TrueLife - Mona Shaikh: Breaking Rules, Cracking Jokes & Challenging the Status Quo

Starting point is 00:00:01 Darkness struck, a gut-punched theft, Sun ripped away, her health bereft. I roar at the void. This ain't just fate, a cosmic scam I spit my hate. The games rigged tight, shadows deal, blood on their hands, I'll never kneel. Yet in the rage, a crack ignites, occulted sparks cut through the nights. The scars my key, hermetic and stark. To see, to rise, I hunt in the dark. fumbling, furious through ruins maze, lights my war cry, born from the blaze.

Starting point is 00:00:40 The poem is Angels with Rifles. The track, I Am Sorrow, I Am Lust by Codex Serafini. Check out the entire song at the end of the cast. Well, good morning, everybody. Or is it good afternoon? Or is it good evening? I guess it depends on when you're listening to this. However, whenever it is you're listening to this, I'm hopeful that it's good.

Starting point is 00:01:27 I had a great weekend because I'm recording this on Monday. I spoke with an incredible woman this weekend that had such an amazing story. It was like the hero's journey. And it made me think about how strong people can inspire. the lives of all of us. At times we all face adversity and at times we all face obstacles that we seem are insurmountable.

Starting point is 00:02:02 And often, a lot of us get stuck. And when we get stuck, I think it's important to turn to the stories of people who have made it through those tough times as an example. So much of the media today is commodified. And as a father who has a young daughter, I often worry about the examples for her to follow as far as strong women.

Starting point is 00:02:31 My wife is incredibly strong and beautiful and my mom. The women in my family are very fortunate. They're all that way. The woman I spoke to today, Mrs. Mona Sheikh is a stand-up comedian who came from Pakistan at the age of 14. She has overcome so many obstacles. and the way she carries herself, her outlook on life, and her ability to fight with the heart of a champion is really inspiring.

Starting point is 00:03:08 I wish I'm hopeful that we'll be seeing more of her, and I wish she was on primetime, giving talks at schools, and I really admire her courage, and I really admire her willingness to be open about life. And I really admire her. So that being said, I hope everyone here enjoys this interview with an incredible woman. And you can look her up on the internet, on Instagram,

Starting point is 00:03:39 and all her links will be in the notes for this particular podcast. So thank you. I hope you enjoy. Aloha. I'm so stoked. You are amazing. Stream Yards. How are you, George? I got, I'm not going to lie. I was a little nervous.

Starting point is 00:04:03 I was a little stressed out there for a minute. But I feel much better now. Right? Thank you. And you discovered a new platform. You can connect all your stuff on here. And you can, the world can get to know the greatness of George Monty. That is so kind of you to say that.

Starting point is 00:04:20 Thank you. You're welcome. It's interesting because I was looking at similar platforms to try and understand how to connect every Yeah. And it's so nice to know someone that had gone through this that you can kind of piggyback their experience and have them teach you. I'm all about that piggyback. This back is strong. Let's do it. It is strong. Mona, I've been watching some of your videos. And can I tell you something? Yes. I think you have one of the most amazing stories ever. Oh, George, it's so sweet. You're so kind.

Starting point is 00:04:57 Well, it's the truth. I mean, so for a lot of people in my audience that may not know you, maybe you can share a little bit with them how you got from Pakistan to becoming a successful stand-up comedian in L.A. On a boat. On a boat. The boat right would have taken way too long. Also, I did C-6, so there's also that.

Starting point is 00:05:21 How did I, you know, so my family story is, you know, you hear a lot of, like, immigrant stories, I don't know how many immigrant stories you've heard, but they usually are very similar in the sense, oh, it came here with $5 in my pocket, that kind of business. Our family's story is not so much about $5 in my pocket story. Our story is that I have four older brothers. I'm the youngest and the only girl out of five kids

Starting point is 00:05:46 because my parents didn't have a radio or a television set. So we ended up being like five. And I was like, you guys didn't have any other form of entertainment? Like, you just kept making people. Stop it. Just stop it. And then I, but the thing is that like in the 70s, my second and my third brother were given expired vaccination for polio and they ended up getting polio because of it. So my second and my third brother got polio.

Starting point is 00:06:18 Of course, there was no treatment for them in Pakistan at the time or really around the surrounding areas. So my mom would write letters to hospitals. around the world pretty much saying, hey, I have two sick kids. They need help. Like, I need to get them treatment. And then finally, after much trying and after much persistence and just kind of, you know, writing letters out, Shriner's Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky responded to our family and they were very kind. And they said, you know, if you guys just fly yourselves out here, we'll pay for everything. And that's how we started coming to America. But I didn't move until I was like 15. So my brothers were. I was like six months old when my mom left me behind, which at the time I thought

Starting point is 00:07:00 was horrible. I was like, oh my God, how could you leave a baby behind? And now I look back on that, that was a good move. That was a really solid move. And I'm glad you did that. Mainly because also, I think because of my early adult years, my mom wasn't around. My mom is, as an individual, is a very strong, solid person. But the moment you kind of overlap her with the mom part, it just gets fuzzy. It gets fuzzy, George. It gets fuzzy real fast. So you're just like, ah, you should have just stayed in that other part. Maybe the mom thing's not for you. You know, my mom was like just very strict, very, you know, like a Gestapo would be, you know, kind of like the good Gestapo feeling going on. So I,

Starting point is 00:07:53 guess, you know, as a kid, that doesn't really leave much room for you to grow. But because my mom traveled to the U.S. so much to get my brothers treated to get their treatments and stuff, I had a lot of free time on my hands. And that's where all the, that's where all the funny thoughts started coming in. That's where the funny started getting all funny up here. So that was just like it ended up kind of becoming my escape to like write stories and create like funny, weird things. And yeah, I think. for me. So like I moved out. My parents sent me here to live with my four older brothers because my parents never really lived here. They would just come visit. So they sent us here for to get educated

Starting point is 00:08:33 and stuff. So my four brothers came here and then it was like, oh, do we send the girl or not. And my mom was like, no, no, no, the girl totally goes. If the boys goes and the girl goes, which is totally kudos to my mom. You know, kudos to my mom. So I got here and yeah, I grew up in Jersey City, which I did not know was located in America. Because the moment I got here, and I was like, this can't be America. There is no way in hell. This is what America looks like, because that's not what I saw on the movie Home Alone. Otherwise, I watched Home Alone, and it was very fancy in Home Alone.

Starting point is 00:09:15 A world that I know, like suburbia is very different than Jersey City. Have you been to Jersey, George? No, but I have a lot of, I have like some family and friends from there. Okay, just keep it that way. They invite you, don't go. Okay. Just don't go. Or just meet them in New York City.

Starting point is 00:09:38 But now don't even go to New York City because it's like, it's like, it's like Rona land. It's like ridiculous. I heard it's bad. It's really bad. It's really bad. But yeah, that's kind of how I ended up. And by the time I was 18, I had already kind of packed my bags and headed out.

Starting point is 00:09:58 A little fun fact about my family. Grew up, I guess, just grew up in a very kind of like a physically violent household. Like I really had a lot. And in the process, I would also get. lot of, you know, so I grow up with like taking a lot of shots. And then as an adult, I ended up falling in love with boxing. And I was like, I get it. I get why I like boxing because two people get to beat the crap out of each other,

Starting point is 00:10:28 unlike my childhood, where only one person gets to get the shit kicked out of them. Sorry. Sorry. That's all right. But I think for me, it's, you know, it was, yeah. So I think, even as a, you know, when I moved out here, here, I live with my older brothers. And even that was a pretty, that was a very violent household too. My brothers were also very physically violent towards me. So I was just like,

Starting point is 00:10:54 I got to get out of here before like shit goes crazy. So when I turned 18, I got into a fight with the one night. It just packed to my bags and I left and I never looked back. So I've just been on my own ever since. So that was like five years ago. What do you think are the chances Do you know any other women from Pakistan that made it to L.A. and do what you do? In my journey, like the way I did, none. Yeah. I don't know anybody. Do you know any other women from any other country that have done what you've done?

Starting point is 00:11:33 Not that I know of, no. Do you, are you beginning to see how amazing you are to have to do what you did? I'm very kind. Look, there might be stories out there that I just haven't heard. It doesn't be like, you know, I'm still like, woo. But no, my story is very unique in the sense that, like, I don't know anybody like myself, especially from my background. I don't know anybody because most of the people I know of my background, you know,

Starting point is 00:12:01 they came with their families and they live in their homes. Like, they went to school and their parents supported them or whatever or didn't support them, but they didn't grow up with this kind of this level of tumultuous in case. Like I did. It seems to me that sometimes the people we think that have, that are the most unfortunate, have the most opportunity. And like when I, when I hear the story that you just told me, yeah. Like, I have this weird philosophy that, like, the world, the world makes you go through

Starting point is 00:12:37 tragic events because it loves you. And it's like, you know what? I think that this person can handle this tragic event and come out of it better and teach people. You know, I think that that's the way the world works. And unfortunately, it breaks a lot of people. But the world puts you specifically through something because it believes in you. And it's like, this girl can do it. And when she gets through it, she's going to start off like this block of concrete,

Starting point is 00:13:03 this block of marble. And I'm going to take this hammer and this chisel. And I am like, whack it as hard as I can. But when I'm done, you're going to have. have the most beautiful work of art you've ever seen. And people are going to look at that work of art and want to be like that and hear the story of that. And when I hear stories of yours, like, and I see strong women and I try to apply it to my life, I think that's the purpose of tragedy. And I think that's the purpose of going through life and facing adversity and coming

Starting point is 00:13:32 out the other side and telling your story is so that, you know, you influence people and you tell people. And the truth is, Mona, I believe the people you're going to help, you may never know them, but your story can be a story that, you know, there could be a girl right now in Pakistan that's like, there's this girl Mona that went to L.A. and became a comedian. And as far, correct me if I'm wrong, but in the Muslim faith, it's probably not very, very looked high upon to become an artist, right? Especially for a woman. Not at all. I mean, my brother, I remember very specifically telling me, he's like, you mean you want to be a whore. Yeah, he's like, you mean you want to be a whore?

Starting point is 00:14:13 And I was like, hores get paid a lot more than you. Maybe I should switch professions because I love to be right now. We get paid and drink tickets. Do you understand? Like, hores walk out with $200 and up. Like, do you understand how much more value whores have than come? Like, we're on the bottom rung of things. Like, how are you talking about?

Starting point is 00:14:40 But, yeah, I remember my brother very specifically telling you that. And I was just like, I guess we'll find out. So, you know, but yeah, that's the, sadly, that is the mentality. But, you know, let me tell you something. You know, and I am a very kind of outspoken person about this. I mean, there is tremendous, there's tremendous, I think there's hypocrisy in every culture and every faith. And I don't know, sorry, and, you know, pardon me if you're religious or, you know, I'm almost unoffendable. I mean, I am not, I don't consider myself a religious person. I do consider myself a culturally Muslim person.

Starting point is 00:15:21 I do consider myself a very spiritual person. Nice. Because of the level of adversity that I have been through, I don't think I would have been able to survive had I not had that kind of connection with God the way I do. And that actually has nothing to do with organized faith that has to do with my, my connection, my just personal, personal line to God, you know? Yeah. And just kind of having faith and having seen things come through when times were really, really, really hard.

Starting point is 00:15:50 Like, times were really, really difficult. I mean, I, you have to understand, like, imagine, imagine a young girl comes from another country at 15. She has to leave home by 18. There was no money. There's no job prospects. there is like literally nothing. There's like nothing lined up.

Starting point is 00:16:06 It's just like I'm looking at like a blank space and I'm just saying, look, I would rather sleep on the sidewalk than go back to a home where I'm consistently beaten and disrespected. Right? I would rather sleep on the sidewalk. Right. And for me, honestly, I look back on it. I'm like, I was a little nuts back then.

Starting point is 00:16:25 Like, holy moly. Like I want to do that shit today. If somebody's less like, I'm like, you know what? Let's work. out. How many punches are we talking? Like two punches a day? Let's work out two punches. You know, I mean, I just, it was just, I was just like, no. I think that I think when you're down, you kind of have that vigor and that kind of energy. But, you know, as you age, my knees are like, I'm like, look, I can't. I can't do this. Yeah, I can't do this. I need to stay here and

Starting point is 00:16:55 lie on the couch for a little bit. The couch is very comfortable. I can't get up. This is too much. But yeah, I mean, I feel like, you know, I have a lot of, it's interesting when I do shows and people walk up to me and talk to me and they're like, oh my God, your story inspired me so much or you, you know, you gave me these breakthroughs or you helped me, you know, overcome my fear. I mean, those things are, that those things are like the most, to me, like, it's nice. It's nice to get, you know, being featured in Forrest magazine. It's nice to, you know, on all these, like, LA Times, LA Weekly, all these places. But I think for me, the ultimate reward is having gone through the kind of experiences that I have is somebody walking up to me and being like, you know what? I'm not afraid anymore because of X because I saw you do it. And I'm no longer afraid of that, you know?

Starting point is 00:17:53 And I'm like, oh, oh, that is. That's awesome. Like that's powerful, that's powerful, you know. That's what that really kind of motivates me. Yeah. So as I've, like I've had some similar issues. I've had issues of tragedy. Not unlike your issues of tragedy.

Starting point is 00:18:13 Like I was molested when I was younger. And then it's amazing to see how that, first off, it ruins a family unit. You know, and it causes a lot of problems in between the family. And it takes, whenever there's a tragedy at a young age, I think it takes that young person a very difficult amount of time to integrate that particular situation into their life and make sense of it and understand. But it's also that tragedy that forces the rose colored glasses off your face and it forces you to see reality the way it is instead of the way you. you want it to be. And as difficult as that is at a young age, it's incredibly empowering as you get older because you have been given, in a weird way, you've been given this gift of foresight. And you can see, I bet you, Mona, I bet you can see young girls that are probably,

Starting point is 00:19:14 that are probably going through what you went through. Like you can see in them how you felt when you were young and you have this ability to, oh, this person's going through something. Oh, this person is in a bad situation. And because you went through. through it. Now you can see that in other people. You know, I, I met this girl one time at the park where my kid plays sometimes. And, you know, I, I was starting to talk to her and we, you know, they would go down on Saturdays and they became friends with our family. And I remember her on the phone and she was like kind of mad and yelling and stuff. I'm like, oh, and she got off the phone. I'm like, are you okay? She's like, you know what? I don't talk

Starting point is 00:19:51 to my family anymore. Like, I haven't talked to him in 10 years and this person's trying to get a hold of me and they're just disgusting. And like, all of a sudden something triggered in my mind, and I started looking at her. And then, like, I noticed the relationship she had with her husband was, like, really conservative. And then I started listening to the way she was talking to her kid. Like, hey, don't talk to them. And I could see in her something that had happened to me. And I was like, you know, it just kind of all fit together a little bit.

Starting point is 00:20:18 And I could see the pain in her. And, you know, I told her one time, I said, you know, when it comes to your family, Like, it seems like something may have happened to you that you're holding on to, you know, and she kind of looked at me like crazy. And like, the funny thing is, what happened to you, people go to college to go, people go to college and they take all these classes in psychology to learn how to deal with people. Yeah. But what happened to you, you got to learn it for free.

Starting point is 00:20:49 You know what I mean? So I'm not sure if that came out the way I wanted it to, but I guess I'm trying to say that you can see in other people. the tragedy that happened to you and you have the ability to help them. Yeah, I mean, first of all, I'm so sorry that you experienced that and that, that is so absolutely devastating. I, you know, I didn't, I didn't experience molestation, but I did have an uncle who came over to molest me. And I remember that very specifically, because I was about 12 years old, 12 to 13 years old, no more than that.

Starting point is 00:21:25 But I didn't know back then. Yeah. I was very slick. I was like, oh, you came to the wrong girl, uncle. You don't even understand. That's just not going to work for you. Yeah, he came over and I think I really, you know, it's just like when you don't grow up in an environment

Starting point is 00:21:47 where you don't really get to see your worth because people around you, your own family does not let you see your own worth. Can I, can I, can I, can I, can I, can I, can I, can I, can I, can I, can I, can I, can I, can I, can I, can I, absolutely, whatever you want. Absolutely. I always believe, and this is something that I always talk about, is you have to unfuck yourself, right? Or job as an adult to unfuck yourself.

Starting point is 00:22:10 You, yes, shit happened to you. Yes, tragedy occurred, right? Yeah. But at the end of the day, are you going to continuously live your life? as if you are still in that place, or are you going to live your life as the person that you are today? Yeah. So, and how do you do that to yourself?

Starting point is 00:22:29 You have to unfuck yourself. You have to go to therapy. I mean, look, I've been in therapy for 13 years. I am a huge advocate for therapy. You know, mental health is one of the most underrated things in the world. In the world. Like, people dismiss mental health. Like, it's nothing.

Starting point is 00:22:46 It's like, no, mental health is everything. I mean, everything we do on a daily basis, our existence, how we react to people, how we interact with family members, the way that people have children and the kind of shit that pass on to their kids. But the fact that they don't even understand their own psychology is passing this trash onto their kids. Like, take the time to go to therapy. Take the time to work on yourself. Take time to fix that part of yourself. And you may call it mental therapy. to me, like, I have been able to channel my spirituality through mental health.

Starting point is 00:23:21 Like, the fact that I'm going to therapy, that has single-handedly, you know, not ended up making me a freaking basket case. You know, like, I'm not like in a frigging stray jacket, okay? Right, right. Get out of the straight, get out of the very stray jacket that people put you in, right? Right. You have to get back to that true person of who you were. before people started fucking with you, right?

Starting point is 00:23:48 You have to get back to you, and that's your job. That's your responsibility to get back to that, you know, in order to live the life that you want to. And I am a huge advocate of it. I think I, listen, I'm not perfect. I definitely have moments. I sweat back. I have moments where I'm depressed,

Starting point is 00:24:08 where I can't get out of bed for two days, and I have to literally have a conversation with myself. There are these two sides of me. You know, there is the depressed kid in me. And then there is the adult that constantly like pulls that kid out of that depression. You know, I understand those two things about myself. But I think a lot of people on a daily basis suffer and don't even know that these conversations are happening in their head because there's no awareness. Right.

Starting point is 00:24:33 Because when you're in your head, it's all very subjective. But you need a person who's sitting on the outside who's looking at things objectively to point things out to you and be like, look, this is what, these are your patterns. Like this is how you do things and it's not working for you. So let me give you some tools that will help you. Let me show you some pathways that will be a lot more productive for you rather than, you know, shooting up drugs and, you know, or drinking yourself silly because that's the only way you self-medicate yourself. I think there are, you know, other healthier ways to do that.

Starting point is 00:25:06 You can meditate. You can go for a walk. You can go hiking. You can go swimming. You can go bike riding. You can go many other ways to channel that energy rather than, you can meditate. you know, I don't know, eat a bunch of twinkies to feel good, which is usually what I do in the pandemic, but that's besides the point. You know, it's interesting too because that feeling,

Starting point is 00:25:27 I think sometimes people that are in destructive patterns, like when you get into that, that emotion of rage, like you can fuel yourself with rage and like if you get into like that feeling of hate, like you can you can fuel yourself. It's very toxic, but you can use it as energy. I think a lot of people get stuck in these different emotions and they don't know how to get out, like you said. And they don't understand their pattern of thinking and they don't understand why they think about it. Or maybe they don't want to think about it. Like they don't want to go back and solve it because they're ashamed or there's something wrong. They think there's something wrong with them, but they don't want to relive it maybe.

Starting point is 00:26:05 But it's imperative. It's imperative that you figure it out for yourself and you move forward because you can't ever continue your life until you solve that issue that happened to you. 100% I mean I don't know about you like did you end up going to therapy or what you experienced as a kid absolutely yeah I did and I I mean how did it help you I'm sorry you did it help you going to therapy absolutely absolutely and and that path of therapy led to me doing just an incredible amount of reading and an incredible amount learning how to be honest with myself I think that that event kind of made me who I am today. And in a weird way, it's not like, I'm proud of it, but in a weird way, like, I think it made me, like I said, have to see the world the way it is. And I think it made me

Starting point is 00:26:54 a more caring and loving and helpful person to integrate all that. Like, it takes a lot of work. Like, if you go to therapy, you have to do a lot of work on yourself to figure out, what does this mean? Does it hurt me? What about the person that did it to me? Like, I feel more, I feel worse for that person because it happened to that person. And that person's life was destroyed. And like, they beat themselves up worse than I beat myself up, you know. For someone to go through a situation, whether it would be abuse at the home or any kind of tragedy in that event, if you get through it, once you walk that perilous pathway to clarity,

Starting point is 00:27:33 you're going to come out better. And you're going to be able to help people. And, like, I've been able to help. Like I think one thing we share is that because of that adversity, we've been able to help people. When you can help other people and you can see kind of the light begin to blossom in their mind and be like, oh yeah, you're right. I never thought about it like that. Or oh my gosh, maybe that is why I'm so artistic.

Starting point is 00:27:54 Or maybe that's why I push myself into this outlet. Like when you can help other people, I think that's the greatest gift you can do. And then when you look at it from that angle, maybe that's why that even happened to you. That even happened to you because somewhere along the line, path, God, or whatever divine creator you believe in, wanted to use you as a conduit, a conduit to help other people. And that's the way I think that I've integrated it and it seems to be working. Yeah. I mean, I feel like the ultimate kind of ranking of spirituality is helping others. You know, that's like really the ultimate, right?

Starting point is 00:28:37 I mean, it's one thing to gather, you know, money and fame and that stuff. It's like, oh, that stuff, sure, it's nice. I'm not, it's nice. I'm not a lot about it. But I think the ultimate it is, you know, I look, I see a lot of, you know, being in L.A. See a lot of celebrities meet a lot of, a lot of very established people. And I see how they are. Like, you know, they make money and they're very well in their careers and stuff.

Starting point is 00:29:04 like that, but I don't see them kind of their kind of spiritual journey kind of going to the next level where they want to help people, right? It's not in them. Like they don't want to because they want to just gather just like, it's mine. I don't want to share this, you know? And I think for me, for me, I think I'm maybe I'm just like wired that way. I think I've always been that way as a kid, but also also I want to give like, you know, kudos to my parents because my parents were also very generous people. They also generously beat the shit out of us, but they were also generously, you know, also very generous and, you know, helping other people. You know, I saw my parents, like, genuinely go out of their way to help people. And I think that really still this

Starting point is 00:29:49 thing in me where I was just like, oh, helping is good. Like, helping is, you know, helping. And I think as an adult for me, it's just become more about, you know, about feeling good. You know, it's just like, it feels good. Like, you don't have to give me anything back. It just feels good to help. How can I help? You know? And I think for me, it's like that's what I do. You know, I don't think in terms of just building a table for yourself.

Starting point is 00:30:14 Like, it's like how big and how long can your table be? How many people can you invite to your table? That's a great analogy. Yeah. How many people can you invite to your table? You should. I was like, oh, we have another chair. Yeah, come on in.

Starting point is 00:30:27 Yeah. Come on in. Yeah, you too. Come on in. You know, you're welcome. Have a seat. Take a to, you know, make yourself at all. And I think for me, like, that's, I don't know, that's kind of how I try to live my life as much as I can.

Starting point is 00:30:42 Yeah, I have a young daughter and I was, you know, it seems to me that there is some of the things on TV. And I'm originally from San Diego, so I spent a lot of time in California. Ah, look at that. Yeah, yeah. And so when I moved to Hawaii, it was. Where in Hawaii, are you, by the way? In Oahu. Wow.

Starting point is 00:31:02 Nice. Yeah, Hawaii is, I think it's the most beautiful place on the planet. And I didn't realize how sick I was until I moved to Hawaii. And like, I started like talking to people here. And I started realizing my patterns of speech. And a lot of my speech patterns prior to moving here were like, dude, I got a Lincoln Navigator. And then I was living by the water. And, you know, I met this one girl.

Starting point is 00:31:29 Like so much of my thought process was like, like, what I have and like that's how I that's how I like that was how I understood myself was based on my possessions and when I moved out here like it was it was like it was like dying and being reborn because so many people were like you're so what are you talking about you are so dumb you're so gross like what who cares about what you had and I'm like I'm just trying to like I'm just saying the same things I said back home that made friends and and for so long You know, it's a transition. It takes a while to rebuild and regrow and reimagine yourself.

Starting point is 00:32:08 And after a while, I would call back to some of my friends and, like, I could hear their speech patterns, but mine had changed. And it was like, I got to hear what I used to sound like by talking to some of my older friends. And I was like, oh, that's what I do. Yeah. You know, and like, another thing for me moving out here as like, you know, my, as a white guy who grew up, in Caucasian acres in San Diego, when I moved, that's not a real place, but when I moved out here to Hawaii, there's so much more culturally diverse. It's such a rich culture of people from all over the world. And when I began to get exposed to that, and I began to get exposed to people

Starting point is 00:32:53 that speak tonal languages versus English and different cultures and different methods, it just it was like my mind blew up and I began to realize when I speak to people, if I speak to someone from maybe Korea or from maybe Laos that, you know, they have a tonal language. So if I get real close to them and I'm like, you know, I could say the same thing. However, if I change the tone, it could be offensive or it could be not offensive. And as I, as I've moved further on my journey and I'm still learning, like the way we communicate to people is, is barely, we're like barbarians, it seems like. It seems like we have a very difficult time explaining stuff.

Starting point is 00:33:36 And so I've come to this conclusion that language and communication can change the world if people take time to travel and not only talk to other people, but take a few moments to understand the culture in which that other person is coming from. Then and only then can you understand what that person cares about and feels about and how to talk to them. And yeah, our communication is, it just saddens me because no one ever sits down and takes time to, like, define their terms or, or, I spent so much time thinking of things to say when I should have been listening. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I, I understand.

Starting point is 00:34:15 I, you know, I think that's more, like, that's a very American thing, you know. I think, like, having grown up here and having more, spent more time in the U.S., and it's like when I travel to Europe or when I travel a lot of. to Asia, whatever, I feel like the ugly American sometimes, because sometimes I'm just like, laugh at it. I'm like, ah, ha ha ha, ha, and I'm just like, oh my God, I'm so the ugly American. I remember going to London to do shows and stuff, and I remember being in London at a bar

Starting point is 00:34:45 and just talking to my friend, and just being, just being fucking American. Right, right. And I remember like them looking at me, I was like, oh my God, this is so embarrassing. Wow. Where is my level of awareness right now? And I think that's why I think people need to travel.

Starting point is 00:35:07 Yeah. Travel. Like go out. Like step outside your town. Other people live. Get perspective. And I think I feel like a lot of people because if you don't, I think, I think traveling is like the single greatest gift you can give to yourself, quite frankly, more than like

Starting point is 00:35:24 buying a stupid BMW or, you know, I mean, I met people like adults, like in their 40s. They're like, never left the country. I'm like, what do you mean? What do you mean never left the country? They're like, never left the country. But you have three kids, before you had three kids. You didn't think about maybe traveling the world.

Starting point is 00:35:40 What about for your honeymoon? You don't want to go out there like, no, just, just went to San Diego and had my honeymoon there. Really? Venture out and do this big planet we live on. You don't want to do that? But I guess some people don't see it as priority. And I quite frankly think,

Starting point is 00:35:58 as human beings, we kind of owe it to ourselves that if you are in a position of traveling and have enough means to travel, like it will single-handedly, you know, add so much value to your life. It will add so much value to you as a person. What it does for you is I don't think I can even put it in words, quite frankly. I mean, for me, like, I think that besides all the all the bullshit that I've been through in my life, I think for me travel has single-handedly also raised so much of my awareness, has, you know, it has just made me a better person because I no longer look at life or the world just from my own filter.

Starting point is 00:36:39 It's just like, wow, these are all these different people, how they're just trying to, they're all trying to get to the same thing, right? I feel like not to get a little dark, but when September 11th happened, I was in New York City, right? So as a Muslim person, I mean, we were experiencing a lot of backlash, right? It was just like these Muslims and this and that. But I feel like as time has passed by and as more Muslims have come, I guess come up and have been a little bit more in people's periphery. Like myself, there are a lot of other Muslim comics, actors, you know, change makers, journalists.

Starting point is 00:37:17 That kind of weird, twisted, like we have like we're just walking. around saying Allah walk by all day. I'm just like, nobody got time like that, man. I don't have time like that. Walking around like doing jihad. I'm like, you know what my jihad is? Passing by Ben and Jerry's and not walking in. That's my freaking jihad, okay?

Starting point is 00:37:41 Jihad means struggle, okay? And I feel like so many people don't have that because they never traveled. They don't know. They never met him with some person. They don't know what it's like. that they were like a bunch of freaking weird aliens that are just like from another planet, just out here fucking killing everybody.

Starting point is 00:37:59 It's just like, dude, I don't have time like that. Like, I got jokes to write. Let's go people. Let's go. I don't have time to do this level of hatred that you're describing to me. Now, are there people that who want to hurt other people, including you and me? They, by the way, have no prejudice. They don't want to kill me as much.

Starting point is 00:38:18 They want to kill you. Right, right. Are those assholes out there? Absolutely. I am denying that for one second. But please also put this thing in perspective, right? I feel like I was like making this joke recently that I feel like if every religion and every race, you know, the good people or the more sane people got together in every race and every culture, we're just like putting a stop to the assholes in their culture, the world would be so much of a better place. Yeah. Like, you know, it's just like all the good people are just gathering and saying, you know, and anytime an asshole is like, I don't hate, I don't like that race, just slap them. Just slap right across the face and say, shut your mouth and sit down. Like, you don't know. You don't know. Like, take the time to know somebody. Like, take the time, you know. And I think that level, and I think when you travel, that level of ignorance subsides, just like in your case, right? Yeah. I mean, you just went to Hawaii.

Starting point is 00:39:18 And you were like, my world has changed. Right. You know, so I'm a big advocate of, I mean, I know because of the Rona, we can't really travel right now. But when we do, travel, you know, I encourage that a lot. I think there's a lot of value to be had. And I think, and also you won't sound so dumb when you talk. That's so true. You know what I think about, like, I get so saddened right now to see how divided

Starting point is 00:39:48 like our country is. And when we speak of travel, I was really lucky when I was in high school that I had a foreign exchange student come from Sweden. Oh, wow. And like, the guy was amazing. He just, he became like a, like I never had an older brother.

Starting point is 00:40:05 I have one older sister, but I never had an older brother. And he became like this icon for me. And it was just like this explosion of culture that came into my life. And it really helped to expand my idea of what people are and what the world is. And when I think about our country, you know, if what if there was some sort of program

Starting point is 00:40:26 work in, since we're reimagining education right now, what if kids from like New York could go spend time, like part of their schooling would be to spend six months in Kentucky with a family and that they sit down and they talk and they're like, hey, here's why we think this and here's why we think this. You know, I have always found that when I sat down with someone that I was maybe didn't think the same as I might not have come out thinking the same as them but I came out with a perspective like I totally get their point like yeah that totally makes sense you know sometimes when we're so we have these walls up where we're like I'm not even talked to that person like it's it's when you get to the point where you say I'm not going to talk to that person you get to the point where you can't

Starting point is 00:41:08 move forward and so like I've been thinking a lot about education and how do we how do we you know turn the lies and hate to love and truth and the only way to do that is to have a conversation. It just seems to me like sometimes we're at a point where we can't have a conversation. Yeah. I feel like, you know, I don't know if you know this, but the U.S. education system is rated one of the lowest education systems in the world. I mean, you know, when I moved at 15, the math that we were doing in 11th grade in high school here,

Starting point is 00:41:42 I had done that in eighth grade in Pakistan. So sad. It's so sad. I was so good at it that I would just sit in class because I was getting straight A's that I didn't have to take the final exam because I just, I didn't need to. And my teacher specifically told me, can you please just sit in the class so the other students won't feel bad that you don't have to take an exam? And I was like, sure, sure, I will sit here so other people don't feel bad, right? But I feel like our education system needs a massive upgrade. I absolutely believe that.

Starting point is 00:42:25 That's number one. Number two, I think a lot of people confuse education. Somehow people think that if you're educated, your ignorance is not there. No, that has nothing to do with it. You can still be educated and still be ignorant. You still can. I mean, I see it in the Pakistani community where we have doctors and engineers and lawyers, successful super educated some of the dumbest shit comes out of their mouths you're just like did you listen

Starting point is 00:42:53 to you like an idiot you know and people but they're educated yeah but they're also ignorant like education does not always equal not ignorance you can still be ignorant i think a lot of the ignorance goes away is i think when traveling comes into place and acting with other people comes in place that is the real life education. Like you can go and get a college degree and partied your way all through school and not learn shit. Like you're just like, I'm in debt and now I got to like work odd jobs to pay off my student debt. But I didn't learn anything. I really didn't learn anything, right? Maybe going to, yes, going to college helps you kind of develop social skills. You'd learn how to interact with people. But that is an expensive social skill education. Yeah. Right? 75% of college in

Starting point is 00:43:45 university grads do not use their degrees. It is a scam. I'm sorry. I am a college dropout. I am not a fan of education in that sense that, you know, if you don't know what you're going to college for, don't go. Go to a trade school. Go learn from the skill set. You know, Elon Musk was asked, would you send you kids to college? And he goes, absolutely not. My kids would go to a trade school. Smart. Right. Because he knows a lot of kids go to school. They just party, right? Have a good time. put in whatever paperwork, get their degree, and they're like, I don't know what I did for the past four years. I really don't, you know.

Starting point is 00:44:18 And I'm just, I'm not an advocate of that. I just don't care. I'd rather you take that money and maybe travel. Yeah. That is an incredible education you're going to get. If you come back, enlightened, probably came up with some great freaking ideas of maybe, you know, you want to go maybe live abroad for a little bit

Starting point is 00:44:37 and do something incredible. But rather than just, oh, I partied my life away for the past four, years and now I don't know, you know, now I have a college debt. I have, you know, all this school debt that I got to pay off. And I have friends like that, you know, they're still, they make really good money, but they have all this student debt. They're just like, I'm, I'm trying to pay it down, but it's so expensive. But so coming back to the point about, you know, education, I feel our education system, also our education system is not designed for entrepreneurs, not in this life. There is not a single school that I can go to as an entrepreneur.

Starting point is 00:45:12 that would teach me what I have learned in real life. There's just no way. In college, we don't even teach basic things. How to change your cars tire. Basic things. How to check a balance of checkbook. How to save money? How much part of your paycheck should be?

Starting point is 00:45:28 If you were not fortunate enough to have parents who were, you know, who taught you how to take care of money, how to invest money, you're screwed. Like, screwed. You're going to come out and just going to, you know, spend all your money like I did. because I didn't know any better. At a very young age, I was making a lot of money. And like an idiot, I just spent it. I don't know.

Starting point is 00:45:49 I don't know any better. I didn't have any of that kind of finance education. Finance education, basic skills on every single day of how, you know, you live your life. I mean, teach kids how to like make a meal for themselves. Teach them how to grow vegetables. Like, basic stuff, man, that they can actually use that comes in handy rather than you teaching me about like E equals MC squared that I'm never freaking going to use. Now I'm not putting E equals MC square down if you're going to become

Starting point is 00:46:16 a chemist or whatever is it that you're going to become. But for me, that's useless. Right. Right. That's useless. I feel like there needs to be some kind of test or something that kind of also puts children on their paths like, hey,

Starting point is 00:46:32 this is your strong suit. You should try to pursue this. You know, don't try to you know, Einstein was asked about a genius, like what, the definition of genius, and I'm totally made me point this out of paraphrasing. They're like, yeah, if you ask a fish to climb a tree, it's going to think it's stupid for the rest

Starting point is 00:46:49 of its life. That's so funny. I mean, but it's true, right? A fish is not going to climb a tree, you know? So I feel like those kind of critical thinking processes that I'm talking about are not there. Children are kids in school are not made to have critical thinking

Starting point is 00:47:10 capabilities. They're just not. You know, they don't have that. You know, you ask them about their opinions. Kids are being kind of told a narrative and they're just believing in narrative. I'm not saying that's for all, but I believe that there has to be a certain level of critical thinking that has to be incorporated pretty early on. I'm talking about as young as like middle school. Incorporating that. That they're going to go on to become, they're the future of the world.

Starting point is 00:47:37 Yeah. Like, that's important. You know? Yeah. We did, I went to a parent teacher conference a while back and went. I'm real lucky. I'm real lucky. My daughter goes to a really awesome school.

Starting point is 00:47:51 And in the interview for the school, the teacher. Private school or private? Private school. Oh. And, you know, during the interview for the, we were talking to the teacher and she was, she'd asked our thoughts on education. And, you know, I had done some reading on it. And if you look at the American education.

Starting point is 00:48:11 system, it's based on like the Prussian system of training obedient workers. And that's why you have bells and whistles and 30 kids sitting down and a teacher standing up so they look up to them. And they're not, they're not trained to think critically. They're trained to be obedient workers. And they're trained to do what they're told. They're trained to be smart enough to fill out paperwork, but not get in the way of understanding the guy on the top of stealing everything. They don't want them in the way of that. They want them smart enough to do all that stuff. And so, you know, there's a, there's a better way to do it. And I think that if you, if you look at the technology we're using, I read this incredible book. It's called Technoply by Neil Postman. And he talks,

Starting point is 00:48:58 he starts off the book about talking about how for every new technology we use, it takes something away. And the example that he used was that he went all the way back to like Plato. And in in the, there's a story in Plato's, I don't think it's Plato's Republic, but it's in, there's this story that talks about how the creation of writing when it talks about how writing was created. And it's look, I'm going to, I'm going to establish this form of communication called writing. And it's going to help everybody remember stuff. And the rebuttal to the guy who said, writing was good. So listen, you're going to establish this form of communication that gives the appearance of intelligence. People are going to be able to read other people's experience

Starting point is 00:49:46 and be able to talk about it, but they don't have that experience. So while they're going to sound intelligent, they're going to be dumb because they don't have the experience. And you can't teach something if you haven't had experience. And so I think moving forward on education, one thing we can do is teach the history of every subject, you know, whether it's English or whether it's math. Like I think every subject should have a foundation in history, you know, and that helps with the critical thinking. It helps with the child understanding why you're learning this and why it's important and what happened in the past with this particular subject. and I think that education is going to change forever right now, and that's a good thing.

Starting point is 00:50:31 I think that when I think about the coronavirus, I think that there's some really positive changes happening that are cloaked in this shadow of despair. Like a lot of people are really worried right now and scared. But one thing I've noticed, Mona, is like the people's eye contact, because everyone's wearing a mask. Like, you have to look at people's eyes. And I have failed to notice for someone.

Starting point is 00:50:55 long how beautiful eye contact is with people. And if you just, if you're staring at someone's eyes, it's almost like the communication is more pure. And for so long, we have been caught up in this community where we're going and moving and now we're forced. If you want to know what someone's saying under their mask, you really have to pay attention. You got to look at them in the eyes. I think that's a positive change. I think that there's some cool things happen in here. And I'm not sure how I got to hear. I mean, listen, the recognition. that is 2020, somebody said to me, if you look at 2020, what else is 2020? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:51:31 A vision is 2020. It's completely clear. Totally clear. That's 2020. And I feel like that's exactly what's happening. I mean, look at all the people that have been doing wrong for so long. There's a level of reckoning that's happening on a level that we've never seen before. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:51:49 We're seeing very, very powerful people being brought down in a way that we never saw that, we never thought that they would come down and, you know, those kind of truths will come forward and their bullshit was going to be exposed. So I feel like 2020, as bad as it is, I mean, the fact that we have 1,000 Americans dying every day, you know, every 80 seconds an American dies right now. We have over 161,000 dead Americans, but that could have been prevented. My girlfriends have passed away. One was 47. Very, very young. My friends, both parents died, two weeks.

Starting point is 00:52:25 apart from each other because of COVID. I mean, this is, I mean, like, death is, death is very much present, right? It's just, our life is very fickle. Like, we could all, we could just be gone. Like, this virus is not, this virus is not like, oh, oh, you're, oh, you're Pakistani, oh, I'm going to ferry you.

Starting point is 00:52:46 So let me just talk. It's for everybody. And I feel like the level of, the way the leveling is happening, if this isn't making us recognize our humanity and realizing that we are all pretty much on that same level, like at the end of the day, as powerful as we may think we are and as strength and how much money we have and all that, at the end of the day, the virus is like, I really don't give a shit. There's no vaccine out. There's no real treatment out.

Starting point is 00:53:20 So you're going to suffer just like everybody else, right? you're a billionaire or whether you're poor. Everybody's kind of suffering, you know, the virus is going to come and get you. Now, there is a different thing, and I think a lot of celebrities got mocked for it and rightfully so. You know, Gal Gaddao, who played Wonder Woman.

Starting point is 00:53:40 I don't know if you was a talk to be. Yes. You know, she made a video about the song, Imagine with like her bunch of celebrity friends. Like, imagine all. And it looked like, bitch you're the fuck up. Like, Like, get the fuck up, okay?

Starting point is 00:53:55 You don't know what it's like. You know, you're sitting in your fancy home with your rich husband. You have your bills paid. You don't know what it's like for somebody who works for Lyft or delivers food for postmates or, you know, lost their jobs and have to feed their family and have to pay rent or, you know, they can't make mortgage. What's going to happen? You know, it's like, imagine.

Starting point is 00:54:19 Stop it. Yeah, exactly. Imagine you shut the first. fuck that. How about you imagine? How about, you know, let's imagine that. So I think a lot of celebrity, like Ellen got in a lot of trouble. Look, Ellen's in a lot of trouble right now. Ellen's generous, like, toxic environment that she has created all these years. That reckoning is happening right now as we speak. I personally know a girlfriend of mine who, actually, her article just came out about how Portia and Ellen treated her and try to get her

Starting point is 00:54:51 fired from her job. You know, it's just like that level of reckoning is happening for a reason because humans have been fucking up. They've been fucking up for a long time. Not exclusive to America across the country, across the world. Like people have been messing up. And 2020 is such a reminder, such a big reminder of how vulnerable we really are, regardless of our wealthy or poor.

Starting point is 00:55:16 Right. A great equalizer. The great equalizer. I mean, it's just leveling the field, man. Just leveling it out, you know, which is good, but also is, of course, very bad because there are people who are dying that we could have just been prevented. It could have been prevented, you know. Somehow we are, we value doctors when we have to get surgery and or we end up breaking our leg or, you know, have to be treated for cancer or AIDS or whatever. But somehow when it comes to the virus, people somehow are just like, I don't believe the doctors

Starting point is 00:55:54 I don't know scientists. Well, you believe them before. Right. Why aren't you within them now? Right. Oh, they're changing their story every day. They're not changing this story. They're just learning things in real time. They don't know anything about this virus. So what they're doing is they're trying to work as hard as they can. I have two scientists friends. One scientist friend, he's in Germany. He was he's one of the lead. He's also my ex, but he's one of the lead cancer research scientists, right? He's wonderful, brilliant man. And I had him on, and we talked about how in Germany they've been able to take measures and been able to reduce the virus in a pretty short period of time

Starting point is 00:56:36 and how they've managed to do that. And one of the key things is, A, people don't know, Angola Marco, one of my absolute heroes who I love and adore is also a scientist, right? We talk about being a frigging overachiever. It's like, oh, Camilla, we get it. We get it. You're like a scientist, and you're the leader of the strongest nation in European Union. We get it.

Starting point is 00:57:00 You're an overachiever. What are you? What are you, Indian, Pakistani? Because that's where our people expect us from. Be like these massive overachievers, you know? Oh, what's the next move? You're going to go to the moon by yourself? What's going to happen next, Angola?

Starting point is 00:57:14 We get it. I love her. I love her to be. She's great. And he was talking about the Engel Merkel went on national television in Germany and said, okay, guys, we have two options. Either we can take extreme measures, shut everything down for a period of time, for a number of weeks, bring this virus down because it's not going to have host to carries, right?

Starting point is 00:57:40 It's not going to spread the way it's spreading. Or we can just be like, a little bit strict, just wear a mask. the social distancing, what do you guys do? Overwhelming majority of Germany voted for extreme measures. Yeah. I asked him, why is

Starting point is 00:57:57 that? He goes, the reason being Italy and Spain is right next door to us, they had so many dead bodies that they had to call in their military to store the bodies on the military bases. They were running out of

Starting point is 00:58:13 body bags. That's how many people were dying on a daily basis. So Germany got freaked out and they were like, we don't want this. We don't want to run out of body bags like Germans dying. Like, are you freaking getting me? We are going to take extreme measures. And so they did. There are lunatics in Germany who were taking it out to the streets and they were like, you know, we were not going to wear a mask and this and that. And the rest of the country was just like, shut the fuck up. Go home. We don't need to hear this shit. Right. Right. So I mean, Yes, education is a big deal, but there's also those people are educated, right?

Starting point is 00:58:51 Those people are educated who are going out, taking it into the streets and saying we're not going to wear masks. But the other, the overwhelming majority is like, shut the fuck up. Go home. We don't need this. We need to control this virus. And they've been quite, they've been very, very successful at it. You know, they've been very, very successful at it. So I feel like in America, who are seeing this side of Americans, that we do exist.

Starting point is 00:59:14 We kind of knew it on the side in the back of our head, but now it's just all coming to a head where, you know, not to get political, but it is relative to this conversation. Our leader somehow keeps dismissing, you know, research and scientists, the wonderful and amazing Dr. Fauci, who I really like, and somehow keep dismissing what the scientists have to say, you know, because he has a narrative that wants to be, he wants it served,

Starting point is 00:59:48 and he's going to serve that at the cost of American lives. That is not good leadership. Yeah, it seems like, I think one disconnect that people have is that there's so much information out there. And like, like, I can see it in my own family. Like my mom, she'll watch CNN nonstop. And then my dad will watch, like, Fox News.

Starting point is 01:00:11 And it's like, you know, two, there's these two diametrically opposed messages being put out there. And it's not, I don't, I don't think people are bad. I think it's just that they've been given information that is something that they want to believe or something that they, they trust this person or they trust that person. Right. Because there is so much information out there. And, and those people are working so hard.

Starting point is 01:00:38 George, we already, it's not that we are the only people, fighting this. I know. New Zealand has been able to curtail it. Yeah. Germany is going to curtail it, right? All these other developed nations have been able to curtail it except us, except us. Yeah. It's not that, oh my God, we have no path.

Starting point is 01:00:58 We have a path. Yeah. They've done it before. They did it. Why can't we just follow that path? What is this about? Is this about you forwarding your agenda and your narrative because you, because it's so ego-driven that you?

Starting point is 01:01:12 that you don't want to look like an idiot because you earlier on when the pandemic hit said that this was a fucking hoax and we all know it's not a fucking hoax because what's what is it about? Because will you want to serve your ego? Or are we going to get on a path of, you know, bringing the virus down, curtailing it and getting the country back on track?

Starting point is 01:01:30 What is this about? I think it's about money. I think that like the multinational corporations don't want to lose market share. And if you look at like Wall Street, Like, they're having a, Lord knows what kind of corruption is happening up there right now. Just the biggest transfer of wealth from working people to, to the top 1%. And I think that, you know, when they made the law, they said, okay, anybody that has less than 500 employees, you guys have to stop.

Starting point is 01:01:59 But if you have more than 500, you can make whatever rules you want. And it seems to me that, you know, the multinationals have this idea of people being the same as interchangeable parts. and that they're not willing to lose profit, regardless of how many people die. And I think that's who runs the, I think that's who runs, you know, I think it was John Dewey who said that government is the shadow cast upon the people by business. And if you look at the businesses right now,

Starting point is 01:02:29 like, they're having record years. You know, you look at Bezos, like just almost a true. He's a true. Yeah, and look at the people in Amazon. Like, look at like people that are dying in that building. And you know, you got people like Kevin Hart going on Rogue and talking about how much he loves Jeff Bezos. You know, it's like, you dummy, don't say that. I hate that.

Starting point is 01:02:50 And like, you know, for me, as a person that delivers packages, like, I feel I got really down this week because I found my position self in a position where like, how can I ethically deliver a package to an elder care home when I know that there's COVID in my building? And why are we not telling the community about this? And I, you know, I, like, I couldn't sleep. You know, and my wife's like, take it easy. George was wrong with you, you know? So I went in and I started at the bottom and I started talking to the low level guys. And I go, look, this is a, do you think this is ethical? And, you know, I started getting answers like, my opinion doesn't matter.

Starting point is 01:03:28 That made me furious. And so I took it as far as I could to the number one guy in Hawaii. And I said, listen, let me ask you something. How am I supposed to ethically go to these places? Like, why don't we do something productive? I mean, something proactive instead of reactive. Like, you know, we're not doing anything. And on top of that, why don't we tell the community?

Starting point is 01:03:47 Why don't we get out in front of this thing? This guy said to me, like, well, it's not just us. Like, he gave me this total non-answer that was so, it just saddened me. Like, dude, you're supposed to be the leader. You're supposed to be the guy that everybody looks up to. And when we come to you with a problem, your answer is, well, I'll ask the guys in the boardroom. Like, that's, and it just, I think it's a, it's a, it's a other leader. 10 other leaders to respond to.

Starting point is 01:04:12 Yeah. Yeah. They all have the same narrative, right? So it also comes from the top, right? Right. The same with our government right now. The same with any corporation. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:04:22 You know, you're right. You're right about the fact that we are definitely have become an oligarchy. I don't think there's any doubt about that. And I think if somebody tries to come and challenge me on that, I'm like, look at who are your decision makers right now. They're all billionaires. It's oligarchy. It's straight up oligarchy. I mean, that is what's happening.

Starting point is 01:04:44 We have a reality to be a show guy who claim himself to be a billionaire, and now he's the president of the United States. What are we looking at here? We are looking at an oligarchy. You think, you know, when one of the officials from the Trump administration comes out and says, we'll give you a $1,200 stimulus check, and that should hold you over for 10 weeks? Do you understand how detached that person is?

Starting point is 01:05:08 You know how detached they are from reality of Americans? If you have, look, I'm a single girl and I have a dog, right? If you are a family of two and you lost your job and you can't find job and the unemployment is going to run out as well, how much is that $1,200 going to hold you over, right? How long do you think that's going to hold you over? $1,200? It's nothing.

Starting point is 01:05:38 It's nothing. The minimum, you know, based on the family, you should be getting at least three grand a month just to hold you over. Control the virus, pay the money. Look, if we have money for AK-47s and we have money for helicopters and we have money for highly militarized weapons that can do you have freaking take out like a a fucking a whole like a slew of rhinoceros in one shell, then we have enough money to feed Americans. We have enough money to take care of our, yeah.

Starting point is 01:06:13 If we have senators and, you know, and, you know, government officials retiring on full salaries, all insurance paid on your dime and my dime, then there is enough fucking money to take care of Americans. Don't fucking come at me with this bullshit that you don't have money. You have money.

Starting point is 01:06:29 Whenever it comes to military and policing and all that shit, you guys have money. We talk about education and healthcare, there's no money. Stop it. Stop it. We're not stupid. We're not stupid. Right. You see, the $1,200 when they say, $1,200 should hold you through. What they're really saying is that we need to buy these people off for more time at the least amount of possible. I think that the stimulus, it's not trying to help people.

Starting point is 01:06:56 It's trying to limit the amount of people in the streets. And they want to do just enough, but not too much. Like they don't want people to be comfortable. They want to pay people to buy more time is what's happening. I think, and you know what? Like there used to be a lot. Here's the problem, George. How do you buy more time when the leader of the country is consistently going against the scientists?

Starting point is 01:07:23 He's consistently, you know, you wear a mask one day. The other way you say the masks no work. The social disson, you know, not really. I mean, you can, but you can't, but stop it. The moment Trump came out and said, put a mask on, do you know that his supporters, 56% went on and started putting on masks? He has so much power. But he does not feel responsible for it.

Starting point is 01:07:47 We are in deep shit. Yeah, we are. He doesn't care about the American people. And I don't think anybody. But his supporters believe that, George. And it's scary. It's fucking scary. Look at what's happened yesterday.

Starting point is 01:08:01 United States Postal Service is going on and removing. Like mailboxes. What has that ever happened in the history of the United States, George? Tell me. I can tell you as a person who grew up under a dictatorship in Pakistan, this is how dictators come to existence. Yeah, it's coming. It's coming.

Starting point is 01:08:21 I think that you're going to see it. Regardless of what happens, I think you're going to see a contested election. And that's when... It's going to be a massive fight. We all know that. Yeah, I know. It's at the point of how corrupt is it going to be? How is it going to get violent?

Starting point is 01:08:34 Isn't it going to be planted the seed for his supporters to come out and say, you know, if I don't, he was asked by journalists earlier on, hey, if you don't, if you lose, what are you going to do? And, you know, are you going to leave peacefully? And he goes, well, we'll see. He goes, let me tell you something. If I lost, there will be a civil war. What is he called for, George? Yeah, it's, it's horrendous. You think this person cares about this country? He cares about you and me? You don't get a fuck. No, I don't think any politicians do. I, I think, I don't think. I don't think. I don't think any politicians do. I, I, I think. I, I think. I don't think. I don't think. I don't think. I think that, you know, you know what I was thinking yesterday? Like, why is it that when- I don't, George, I don't know about any politician. There is a man named Bernie Sanders. Yes, his ideas could be a little too, for some people. But- I like Bernie. Yeah, everything that he's been talking about is not that far-fetched. It's not. How come he backed down, like, he could have won, like, against Hillary. Like, if he would have stood up, I think the people would have backed him. Don't even get me started on the Democratic part of George. I don't even think about it. I am not. I am not.

Starting point is 01:09:34 I am not an independent. I'm an independent. That's how I register. I will vote. I will make my own decision. I don't need to do what affiliation I need to have. Yeah. I like Tulsi.

Starting point is 01:09:45 I wish she would have stayed. I really liked her. She's a little bit of a Manchurian candidate for me. She's, yeah. Yeah, she's got, yeah, I think, for me, I never really know what Tulsi Gubbard believes in.

Starting point is 01:10:01 She is very much about, What do you like she's that person it's like hey I'm hungry you know let's go eat something or really what do you want to oh forget about me what do you want to you know it's about what's going to get her to the next level rather than saying this is what I believe in this is who I am you know I'm I haven't been a fan of Tulsi quite frankly I want to but I just can't get behind that you know you know there was this law that was there used to be attacks that said there can be no profits in a time of war.

Starting point is 01:10:36 Yeah. There could be, and that would, like you said, like, there's plenty of money. Like, we give so much money in foreign aid, and we give so much money to all these companies that go and suck the resources out of third world countries. Like, people don't have clean water in Michigan. Like, why can't we as Americans have the money that's our tax money? You know, it drives me nuts. It just, it kills me.

Starting point is 01:10:59 Listen, we have money to go in Philander around and, to give for bullshit things, but we don't have, Flint, Michigan still has, you know, dirty water. Puerto Rico can't get their supplies. They can't, you know, they're being tossed, you know, paper towels by the president. Like, you get a paper towel. When you get it?

Starting point is 01:11:23 Stop. Stop. It's just this, it's just overwhelming what is happening right now. But you know what? Maybe we needed that as Americans. We really need it. I think so. We really, I think we got a little too comfortable.

Starting point is 01:11:37 We got a little too comfortable listening to people who don't have the best intentions at heart for us. That's what happened. And, you got lazy. Yeah, we got lazy. And now we are definitely paying for it. Not just with our money. We're paying for it with our lives. And this election, we are literally fighting for our lives.

Starting point is 01:11:58 This election, we are fighting for our lives, George. I don't know how many people. I mean, I've made that post yesterday on my Facebook page, and I was like, why are people not outrage? And thank God today in D.C., right outside of DeJoy's house, who's the guy who ordered for the removal of the postal mailboxes and stuff, there was a massive protest right outside his house. I'm like, yes, yes, you go and tell them exactly how you feel.

Starting point is 01:12:25 As Americans, you have to take my vote out of my dead claw hands. I love it. claim yourself to be a legitimate winner. Like, that's not going to happen. And I think that's the one thing that Americans are like historically have been. So look, we've we've had elections through World War II. Are you telling me? You know, when president comes out and says we should delay the elections?

Starting point is 01:12:49 No, go fuck yourself. We're not going to delay the elections, okay? Right. We can go to World War II and have elections. We can very much go through a fucking virus pandemic, which was your job to come fixed by the election. the way we're totally fucked up on. And now you're telling you that I have a little delay.

Starting point is 01:13:06 And also, you keep telling people that the schools need to be reopened and DeVos keeps going out and saying that the schools need to be reopened and kids need to go back to school. So let me understand this. The schools need to be reopened. I should go out and jeopardize the lives of my children, including myself and my family. But the virus is too dangerous to go to the voting booth and to put in my vote. Is that correct? Do you think we're fucking stupid?

Starting point is 01:13:33 You think we're not processing this? What do you think is happening over here? But just so you know, I have to head out in like two minutes. Okay, all right. I have a class that I need to go do. Listen, I talk about this all day, every day. I do two-hour live streams. I'm scared for all of us.

Starting point is 01:13:53 I really am. I can tell you as somebody who came out of a dictatorship and made a life here, I my knees are giving out. My lower back is hurting. I don't have the energy to pick myself up and move to another country in this age. It's just not happening. It's just not happening, George. I'm going to fight this and do everything in my power I can, you know,

Starting point is 01:14:17 to get the right leaders in office to just get our country back on track. Yeah. I love it. You're so passionate. You're an amazing woman. And I'm so thankful that I got to talk to you. Like I really enjoyed it and I love your story and I love your passion and I'm so thankful that I got some time to meet you and talk to you. I just want to say thank you very much for that.

Starting point is 01:14:39 Oh my God. No, thank you. This was really lovely. I should bring you, you know, you need to come on my live stream too. I would love to. I would love to. Yeah, I would love to talk about what life is like in Hawaii. I mean, it's beautiful.

Starting point is 01:14:52 What's the temperature? What's the weather like today? Can you see behind me? Like the sun's just kind of coming up. It's about 730. It's going to be about 84 degrees with about 84% humidity. And it's so green and... Beautiful.

Starting point is 01:15:08 Yeah, it really is. It really is. I feel really lucky. It's a beautiful place. I love it. No, it looks beautiful. But, George, this was a lot of fun. I have to run off.

Starting point is 01:15:17 I hear you. I have a crazy busy day today. But thank you so much for having me on. This was so much fun. I think I'm the lucky one. So thank you. I hope you have a great day. And I look forward to talking.

Starting point is 01:15:27 you more if you ever need anything if I can ever do anything to you please don't reach out and I'm probably gonna email you from time to time so be ready please do I would I would I would love that but if people if your followers want to follow me they can definitely subscribe to my YouTube channel which is that my name Mona M-O-N-A-M-A-H comedian just Mona shake comedian they can subscribe to my YouTube channel like I mentioned Monday through Friday I have my YouTube live streams I bring on I have congresswoman from California coming on I saw that.

Starting point is 01:15:58 Yes, I'm very excited about that. So just working on bringing on a lot of bigger guests. I'm very excited about that. And you guys can also follow me on Twitter at Mona's comedy and Instagram and Mona Shake comedian also on Facebook. And that's it for plugs for me. And you can also go on my website. I have a comedy album out. If you want to check it out, it's just my name, monoshaic.com.

Starting point is 01:16:18 You can check my comedy album out. And yeah, it's about it. And all the links will be on my page too. So I hope you have a great day, Mona. And I'll talk you soon. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

TrueLife - Mona Shaikh: Breaking Rules, Cracking Jokes & Challenging the Status Quo

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