Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Hassan Phills: Toronto Mike'd #1456

Episode Date: March 21, 2024

In this 1456th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with standup comedian Hassan Phills about how he emerged from the cultural mosaic of Toronto to produce his Eidiot Mubarak showcase. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, The Advantaged Investor podcast from Raymond James Canada, The Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball Team and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]

Welcome to episode 1456 of Toronto Mic'd. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery. A fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. The Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team, the best baseball in the city outside the dome, with eight championships since 1967.

RecycleMyElectronics.ca, Committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. The Advantage Investor podcast from Raymond James Canada. Valuable perspective for Canadian investors who want to remain knowledgeable, informed, and focused on long-term success. And Ridley Funeral Home – Pill pillars of the community since 1921. Today, making his Toronto Mike debut, his stand up comedian, Hassan Philz.

Welcome, Hassan. Hi, thank you for having me, Mike. You're a Scarborough guy. Yes, yes. Scarborough born and raised and Did you come from there today? Running. Oh, did you come from Scarborough today? I didn't come from Scarborough. I live downtown now. Okay, you've made the jump Yes, yes. What you don't have to get uber specific, but what part of Scarborough were you raised in? I was like a borderline

Scarborough East York. So Victoria Park and down forth. Okay. Yeah. Now listeners of this show, no, I'm not fluent when you get East of young. I, uh, I, I know it like, I know enough to be dangerous or whatever, but, uh, I'm still, believe it or not, I'm still learning Scarborough primarily because I was born and raised in the West End and to get out there is it's not an easy task so I'm still learning quite a bit about Scarborough. Yeah no

honestly I think it's a vice versa thing I think there's a lot of people from Scarborough who don't make it past Young and then they go as far as they go as far as like Oslington and they're just like yo this is turbulence you know. So it goes both ways I know I've had this debate with FOTM Bob Ouellette about this and I understand it goes both ways. But have you Hassan ever spent any time in South Etobicoke? You're in South Etobicoke now. Oh, yeah, for sure. For sure. I'm actually right now I'm filming a TV show or like a Crave series with my friends,

Trevon Richards and Jermaine Richards from 4L Entertainment and the production is like literally like Evans and Islington or something like that. It's like a little north of here right? Yeah it's like East Mall or something. Oh East Mall okay okay. Is it anywhere close to like Sherwick Gardens or? Exactly yeah it's about like a five minute drive from Sherwick Gardens. On Kipling maybe? I'm now throwing out names inside the Tobacco. Yeah, yeah, yeah. In that area for sure.

Tell me a little bit more. We're gonna talk about your origin story as a stand up comic and then of course, we're gonna talk about the event you founded. I hope I say this correctly. Idiot Mubarak. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a spin off of the word like Eid and idiot, like the way. Like the word idiot. Idiot Mubarak. Yeah. Yeah, it's a spin-off of the word like Eid and

Idiot like the the way like the word idiot idiot. Yes No, I thought this was what it was and then I'm like, can that be true? We're gonna get into that So we're gonna put a pin in that we're gonna get right back to that but tell me about this Crave show So this is exciting. So Bell Media owns Crave. So did Bell Media Finance a show that you're in like give me some details. Yeah, so apparently like, yeah, Bell Media, they financed the show. It was written by Trey and Jay Richards. Okay, tell me Trey and Jay, are these brothers? Yeah, they're brothers, yeah.

They're iconic YouTubers from the city of Brampton. They're reppin' the B's. Okay. And yeah, man, they've been doing it for more than a decade, to be honest uh, in terms of like comedy and influence and energy from the city. But, uh, this is like, I watched them kind of like elevate themselves and, uh, from the, from the internet to content to now doing television and screenwriting.

And it's, uh, it's a show of a name. Uh, yes, the office movers, the office movers. So a good on bell media for throwing some money at, on some, uh, at some homegrown talent that started off on YouTube and are now making the move to the, to the whatever mainstream media gets crave, right? So for sure. And how are you involved? Are you your buddies with these guys? How, how did you get in there? Um, I've actually, uh, I've, I've watched them since I was in like high school and so at one point I was a I was invited as a guest on their podcast. They have a podcast called the random order and From there it was like it was literally like our first time kind of kicking it and

Afterwards we just stayed in touch and they they called me sometime last summer It's like hey listen, we have this show and I think it'd be a perfect role for it Wow, and ironically And afterwards we just stayed in touch and they called me sometime last summer and was like, hey listen, we have this show and I think it'd be a perfect role for it. Wow. And ironically I'm actually like playing myself. Like my character's name is my name. Oh like uncurb your enthusiasm when you see Larry David plays like a version of Larry David.

Yes. Yes. Amazing. So when can us normies see the show on Craved? You know? Honestly, God willing I think it'll be in like the fall. Sometime in the fall. And it's called The Office Movers.

The Office Movers. Listen, I'm taking a note here. When I see The Office Movers become the next letter, Kenny, I'm gonna be taking a note about the day that Hassan visited my basement. Yeah, for sure. It's a big deal. Okay, so let's get you to comedy here.

Okay, Scarborough guy, it's funny, I'm much older than you. When I think of Scarborough, I think of two musical acts from this city, particularly. I think of Maestro Fresh Wes, who is an FOTM, and you're now an FOTM, Hassan, that means friend of Toronto Mike. So welcome to the club there.

And I think of Barenaked Ladies. And I know- Barenaked Ladies are from Scarborough? Yeah. No way. I'm here to educate, Mike Myers to music I was thinking of before shout out to Mike Myers not an FOTM but his brother Paul is an FOTM so he's like FOTM adjacent but yeah bare naked ladies are a Scarborough oh wow I never knew that the more you know and if you go to YouTube and watch the video for their

cover of Bruce Colburn's lovers in a dangerous time, which is a hot topic on this podcast whether it's good or not I think it's fantastic. Okay, that's all that matters. Check it out. You get some great Scarborough footage from like the early 90s in that video I'll definitely check it out. So you're growing up in Scarborough Mm-hmm, and I'm curious about your background because it seems to be an interesting background. So this is not brought to you by ancestry.com, okay, but I am curious about your upbringing. So tell me about your parents. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So my mother is from Djibouti, which is like an East African country adjacent to Somalia and adjacent to Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia. It's a border and borders all three of those countries.

Djibouti. Yeah, maybe even Kenya. I'm not even sure. But definitely. And then across the sea is Yemen. But it's a military country. So like a lot of these countries have bases. Others countries have bases. It was a French colony.

And then so my mother moved from, you know, she was going back and forth from Djibouti to Addis in the capital city of Ethiopia and made her way to Italy. That's how I think that's where a lot of East Africans go in transit before they come to Canada. And then from there she came to Toronto and that's where she had met my father in the West End actually, probably like in Western,

I'm giving you the whole bad, the whole synopsis. I actually might be the only podcaster in the city who actually likes these details. I just give me the details Yeah, you do. Yeah, they met in the Weston Weston road in Lawrence. My father was there and then boom they locked eyes and Love at first sight and whatever that was and then I came That's how I kind of came to be so wait because your father's of Jamaican descent. Is that father's of Jamaican descent? Yes, okay

So you're so how do you identify? I'm very interested in your perspective because I'm so boring. I had on, the other day I had Dan O'Toole on the show and we're talking and I love my conversations with Dan, but I'm like, it's a little bit like talking to yourself, you know what I mean? Like it's like, this is getting boring.

So your mom, and again, this country, Djibouti, with all due respect to this wonderful country of Djibouti, I bet you you go to like a random 100 people at Yonge and Bloor subway station and just say, show them that, say I'm from Djibouti, they're gonna be like, okay, what country is that in? Yeah, yeah, no, for sure. No, it's definitely happened.

I even like, when I say Djibouti, it's interesting because they'll ask me if I, people will ask me if I speak French, and I'll tell them no, because most people from Djibouti, they're known for speaking French. And then they'll ask me if I speak Somali. And because that's like the one of the the primal language and languages, I don't speak Somali either.

But then when I tell them I speak Arabic, which is the probably like the third the third language, my mom speaks seven language for context. Wow. Yeah, I can barely speak one. Yeah. And so when I tell people I speak Arabic, they'll be like, oh, wow, like this is how. So and it's interesting. So your father, Jamaican descent. And so your parents both emigrated to Canada. Yes. Yes.

Okay. And were you born here? Born here, yes. Born here. I was actually born in though, I was actually born in the West End, to be honest. Yeah, you gotta be honest on this show. Yeah. I don't wanna, if I find out there's one lie from you,

Hisa, I'm coming after you. So what hospital you born in? I don't even know. My mom just- Something in the West End. Something in the West End. Humber or something? I think it was like closer to- St. Joe's by any chance? Probably in the downtown areaumber or something I think it was like closer to By any chance probably downtown area I can't remember like Parkdale that per that that

Hospital by Parkdale. Well Parkdale st. Joseph's health center because I was born there Oh, okay, two of my four kids were born there. Nice. Nice tradition No, I think my mom kind of came to her senses though and she said, I'm going to go to Scarborough. Okay, well, you should talk your dad into it too. And okay, now, and again, I don't know, are your parents still together? What's going on?

Oh no, my father, my father is moved. He's like moved on. He lives in Florida. My mother is remarried. Okay. Happily, but we're still like everybody's Kumbaya. Good, good to hear. Okay so how would you how do you identify? So your dad's black, your mother is...

My mother's black as well but fair skinned you know a bit. My mother is mixed she's mixed with like my grandfather was Italian and my grandfather was Italian and Eritrean. And my grandmother was like fully Ethiopian, but we have generations of family that lived in Djibouti. So it's like, it's an interesting mix. Well, you said Italians. I got to ask you the big question.

Do you enjoy Italian food? Of course. Okay. I have in my freezer for you, a large lasagna, frozen lasagna from palma pasta Oh now you in Scarborough you're like, where's palma pasta? So it's a West End joint It's in Mississauga and Oakville But you can go to palma pasta calm and you're gonna love this man

If you love lasagna, you're gonna love what I'm sending you home with. Thank you so much. I appreciate it It's empty right so when you what happens is at the end, when you bump your head on the ceiling, I'll feel embarrassed that you did that. And then I will sneak upstairs to get it out of the freezer and I'll fill up this. Low ceilings are the vibe. That's even like the best for comedy too.

Now you're singing my song, tell me more. 100%. Like you don't want to be, you don't want to be doing standup and see these high ceilings, right? Yeah, man, the last one bang that people need to feel like they're in danger You know like they could be kidnapped at any you need to know that if a fire breaks out you're gonna die Right, like if you feel safe like oh, there's lots of exit lots of space here. That's no place for comedy. Not at all

No assurance. You mean you need very the little insurance assurance of your life I like the idea of you know, if you don't feel like you're in danger How are you gonna laugh your ass off? Like if you feel too safe, you might you won't laugh Mm-hmm. It's like when you're in class and you're laughing around with your boys and the teachers They're like it's just so much harder to like restrain that laugh. So you just gotta let it out. That's why I run when I laugh It's too loud. Like even if I stay here, I'm gonna have to like restrain that laugh. So you just gotta let it out. That's why I run when I laugh. It's too loud. Like even if I stay here,

I'm gonna have to like run up the stairs. Yeah, just, you know, you'll be unconscious though. Cause I see you leaping up and you will smash. You're six foot three in this, this basements for people only. I need you to be under five foot five. If you're going to visit my basement. Yeah, yeah. Five five is,

you're coasting here. You could do jumping jacks. You know, I say that if I will, I bet you anything. I gotta find somebody who's five five and get them to walk straight into this recording studio. And I will bet you, I'll bet you a case of Great Lakes beer that they smashed the tip of their head. Like I don't think they clear it five five.

I think I need somebody five four. Yeah. Ah, yeah maybe five four. You know what? There's a measuring tape for you, courtesy of Ridley Funeral Home. Later we'll measure it with the Ridley Funeral Home measuring tape and we'll see how tall you gotta be to. All right, bet.

Okay, so you're growing up in Scarborough. Uh-huh. But I read a note, so I wanna ask you, of course, about your road to comedy. Mm-hmm. But I read that you were a pretty good basketball player. Is that right? Is that fair?

Yeah, yeah, for sure. For sure. Yeah. Tell me about the basketball career and how does that turn into comedy? So I was, even though I was like a big time, I was a comedy enthusiast. I like theater. I like entertainment. I was a class clown, but I wasn't like the. OK, I was a troublemaker as well. But but I really had like I had some sort of like enthusiasm towards theater. But my enthusiasm for like for basketball was just a lot more like I had my desire to make it to the league and competitive.

I love the game. It was the first thing I was really like passionate about. Who was your favorite basketball player as a kid? I went through like crazy intervals. I, at one point it was like Vince Carter and then Tracy McGrady and then Damon Stoudemire. I used to watch like Robert Ory at one point was like. Wait Stoudemire, are you old enough to have watched? I would go on YouTube and just like watch, watch Mighty Mouse.

Yeah I watched as many videos as Tim Hardaway anything like I could take from Cern. Yeah the Tim Hardaway crossover anything like Robert Ori was like a big, I was like, cause he had like a, he has like a, Rockets? Yeah three different teams? Did he win the, he has like 11 rings. Yeah he's one of the guys, yeah he's sneaky guy kind of. Sneaky dude he has like like at least a five minute highlight reel on just like chase down blocks.

And I would just watch that. And I was at one point in high school and university, I was known for my chase down blocks. OK, so give me a little, so any possibility at some point that you could have played pro somewhere? I actually did. I played in a- You know what?

I'm learning here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I played in a... Hey, you know what? I'm learning here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I played in a professional basketball tournament like multiple times for like multiple seasons in a year for like about two, three years in this small town in France called Lille in north of France or Turquoise.

And it was fun time and it'd be it was an international tournament. So like teams from across the across the world will come and represent their countries. And it was just like the team that I would go with was like a bunch of my friends from the city of Toronto. And we'd basically be representing Canada.

And it was a lot of fun. I do that for about three years. Amazing. About like a couple months in the year. Amazing. So when do you start to really focus on comedy? At one point in my life I was just I was probably about like 24 years old. I'm 30 now. I was about 24 years old. I started doing comedy and I was in university my last year of eligibility my last year. Which university?

Uh, Capitol university in North Vancouver. I was going to say where the hell is that? Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So basically I moved from, uh, when I was 19, I moved from Toronto to Vancouver. A lot of my friends were going out West or out East. And if they were going out West, they'd only go as far as like Alberta, you know, either to work on the rigs or

You know go up to Fort Mac and stuff like that. And I was like, you know Let me just go a bit further and I had one friend that was out there Keep going until you hit the ocean. You're like I can't go anymore. Exactly. I just did like I was at the February when they walk out into the the Pacific is just bare or the Bering Strait? Yes. Yeah, that's how our indigenous people arrived.

You know that. They walked over the frozen Bering Strait. Absolutely. Yeah, crazy. It was a beautiful thing for me to do. I'd just never been that far. I wanted to have just a post-secondary experience away from home. Sure. And there I played for like about five years.

I lived in Victoria, B.C. as well. I played at Camosun College. Shout out to Steve Nash. Yes, yes, yes. It was it was actually pretty cool. I went to like his high school just to like kick it with people. I talked to coaches that used to like train with Steve as well and people that played against him as well or coached against him.

It was, yeah, that the basketball community on both sides of like on from Ontario to from BC is just it's like the same language almost. So let me ask you, today is the day March Madness begins. So that's literally as we speak. In fact, I got to turn the TV. What are we doing here? But like, was there ever a moment you thought maybe you can get a scholarship and go to an NCAA school? Oh yeah, for sure. But I'm not gonna lie to you. I was taking like at one point in university,

I was taking a bunch of applied courses. So the idea of going to university, I was like, what? I need academic courses and so I really right they just get somebody to say they're you and they take the exams for you if I was that good only for the greats yes for the greats the McDonald's all-star high school guys get that Canadian bio steel guys right but I was I won't put honestly, I was just, I was more fixated on the experience. You know, I knew a lot of guys who played division one basketball and they, you know,

to get a scholarship in general and enjoy the experiences, like a tremendous accomplishment. But if you're not in a situation where you're like getting a lot of playing time and killing it and really enjoying and thriving, then I was like, ah, this probably kind of sucks. Because like now I have, I play CCAA. And by my second year, I was like a starter. I was playing, I was averaging maybe about like 16 a game. I was having, I had breakout seasons. Did they cover your tuition or you still got to

pay for the full tuition? They would cover like portions of your tuition but then you'd be on you to like apply for bursaries and scholarships and get your academics sorted and Honestly, just getting your money up. But at one point I was again with transitioning into comedy I was doing a lot of things in my life half-assed Uh by my fourth year, I was doing like school half ass, basketball half ass, work half ass. I was, I had like YouTube aspirations. And I was doing that half ass, I had girlfriends, I was just doing that half ass. Everything was just not good. So I told myself if I could dedicate five years of my life to something I could do for the next

three to 30 to 40, then I could be then I should be in a better place right now. And so that's what I had done. I slowly detached myself from a few of these things that I was doing half ass and girl was gone. Work, I cut down on the jobs. I cut down on school. I cut off basketball, and I said, let's do this.

And I have to- Am I hearing you correctly? You were like a jack of all trades, and now you're gonna be a master of one. You can use that if you like. Okay, so comedy, you've chosen comedy. This is where you wanna spend the next 40 years or whatnot. So you're now, you're just an independent guy.

I'm guessing you're naturally funny. You're funny, right? Yeah, yeah, I think so. Here's a question for you. So when you come on a show like this, okay, so they're like, I don't know, whoever tells you, hey, there's a guy in South Etobicoke, you're gonna knock on the side door

and visit his basement at 10 a.m. on Thursday. Do you feel on your way here, do you feel any pressure at all that you're like, oh, I'm a stand up comic. He's interviewing us and I'm coming. I have to be funny. Do you feel any pressure to be funny on a show like this? Not really, because even some of my best friends, man, are way funnier than me. I've hung out with people that are just funnier than me. I know how to be a fly on the wall. I know how to listen and, um, and I know how I think it's a very, it's more important to be interesting than it is to be funny.

Sometimes if you put emphasis on being funny all the time, then it's kind of like you gotta learn how to turn it off. You got to be on. Yeah. If you're on all the time, then how do you like decompress and all that? And then you lose yourself. And being on. So just to, just to reiterate, you felt zero pressure to be funny on this program right here. You're gonna just be myself. We're gonna have a conversation.

100%. All of any room I walk into, I'm like, I'm prepared to just be myself. Okay, so give me a little bit of like the Reader's Digest version of how you get to be the guy I'm talking to right now, who has sold out the Winter Garden Theater on April 13th for your EDIOT, which we're gonna talk about in more detail

soon, because I have questions. Mubarak Show, the EDIOT Mubarak Show. You're killing it, man. You're saying it perfectly, man. I flew in there. You know what, I practice all morning, okay? This is what I think. Mike, don't fuck this up. Okay.

Idiot Mubarak. Okay. So from the time you graduate from BC university, there was a called CAPIS, Capilano, Capilano. Okay. From the time you graduate and you did graduate, right? Yeah. Did you bring your papers? I want to see. Okay. Did you graduate? This isn't, I know I didn't. That's not a God shit question. Okay. So you did not graduate. So it sounds like you spent five years playing there. You didn't get the piece of paper.

The five years there I decided I was finished. Is your mom disappointed in you for not getting that piece of paper? No, she gets it. Okay. I'm a little disappointed. Like, you've invested so much time. I know you were doing other things. Girls, comedy, basketball, there's a lot working, there's a lot going on for you. But you got, and again, I know things have changed. I got 20 years on you, but when I got this honors BA at U of T, it was like, okay, I had to get these 20 credits

and there were certain rules. Like you couldn't just get any 20 credits. You gotta get a science in there and a math. There's like prerequisites and stuff. And you gotta declare majors and stuff. How close, can you tell me how close you were to getting the actual degree from this university? I was maybe like about like three courses, four courses away. And you've never thought hey I'll do like a some correspondence or summer thing and I'll just pick

up these three courses and just get that because you don't need that piece of paper. No, I thought I already knew what I wanted to do and if if anything, I thought it would probably be like, it would have been a crutch for me to go off of. Really? Then my plan A would have been ruptured. And I'd be like, oh, well, plan B is still here. So yeah, not at all, man. And even in the midst of like the whole journey,

I know no two come up stories are exactly the same. I have like my experience throughout the whole journey. I know no two come up stories are exactly the same. Right. I have like my experience throughout the whole time. I will never regret it. Like from the money spent to the money in debt, the money. No regrets. No regrets at all. Like it's like Frank Sinatra, you know, regrets he has a few, but too few to mention. Exactly. OK. That's really good. I like that. Yeah, you can borrow that, too. But you got you get credit.

Is it Paul Anka? I think Paul Anka wrote the lyrics. So Paul Anka is a Canadian musician of notoriety, but I feel like he took a French song. This is my again, I tend to get these wrong because they're off the top. I got all these things now floating around my head and sometimes they conflate and they mix up. But I remember this. There's a French song, which is the melody for My Way by Frank Sinatra. And then Paul Anka writes English lyrics. I actually have somebody, we're live streaming at live.torontomike.com and we have the official Toronto Mike historian,

J Ho, also known as Jeremy Hopkins. He can confirm this story, but my memory or at least I remember soaking in one day that Paul Anka wrote the lyrics To my way and Frank Sinatra had it is the number one funeral song So if somebody dies at Ridley Funeral Home often they'll request that they play my way by Frank Sinatra yet regrets I have a few but few too few to mention. I love that now We're to dive in. I got a fun fact from the aforementioned J Ho, who tells me that the Elgin and Winter Garden is the only Edwardian double stacked theater left in the world. Like this is an absolutely beautiful and rare place to have a show. So

we're going to dive deep into that. I'm just going to give you a couple of gifts because you made the trek all the way here to South Etobicoke. So you got the lasagna, you got the measuring tape. I'm sending you home with some fresh craft beer from Great Lakes Brewery. This I will let you keep. I don't drink. You don't drink? I don't drink. Is that a religious thing?

Yeah, for sure. So what religion do you identify as here? Muslim. So my question for you, so that comes from your mom's side? Yes, my mom, my mother mother raised me decided to raise me Muslim I with the first clue I knew you were gonna say it you identify as Muslim is a idiot Mubarak showcase Yes, yes, I'm perceptive. I am I'm like this guy ain't Catholic. Okay I'm paying attention. Okay, so we're gonna get into that religious aspect, but what about your

Jamaican descent father most Jamaican descent people I interact with are Christian. Was there any pressure? Was there any talk about you being raised with these two religions? No, not at all. Like my mother was very like stern on like, I'm a... You're Muslim. Yeah, I'm being Muslim. Can I tell you, we're going to be all over the place here today,

but I'm a happy atheist But I was raised Catholic and I got this, you know We did a world religions course in grade 12 or something world religions where you learn. Oh my goodness There's this thing called Judaism and there's this thing called What are other religions? They're Islam and you start to learn about other religions Buddhism and Fine so I learned about Muslim, but then I watched this series, you might have watched it, it's called Rami. Yes, yes.

I love Rami. Yeah, one of my best friends is on that show, David Verahmarhaes. I know him. Yes. I know him very well, absolutely. And yes, he has a big role on that show. But then on Rami, there's a character who explains

how you're supposed to pronounce it. And he says, it's like pussy. It's like pussy. It's Muslim. It's not Muslim. It's Muslim, like pussy. And I've changed the way I say that word. Am I so Muslim?

He says like Muslim, like pussy, not Muslim. So I've been saying Muslim because of Rami. I learned a lot. We'll get to it when we get to the, we'll get back to it. I like that. I guess it's very one-on-one. You know, you gotta learn somewhere, right?

Yeah. I gotta learn about these things. All right, we're gonna talk more about your religion and it intersects with your comedy, but you don't drink any dietary restrictions when it comes to food. Like for example, can you eat pork? No, I don't. I don't swine and dine. You don't. That's also like a Caribbean thing. That's a real rasta thing.

They don't do pig. Well, Judaism doesn't do that either. And if you would hear and there's a I do have guests who are Jewish who say to me they can't combine meat and dairy like the meat and dairy are in the same dish or whatever, no go. So the meat lasagna, that's beef. Okay. Not so they'd be missing out on the lasagna. Yeah.

Well, they can get a vegetarian lasagna cause then there's no meat in it. So I have to get a special vegetarian lasagna, but are you an adherent Muslim? And here, and yes, I am, I guess, practicing. Yeah. For sure. Okay. So we're going to talk about how this all ties in with Ramadan and the idiot Mubarak showcase all coming. You're a basketball fan, but do you enjoy baseball?

I can only say I've been to like one baseball game. Okay. Here's my pitch to you. See pun intended. See, all right. Underneath this beer was you're not taking. So I'm taking that. Okay. Yeah. That's all you, man. All right underneath this beer which you're not taking so i'm taking that. Okay. Yeah, that's all you man No problem, I'll uh, i'll give it a good home so that's for you That's a that's toronto may believe baseball team history. It's a very interesting book. Uh recounts the history of this franchise and I would ask you hasan to

Visit christy pits for a toronto Leafs baseball team game this summer. The opener is May 12 at 2pm and I'm going to bring out a whole bunch of FOTMs for this event. And I'm just putting in the ask that you make it appearance. So what if I tell you I live up the street from there? Well, you got no excuse then that tells me you have no excuse. So the only excuse is if I'm on tour. If I'm on 12, and I won't be if you're on tour I'm gonna excuse you but if you're not on tour, I'm there May 12 2 p.m. I want to see FOTM Hassan Philz Okay, awesome. So enjoy that look a little advice here. I don't know who's handling your financial

Do you have enough money to invest in any kind of like our? who's handling your financial, do you have enough money to invest in any kind of like our, our SPs or anything of a TFSAs, anything of that nature? Potentially. Okay. This is a personal question. I know. Okay. So I'm going to encourage you to subscribe to a podcast called the advantage to investor

podcast from Raymond James, Canada. You get, you know, advisors and experts give you great advice and insight, uh, whether you're managing your own investments or if you have a person who does that for you The advantage investor podcast from Raymond James and then one more tip for you If you've got like old Phones old laptops old electronics old cables like lying in a drawer at home or something Don't throw that in the garbage You should clean it out man spring cleaning. We're in spring now. There's a great FOTM. KOTJ episode I dropped last night spring jams. So anybody who wants to hear songs that remind them of spring

That's in the Toronto might feed the one before this one but you're gonna go to recycle my electronics dot CA and you're gonna put in your postal code and then you'll get like a nearby Depot where you can drop that stuff off and they'll properly recycle it so the chemicals and they don't end up in our landfill so this is your orders today do you hear me Hassan I heard you loud and clear loud and clear okay that's enough gifts for you I feel like I've taken care of you yeah for sure and even myself because I've just got myself a nice pack of Great Lakes beer so thank you very very much. Okay so the road to comedy give me uh some of the highlights on the way before we dive into this idiot sorry I butchered it could you

maybe not idiot Mubarak showcase. Perfect um uh basically, I started comedy in Vancouver, just doing school basketball. And like, honestly, in the first like three, Vancouver at the time was just like a perfect place for me to get started. I already had like an ecosystem of like friends in the community there for like comedy was was thriving for at least like people who were just starting. There was a lot of rooms. And from there, honestly, for the first like two, three years, I didn't like,

I didn't worry about making money at all. I just really wanted to get time. Time was probably the most important thing. Put in your reps. Exactly. I get that. Exactly. And then afterwards, honestly,

whenever I'd come back to Toronto or go anywhere else, aside from the the aside from Vancouver um I wouldn't you'd always see where I was you would never see where I was going I wouldn't tell you where I was going because I just was focused on making strangers laugh I think that's like the probably the most important thing especially when you're starting you don't want to be inviting a bunch of your friends and your the people that you know while you're right um raw you know while you're raw. So I started-

So you want an authentic reaction. You don't want your supportive reaction from people who care about you. Exactly. Oh yeah, that's a really good way of putting it. Are you taking notes here? I'm giving you such gems this month. I'm playing it back.

Well, that's true. I did record this. You don't need to be smart. You can transcribe it. I recorded this. Exactly. But yeah, yeah, that's crazy. Yeah, supportive help.

Like I wanted to just be sovereign and just be right because they blow they blow smoke up your ass. 100% when you're starting, especially oh, like you're so like I wouldn't have, you know, but like the goal is to make strangers laugh. If I had if I was only making my friends laugh, I'd be out of business. So you know, this is a this is a great piece of advice for anyone, regardless of comedy or otherwise. If you surround yourself, like we call them yes men, I guess that, you know, antiquated term, yes people. But like, if you, you create this echo chamber

where if everyone's going to just tell you your shit doesn't stink, you're the best. Your ideas are amazing. Every single one of them is gold. Like if you surround yourself with those people, you're going to start to, you know, believe the hype. FOTM Chuck D Don't believe the hype. Okay, you don't you gotta have people who will be honest with you like a song that jokes

Not funny and you know workshop that or maybe you need a new tag on this or that's that's that's fucking offensive Hassan, what are you doing there? We'll get to that in a minute But you what you're doing there is how you get better as a performer. Totally. Good job. So it wasn't until I came back to Toronto, uh, I started producing my own shows. When was this? Uh, I must've been like about 2021, 2021. So we post pandemic times. Okay.

So for a standup in this country, how difficult is it? Like, like, did you realize, Hey, if I'm going to do this, I have to, you know, book, promote, produce my own tour. Yeah, pretty much. But honestly, I never thought of it as like, uh, uh, I've always heard like comics who like dread producing their own shows, but I just thought about it. I was like, man, how, if I'm going to do it, I'm going to make it as fun as possible for myself. Cause obviously I don't really care about people in terms of like, in terms of like, uh,

if I'm doing something to please them or please the consumer or whatever, I want to, I want to make sure I'm having the most fun. And that way, if I'm having fun, you're going to have fun, too. That's the way I see it. My energy has to be contagious. And energy is the real currency in this one. So I kind of just took it upon myself like the from like the very jump.

So from the graphics, you know, if I'm going to make a funny, if I'm going to invite people to a show, I'm going to have the name, the poster, even the venue, too. Like I earlier on, when I was trying to do shows in Toronto, I would try to book comedy clubs, but they wouldn't give me like obviously a weekend or something like that.

And I wasn't getting booked as a headliner. To be honest, to be fair, early on, like in that time where I started producing a show, I wasn't like a headliner. I probably had like 15 minutes to my name. That was like really good. And everything after that was turbulence. You know, I hear you. But what I did was I started booking like I started booking just random venues, like studios, like photography studios, basements, lounges, random things.

And I said, okay, well, this is where I wanted to invite people. But mind you, my name was still like buzzing in the city. So I was doing a lot of other people's shows. But as you know, standup comedy is traditionally done in like bars, nightclubs, lounges. And so, again, I have a lot of I had to think outside the box. I had to think outside the box. But I also had like a Muslim following right at the time. So here I am. I like Muslim like pussy. Yeah. I like, I like Muslim. I don't know. Say it again. Muslim. I feel like you're the authority here. Yeah. I got you.

Am I saying it wrong? Muslim is like a Muslim is like a like a Muslim Muslim. It sounds like a nation of Islam. Like, yo, are you okay? Say it again, a little slower, like must, like must, must. Yeah. Okay. Cause I like, so again, I don't have, uh, I don't know, but, uh, I try, I try with me Muslim Muslim boom. See that is, that means I've been misled by this guy on this show. I don't believe. Yeah. Yeah, man. It's, it's Muslim, Muslim bow. That sounds hard. I like that. Look, I can't say pasta. Is it pasta or pasta pasta? Say it, Muslim. Muslim. Bow. That sounds hard. I like that.

Look, I can't say pasta. Is it pasta or pasta? Pasta. Pasta. Say it. Just try to clear your head if you can. But it is a difference. Well, say it like you would say it if we didn't have this conversation.

I love pasta. Yeah, pasta. Pasta. Pasta. Pasta. I think I would say pasta. See, I say pasta and then every once in a while somebody will tell me that's American. It's pasta. But you're a man of the world. You've been to like 11 countries. So maybe you know, you've been you've been around. Okay, I

Want to ask you specific questions about that's crazy. Mm-hmm. So this isn't this is a show this show went across Canada The cross-credit to it. That's great. Yeah, I've done done I've done actually about like three tours across Canada now And each tour has been like significantly bigger or That's crazy tour was probably the one of the first ones I did across Canada, but is that Financially viable only because I've heard from so many rock bands who go broke going across Canada. Oh, I many rock bands who go broke going across Canada? Oh, I, that's the cost of... A band is crazy. They probably have nasty overhead. They have probably like four different people, five different people, their equipment, audio tech dudes. That's a hard pull. For me, my overhead is really just my shoes. But you're driving

across the country? You're flying? I'm flying. I'm taking the VRL. I'll figure it out. Okay. And when you book, you said you were kind of creative of how you book these venues so you're not going to book like you're not going to book uh what will I pick on here you're not going to book Roy Thompson Hall or whatever although but you did just book like we're going to talk about this uh event that's coming up in April Idiat Mubarak Showcase and that's at as we talked about that's at the Winter Garden Theater Idiot Mubarak Showcase. And that's at, as we talked about, that's at the Winter Garden Theater there. So you are booking some pretty interesting venues.

These aren't in like, you know, you're not doing it in the back of a brewery. No, no, no. So basically, the other tours that I would plan, I was like, I'd either book like established comedy clubs, but they would really give me dates that were like Wednesdays or Friday or Sunday. Like on their like their slow days.

But I was still just through the power of like social media and beloved people. I'd be able to fill out these rooms and and I do that like or or I would do like a basement. There's like there's a spot in Toronto called the Bunker. At one point I did the Bunker seats about maybe 90 people if you really go shoulder to shoulder, feet to feet. Right. And I did that. I did a show there. I did six sold out shows in one month in the basement. And I just wanted time and reps and stuff like that. And the last tour that I did strategically, I did every city except for Toronto.

I did every city in Canada except for Toronto. Why did you skip the most populous, most diverse city that this country has to offer? Just so we could do this EDM Mubarak show. Oh, I see. Okay, I got you. Okay, so tell me a bit about the EDM Mubarak show. Oh, I see. OK, I got you. OK, so tell me a bit about the Eid Mubarak show. So basically, the Eid Mubarak show,

it spawned from the idea of when you get older as a Muslim, when you're a kid, you're receiving gifts, you're getting money, you're being taken care of after the after, after partaking in the the fasting of Ramadan, the celebration of Ramadan and but as an adult now you you now you're the giver, you have to give the kids money, you have to go see family, there isn't really anything to do as an adult. And especially you don't want to indulge in something that's like and things that you've abstained of from the whole month,

whether it be like nightclubs or parties or hookah lounges and stuff like that. So I figured like, okay, let's do like, let's provide like an entertaining alternative for a community that's being underserved in this realm of like humor, you know, and stand up. And I just really want to see a stand up comedy. Stand up comedy is one thing that I love. And if you really love something, you can make other people love it, too. And I was like, so the first show that I did was actually in the EDM Ubarak I did was in the stockyards in Toronto. I booked like that.

Know it well. I booked out a studio there and we fit maybe about just under 200 people in a warehouse. I stood on like a crate, I'm pretty sure. And I just did this, did a set. And then the second year I did EDM a bark, which was last year. I, uh, I booked a church. Um, uh, I think it's like a Bulgarian church over on like a sumac and Dundas and the Regent park area. Hang it out in the West end here.

Oh no, that's downtown. That's downtown. Well, okay. here. Yeah, although that's downtown. That's downtown. Well, okay. And then, and yeah, man, it was just... So how do you graduate from those venues to Winter Garden Theater? Like what changed? You just, you're taking big swings here. You sold out the show on April 13th, but there's a new, you're adding a second show. We added a second show. So can you get tickets for the second show right now? Yeah, you can get tickets. What day is that second show to the second show. So can you get tickets for the second show right now? Yeah, you can get tickets. What day is that second show?

It's the same same day just at a different time at 530 Beatles came to Maple Leaf Gardens and Harold Ballard said you're playing two concerts this day. Okay, so April 13 There's still tickets for the second show you added at the Winter Garden Theatre Is it expensive to to book the Winter Garden Theatre for your show? in theater. Is it expensive to book the Winter Garden Theater for your show? It's definitely pricey. More pricey than the Stockyards warehouse? Definitely. The overhead cost is insane, but honestly I want people to enjoy the experience. I think like even last year having 700 people pull up to a church with seats that I set up with my friend Mark. You know, him and I set up like maybe two hours before the show, we were pulling chairs.

And even like people who rent these chairs, we rented chairs. Like at a wedding, you'd rent chairs. I did that. Okay. We rented the chairs. The venue had some chairs. But you've kicked it up substantially. So you've gone from, you know, you said you're in a warehouse, you know, in the stockyards, which've gone from, you know, you said you're in a warehouse, you know in in the stockyards Which by the way, you're too young when I was growing up that that part of the city stunk Oh, it still does it still stinks. It has I did it Okay

I know George ballerina well because I used to go there my kid played ten years at George ballerina Which is pretty much right there. But you you still can you can still smell the the stench of the the old stockyards Yeah, the stockyards. And I think there's like a meat factory there. There's still one there. It's down the street from that between. I wanted to call the future shop is gone. Oh my God.

It's been a long shot. What is there now? Do you know? Like what was there like there by maybe or some? Well, OK, it's got to be a Best Buy, of course, because they bought it. That's right. Thank you. That's why you're here.

OK, so there's a Best Buy. but between the Best Buy and the George Bell Arena There's a street and there's absolutely some slaughtering going on of some animals for sure for sure I literally that's where it was up the street from that the venue I know exactly where you are man. Yeah, it still smells a bit there for sure here But then you take the you go to the church and you get 700 people pay to see 700 people came it was it wasn't just me there was a showcase of like a few other comics that I have and honestly I again didn't think it was going to be as big as I thought it would be as it was and uh just was just lucky fortunate enough to kind of like pull uh pull like I didn't really have a team too.

I had like a group of like friends, you know, just like friends who are like borderline, the board of directors and they just come through and they volunteer their time and to help me kind of put it together. But this, this year has been about growth and kind of just developing a team. So we thrive a little bit more and make my life a bit easier and also make make things better for the people that come and support us and so this is why we we chose the winter garden theater and we teamed up with guru energy to to they're they're one of our sponsors for the show to make it happen. And the lineup is heavily curated.

So I have like my my friend Malik Al Assel, he's going to be co-headlining with me. We actually featured on Just for Laughs together doing a co-headlining set about this year and for the Just for Laughs Toronto. And it was a fun experience. I wish they. When was this? Because I have questions about Just For Laughs Toronto. And it was a fun experience. I wish they. So when was this? Cause I have questions about Just For Laughs. This was in Toronto of 2023. 2023.

And you know, they, they put us in like the cabaret room and at the comedy bar. And ideally in my mind, when we were in discussions with Just For Laughs, I said, you should give us a theater. And they kind of neglected to, to believe or see the vision in that. They undervalued you.

Definitely. And then I said, buddy, man, like honestly, nobody's gonna put you in a position better than yourself, so. Bet on yourself. Exactly, so I said, buddy, let's do this theater. Works okay for Freddie Van Vliet, right? Exactly.

Okay, listen, you're the Freddie Van Vliet of Toronto Comedy. Yeah, man, Van V Street, man. Van V Street. I'm a strong believer that they should have, like for the championship, they should have gave name to street after Fred Van Vliet. Wow. Okay. I would have, yeah, all starters should have, well, he didn't even start, right?

He came off the bench, right? Because Lowry was starting. But he was a super pivotal. That 2019, you know, pre pandemic, everything was normal and awesome. When I look back at that team, it had the band, what a deep team. I mean, you know, obviously without Kawhi, we don't close that deal. And then we, we got quiet.

We were able to close the deal, but what a deep team, what a great team. We might, we may never celebrate another championship in this city for the Toronto Raptors, but we did it in 2019 and flags fly forever. Flags fly forever. Okay. Questions. Okay. So just for laughs, just announced that they're, uh, filing for bankruptcy and

they canceled the 2024 show or whatever they, their thing they were going to do here, they did it, they canceled the one in Montreal too, the big one, but how does this affect you Hassan like having just for laughs, a pause Honestly, it hasn't affected me at all. Big chillin. Honestly, I like, you know, I'm more so care about the people who work at Just For Labs. The organization itself is one thing, but I had a lot of friends that were working in or were heavily involved in, you know, I think they had the the skills to to to obviously just do things on their own. But I think the idea of working with them, with a corporation like that, kind of like had them as like their crutch, a little bit of their crutch.

But now that has gone, I think like, I like that, to be honest, dismantle it, let it go. They already had all the symptoms of bankruptcy anyway. Like they'll be like, oh, like, oh, man, you know, we're a non-profit organization. You'd be working with them, they'll give you like, you could do as many shows as you want with these guys. They'll give you like crumbs at that. I think that, man, it's just like a wave of like,

this is, there's gonna be a new wave where people aren't going to these these organizations like these networks to find out who they want to see the people are not naive they're just gonna go straight to the source and that's what I like I mean you're the source now man you're the plug yeah be the plug don't be the dealer, I mean own your shit is what I've been telling people forever. Like own your shit and you own your shit. Love it. Okay. So also there's a lot of people like I, I personally, though one thing I do love about Just For Laughs is like the festival,

the festival. I'm actually grateful. I went to it last year, courtesy of my boy, Neil Bansal. He he's one of the higher up staff in at JFL. And he invited me there just to kind of like hang out. I like to I like to be a fly on the wall. And there I was just I love meeting comedians. They're I think they are very interesting people. One of the best things I saw was my friend Malik, actually, he introduced me to this

new style of comedy that is not new. It was just new to me. It was like alternative comedy where there's like improv and all this other stuff. I'm like, I never laughed so much in my life. I still think about it to this day. And I was like, the festival itself is a great experience. That's the one thing I'm going to miss. You miss the community but now what you're it sounds like to me what you're doing is you're nurturing your own community now like you're basically replacing Jesper Laffs. Honestly in a minute way you know. Howie Mandel hasn't

called you yet and said I need in? No, man. He's busy with Canada's Got Talent right now. Is that where he is? OK. Yeah, he's doing his thing over there. My daughter did see him taking the ferry from the island to Harperfront there, Howie Mandel, and they said hi to each other.

That's cool. I think that's cool, too. By the way, who's the most famous person you've met? The most famous person? Our family has a contest. And you'd think it might, I don't know, I would think it cool, too. By the way, who's the most famous person you've met? The most famous person. Because our family has a contest, and you'd think it might, I would think it could be me. I interview famous people like Hassan Filz, but even bigger people like Chuck D and stuff, and I interview these people.

But I don't currently lead this contest. My daughter has met Will Smith, so she's the leader right now. My wife has met Ice T, which is a big deal, of course, but who's the most famous person? And I don't mean like that. You've had like at least a exchange with like a hello. How's it going? You know, the, the young guy from a stranger things, uh, I can see him like, uh, this is the guy who was in it. I got a double check, find out which guy, I know there's a guy who

was in it from stranger things. I actually watched season one of stranger things. And then I out which guy I know there's a guy who was in it from stranger things I actually watched season one of stranger things and then I tapped out I know everybody still loves it But I got kind of I just kind of was there for the early to mid 80s Nostalgia because like I was literally there for the early to mid 80s and I kind of dug the whole Dungeons and Dragons and the whole ET vibe, but then I tapped out Oh Finn Finn yeah, so he's in this he was in it okay so you met him. Yes Finn I met him at I met him at Just For

Laps actually in Vancouver. Amazing. I met him in the lobby of the hotel. That's the most famous person you've had a convo with I feel like we got to beat that record. I think I had like a funny I had a funny it wasn't like we had we had a conversation but it was a funny exchange so basically we said what up to each other and then he was with another comic and we just like kind of like dapped It wasn't like we had a conversation, but it was a funny exchange. So basically we said what up to each other. And then he was with another comic and we just like kind of like dapped each other. I was like, where are you guys going? He's like, Oh, we're going to go get pizza or something.

I said, all right, man, see you later. And then I was with, I was like, wait, that's a dude from Stranger Things. But honestly, I, a lot of people know him from Stranger Things. I know him from a meme that was like circling through Twitter at the time. It was just him like posted up in a partner in the driveway of a garage with his leg spread and he's sticking up the middle finger. And this was iconic to me. So I ran, I said, yo, Finn, I ran him down the guy from that meme.

I said, yo, let's take a picture, man. And he goes, I got you. Uh, and then I take a picture and I'm posing with my middle finger up in the driveway, like like like it is in the meme. Yeah. And he's like he's smiling like it's like it's a family photo. I said, nah, bro, put your middle finger up. And he goes, what? I said, yo, put your middle finger. He's like, bro, nobody has ever asked to take a picture with me like this ever. I said, bro, man, did you do it? Hell yeah. He did. Amazing. Love it so much. I may I ask questions about your religion and comedy and how they interact and intersected. Yeah, okay, so

Again, excuse my ignorance. Okay, so not at all. Tell me about Ramadan. So Ramadan just tell me what it is in Four and remind me what it is. I know you, I remember Akim El-Ausheban, I believe it was famously couldn't eat till sunset. Like you tell me what Ramadan is and how does that tie into Eid-ul-Mubarak? And then I'm going to ask you a question I had off the top, which is doesn't that offend Muslims when you call it Eid-ul-Mubarak? So I'm curious about all of the above. It's a good question. It's a good question. So basically Ramadan is like is the holy month of like when the Quran was revealed and like finished and in this time Muslims are fasting from

sunrise to sunset to kind of just... Quick, I'm gonna ask questions the only way. When you say fasting does that just mean no caloric intake? Like I'm legit can you have a black coffee? No You can't have water nothing. So from sunrise to sunset for almost is it for a month? Is it for a month? Yes, okay about 29 to 30 days depending on the lunar right right right so from Sun rise to sunset No food or drink can be consumed by you. Yes.

Okay. What's it like? Just out of curiosity. So when the sun goes down, whatever time that is, like, are you guys all you can eat buffet? Like let's go. Some people like to feast out. You know, I think it's like almost it's more like a traditional thing to kind of, you know, feast with family or even feast with strangers.

I personally, I like to go to like either family. There's two ways I go about it. Either go to the family's crib or do something intimate with my friends or go to the mosque and I eat with strangers, you know, cause there is like free food there. But also at the same time, you're very like, uh,

content with the meals that you're consuming at that time, because, uh, your stomach has shrunk throughout the day. You'd only, you're only going to eat what you need. Right. And cause you gotta keep going on for the, for the days to come. Um, you know, it's kind of like abstaining from kind of the gluttony of eating, you know, and every day, every day of the year we're eating just to eat, but this is the time where you have to kind of be a bit thoughtful of what, uh, what you're putting in your body, how much of it you're doing, you're consuming. So, uh, yeah, it's just a month of like a kind of like thoughtfulness, man.

How far removed are we from Ramadan now? Uh, we're about, uh, I believe like, uh, maybe about nine days in, eight days in. Oh so we're in it right now. Yeah. I'm sorry again I apologize already for my ignorance. No worries. Okay so today for example, did you like, did you manage to eat something before? Oh yeah for sure. So you, so what you'll do is like you'll get up in the morning get up before sunrise You pray the fudger prayer fudges the morning prayer just before sunrise And you try to eat as much as you can or eat what you can Prior and then and you know, I recommend like getting a lot of electrolytes coconut water You know things the fruits things that will hydrate you throughout the course of the day. But there's also some people who just like, who, who eat in the morning

or eat before sunrise and they, they, it, it does something to them where they're just like, I need more food. So some people go without even doing that and they're better off. They just, yeah, I can imagine some people are waking up after sunrise. Also in that time while you're fasting, you know, it's very important to, you know, focus on, uh, focus on like, uh, doing things that you normally would. So like, if you have to work, work, you know, you got to go to some guy's basement and talk about your comedy career.

You know, just get to it, man. Um, uh, Yeah. Wow. Okay. So you've already had your pre sunrise meal today and you'll what approximately what time will sunset tonight? And think in Toronto right now, it's been about like seven thirties been the average. So like as as spring goes on and summer is coming in, I believe like the sun stays up a bit longer. So this year and it goes back every like it moves back every year like about like 30 to 40 days. So this is like the first year. It's like been in like borderline spring winter, which is good because like the last couple years has been in the summertime where the sun would set at like nine. Right? So when you have your idiot

Mubarak show on April 13th, to garden theater in Toronto here, how, how, how far out of Ramadan are you like, when does Ramadan end? So Ramadan will probably end around like April 10th, April 13th, but eight eat is also like a three day celebration. So you'll spend like, people often spend like the three days with their family. They're doing their thing. And then this is going to be some this is so by the time the 13th comes, which is on Saturday, they'll have time to kind of like kick it come through and send this been come

to the show essentially. So is it post Ramadan? Is it sort of is it celebratory? What is the tone there? Is it so post Ramadan is it is the celebration? So eat is the celebration. It is the celebration of like the ending of Ramadan. Okay, the completion of the Quran It's three days you said and it's yeah, approximately three days Of celebration and in that time you're not allowed to fast

Yeah in that time, you know, that's my fault That's in that time you're allowed to in that time you're allowed to fast and you're not allowed to fast. Yeah. And that time, you know, that's my fault. That's okay. In that time, you're allowed to in that time, you're allowed to fast and you're not allowed to fast. And yeah, it's a two there is there's also two E's in the year there's either Adha and either fitter and either Adha is like I believe correct me if I'm mistaken, then it's on well, I won't be corrected. Yeah, you're you okay but there's a one is like I believe either hot is like the goat is where like you traditionally would like like slaughter a goat like learn how to

slaughter a goat or something like that and then fitter is that's what the stockyards is for that's a slot the slaughter has to see that's appropriate circle back I like that and then fit that is which is after Ramadan is like that's this one This is this one you like traditionally that give money to to podcasters Chernobyl organization nonprofit organized the difference Anything place but that's that's kind of the thing. So what does Mubarak mean? Mubarak I'm so eat Mubarak, is that like a greeting

you might give a Muslim person during Eid? Yes, yes, yes. So Eid Mubarak. Does it translate? Like what does that mean? Just happy Mubarak or something? Happy Eid? I think like the root word of Mubarak is like the root word for Mubarak is Mabruk and Mabruk is like a celebratory thing. Yeah, so like when you have a joyous Eid or something. Yeah, say somebody gets married or they graduated or someday you say, oh Mabruk or Elf. You would say Elf Mabruk, which Elf means a thousand times. So you're saying like a thousand times. Eid Mubarak.

Congratulations. So Eid Mubarak, I would imagine this is just honestly, I'm not speaking from a place of like knowledge, but this is just a... Well, you're living it. Yeah, but Mabruk is like Mab Well, you're living it. Yeah, but my brook is like my brother. I'm a brook Mubarak. Okay Yeah, so my question is you called it idiot Mubarak so you're taking the word idiot and you're combining it with this word Eid which is a celebratory three days after Ramadan Does anyone come up to you and just be like that's a that's sacrilegious

You borrow a line from Homer Simpson I've got a I've got like a one message, but I think like I've got like a Because people get very serious. This is very serious when it comes to religion some people not me Okay, but some people lack a sense of humor about this stuff. It's very serious even though it's a celebration sense of humor about this stuff it's very serious even though it's a celebration. Idiot, some might think it's disrespecting the important celebratory period for Muslim people. Not me okay Hassan, I think it's funny but... It definitely doesn't come from a place of like malice or disrespect from a context standpoint like again I am a Muslim from the city of Toronto.

I was like a Jamaican background as well. Right. And the funny thing about that was I remember just the root word of Ed in the phrase, Edia in traditionally Jamaican or in Patwa is what they would say. I thought that was like I always thought it was very funny. I remember one time

just talking to like one of my relatives who are who aren't Muslim, but they do respect the religion, you know, they respect me for sure. For sure is is they were just, oh, yeah, yeah, eat, eat, yeah, eat yeah idiot this stuff every we're just going back and forth now but yeah that'd be funny man because it's just like it's yeah it's just funny and your job as a stand-up comedian is to make people laugh like that's how you get your dopamine hit mm-hmm when you see a stranger laughing at your joke, that's the rush, right? That's the reason for everything. I don't know entirely. I'm not trying to I'm not doing anything

for shock value or just to trigger people or anything like that. I just really think if I'm saying it and doing it, it's coming from what I believe is funny, what I believe is true. And those are two of the best recipes for a good time. So what is the capacity at that Winter Garden Theatre? Just under a thousand people. Wow, so you sold out, so this is, I'm doing some math over here, okay, so you've sold out a show and you've got a second one you've added. Is there, like, if you wanted to send people to a website or some place

where they could pick up a ticket for Edith Mubarak, the second show that has some tickets available on April 13th. Where would you send them? Honestly, just go straight to Ticketmaster and then you'll be sorted if you want to keep up with the percentage of sales or whatever. Just follow me on Instagram. I'm at Hassan Philz. The link is in my bio. There I kind of like, and my friend, my friend and co-headliner, Malik Al-Asal. He's a great comedian from the city of Calgary. He's killed it on Just For Last. He has a taping on Don't Tell, a comedy on YouTube that has over like two million views

across all platforms. Wow. And the show is actually hosted by another friend and great comedian, Ahamed Weinberg. I'm a big fan of him. I personally have never done a show with him, but I've met him once before. He's also an actor on the show, Late Bloomers.

I've seen this on Crave too. On Crave too, yes. I've seen this, very funny. Yeah, Ahamed Weinberg, he's a very funny dude, man. A great comedian, a great, a better person. I look forward to getting to know him a lot better. But he, his story is, his story is amazing. He's, both his parents are Jewish reverts.

So they were, his name is Ahamed Weinberg. Yeah, because Weinberg is typically a Jewish surname. Right? Yes. Yes. Yes. I think I can speak on like the story of how his parents met, but from what I believe is they both, they were both Jewish and they became Muslim or does that happen a lot like crossing over like that? That sounds like a Habs fan who decides he's going to root for the leaves. I think, yeah, man, look,

Islam is like one of those religions that like everybody everybody can kind of get in. It's not like one that's like, oh, like, how are you? I've met Chinese Muslims, I've met Korean Muslims, I've met... Has anyone converted to Islam for the jokes? Honestly, that could be a thing, man. Who knows? I think like if I convert, can I get in on this showcase? I just want that's a good kid. There's my question where

I want to close. Let's say somebody listening is not Muslim. Would they still be welcome to to to attend the Eid Mubarak showcase at Winter Garden Theater and part B to that question is would they enjoy it? 100% 100% the best welcome you welcome non-muslim people. I welcome non-muslims I welcome Muslim I welcome anybody that wants to come through and have a good time the best comedy is is non-ular. It should be secular. Comedy in itself, humor is secular. Anybody could come through and just have a good laugh. And that's the goal. Even when I did the EDI Mubarak years prior, even the last year, even though

it was 700 people, it was about, not not everybody was Muslim about maybe 500 or so. But there's friends who want to come through and just hang out with their friends. You know, there's a lot of Muslims, there's a lot of non-Muslims out here who are missing their friends right now because Ramadan is in full effect. They're not even good. They don't even get to see their friends. They're bored. They're all home, twirling in their thumbs like, you know, I can't wait for Ramadan to be over so I could kick it with my dogs. I hear is there a greeting like what would be an appropriate greeting for a Muslim person who is practicing? During Ramadan fasting you would say you say Ramadan Kareem

Ramadan like Kareem like a dream Abdul Jabbar exactly Ramadan Kareem. Okay. I shout out to FOTM Kareem Miss that guyem. Okay, shout out to FOTM Kareem. I miss that guy too. He's actually of Jamaican descent. So there you go. Full circle there. Now I would like to know where we can follow more about your adventure. Now that you're in FOTM, people in the listenership are going to want to follow your career. I know you're going to be on this Crave show. I know you've got these two shows on April 13th at Winter Garden Theater,

but where can we follow you on social media? Like where are you actively posting? I'm actively posting on Instagram and Tik Tok at Hassan Philz. You want to spell that? Just H A S S A N P H I L L S. Yeah, man. I'm hell of a heavily active, active on those platforms. Just having fun with it. I got on TikTok. Yeah, I get on TikTok. I'm missing out, right?

TikTok is a bag, man. It's a lot of fun if you're using it, if you get your for you page, right. You're using it for the right. Using it for the right reason. You'll get you'll get sorted, man. That's not my to do list is to dive into this world of TikTok. It's one of those things. You only have so much bandwidth, right? You know what it's like. You're an entrepreneur yourself. Like, you know what it's like. You only have so many, so much bandwidth.

I just got to find the time and the energy to dive into this brave new world of TikTok. Yeah. You don't get left behind too late. Is it too late for me to jump into all this? Never too late, man. Never too late. How long does it take to convert to Muslim? Like if I started the process right now, man, can I get like, is there somebody who will give me my card later today? I just want in on this. We can do it right here. You do right here.

All right. Two words for you, Hassan. Ramadan. I fucked it up. I'm going to. Should I get started again? Yeah. Ramadan, Kareem. Alayna wa alaykum, man. You know, I know this from Oz. I used to watch Oz and there was the, I loved, they were in sects, like there was an Islam group and there was the Irish guys and it was, you know, the the Nazis were, they had these sects.

S-E-C-T-S by the way. Just to be clear and I loved this show Oz so before The Wire which is my favorite show of all time I was a big Oz guy a lot of them, Wire guys were in the Oz, in Oz actually and I remember the one guy Assalamu alaikum. Am I saying that right? Yeah yeah perfect. Assalamu alaikum okay and then of course shout out to brother Muzone on the the Wire. Assalamu alaikum. Thanks for doing this man it was great to catch up with you and learn about your pursuits here. And you're only 30 and you're on your way. I can't wait to see what happens in the next 10 years. Thank you very much, man. I'm an FOTM, man.

You're an FOTM for life. They can't take that away from you. Flags fly forever. Yes, flags fly forever, brother. And I hope your show, the movers? What's the name? The office movers. The office movers. I hope it's so big. You know, the movers? What's the name? The office movers. The office movers. I hope it's so big. You know, the American networks are like,

I need a piece of this. Oh, for sure. It's gonna be- That's where the money is, right? This is the one for the books, man. They, yeah, man, they either gotta get it or get left behind, man. They're gonna figure it out.

And that brings us to the end of our 1,456th show. You can follow me on Twitter and Blue Sky. And that brings us to the end of our 1,456th show. You can follow me on Twitter and Blue Sky. I'm at Toronto Mike. Any final words, final comments before I thank the sponsors? Man, listen guys, very important to go where you're celebrated and not where you're tolerated. From a digital space, from the meta space,

especially real life, man, it's very important to do those things, man, to make sure you're tending to your soil, let your grass grow. Yeah, man, go where you're celebrated, not where you're tolerated. And that's one to grow on. Much love to all who made this possible.

That's Great Lakes Brewery. They're actually here at two o'clock today. We're recording episode three of Between Two Fermenters, so subscribe to that fine podcast. Palma Pasta, Palma Pasta. They're both great sponsors. RecycleMyElectronics.ca, Raymond James Canada, subscribe to The Advantage D'Investor. The Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team. My next guest is Rod Black, and we're going to talk more about the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team. And he's going to be there May 12. I think everybody listening, it's free, right? You go to Christie Pitts for the 2 p.m.

We'll have a little thing with Rick Emmett. We're going to have Steven Brunt there. We're going to have Hepsey there. Mike Epple is going to be there. Yeah, you should be there too. And of course course shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. See you all tomorrow with Rod Black. And I play this guitar just the best that I can Maybe I'm not and maybe I am

But who gives a damn because Everything is coming out rosy and gray Yeah, the wind is cold but the smell of snow Warms me today And you're gonna hear me sing Yeah, the wind is cold but the smell of snow warms me today. And your smile is fine.