they're like this is the funniest thing I've ever seen. I laughed zero times, but inside. Dude, and I think the most insane thing about Chappelle to me

is that these people pretend as if, you know, a lot of the critique coming from people who are not fans of Chappelle. I'm like, I'm like, he was probably one of the first people I've ever seen do standup.

And I've watched all the fucking six, but I've watched all the old special. I've watched all the old specials, I've watched all the Chappelle shows. I could have killed him softly, verbatim. And I fucking loved it. And I'm like, that's why people care,

because they expect more from it. And they know he can do better than this. That's the fucking frustrating, like you know someone is funny, you know someone can write really good jokes, they choose not to, and that's the frustrating part. And they're like,

no, no, no, you're soft and sad. I'm like, no, I am not. Especially me as a to and that's a frustrating part yeah and they're like no no no you're soft and i'm like no i am not especially me as a comedian there's a part where i'm like trust me i'm a piece of shit if a joke is funny if if the horrible joke is funny and like makes me go oh the construction like i'll love it i'll love it exactly i like some terrible human beings that are comedians. Exactly. There are some jokes that are just terrible, but undeniable. Of course. It's just like, even the person, the joke is being made on, I can't be mad at this.

This is really good. Yeah. And I feel like there are so many ways you can tell fucked up jokes, and you can tell even jokes about trans people that are funny that everyone likes. You't have to i just the whole idea of that going at it from like the offending people thing yeah never made sense to me because i'm just like when i write something i'm like well do i think everyone's gonna like it no yeah you can't do that but i never wrote a joke i'm like i this is a joke to make this crew of people mad yeah that's just not fun that's just such a such a weird way to live yeah i'm just i'm like i just want to have

fun like i mostly just want to have a fucking good time on stage and i think that's where like it's just when there is and this i also think this isn't a consequence of like a lot of the political comedy shows where some people then look at like Jesselnick, who I love. Yeah. And who is very much like jokes. Like you go there and it's like clearly these are all jokes. Yeah. He's not trying to sway anyone's opinion on anything.

Absolutely. it trains dumber folks or people who never enjoy comedy that comedy is about expressing one's exact opinion or is to sway and so then they look at

Jess and Nick through that lens and they go what the fuck and it's it just I don't like it yeah

no yeah I mean I totally you know people are stupid people are so fucking stupid

we're on social media so much and you see people reply to stuff and i'm like you're replying to something i did not say yeah these are like it's so wild like when people like ask you to defend positions that you did not imply you support and we're like well this fucked up thing now defend it i'm like but no i do not even support it yeah i didn't say that so i get it like to watch something like comedy and being like you know not understand anything about it and just yeah people that's why when i was watching jimmy carr i just i think in england it must be a little different because he just says oh yeah and it's all jokes but it's it's still it's still watching and i'm like oh you're you're operating under a different set of rules.

Exactly. Because you're just... But if everyone is taking it from the... If the general understanding that these are jokes and then everyone leaves and they're fine

with one another, then that's... But here, it's just used to weaponize and attack people. Laurie Kilmart had something funny of just like, just go to comedy shows

and you'll see usually people are just leaving happy. 100%. Most stand-up shows, people. Laurie Kilmart had something funny of just like, just go to comedy shows and you'll see, usually people are just leaving happy. Most stand-up shows, it's not like half the audience goes, what the fuck? It's just people left. It's fun. And then they left. It's truly fun. Even when someone says something that doesn't, is fucked up,

people just forget about it and just move on. Let's go to your This Has Gotta Stop. Did you bring one today? I did, yes. and just move on. All right, well, let's go to your... This has got to stop. This has got to stop. Did you bring one today? I did, yes. My one tonight is that if your friends make something

or do whatever and it's not good, you should not support it. Like, we need to stop doing that. Wow, okay. We need to stop supporting our friends when they put out work and it's not good just because they are our friends because i am so tired of being duped into watching or reading things because a lot of people like on social you know we follow a lot of comedians

around like someone that makes something like this is fucking this is not this is the best thing i've ever seen and you see it over and over again. I'm like, I'm going to watch this. And then you watch the whole thing. I'm like, I'm feeling like I'm being gaslit right now. There is. There is definitely. And I feel like I've now been in stand-up for six years now. And I always was like, you know what?

I'm going to be someone who only shares things that I really like. And then you start having more and more friends. And you start having people who helped you out one time. And it gets complicated. And you start going more and more friends and you start having people who helped you out one time and it gets complicated and you start going like, well so sometimes I'm like I'll just share without a comment I won't say funniest thing ever I'll just say, hey, this exists

Retweet it Don't do it This is hilarious The only thing I'm committed to for me is to not talk shit about the thing uh-huh and that like this is as much as i'm willing to do for you if i hate your shit i'm not gonna talk shit about until and say it's bad like even privately for friends yeah yeah but i'm also not gonna be like this is so fucking good yeah i it. Even now, there's one example that comes to mind.

Sometimes it happens with a performer. Yeah. And every time they do a thing, people go like, this is amazing. And I'm like, this was a bad sketch that they were in. And you know that the people, and this is where people on the conservative side who will talk about woke people and whatnot, I'm like, they have a point. We go crazy for some people, and we act like everything they do is the funniest thing ever.

And I can just imagine someone watching and going like, they're lying. They're liars. And it's because we're just excited about something. But you don't have to say they're killing it. Find other people. I think there's sometimes an idolization of one person. It's like, show the funny thing of them, then show something else that's funny.

I completely agree. So who in specific just released something that's bad? A lot of people. A lot of people have been releasing. I really cannot name one person that's bad a lot of people a lot of people are really saying and i mean i'm you know i i really cannot name one person just because they're like more than one person but there's there's always this thing that happens when there's just like someone who's just it for like a bit like some time and then they have a good thing that they made yeah and then like you said like they start like making more stuff

and you watch them like this is not good this is bad like i am i stupid maybe i'm maybe i have maybe i don't have a sense of humor anymore or maybe i'm so jealous to the point where i cannot enjoy this anymore but to me this sucks and i think there's this thing and this is like with comedians putting out too much too many specials and look I've put out if you look at my TikToks there's plenty of stuff that I'm like this wasn't the best joke but I'm just like trying to drum up but when it comes to like full on

specials I feel like this was stand up where I like criticize people for putting out lazy shit because you want them to succeed and if you just give them money all the time not only are they going to just go for the cash grabs but their agents and Netflix and every company they're going to go oh just pump it out

because no one seems to care about the quality exactly yeah I mean I just man I don't know like someone sometimes someone does one bit and it goes well and then that's it it ends right there and they're just we're just like no

we have to keep like milking this for content as much as possible and clearly they're not good for it all right we're yeah it's gonna tell me after this exactly who he's talking oh i know there's one specific that's irking him let's go to one final uh you better count your blessing your blessing i'll go really quick uh i'm going to hawaii tomorrow oh fuck i have a friend getting married a friend from middle school okay um it's one of these where they're not in comedy so everyone there financially is doing like well well and so it's a big trip for me i there i have a feeling i know i'm not going to get it i know i don't deserve it but i kind of want to walk in and then be like thanks for for making this work with with your life what what what island are you going to so i'm going

to go to honolulu first okay two shows awesome able to get a show one's a bar show one's at the the blue note and then uh i go to uh maui for the rehearsal dinner and i'm gonna do a little show there they've asked me to do and then the the wedding and um but it's also cool because my the the groom my friend from middle school his family uh they owned it's this uh japanese reality show called the the terrace house wait i had it written down um it's called the terrace house it's some famous japanese reality show that everyone knows about and like i'm staying in the house and so i'm just about to stay in like the coolest greatest a little little house in in honolulu and they told me, they were like, do not get anything on the floor.

These are very sweet. I guess it's famous for its pristine white floor. Oh, okay. And they were like, do not. That was the one thing they said. That feels like now you have to, something bad will happen.

There will be blood on the floor. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That'll be blood. I'll say it's not salsa. It was blood. Do you have a blessing to close us out? Yeah, I am very thankful that, blood i'll say it's not salsa it was blood yeah um do you have a blessing to close us out yeah i am i am i'm very thankful that uh i'm grateful that uh professional like uh pandemic humor is

like dying out now uh you know like emails and stuff like that yeah like send an email to someone and you say uh uh hope all is well whatever that means now did you ever have one did you ever do one oh no i i really just irked me from the beginning i was just like oh are we gonna keep doing this i hope this email find you well or whatever and i'm sure like they sent it and they were like this is good it is funny when people speaking as comedians we joke all the time when people like get their moment you know there's still people on zoom

meetings going like you know what I like working on zoom no pants yes oh my god I'm honestly sometimes jealous of people who are just like can take something to us extremely hacky. And then like,

this is so much fun. Yeah. You don't have to try. And they laugh every time. I think what's funny with some hacky jokes though, is they, there was a moment sometimes that they started as original. Like there,

maybe not that one, but I feel like there was a, this last season of America is crazy. And it felt like, it felt like there was at one time someone tweeted it and it was like oh it's kind of funny you're talking about america like a tv show yeah and then like immediately it just everyone it's like so i i i i hear you yeah um anything you want to plug uh yeah i mean my my own podcast i'm sorry listen to it it's about apologies and then I'm doing

five shows in Denver in fuck yeah November 18th to 20th where? at the Denver Comedy Underground cool and then two shows

come to the Denver Comedy Underground if you can the other two shows I'm sure they're the local shows will take care of them good good good check that out I'm sure the local shows will take care of them. Good, good, good. Check that out. I've just been

plugging my headlining DC Comedy Loft the weekend after Thanksgiving. DC Comedy Loft, that's Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving. But otherwise, whether you're listening from Libya or America, know that

all governments will eventually collapse and so will humanity. This is the downside. One, two, three. Downside Downside