Quality Out of Quantity (with Ahmed Al-Kadri)

Episode 05: Make sure you enjoy the journey.

When you think of a stand-up comedian’s day job, you probably wouldn’t think of an accountant. Growing up with traditional Yemeni parents, though, Ahmed Al-kadri was expected to make his way through school, get a degree, have a stable job — and, of course, get married. Betting on himself, he left it all behind, and moved to Los Angeles to hit the stand-up scene with full force. This week, Hamza sits down with this up-and-coming comic about the ins and outs of his new world, making it in one of America’s toughest cities, and how he manages to make hundreds of thousands laugh every day.

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Transcript

Right? Or Ri Ri. Yeah. Well, Hamza Hamza, your last name's Invests. Is that a tribe in Yemen? Maybe one day. Yeah. Guine way like that. It's like this is a really hardcore tribe. Yeah. We only invest. Yeah, they only invest. It's the Immigrant Unfiltered Podcast with. Ladies and gentlemen, I wanna welcome IAD del Kari today. For those of you who know him, you know him. For those of you who don't know him, let me give you a brief intro. The guy is absolutely hilarious. Uh, huge shift in careers became a standup comedian is actually performing tonight, which I'm excited cuz we have the whole team and family coming to watch your show Amao. That's gonna be something unique. Of course, we reached out, uh, through TikTok. Yeah, and what a small world man. Just having TikTok these days, it just changes everything, right? We get to connect with people, uh, we get to do all this outreach and just the world is just becoming a smaller place minute by minute. So, uh, please go ahead. Give us a brief intro, man, if I missed anything. No, no. First off, your whole team is coming and their family members no pressure at all. Sweet. Uh uh, yeah. Uh, the, and the fact that you started off with I'm hilarious. No pressure at all as well. Uh, I, yeah, I, I think like we met through my TikTok lives actually. Right. You started buying me roses on the app and I was like, yes, I need, I needed to get your attention somewhere. I know you, uh, the attention was there. I was like, who's this bachelor throwing, throwing roses at me left and right. I gotta know who, what this guy's all about. Uh, yeah. I'm, uh, Yemeni American comedian. Uh, I was, uh, I actually grew up not too far from here, from Dallas, Texas. I grew up there. Uh, and then I moved to LA when I was 25. I'm 29 now, so about four and a half years ago, moved over to LA uh, so I could try to pursue comedy full-time. Uh, up until last year, so March 4th, 2022, I quit my job. I was an accountant. Accountant by day, comedian by night. And so it's been over a year since I've been a full-time standup comedian, and it's been going, you know, pretty good. Sort of. Are there, are there a lot of Yemenis in Dallas? Uh, there. Okay. So kind of like how you grew up in Dubai and you saw. You saw like from a desert to gold, kind of like that, kind of like a similar situation with us, with the Yemeni community in Dallas. Uh, my dad it was. His nickname in the Dallas community was actually Abu Yemen because it was just our family and there was another family, uh, there were Denese, the other Yemeni families were more like pretty far out in like Arlington. But mainly where we were, we were, there was only two Yemeni families, but so many Yemenis from like, uh, students from, uh, from overseas or uh, from north like Michigan and New York. Uh, they, uh, they came here and the first person they would call was my dad. Uh, some of them would stay with us. Yeah. Um, and all that. And um, and we, some of them, some of us, some of them would stay too long, uh, cuz they would sleep on my bed, get a little too comfortable. But I think that, I think because, because we were so used to like having people over at our place, my dad was so, you know, like he invite everybody. Yeah. The hospitality doors are open. Yeah. Doors are open and. That from at a, I learned that at a very young age to just, I learned how to talk to all different types of people. We had people like, uh, you know, a kid who just turned 19 or 18, who came here for, for flight school or something. So he is staying with us, or a Yemeni guy who just got outta jail and needs some help. So, you know, all sorts. Um, and uh, yeah, I think that's like, that's, I think I just, you asked for an intro. I started talking about my dad. Well, I mean, My man, hospitality is key. It's a very Arabian thing. It's a very tribal thing. And so very tribal at, at some point I think we can't say no. Like there's really no way to like say no to anything, dude. That's what's funny is, uh, that was the thing my dad and I always fought about when we were, uh, growing up, my brothers and I used to always tell my dad like, you know, it's okay to say no cuz my dad was a huge yes man. He was very kind, man. And now as I'm growing up, I'm learning that about myself And that's the one thing I, I'm even talking to my therapist about it. Yeah. I'm a grown man that goes to therapy with something, but yeah. Uh, like I'm actually talking to my therapist about it, like, Like ways to say no. That's why you couldn't say no to me, huh? No, no. I, well, at first I was like, I don't know. He's all the way in Houston. I don't know. And then he was like, I'll pay for your flight. I was like, Hmm. You know, and I was like, this is throwing roses at me and paying for my flight. But yeah. Um, and also like Yemeni guy and like I. Very much like, I really wanna help other Yemenis or support other Yemenis. Like for example, uh, there's other Yemeni comedians. There's two, there's Ali Sultan and Mike Eek. Um, and I think, I'm trying to think. There is, uh, this girl named Emani. She's, uh, she's a musician in Los Angeles. Uh, there's ak, she's producer director. So there's like a small, little few Yemeni creatives. And I try to like, get us together, uh, because are are you in touch with all of them? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, really? Yeah. Well, I mean, it's all from Los Angeles. Uh, well, Ali Ultan from Minneapolis, but we connected, you know, through Instagram. He for, well, he heard about me. People, you know, were doing standup and they're, uh, figure out, he's Yemeni. They're like, Hey, have you heard about this Yemeni community named Ahma Delk? He was like, oh, I've never heard of him. He would see me on the explorer page or whatever, but he just thought, oh, this is some Indian guy. Yeah. So that, that's something that we need to talk about. Yeah, everyone just thought I was just some Indian guy, and then I was like, no, I'm a Yemeni guy. Then I put it on my bio just to let people know, like, no. Yemeni, but then now I have Yemenese that are like, no way You're Yemeni, bro. But you know, this is, this is a common thing in Yemen. If you go to Yemen, really, and you look at all the Yemeni people, they genuinely look like Indian people. Like, right. You can't really tell that much of a difference. Even, uh, people from, um, like the, the oil rich countries, what are the, the Yeah. S they all look Indian. Yeah. Uh, I think the only group of Arabs that don't were are the north, somewhat North Africans and the ash Shami, but most Arabs, yeah, they, they, they have a similar look. I think maybe the amount of hair is a little different between the, the Indian side and the Arabian side, you know? Yeah. Just because the Indian hair is a lot more oily. Right, right. Yeah. Our hair is rugged. Yeah. I think it's just more thick and like, you know. Yeah. Uh, it's a little different, but both of both sides. Men eyebrow down all hair. Right, exactly. It's like a Amazon forest. Amazon forest. Yeah. So, All right. We should take our shirts off and have like a chest hair, chest hair off. So let's get into your story, man. So you said accounting, you said comedian. What was that journey like for you? How'd you even start? Like how does one a person start entertaining? Oh, um, man, that's a good question. Um, I guess like, uh, like my, my whole family's funny. Okay. We've always just loved, my dad loves, uh, uh, my dad. Uh, if you, if you ever met my dad, uh, he always loved like one-liners. Uh, I remember, uh, actually when he died, I was cleaning out like his library and I found like a big fat ass book and it says the encyclopedia of jokes. So he was just obsessed with one-liners and that was his thing. Uh, my mom, very funny as well, very observational. My mom is the funniest person in the world if you're sitting next to her, if that makes sense. But she just has these comments and same as my brothers, and. We've always just been funny as a family and we were just fans of comedy, you know, from our early the, uh, the funniest thing is our earliest, uh, uh, influences in comedy was Mr. Bean, Charlie Chaplin, and I love Lucy cuz my parents just, they were just immigrants from Yemen and similar to a lot of Yemeni. Parents or out of parents that come, they like, they, let's say they come here at 1989 and then they raise their kids as if they're in Yemen in 1989. Right, right, right. So they were just like very like scared of like all like American media and stuff. So they only gave us like the, they only let us watch. We never had cable. That sucked. Yeah. We were just PBS kids. We were PBS kids. Uh, this is so PBS cuz you didn't grow up here. Yes. You know what PBS is? I, I do know, but enlighten me a little bit what it was back then. Basically it's just public broadcast comp, uh, you know, show or ABC wb, just like the main channels cable had like mtv, Nickelodeon, and Disney Channel. Like all the fun channels that we didn't get to watch. So we ended up growing up, like watching PBS cartoons in the morning. And then when my mom was cleaning, my dad wasn't home. We were watching Jerry Springer Morrie. Right. Just all the learning, all the cultures, just learning pure American culture. Culture right there. You right there. Direct. Yeah. All I know is I grew up learning not to have a baby mama at a young age. So, and um, and then, uh, uh, what was I gonna say? Uh, we just loved, like watching The Simpsons. I loved Conan O'Brien. Yeah. That was like my favorite loved Conan O'Brien. And then slowly but surely, I, uh, I started watching like old standup clips. And then I still remember this 2008, uh, I was graduating eighth grade and my uncle got me the DVD for, uh, access of Evil. Ahed, Ahed, ma Jabi and, uh, Dean Ava. Yes. Right. Which was like, that was like the first, cuz I was always a fan of standup was I watched like, uh, Dane Cook, Russell Peters. And at this point you weren't performing, you had no, like, there was no intention. No, but I, I used to perform in front of my dad and my mom and like I used to do, um, so like my mom would watch, um, would watch like Egyptian soap, uh, Egyptian movies or Turkish soap operas. Mm-hmm. And as a, like, as a joke, I used to, like, I used to make, do impressions of that in front of my dad and it would make him laugh so hard. And this was embarrassing. Like my dad would be with his friends, be like, I'm a do the impression, don't do the impression. And I would bomb in front of his friends. Uh, and uh, just like making my dad laugh was a thing. Making my brothers laugh. Just making people laugh was like a was was inherent in nature to me cuz I knew. If I could just make them laugh, then they can, like me, I have this crippling desire to be liked, which is why I go to strangers and Right. Seek validation from them. But anyways, um, I, uh, uh, later I, I remember like when I turned 18, I knew I wanted to be a standup community. This was my whole life. I saw myself being like an entertainer. I wanted to do, uh, you know, acting stand up, all sorts, just make people laugh. Uh, but the, it's crazy looking back at it now, cuz I was like, there's no, there's no white people. There's, it's all white people. There's no, you know, Aubs Yemenis, like, who are on screen. So I wanted to be like, I didn't wanna be that one. But it was nice when, like, when Rammi came on and Mo and shout out to them, like Mo s and Hussan Minhaj and like more Muslims, ubs Desy started like coming on screen. Um, so I turned 18 and, uh, I start college and there was no way I could be like, Hey, mama Baba, I wanna be a comedian. And, wait, this is still in Dallas? I'm still in Dallas. Okay. And I googled, uh, I Googled best degree to get a job with accounting showed up and I was like, all right, I'll just be an accountant. Like, literally go through the, yeah, I was like, I'll just be, I'll just like get my degree as an accountant. When I was in college, uh, there was, uh, in, in U T D there was this place called the Pub and they had like a couple open mic sessions and it was like all these slam poetry trees that took themselves seriously. And I remember this guy, he did slam poetry about his mom dying of cancer. And then they're like, all right, up next we have a comedian. And I remember being so nervous cuz I went from this like, uh, like very, like I went, I grew up in a Muslim community. I went to Anam school called Brighter Horizons Academy. So I. Go to go to college. I'm meeting people who are, you know. Yeah. Like, I don't, I was just on stage. Yeah. I was on stage and I'm like, so fucking nervous. Uh, I remember getting like one joke in and people laughed. Like, I had my friends who were like yelling, laughing too loud, louder than they should. Uh, and then I remember just like, like slowly just like, all right, well, thank you so much. Bye. Later on, I didn't really get on stage, but in college I did. I did like talent shows, like sketch stuff. When I was on stage with someone else, get my degree, uh, I started, uh, perform. I, I was like, oh, I wanna get back. I wanna take comedy seriously again. I have a degree now. I have this job. I, I worked, uh, I was a ca cash accountant for a private equity company and I started, uh, taking classes at Dallas Comedy House. Started doing improv, started doing sketch comedy. And started doing standup. And that was like my stomp grounds. That what I loved about Dallas Comedy House. It was like this place where you could experience, learn, grow, fail, you know, try again, fail, try again, fail. But it was nice to like, just learn your voice. I remember getting out of a show and only took one person to be like, Hey man, you're really funny. And that gave me enough confidence to be like, I'm moving to Hollywood, baby. I'm fucking going, dude. Like, uh, fame and money. Here I come as I'm, you know, stretch as I roll out of bed at 3:00 AM I was like, I gotta make this podcast. Uh, so. Moved to LA Yeah, like I mentioned, like started doing Dallas's Comedy House and then I moved to LA uh, about like four and a half September 1st, 2018. How, how long were you studying at the, or like getting educated or whatever it was? Dude, I, uh, fortunately, uh, BHA had this program, uh, had a dual credit program where you were taking classes in Richland College at a community college nearby. So I was able, I went into U T D with some credits, so I ended up graduating in three and a half, uh, a semester early. I could have graduated a year early, but I graduated just a semester early. And, um, uh, it was mainly just like, uh, to me, uh, school as well as accounting. It was always just like, I call it like mental endurance cuz I'm not passionate about it whatsoever, you know? Uh, but I really just needed, you know, you gotta make money, right? There's like, we all have this mentality of like, like this whole following your dreams. Yeah. It's, but you gotta do it and like, Uh, in like a logical way. But then again, there is, you can only be so logical when following your dreams. It's like a weird double-edged sword. But yeah, I think once you have something that you can call, like a backup or a fallback mm-hmm. You can really pursue, uh, whatever you want a little more comfortably. Cuz you always know that in the back of your mind you have something? Yeah. Sorry, I just spilled coffee all over me. My bad, my bad. Someone get him an napkin. Ah, it's okay. It's all right. It's there. It's part of the style. It's part of the sweater now. It's fine. My bad guys. I'm this fucking slob, so. Okay. So here you are. You did the, you did the comment, you got the education, you got, you got, you build up the confidence. You have a degree in the back, right? You're working. I really hope I don't go to accounting. I, I don't want to go back to accounting. Wait, I feel like it's like going back to jail, dude. I ain't going back. You ain't going, I ain't going back. So, okay, so now here you are, and of course you're 29 now you're still in Dallas, right? Oh, I'm, I'm in LA now. How did that happen? What we, we missed that book. You said. You said I'm 29 now. No, I'm still So you are 29 now. Now you live in la How did that ha How did you Oh, when I was in Dallas? Yeah. So you were in Dallas. Oh, oh, I, I, uh, I like Was your job in, in la? Oh yeah. Well, my first accounting job, uh, was in downtown Dallas. I was, I was like, what? 21, 22 Started working there and then I got an apartment in uptown. And, um, I don't know if you know, if you're familiar with Dallas, but I had an apartment uptown and then I would work in downtown, and then n near downtown was Deep Elm. That's where Dallas Comedy House was. So that was like just my life for the next, right there, three, four years of just work, going to work. Um, and then doing Sta uh, doing like comedy improv, sketch, standup. And then I moved to, uh, la Actually, funny enough, I moved to LA thinking I'm never gonna do accounting again. And my first year, my dude, it took like six months to realize like, oh, I'm not, like, I don't know if I'm ready to like, just try go LA's hard. Well it is the first time you, like you moved to a really, it was my first time I moved to a really big city. Like And did you parents, or did your family at that time know about your standup and like, oh, actually I have a funny story about this. So, uh, my, what's funny enough, like my friends and family always thought this was a hobby, but I treated like if you want something, you don't treat it as a hobby. It's a job. And to me, I always treated it like a job. Uh, I remember like my first year into like improv sketch, like it got to a point where my friends stopped inviting me to things cuz they're like, I was like, no, I have a show, or no, I'm doing this, you know, my priority was comedy. Um, and I still remember this, uh, I, it was, I got accepted to this master's program so I could on track to get my cpa, but again, I'm. Dumb. I just spilled coffee on my sweater. Um, but the ti I got accepted and then when it came to, when it came to signing up for classes, I just took, I just like took a moment and I'm like, I don't wanna do this. Yeah. Like I, I like, I like, it was like, this is, you're getting stuck to this like mentality. And it's not just like a out of mentality, it's, it's, this is in general of just like, you know, you, you work, I think, yeah, you work, you, uh, sorry, you like, you go to school, you get your degree, you work, you get a job, and then you get married, you have kids and you're miserable. Or I don't know, I just didn't like the fact that like, my life is laid out for me, you know? And like, you get married, you're, you're, you're just in the community now and this is your life. Um, and even though in the back of my mind I'm like, no, I want to like travel the world and to stand up and, you know, meet new people. Yeah. Um, And I, I remember just like not signing up for classes and I just like, I just, I don't, I don't know what I did with that. It was University of Dallas. I don't, I guess they were like, are you gonna sign up? I was like, no. And I just, I don't know. I ghosted them. They're, they're probably watching right now. I was like, that bitch. This fucking asshole. But, uh, I, uh, so, okay, this is a funny story. So, um, it's the, it's my 24th birthday, June 18, uh, 2017. It's also Father's Day. Uh, I drive up, uh, to my parents' house and, um, you know, the whole family's together and my mom brings, you know, she makes cake. She's a baker, she makes cake. And she was like, like, it's time to get you married. Right. The right. And they were like getting ready because at this point I'm 24 now. Right. You know, I, I, and I, I, you know how it is the Yemeni culture. I'm, man, my brothers 22 and got married. But were you prepared for like a cake and, and, and like get married or No? No. Yeah. No. Well, the cake, my mom just, you know, she's a baker. She makes cakes for, uh, following the Jets Bakery on Instagram. Guys, shout it out. Yeah, we gotta plug this out. You know, Ahmed loves bread too. That's fine. But the Jets bakery, you know, but, um, there was no way I could like, Well, it was like the moment where I decided that I was like, no, I, I want to do this. Like I need to do this. And, um, can I talk about shrooms? Yeah, why not? Oh, hell yeah. All right. So I remember like doing sh shrooms for the first time, like, uh, way before and I remember, and that's like kind of helped me. I Have you ever done shrooms? I have. It's awesome, right? Ah, my God has anyone else. It's great. Uh, but like, I took shrooms and that's like kind of helped me like, you know, figure out some stuff. I'm like, is this when I like, like that's when I broke down of like, oh, like. They, they, you know, it's not just like the auto mentality, but it's also like just society. They tell you, you get your degree, get your job. Like, am I following this blueprint that people are telling me to do, or should I just really just suck it up and do what I really want to do? But there is no blueprint, okay. For what people like you and I are doing. There is no blueprint. So let's get back to the shrooms topic just for a second. That's what I'm saying, that that's why I, that's why I broke down with shrooms. Like those are the thoughts that, okay. That and visuals was dope. Yeah. Oh man. Have you ever eaten on shroom? Shrooms? So I actually, I actually did shrooms. I microdosed because I lost my sense of, uh, taste. Oh shit. Due to an accident. And uh, I heard that if you, you know, uh, it had like neurological long-term impacts if you, if you take shrooms. Yeah. And so I did and I got my sense of taste back in like 90 days. Wow. It was crazy. That's amazing. It was unbelievable. Did you, did you feel like, uh, did you feel like better, I don't wanna say less depressed, but you felt like happier, better mood balancer? I would say I was definitely calmer during that time as a long, cuz I was microdosing so I was like, it was very like controlled. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. For 90 days. For 90 days. Wow. I've only microdosed like for like three days, four days. Yeah. But that's awesome. Yeah. So you had, you did in like pill form or whatever? Yes. A pill form. That's so cool. Yeah. It's, it was, it was pretty good. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you live in Houston, so I'm sure you got a good guy. It worked out. Yeah. Okay. So now you're questioning all these, you know, it's not time you need, you have so much left in you. Yeah. Uh, so that's when I decided like, you know, like I took the shrooms, rejected lo uh, rejected grad school. So I go home. They're like, you're get, you know, let's, let's time for you to find a wife, you know? Yeah. Uh, did they have someone lined up? They wanted me to meet some girl, I guess in, I guess she was in Washington. I guess, um, but I never met. I was like, no, I'm not gonna meet her. And then, okay, so everything was done. All you had to do was just say, yep, I'm good. Let's go, let's do this. Well, that was like the moment where I'm like, okay, I, I decided, like I, when I rejected grad school, I've decided like, okay, I want to be a comedian, so I gotta take this, even though I was treating it like a job, but no, I have to treat it like, I need to be successful at this, or I need to make this happen because I know how outs are. It's more, you know, like, like this, fuck, who's, what the fuck is this guy doing? You know? Right. It, it, it is not until like stereotypical, very stereotypical. I mean, I'll get into this later. I have a story. But anyways, um, and then, uh, I go home and then I remember like, like, all right, it's time to get you married. And I was like, no, mama, I'm not. It was, it was like a scene of a movie. I was like, no, mama, I'm not gonna get married. And they're like, what? And I was like, I'm gay. No, I'm just kidding. I just said no. I was like, no, I'm not gonna like get married to this, like, or look for a wife. And she was like, Lesh. I was like, I'm moving to LA in a year. I've already decided. I was like, I'm gonna move to la. I'm gonna have this much money in savings and I'm gonna, you know, like I will finish. There was like a sketch program that I wanted to finish. There was like standup things I wanted to do. So I was like, I'm. Finish this out for, to give myself a year. And I'm moving to LA and she's like, like, what's going on? What, what's there in la? Like, did you find a job? I was like, no, I'm gonna pursue comedy and make this my full-time job. And that's when like, everyone just stood silent after hands on my brother, like, oh my God. Like, like, like, they're just like, Ooh. Like shit's about to go down. You know what I mean? It's going down. Yeah. Yeah. You're like, oh shit. Right. And even my dad, my dad's like, oh, oh. Just like he had his phone, like putting it right in front of the eyes. And then my mom, You know, when an immigrant mom says something in English just to get the point across, she was like, then she threw AK until you are not even funny. And then my brothers like, oh, he, she, she called you a bitch. Like, oh man. And like, it was, it was funny. And then my dad, like, uhk, like my dad was always understanding my, even though I had other parents, they were never like helicopter parents. They were never like on my ass about anything. So my dad was like, listen, I know you're smart. You work hard. Just like, um, you know, remember who you are. Remember you're Yemeni, you know, remember you're a Muslim and you know, just know that like when you're on stage, you're representing us. And I was like, yeah, of course. Because like at this point I was like, I can't hide the brown on my skin. Right? Like, I know. Granted. Am I the best Muslim possible? I'm like, not really, but you got Hessen Minhaj for that dude. But, uh, but at the same time, like, uh, uh, I, and then that's when like, I decided to like really like take it seriously and like, all right, I'm gonna move to la And when I went to LA I realized like, oh, I have a lot of work to do. Cuz you're surrounded by all these extremely talented comedians. Right? But how does that happen? So like, you, you buy a ticket and you just move to LA or is there No, I drove or, well, but is there like a, like, do you know what, what you're going to, is there like a, like a setup? I kind of had to like, figure it out all by myself. So you, I mean, I had some friends, I had some comedian fr uh, my, uh, my friend Cole Jamer. Uh, wow, okay. Colin. Wow. Uh, white names, man. You gotta, yeah. It's hard to mix up. Uh, but anyways, um, Colin Jamerson, uh, who was also at Dallas Comedy House, we were like, Hey dude, I wanna move to LA around, you know, September of 2018, he was like, yeah, let's do it. So we f uh, you know, we met up there. His aunt, uh, was like on the west side of like Marina Delray area. So we like stayed for her for, with her for a couple. A nice area. Yeah. Yeah. She has a nice area. Yeah, it was, oh, and, uh, I think his aunt was like a teacher, so, but she's been in LA for many, many years, so she was able to buy a house in Marina Delray that time. But, you know, we, we stayed at like the back house area, like sleeping on like an old couch. And we were just looking for apartments. We found an apartment in North Hollywood, you know, and as soon as I got there, I just hit the ground running straight up. Like I moved and I started hit a, I started hitting open mics, started meeting other comedians. Okay. Uh, and then my savings, woo. Credit card got woo. I was like, fuck, I need a, I need to start making some money. But I had my accounting degree. So started working, went back to accounting. And then, you know, so at this point your comedy is still being supplemented like by a full-time job. Yeah. It's not something that really pays you that much. Right. It gives you like any type of like living at that time. Uh, a standup. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, dude, you're not making that much money as a standup. Like, even like now I'm not making like a ton of money, but I'm making like, like enough to get me by enough to like pay for my bills enough. Just like a little bit. But I mean, but that's how the industry is. Like when I quit my job, my friends who are, who are full-time standup comedians, he was like, uh, my friend Mike Fzo. And he was like, uh, he was like, you're gonna have good months and you're gonna have bad months. And the feeling of, am I gonna be able to pay is never gonna go. I think that doesn't go away at every level. Yeah. Especially as immigrants like, uh, uh, coming to this country and that being imprinted almost in our mind. You know what I mean? Right. When did you immigrate here? So I moved here in 2013, end of 2013. So technically like beginning of 2014. And I have a, I have a really interesting story. I actually lived, so that's Zara. You met her? Yeah. So when I came to this country, uh, her mom opened up their house and I lived with them for nine months. And, uh, I lived with them for nine months until I like got my bearings and tried to figure out what I'm gonna do. And at that time I had left my wife and kids back home. I didn't even bring them. So I came alone Uhhuh. And after nine months I was like, okay guys. I think I can bring you here and we can kind of, you know, do something. Mm-hmm. So, so yeah, I came here in 2014. Wow. Did you have an American pastor? No, no, no. I went through the whole immigration process. Oh, man. And it was very painful. You didn't marry anybody? No, I didn't marry man. I, I didn't go the typical Arab. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm like, Mario, a white woman, divorced, man. So I was married, uh, when I came here, and my kids were born there. So Ev So the reason actually I came here is because my kids have the Yemeni passport, and I was like, look, if there's one thing I've learned, it's that I need to give them a better passport. Oh, yeah. And so I went to the embassy, the US Embassy in Dubai, and they gave me a visa to come here. And I was like, okay, all right, let me come and see what I can do. And then when I came here, Uh, then went back, then did the business thing and business visa. It was just a whole like 10 years of like pain, you know? Wow. Uh, and yeah. And very recent got that resolved. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Dude, I'm gonna be honest. Having an American passport is the shit, dude. That's the shit. Yeah. I just got back from Istanbul and then I went in that country like, like fucking beauty patches. I was like, dude, it was awesome. Yeah. It felt like the hottest girl there. Um, I even though like, funny enough, I'm gonna talk about it on stage. When I was flying back to America, I got randomly selected, of course, for, uh, for extra security screening. Um, I was like, good to be back in my country, America, at least, you know, they're working, Hey, at least they're doing something right. All right. Uh, and then you moved here and then you mainly just do like real. So I initially, when I came here, didn't know what I was gonna do. Uh, I had real estate background. I was an agent, I was a power agent in Dubai. So like I, I made, I sold like millions of Dunhams in transactions and I was a hard worker and I worked from a very young age. Right. Uh, I came here, I was really lost. Like, what, what does one, so it's similar. That's why I was curious as to how your California journey began. Because my America journey began very similar. You know, I met these two guys, believe it or not, out of Tel Aviv, and they helped me kind of, you know, uh, walk around and tour and look at things. Did you tell 'em you're a Yemeni Jew? Ye no. No. I just told them I'm from Yemen and they were like, oh yeah, yeah, come with us. It's really interesting how that ended up working out for me. Um, I'm still, I'm not in touch with them anymore cuz you know, it's been a long time. Right. Uh, but I still have them on Facebook. I see them, you know, with their families and like they're here obviously. Yeah. They're not in Houston. And I remember, uh, one of the guys I met, I don't know his, like his Israeli name, but his American name was Zach. And he was like, who's Zacharia? He's like, don't worry. Over there they make us hit each other, but here we will be best friend. I was like, all right, whatever that means, man, dude, that's love man. And I'm like, I don't know what that means. And he's like, oh, don't worry. I will show you. And really, he really opened his books, showed me, I, I, I didn't end up pursuing what he was doing. What was he doing? So he, at the time, he wanted to build, uh, residential homes and then he ended up doing what you call today, air. Back then Airbnb didn't exist. It wasn't a thing. So we had something called corporate housing. So if you wanted apartments, you called a corporate housing company and they would find furnished apartments for you. Uh, and then Airbnb came and disrupted that entire business. And that business is like completely disappeared. But like for example, Houston, you have a lot of people that come here from medical. Mm-hmm. And those people want to, uh, need a place to stay. They have cancer, they have this, they have that, you know, they come from, uh, the Gulf, they come from other countries. And so he ended up in that business. Uh, wow. And then I ended up starting a fund because I didn't have enough money. And I was like, okay, now how do I hustle my way around this problem? Uh, figured out I could get investors and then just grew from there. But you grew up in Dubai, so you already came here knowing English, right? Yes. Uh, my, I think my English was very good. I'm sure. Yeah. You're, yeah. Your English is very good. Yeah. My English was very good. I, I wouldn't say it's as good at as it is today. Yeah. Uh, but it was still very good. Yeah. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure. Nice. And then, yeah, you already knew what you were doing, and that's smart. Yeah. Well, well, sort of to an extent, you know, like you had to figure out cultural and, you know. Yeah. What was like, what was like when you moved to, you moved to Houston particularly? What was like that I initially moved to California. Okay. Where Irvine. Okay. I had an uncle. Oh, there's so many AUMs there. No, so I had an uncle, he did real estate in Irvine. So I came initially to Irvine. And Irvine is very much like Dubai Beat city. Money, money, money, you know? Yeah. Um, came to Irvine, uh, decided, okay, this is easy. It's gonna be an easy transition for my kids, for my wife, and have my uncle and he does real estate there. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna, this is my place. I went back home, went, flew back to Dubai with the intention of coming back to Irvine, but then my uncle had a stroke and so my aunt picks up the phone and tells me, Hey, look, you can't come to Irvine anymore. You need to figure yourself out. And that's when. Zara's mom, my other aunt Yeah. Calls me and says, Hey, I live in this town called Katy, Texas. You wanna come take a look? I was like, what the hell's Katie, Texas? You know, you're right. I live in Dubai. Yeah. Uh, ended up coming to Katy, Texas and you know, it took some time, but we figured it out. Nice. Nice. And then like, had to buy a car cuz you're in Texas and you like the, believe it or not, I put 90,000 miles on my first car and I owned that thing for like, what did we own it for two, three years. By the time we had put 90,000 miles on it. Just driving it everywhere for real estate. Like, wow, looking, looking for opportunity. Oh, there's a land here. Okay, go take a look at it. Once I remember, cuz I used to play the Dubai card, so when I came in, they'd ask me, where are you from? I'm like, I'm from Dubai. So the realtors would really take me serious. There's Oh wow. Yeah, they wouldn't know. Like, I'm, I didn't have Yu Yemeni and so they didn't understand Yeah, yeah. To hide the cots in your back pocket. So, because they, I would just play the Dubai card and believe it or not, every agent wanted to do business with me. And so they would tell me, there's this land, there's that land. Go check this out. Check. Yeah. Because come hang out with me. Come hang out with me. Like, this guy has money. Yeah. Right. And so I played that card initially until the card was like, of no, you know, no more value to me. Then I was like, okay guys, I'm just from Yemen, so, you know, deal with it. Uh, but look, I think that is somewhat a survival, right? Yeah. You, you need to do what you need to do in order to survive. Right. Man, that's awesome. I, well you were asking about my transition to California. Um, Texas to California was, was a big deal or I think the bigger transition to me was from Dallas to Los Angeles. Cuz Dallas was like, at the time was like a city with less than a million people. And then I go to LA has 14 million people and it was just like a lot happening. I bought, um, I had like a real, I drove in there with like a very old rundown Honda Accord. Ended up selling it and I got ripped off, but I just needed something. Yeah. Cause I was like getting, I was like broke, but I ended up buying a Prius, um, and it had 8,000 miles on it. Typical California fashion. Yeah. I love my fucking Prius though. It runs on everybody does. Yeah. It's so good. Granted it like, have you seen the new. Yeah, I can't wait. Actually I I just paid off my Prius. That's so what that means. Yeah. So I'm about to get into more debt with a new Prius. No, I'm, my plan is to like, uh, again, like again with my career going like, and s Shala, like money will flourish and I know it will, but I'm not, you know, I'm not doing it for the money. I, I know, uh, my dad, uh, he raised me and my brothers like very hardworking and were very like, motivated. And, and I know if I didn't choose comedy and I chose like a, if I wanted money, I wouldn't have chosen comedy. I would've chosen a different industry and would've made mad money. Alright. But I lo I love, it's, it's the passion and I won't be happy. I mean, this makes me happy. Yep. And, uh, also it's like I kind of find something, there's beauty with the struggle. Like there's beauty of like, you know, driving to different cities. Like again, I, I bought that car February of 2019. Now, like four years later, I think it's almost at, it's at 85,000 miles. Almost 90. It's only four years. Yeah. And I'm about to put some more miles, speaking of which, I'm gonna be at Irvine Improv, April 12th. Um, alright. Check him out. April 12th, guys, where did they get the tickets? Well, because you mentioned, uh, Irvine, uh, Irvine, uh, uh, uh, Irvine Improv, uh, on their website, uh, with Daniel Wine Garden. Anyways, uh, but I'm about to, like, in April, I'm about to go like drive to Oxnard and then I'm driving to Irvine, San Diego back up to the Bay Area for Ala uh, for Alameda Comedy Club. But there's like beauty in the, in the struggle. Yeah. Right. It's the journey. It's the journey. You know, a lot of people say that once you get there, There's really nothing else left. You're like, okay, I missed the journey part. Right. Yeah, that makes sense. And I always tell myself, like, as, uh, sometimes I get, um, you know, I'm a human being. So like I, I sometimes get like, frustrated with like, uh, like I get into the comparison game or I, you know, or I just like get annoyed with certain aspects that I have to deal with. You know, I'm like, fuck I, I got all these shows. Did I sell enough tickets? Or do I, you know, do I have enough money to pay for the flight, you know, to go back home or whatever? And then I, I take a deep breath. I'm like, all right, re relax. Like one, if you're, you're not an accountant anymore. You know, the fact that I'm not an accountant, that in itself, for me, it's a win. And two, it's like I remind myself if I'm not happy now, I'm not gonna be happy when I reach the level, I reach a higher level. When I get to a point where I'm like, my name alone sells out a comedy club. Right. You know, and I know I'll get there. Who doesn't? I don't know when it'll happen. It'll happen. Uh, but for now, just like be in the moment, the fact that like, I get to sit here and I'm invited through a guy who spoiled me with TikTok flowers. Right. Now I get to meet interesting people. Right. And I'm now in, Hey, look. You said what? You're 29? I'm 29, yeah. Yeah. You still have so much time, man. I, I, how old are you? I made my first million dollars, like one time, one gold million dollars when I was 31 or 32. Yeah. I was 32 when I made my first like seven figure check. Wow. And before that it was like nothing. You know, it was just like a struggle. And then all of a sudden, boom, seven figure. And then it just started. That was when it hit my bank account. And then from there, yeah. And from there it just kept growing and growing and growing and So you got plenty of time, man. Okay. Quick question. It hits your account. Okay. How long were you like happy? Like, and then how long were you happy? How long did it take? And then how long did it take from it turned to happy to All right, now what? So it's all about the chase, right? It's not, it's not about the destination. It's all about the journey. So million dollar hits my bank account doesn't really phase me. Okay. And now I'm like, oh, I need to do that again and then I need to do it again. Right? And then that's kinda where, uh, it becomes important. Cuz now I need to do it faster. It's not fast enough. Now I need to do it even faster. Now I need to take other people's money and do it even faster, you know? Correct. And so you get to this point where it's really all about that the next deal. Right. We're deal junkies. They call us deal junkies. So it's not even about the money for you? No, it's, it's not, it's really not about money. It's just the chase. It's the, it's just the, the high you get off of, off of the experience right off of the chase. Cuz once the money hits your bank account, I sold my business in 2019 right before the pandemic hit. Mm-hmm. That's when I, uh, came on TikTok. Prior to that, I had zero social media exp uh, like experience, right? Like if you, if you asked anyone in my family who the social media influencer in our family could potentially be, I would be the last one on that list. Right. Uh, sold my company, needed to find something else. And then so again, I was back in it and back in it and that's why we can't stop. Like every day we have new things happening. Cuz it's all about that. It's just exactly like what you said. Yeah. That's what brings you joy. There is nothing, there is no better feeling than. Walking in, uh, on stage in front of a room of people who don't know who the hell you are, and then make them laugh and then you leave. And like, that's my favorite feeling from who the hell is this guy to, I'm a fan of that guy. And that to me is, uh, that's what I seek beauty in. Like, uh, Jerry Seinfeld, he talks about it where he was like, I missed the days where I get on stage and nobody knows me. Cuz that's, to me was like this true comedian. Right? But now, uh, uh, even like Kevin Hart mentioned it, where like I get on stage and I don't even know if I say if it's, they're laughing because when I'm saying is funny or they're laughing because it's this mask. Oh my god, Kevin Hart is right in front of me. So you'll get there. Yeah. But for now, I'm chilling. You're good. You know what I mean? You're good. I'm rocking stained sweaters, baby. Hey, look. Whatever makes you happy. Right. You know, and if it brings you joy and this is the journey that you've chosen, then you know, you, you have to own it. Correct. Right. Yeah. Um, so let's talk about California. Uh, you, you now have started in California with your Prius. Oh yeah. Who now has a lot of miles on it and you're gonna buy a new one. Uh, where does that journey, where's that journey going now? Right now? Well, no, where did it go from then? Oh. Oh, okay. So I bought my Prius in the beginning. I was, uh, accountant by day, comedian by night. There was a period my mom had surgery and like for her shoulder, so she couldn't work. And uh, there was a point where in between when I had time, I would turn, I was a Postmates delivery driver. Okay. And I would just like, And, and El Los Angeles is exp California's fucking expensive dude. That's why I'm here. That's why Joe Rogan's here. Fucking Elon Musk, everybody's here. Uh, but like the, the la is just fucking expensive. So I just made enough to me, like for me, like money is just, I just needed to make enough money to pay for my rent. And I had enough money to just send to my mom. Uh, and in Charla, that's what I want. Like, I, I just, right now, like, I wanna make enough money to send more money to my mom, you know? Uh, but. Um, but what was I gonna say? But yeah, like, uh, I'm, I'm accounting my day comedian by night, and I'm, and I'm still like a new comedian. I'm getting on stage, I'm hitting open mics, I'm hitting mic, uh, shows at dive bars and, and me like, again, this is a job to me. And I wanted to be the best comedian out there. So I still remember, I, I'm in north, I'm in the valley where you're doing standup in front of like mixed audience. Uh, mainly white audience or young or young audience members. But there is like different sections cuz it's Los Angeles. So I would drive all the way down to Compton. There was a comedy club called the Jays Spot Comedy Club, and I was like, I'm gonna do black rooms because a lot of my friends that are like, nah, I don't wanna do black, they're too scared to do black rooms. And I was like, no, I, I need to do black rooms cuz if I can make them laugh, I, you know, like then I'm a good comedian and I've had the best sets of my life there and I had the worst sets of my life. There were, but that's what I love about black audience. They were, they were very honest. Same with Mexican crowds. So I was driving to East LA and there was some spots there to do all Mexican rooms or all Latino rooms and that, and, and I put so much fucking miles on my Prius and, and in between, like in between, like, if I had an extra time, I would just, uh, you know, turn on Postmates and just do some deliveries, try to make some extra cash. Uh, and then the pandemic. Um, pandemic hit I was working at, uh, for Robert Ha have you heard of Robert Haf? They're like a, they're a temp agency, but I was working under them. I was like a salaried, pro profession SPS program. It was like a salaried professional. I'm gonna be honest, I was so broke when I asked for the job where I accepted like $21 an hour, which in hindsight, I should have asked for way more in la. But in LA I was paying, I was getting paid 21 an hour, but to me, I was like, I okay, I, I have a job, you know? Um, I got paid to just like, I worked, got off work and because I was like a temp, I was work a glorified temp. I was like working, I'm living in North Hollywood. I, I would be working downtown Dallas or all the way in Marina Delray, and this was pre pandemic, so the traffic was so bad I didn't even like go home. So there would be so much date there would be like, A lot of days where I would leave, I would wake up early at like 7:00 AM go to the gym and then go to work, and then I want to come back home till like 11:00 PM midnight, because I would get off work. I would either do like, go to Groundlings, it was like a improv school there. Um, or I would just be handing open mics or driving around. Um, I would take naps in my car and then get up and then, you know, continue on and just continue on. And then, um, pandemic hit and I got, uh, I, I was, I was employed. I got, like, they connected me with this job all the way in Santa Corita, uh, for this medical, uh, company called, uh, advanced Bionics. But they like got me the job right before the, uh, the shutdown happened. Okay. So even, uh, Robert half laid off a lot of employees, but fortunately for me, I had a job with them. So I, and they like just gave me a raise of not to brag, $22 an hour. Yeah, dude. Bitches were all over me. Babies. I'm just kidding. But, uh, uh, but like, comedy was like, came to a halt, but I was still, again, I'm, I'm hungry. I'm still, I, I started like a, a zoom every, a weekly zoom meeting with my friends to write sketches and standup jokes. Uh, and, you know, um, expenses are low, so I just, you know, save money. And is that common in the comedy world, or are you just like, gather with friends and Yeah. Yeah. Look, well, the, the beauty of standup comedy, it's like when you, uh, like it's a, it's a community-based form. Like the things, the opportunities I have gotten were from other comedians because they helped bring people up. You know, like a comedian would be like, Hey, I think you're funny. Like, come open for me. Or, uh, like, this is one of the best examples, like pandemic hits. And then at the end of 2020, my roommate Colin, at the time decides to move out and I, uh, I, I post on my story. I go, Hey, um, looking for a new roommate? Ryan hits me up at this point. Ryan, he like got, he got into this new thing called TikTok that came out in 2019. He was smart. He, he saw what it is and he like, He like got into it early, so by the time he was already at like 2.7 million. But it was so funny because he responds to my message and then I was like, oh, cool. And then I was like, by the way, says, when the fuck did you get 50,000 followers on Instagram? He was like, oh, I've been on TikTok. And then like, I was like, oh, yeah, I, I opened TikTok in like 2019, but I didn't really think anything of it. And then, uh, he moves in and he was like, Hey, like, let's start like doing videos. So he is like, I've, you know, because we've always been friends for years, but during the pandemic, he moved to St. Louis, but he wanted to move back to la and then he was like, dude, like he basically, I, I joke around, but he basically put a headlock, he was like, get into TikTok. Like we got, he was like, dude, you're hilarious. So it's again, like he. He basically, like, we moved in together and he didn't need to help me or anything, but it was mainly like, you know, you wanna do videos together? I was like, yeah, for sure. And I still remember this, the first week of us living together, I was like, Hey, I have this idea. And basically maybe y'all seen this, but it's a video of like when you're in a rush, but prayer first. And basically I'm like in a rush. I'm like, oh shit. And then my, my white roommate's like, you forgot to pray. I'm like, oh God. He's like, Northeast. I'm like, and then I like pray fast. And he's like, that's not how you pray. And I just like yell, shut up. And I run out, popped off like 6 million views or something. I was like, oh shit. Like, you know what I mean? Saying that, like that high feeling like, oh shit. Uh, we ended up moving to a better apartment. And then, you know, we just started like doing videos together and TikTok like really helped me, like started pushing my standup career with not just me. A lot of my friends, uh, Michael Blustein, he popped off through it. Uh, who else? Uh, uh, not my friend, but his name's Nimish Patel. Very, very funny comedian. Yeah, we've actually been to one of his shows, uh Oh, nice. When he came in. Yeah. He's great at Crowdwork, isn't he? He, he's pretty funny. Yeah, he's very funny. Um, and who else? Uh, my roommate Ryan. Like, there's lots of, you know, that was like, unfortunately I gone into it a little bit earlier than most people now where I'm like, okay, so this is the platform now. Um, you know, is there moments Sometimes I feel looking back, I'm like, oh, I should have done this, or I shouldn't done this better. But at the same time, like I have no regrets, like, Social media is a tool, you know, for Yeah, success. It's not like the main thing. Cuz again, like I use standup to fuel standup comedy and there's always a new form. Right now it's TikTok. Four years ago it was podcast and now who knows what's the next thing? What's gonna be next? Who knows what's gonna be, so what? What are your thoughts? What are your comments like and how do they impact you, if anything at all? Mm. Have you read my comments? Is that what you're asking? I have not, but you know, this is one thing I ask every guest here. Yeah. Uh, because some of them, because you know, the thing is look, creating content on surface looks easy, right? And it's like, yeah, I just, there is a lot of behind the scenes that people don't know, um, uh oh, you were saying? Yeah. And so I feel like there's also a lot of emotion that goes a lot af you know, behind every piece of content. And sometimes, you know, depending on, uh, what I have learned is that, uh, you know, there's a lot of negativity that goes around from our own sometimes. Oh, for sure. Yeah. Actually I was just telling Zara on the way here. Um, so I have a couple like methods of how I deal with comments cuz you know, like you could, it's so funny because before I got into TikTok or, or heavy into, or before I started getting popular, my friends who already. You know, in, in the comedy world who are already pretty popular, they're always, they always, you hear it from the same thing. Oh, just ignore it. You know, you hear it from every, oh, just ignore it. But this is like a comment specifically to you. It's hard. You're a human being. So sometimes like I'll, uh, you know, I'll get, I'll get like, uh, I'll get a, I'll post a video and then you'll get like, let's say like 10 people that like hilarious good stuff. I love your shit, love your content, you're my favorite. And then you have one, you know, you're not funny or something like that. And then, uh, like back then it would get to me, but then I'm like, wait, it's not fair to the 10 people that like me, and then this one person that doesn't like me. And also, like, they, you don't know what their intent is. Usually their profile picture is like some Google image, right? Like, you don't know where their intent. Sometimes I'll respond to a negative comment and then it's like they backtrack. Turns out they were just fans of me, or they just wanted my attention. Right. You know? Um, I mean, I, I know like if someone says, not funny, you know, listen, I'm, a couple weeks ago I was on stage and I was doing jokes on a girl, like I said, a joke and a girl said, not funny, but then I was like, everybody else loved it, and they were all clapping. I was like, I get it. I'm a comedian. So it's like, um, and, and it's times like, um, I'll listen. I, uh, actually, uh, recently I, I got, there's two occasions where I, one, it's just stay your ground. Like, if you just are true to yourself and you know what you're doing, the people will come. I, I stand, I stood my ground. There's this one, I was live and this one person, um, you know, like, you're like, you're not supposed to make jokes about religion. And I'm like, I can make jokes about anything I want. All right. I isn't there. Isn't there like a, a thing with comedians where you could literally say whatever you want and as long as it was in that context, there's no chance of you like winning a lawsuit or something? Losing a lawsuit. Didn't Hussan Minaj do that to somebody? And he got away with it? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. With, um, what's it called? Yeah. When he was making fun of that big bank, and, you know, I I it was a, it's like a hedge fund manager or something. Yeah, yeah. It was, it was some clause. I can't really remember, but it wasn't even that, it was like, I'm not e by the way, I'm not even attacking religion. It's more this is, uh, I'm gonna do a joke tonight, Abe, but it's hilarious. But, but when I do the joke and I, again, back to confidence, it's like I'm on stage doing these jokes and this is, I'm, and I hope I speak for all comedians. When I say this, a good joke and a bad joke all comes, it comes from the same part of the brain. So if I say a joke and nobody laughs, I'm not gonna say the joke again cuz no one laughs. But if I'm doing a joke and everybody laughs and, uh, like Muslims, particularly Yemenese are laughing at this joke. I'm gonna keep doing it. You know, when I went to Dearborn, Michigan, the most Yemeni community, like very, you know how you've heard, I've heard. And I remember going there, I was co-head line with Mike, Mike Eek. Um, and I remember thinking, I was like, I'm gonna do this joke. And this is like, I have two jokes that are like, edgy, right? One, it's like particularly about religion and, and it's not even like, I'm not even like making fun of God or anything. It's just like a personal story, is it? Yeah. But it's funny. And another like, edgy joke, but it's more of like a Yemeni joke about Yemenis. And I was like, I'm gonna do these jokes and if this works then I'm gonna keep doing it. Imagine like a crowd of yemenese fucking loving it. And people come in, they're like, well, LA that was the best. That was like, that was my favorite joke. Like, you have to keep doing it. So, so this girl is saying like, uh, is saying like, uh, like, you know, you're not supposed to make jokes about, I'm like, I can make jokes about anything I want. I'm sure you've seen a clip of, have you seen the standup of uh, I celebrated Christmas for the first time. I had a joke about that. It's a, it's a fun joke. And then, you know, people laugh, laugh, laugh. And then one is like, why are you making, you know, jokes about religion? I was like, I'm a comedian and I responded, I'm a comedian. I can make jokes about anything I want. I'm standing my ground on this. You could hate unfollow me. That's fine. Cuz nine times outta 10 you're a type person. That's like, if you're leaving negative comments on post, you probably nine times outta 10 you, you have too much social anxiety to go buy tickets to a comedy show. So I really don't care. And another thing that I, and, and this is as a Yemeni American Muslim, particularly Yemenese, cuz you know how conservative we are, right? I stood my ground with, um, with the, okay, so like someone, um, I have L G B T fans. Right. And this, before I get back to this, this is what's annoying. You'll have like an a, a, like, particularly Muslims, they go, you're gay. Like, I'll do a video with, uh, with Ryan. They go, you're gay. So then I was like, all right. So I wrote a, a series called with me and Ryan. I go, we're straight men and people think we're gay. It was just to fuck with them, you know? And it's about toxic masculinity. It's about, you know, if you. Uh, you know, societal norms, they put straight men in a box, and if you act a certain way outside of this box, you're gay. You know, and it's, and ironic enough, it's straight men who created this box for us, right? We, we put ourselves in this, you know, that's why when people go, ah, you know, people don't care about men's mental health, it's because men doesn't get, we don't care about men's mental health. It's our job to care about, right? Anyways, so you'll have like, you're gay and then I'll have a video of me with a girl or talking about dating. They're like, bro, that's hot on. And it's the same fucking guy, you know, it's a same this way. You get hit on that way, you get Right, right. So that's one. But anyways, like I was, um, so I'm live on TikTok and uh, like, they were like, uh, um, you know, like I have L G B T fans and they're like, I'm buying tickets to your shows. And when I have, trust me tonight, We're probably gonna have some L G B LGBT family, which is fine. You know, we live in America, right? Like, like we can't meet us as Muslims live in America. They're like, oh, you know, they're hating on us, but then we're like hating on this community, you know, so, which I don't understand, but whatever. So I go, um, someone was like, uh, someone was like, uh, why? Uh, like, they're like, do you allow L G B T people to your shows? I was like, yeah, I love the L G B T's. Like, hold on, I'm gonna check you. Yeah. Are you lgbt? Like, do I have a fucking nail polished test? And be like, uh, like I put on RuPaul Drags race and just like watch if they have a boner or something. Like, I'm like, it made no sense. They're like, you allow, and they're like, you support L G B T. And I'm like, listen. If you buy tickets to my show, that's it. Hey, if you buy tickets to my show, guess what? I support you. BBL M Sure. Buy if you buy tickets to my show. Sure. Fucking I, I did shows in Vegas and they were, half of them were Trump supporters. I'm still making them laugh like I'm a comedian, I'm an entertainer, you know? Right. And also, let's say I don't like L G B T people. It's a bad business idea to be like, Hey, no L G B T people on my shows. It's so stupid to me. Uh, but yeah, that's, that's why. And they were getting mad at me and I'm literally like, wait a minute. And I was, at this point I was like, I have a lot of like, overseas people. I was like, I was like, you guys are even gonna buy tickets to my shows. I'm performing in America. Who buys your ticket? Who is your target? Like, than my audience? Yeah. Who is your audience? Ham. Uh, I feel like you are more, uh, American. Your audience at least, would be more It's very American. Yeah. And, but I like that. Yeah. It's very, it's, it's not, but here's the thing. When you say, like, when I think American, I'm not thinking white people. When I say American, I'm thinking Arab American. Like, okay. I, I, when I started, like when I quit my job and I started like doing shows around, uh, the country, uh, uh, Dallas, which is like my, you know, it's my hometown, but I have a lot of fans there. It was a cool moment cuz you would have like, you know, this young Muslim couple hijab and you know, their husband, you know, they're just her husband, they're fans of me. And sitting right next to 'em was a lesbian couple sitting right next to them was uh, a Mexican couple. And then there was like an older black couple. Like the wife saw me through Facebook, but it was just like this huge diverse audience. And then you had all the layout of people in the back. You had all these different people and it made me happy cuz I was like, no, this is good. Like, this is what I want. I'm not trying to pertain a pertain a specific audience and let's be real, that comedy, that kind of comedy is boring of just like, just talking about one thing. I talk about everything, right? I talk about dating, I talk about drugs, I talk about fucking, I just posted a video about people who drink diet Coke are weird. You know, like I'll, I joke about whatever I want. They shouldn't get married. Huh? They shouldn't married. They shouldn't get married. I thank you. That's the one community. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, they're just like a menace of society, but, uh, but like, it's just, uh, I, I'm, I'm just gonna stand my ground with these comments of like, this is just so, it's, uh, like that Yemeni sks. It's all empty words. Even, even when, uh, uh, like Adams would try to like, you know, be like, you're not Yemeni. And I'm like, and I fuck with them. I go, yeah, Yemenis are really proud of being Yemenis cuz we have nothing else to be proud about. And then you, you just see them mad. You just see like, you just like, you just say, you just troll them. Like, yeah. Like, like you don't understand. Like, I know how to, you're, you're easy to mess with, you know? Um, but yeah. So back to like negative comments, it's like, I agree. You'll have a low self-esteem day, and then that one comment gets to you, but in the end it's like Even, uh, Gary, Gary V he said, no, I'm just kidding. He was like, there's gonna be a little bit of hatred that way. Oh, yeah, that's fine. Uh, by, at this po moment, we need, we need that to be shorts so that we can Yeah. Anyways. Send it to you. But basically like, no, but he, he ha he had like this phase where he goes, Hey, you're the goat. Thank you so much. Hey, you suck. Thank you so much. Where it's like, it's, he took it, it's like it's through his own filter system. He knows who he is. In the end of the day, I know who I am. Right. You. I know exactly. I know, I know. I'm not a bad person. Right. I know I'm not the bad most of 'em, but I'm trying. Right. You know, but at the same time it's like, sorry, I, I like went on a rant here for No, but look, the fact that you say you are trying, uh, you know, is, is I guess that that's what's life's about. You just keep trying, you know, whatever it is, uh, there's no, there's no right, there's no wrong really, you know, but you just keep trying. Right? And, and you just, you just keep doing what you're doing. The audience are gonna find you. The people, the people who, the people who fuck with you will come, you know, in the end. Like, I have this many followers. How many of them are gonna come out and buy tickets? Yeah. Those, those are the audience that I care for. Because it's not even money. It's more, I'm, I'm literally meeting you in person. You, to me, it's. Like, especially the married couples with kids. Well, Lala I mean, every show I, I, I just prayed to God, I'm like, just make it worth it. Make their time and money worth it. Cuz they, they went out and found a b babysitter. Some of them drove hours to come see me. Right, right. And so grateful for that. So grateful. Yeah. Like it's, it's just like you went your whole way. That's why after shows, I, I stand outside back to this whole like, uh, you know, not struggling, but it's the beauty of it, of like, yeah, I'm performing in front of people who don't know me, but other people who do know me and I sin, I talk to 'em, here's a sticker, here's a picture. Thank you. Like it means a lot to me. Right. Um, cuz it's like that negative comment. You're not gonna come to my show. I don't give a fuck. Yeah. You know, I'm not gonna buy tickets. You're not gonna buy tickets. I'm gonna give a you Oh. Like. You were just a person that saw one video and then you, you put this whole thing of like, this is who he is as a person. You know, you don't know who I am. You have to come to, you have to see. Same as like every internet persona or person you see. It's like, kind of like, if even you like, it's like people can assume who you are and say it, but then you know, I meet you in person. I say, who's this? Jack? Yemen dude. P90x. P90x. Kick Man. Kick. Yeah. If you're older, if you're, if you're, I think if you're over 37, P90X is probably a good balance. You don't need to do anything more. Right? Because at 38 things start to break. Do you do yoga? Uh, do I do yoga? I love yoga. I don't have patience. Man. Do do get it? Just try it. Try yoga for like, try like once a week we've tried yoga. What would, what would you say Slow. We, we need to try some other kind of yoga. Then in that case, I'm gonna try Pilates though. My wife does Pilates, so I'm gonna try Pilates with her. I'm excited for that. You're gonna get a tight ass core from there. Yeah. Yeah. And a tight ass. Hopefully. Hell, nice. Nice. All right, so dude, we got a better content for now. You're gonna get more reviews, so, alright, let's go. In the world of comedy, the world of entertainment, you know, forget about the comments for a second, right? And what, what is that journey even like, like you're here now. Obviously social media has made a huge impact, I'm assuming, on, on your reach. Yeah. Uh, your sh your shows, I'm, I'm assuming now are more widely, like people are aware of them. Uh, where does that go? Like, as in like right now? Yeah. Honestly, just back to what we were saying about like the chase. Just keep growing, you know, trying new things. Um, uh, I think as you know, uh, Ryan is like moving back to St. Louis. So you, you, Ryan, your roommate? My roommate, yes. And, you know, the past two and a half years, o o obviously I was do, I'm doing my own shit, but there was a lot of times where, you know, I love scotch writing, so a lot of it were just old sketches that I've had in the past that I like refurbished to like TikTok content. Like there is a video that I have where, uh, you know, I called it children of Immigrant Parents, P T S D, and basically it's Ryan goes, Hey, is this your sandal? I'm like, oh my God. Like, you know, it's like, Hey, look at this new bill. I'm like, oh my God. Like, I wrote it years ago when I was in Dallas Comedy House years ago, and I was like, oh yeah, what if this, like, I was like, yeah, like we see a sandal. We like, yeah, we freak out or whatever. And I was like, oh yeah, like, let me write this, or the, the fast prayer and then like, Um, I was like, wouldn't be funny. And the funny thing with the recent series that we did was like, Arab roommate. I was like, wouldn't it be funny if I just like te like Ryan has been living me so long. He's basically a Arab guy. So it's like he went from, you know, like a light, like certain words. And then I was like, oh, what if he's like my dad? What if he pretends to be my mom? Oh, oh whatev this one. It was so funny when I made him become a Arabian fuckboy, he was like, come on, we gotta go to the Hooka bar and charm. Muta are waiting for us. Can you put on some Drake? And like, it was so funny cuz he could see like some, a girls who were triggered. They're like, oh my God. Like who is this guy? But like, and then we accidentally fell of like, I'm trying to teach him Kelb. And then like, right meanwhile I'm like, just say calf. And he is like, this a baby cow. Like, and I like tell, uh, you know, our, so. Ryan's girlfriend who was filming for us. I was like, get that on camera, like right now. Like I was like, we gotta record this part cuz that's hilarious. Um, so it was just like this fun era like that we've done. And I'm not like when he, you know, I knew he was gonna move out since like, you know, January, but like he wants to move back to St. Louis, you know, similar. I might have to connect y'all cuz he wants to invest in real estate. There you go. Yeah. So, um, so what you were saying about what now? So it's like, now I'm thinking, all right, this is the end of an era. What am I gonna do? And I was like, well I do, I'm still gonna do sketches, but I'm gonna post more standup stuff. Okay. Uh, I, my plan is to just, uh, post more crowdwork stuff too, because I don't wanna burn my material, but I do write a lot of jokes so I'm gonna just like take posting more, standup more seriously. I'm just like, like it was just, it's a lot cuz I have a shit ton of footage and then having to sit through. Where's your vi, where's Kelvin? He does, you get it right Kelvin? All right, buddy. He gets it right where it's in his room, just right where you're editing and you're sitting through like, like th certain clips and you gotta like cut through. And that's just like the tedious part and like the more tedious part with captioning and zooming and lighting, I don't even do that. I like send it to a front, like you deal with it, but like having to like know what you need to, uh, do. So that's like something I need to push myself more, challenge my, it's more just. Thinking, all right. Uh, you're a business. So it's like, okay, what am I doing right, and what am I doing wrong? Uh, well, I'm sometimes if I, uh, don't have a certain like, joke that didn't get on stage, I'll just say it in my car, which I did or I have. Um, have you seen that sketch? Uh, that I, I posted like a couple months ago of like, uh, uh, the Turkey meat, you see a tur, uh, you see Turkey meat? And then I'm like, uh, is it, is this Turkey or ham? Uh, deli meat? You never know, right? And it's like, I don't know. It's like, you know, it's, it's lunch meat. You never know. And it's like, why? It's like on Muslim, it's like, didn't you drink at the mu? I'm like, no, I didn't. It's like, it's such a, it's like, you know, like it's very stereotypical stuff, right? Right. But I was like, let me write this like sketch, like bass on that. So, uh, I like, of where I'm playing multiple characters. Do you see that a lot? Like, uh, you. Like, they'll say no to one thing and then, but yes to other things. And like, I mean around you. Oh, I'm the same way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. But like, you know, and the reason I bring this up is because as an immigrant, right, first gen, you know, an immigrant, not a first gen, right? It's funny because I look at the parents and then I'm not old enough to be like the parents. So these kids will come up to me and tell me all these things, and I'm like, bro, why are you telling me all this? I'm not interested. But they're like, no, you're cool. We're gonna tell you all these things that we. Right. And then they're completely different on the, on the back end with their parents. Right. And so I, and I just sit there and watch the show and, you know, I'm like, I'm like, alright, have you, there was like a meme that I saw, it was like, uh, it was like a chocolate cake and it was like, it could have sliced and it was like, it, the cake called was sins or whatever. And then it was like all the sins and pork and they cut it and they take the rest of the cake. So my question, I guess where I was going with that, or is, are you the same with your family where, you know, you're one way here and another label? Yeah. Okay. No, I listen, I think. Okay. Uh, I'm very, I'm very, and I think this helps with, uh, who I am on, on, like with my following and stuff. Uh, authenticity. Uh, I'm very like, transparent with, with myself, not fully transparent, obviously. Like, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not like sitting there like yelling, man, fuck bitches, dude. Or, or like, I love gambling. I'm not like that, but I'm, I'm more like, you know, I, I say like, I know I'm not the perfect Muslim, right? I don't judge other people. That was, see, that's the issue with a lot of people that we, you know. Yeah. It's like, it's like, uh, you know, like, look at this. His kid, you know, he's out there doing drugs, but they're selling liquor right at their gas station, right? And, and it's like, it's so funny because people highlight other people's sins. But it's all a sin here. I know there's other, oh, there's other bigger sins. Before everyone's getting all, well, actually, you're like, fucking nerd. And like, all right. Okay. But like, but everyone's saying, they're like, let me judge, it's so funny because for a religion that says that we always preach that only Allah can judge you. We're the most judgmental people, man, man, ever. But again, I don't, again, I don't let it faze me. Right. I'm, I'm very, I think I'm beyond that. You're way beyond that. Oh, yeah. You know, I allow gay people to my shows. I'm fucking woke, dude. I'm listen, like, I'm not gonna sit there and, uh, judge, and, and I think a lot of my, um, um, my Muslim audience members who come, I, I, dude, I'll have. I don't wanna say which city, but I had these Yemeni guys. No, just say the city. I'm not saying the city, but these Yemeni guys, they're like, yeah, like, bro, we went out, bro. They went hard. I was like, I'm, I'm chilling. Like, I'm, I'm cool. Like I'm, thank you. Like they, they took care of me. They gave me like, you know, they gave me a place to stay. They were like, you're my brother. They, they were fans of my comedy. After they went, I don't listen, I'm not getting into details, but, uh, I was like, oh, shit. Like, y'all go. They, they were having fun, but, um, but then like I was doing another city of like, uh, um, well I was in Seattle, this one I could say, but I was, I was in Seattle and there's these, uh, uh, group of Yemeni girls, like six, seven of 'em that came through. They're all like type like. Not even like shake hands. Right. And they were like, oh, you know, we found you through that clip of when I was making fun of the Yemeni tongue. Right. And it was so funny because when I posted that joke of like how Yemeni men with their tongues, uh, I was getting some hate from Yemeni. He was like, we don't do that. Or you're not, or you're zesty, like you're gay or whatever. And uh, and like, but it was so cool cuz I was like the, even though I got negative comments, the, I got these people to come to my shows, the negative comments, they're, they're negative. Right? Give a fuck. Yeah. I got people who these girls didn't even comment on my video. Right, right. They, but they came, that bought a ticket and they were so, like very respectful and, and some of, uh, one of them, they brought, she brought me the honey combs with cheese in it. Right. Uh, not Saba. Um, is it called Saba? You know, I actually don't know. No. Is it Saba? Why am I blanking out, dude, now the comments would go, this motherfucker not even, hold on. I gotta find it. Uh, so they got you the honeycomb with cheese as a gift grab. Yeah, yeah. You know, this is gonna drive me crazy. Uh, where's our Jamie? Yeah. Yo young Jamie. But, uh, but, and then I was like, it, it got, I even asked them, I was like, Hey, uh, by the way, um, I thank you so much cuz they drove from Tacoma to come see me. Okay. It's only like 45 minutes, but whatever. But they came to see me and I was like, Hey, um, I'm gonna, do you want me to do like hello jokes or whatever? And they were like, no. They're like, we seen your TikTok. They're like, no, you, they're what? Go off. They were like, go off. And I was like, my TikTok is, I was like, my standup is way better and it's edgier. And then, But, but that's what I love about standup. Like, uh, my, my little brother Abk a little bit more religious than me, and, and he goes, what I love about standup comedy, he's religious, but he respects comedy. But he was like standup comedy, which has always been since the, since it's been created or it's been started, low ceiling, dark light. It's this beautiful art form where it gives you permission to say things you're not supposed to be saying. But anyways, uh, but they were like, no, go off. Like, and I'm telling you, dude, from beginning they said they were laughing the whole time. Yeah. From my, you know, but like, just regular jokes to like the edge your material, they were loving it. So, um, that, that's like what you were saying of like, what now? So it's like just keep going. Like more. I think more people are gonna find me. More people are gonna discover. And in Shaah, like it's not just these Muslims and Arabs that connect with me, but it's also people who are not even out of Yeah. Mexican. Lots of Mexicans, because you know, we have very similar culture cultures and Yeah, that's true. Very, uh, even, uh, and black people and white people and, and like, and I and Filipinos, like, I want, you know, everybody to be, to enjoy my comedy, you know, cuz that's where the money is. No, I'm just kidding. But like, no, but that's the goal. Like, you wanna connect with everybody. Absolutely. Um, so that's, that's the goal is just like, figure out what I'm doing, try to like, write better sketches. Like put, for me it's put more thought into my content. Cuz, cuz sometimes I get caught up with the algorithm as in like, I gotta be co. And then I'm just posting for the sake of posting, but it's not like that. It's more just, just pull back. It's okay. Fo it's okay to take a little bit more time on the things you want to talk about or the things you wanna post. So what is your social media strategy right now for people who, like, are thinking of getting into social media? Right? Um, like what are your priority platforms? Where do you see it going and what's your strategy? So I think of TikTok as like my open mic. I post TikTok every day, sometimes twice a day. I need a post. I kidding. Pause now. I'm just kidding. No, but like, I, I think of TikTok as like my, I I just throw, because TikTok is like the wild west. You don't know what the hell is happening, right. And the algorithm, it's a little bit more, uh, rewarding. So I'll post like daily on TikTok. Um, and, and my, the way my brain works, like I'll think of an idea, a situation happens, and I'll write it down in my notes. And sometimes I think is this idea, could it be a sketch or could it be a standup joke? Um, I have plenty of examples of which is which, but I'll be like, oh, I could see, I could deliver this as standup, or let me do this as a sketch. Um, and then if it's at Sketch or for a piece of content, I'm like, how am I gonna shoot it? Should I just talk about it in my car or should I act it out into a scenario? Like what are ways to, uh, film certain things? You're not always right all the time, you're just trying things. So that's what I love about TikTok. It's this thing that you could just try. So TikTok is number one. TikTok is my main thing. And then after I have a app called Save Tick. And then I'll, uh, because I'll like edit on the app sometimes, or I have InShot that I'll like edit the videos. Um, but I like TikTok system. It's easier to shoot and post on that. And then I'll save the video through Save Tick, it won't have the watermark anymore, and I'll post it on Instagram. Um, sometimes like I'll post at the same time cuz I know it's really good. Right. And then I try to like, use the other platform, so it's like TikTok and Instagram are my main ones. And then I'll be like, okay, these are doing well, let me post it on YouTube shorts and then I'll post on, um, on Facebook as well. And, Trying to like keep up. Uh, sometimes I slack off with YouTube and Facebook. You're like, oh yeah, I gotta fucking post it. You're like, fuck. Like, uh, but fortunately, like earlier this year, I got two, I have two assistants. One is to help me with like emails and bookings for standup career-wise. And the other, uh, shout out to Andy and Anne. They, they were hardcore breadcrumbs. Okay. My fans all right. Uh, and they came, they're like, what can we do to help? Cuz they've just been supporting me for so long and I trust them. Um, and Anne, uh, she's helping me like run my podcast. I have a Pod Monday Fun podcast. When you're in LA you gotta come for sure. You'll love it down. It's a fun podcast. But, And, you know, we set up a schedule and she basically handles everything on that. Hopefully I'll find like another assistant, or maybe I could, maybe one of 'em can help me with this if they could just log into my YouTube or log into my Facebook and post, just post it for me. And, but aren't there like, uh, softwares that you can just use to like, work very well? The scheduling and all that? Yeah. They don't work very well. Yeah. I think it's better to just like an app. Yeah. And, and also these are all short form content. I'm trying to get better with long form content as well. Cuz that's like where the real, um, not just money, but also like the more loyal followers. Like a guy with 250,000 or a Yeah. A guy, a guy with like 200,000 YouTube subscribers that's, it, has better fan base than a person with 5 million TikTok followers. Right. And they make, they make pretty good money on 250,000 followers on long form content. So yeah, with YouTube, yeah, because YouTube has a better connotation. Policy, like YouTube will always, when it comes to social media. Right now, Facebook and Instagram's right now in a weird, like, because they even removed the Creator fund now. Yep. They removed the creator fund. The phone broke. Yeah. So you dude, and that, that, it's funny cuz I used to make, and this was after, uh, they dropped the amount you, I used to make way more money and then they dropped the amount of money that you make and now they're not giving you money at all. Right. I mean they just, two couple days ago they laid off like 10,000 thousand people. Yeah, yeah. 10,000 employees. Um, so Facebook and Instagram's finally might come to a halt cuz they've just, for the longest time they've just been piggy just taking ideas. Snapchat stories, take it and TikTok take their reels like they're just taking, but you know, they could come back now because of the whole TikTok ban or whatever Biden's trying to do. Yeah. Because of, uh, yeah, I've heard about this security. Security. Yeah. Cuz they have all of our, they have all of our information and stuff just like everybody else. Halas, TikTok, make me famous. Take all my, I'm a slave for y'all right now. No, I, I heard about that. Um, what do you think? Do you think TikTok will get banned? At first I was like, uh, I was like, oh shit, is it gonna really happen? But I'm at the other, at the same time I'm thinking it's a publicity stunt, you know? Yeah. Like maybe, maybe they're trying to. Like when I say pub or a public or a stunt in a way where they're trying to get more money from TikTok. It's like a PR stunt. A PR stunt. That's the word. Word. Gosh, look at us. We like complete each other's sentences. Yemen, Yemenese. Who speak better English than Arabic. Huh? I'm saying Yemenis who speak better English than Arabic. Yeah. Oh dude. The amount of times like I'll go live on TikTok and they're like and Likek and they're all like, your Arabic sucks. I was like, this is why I don't speak Arabic. Yeah. You guys make fun of me Too much. And my, and my Arabic, like I grew up with, with Shami, Tini and Syrian. So like more too. Huh? Your, your accent is more towards Yeah, and my dad is son, uh, my dad is to, my mom is son. Like the whole thing is just a cluster fuck. So I'd rather just like, I'll speak Arabic with people who I'm very comfortable with. Sometimes online. I'll go on TikTok live and they'll be like, speak Arabic, and I'll start speaking Arabic and then people will go, you fucking suck, dude. I'm like, that gets to me. I'm like, I know it sucks. I know my Arabic sucks. Um, but, uh, uh, we, you mentioned something, I interrupted you. What did you say? It was like something about social media. Social media and PR stunts, you say? Yeah, TikTok PR stunt, they're gonna get banned and then where's everyone gonna go? I think they're just gonna focus on YouTube shorts and, and Instagram. Dude, we have so many fucking options. Options, dude. It's like, where do we, I didn't even get into Snapchat yet. I, I don't even know what that is. My kids use it, but like, I don't know what, like it's what purpose it serves in, in today's world. I really don't know. Don't worry about it. Hanzo, go make another million dollars. Don't worry about Snapchat. Yeah. That's kind of what I'm, you know, my, my, my rush is that where's the next million dollars? Yeah. There is no, there is no, um, like, and it's kind of like I, I, I'm, I'm comparing algorithm to the algorithm to the stock market. Anybody who tells you that they know how the algorithm works, they don't know, you know, then maybe they like, kinda like Warren Buffet. Like he, he, because of his experience, he kind of knows certain things how to like un you know, how to predict the stock market or whatever. But, you know, I guess like the main thing when it comes to content, to answer your question to content creators or people want to get into content creating, it's like stay consistent, you know? Um, You know, every once in a while, like when you're getting low views, sometimes, like for me when I'm sometimes, like I'll have, like, I'm posting consistent and I'm ha I call it a flop era when shit's just not doing well. And I, and I take a step back and I'm like, well, is it funny? Is it good? Like, what's the quality of this video? Like, is it good enough? You know, and you gotta like, be like super honest with yourself. And that's the beauty with like, similar to stand, like what standup comedy forces you to do. You, you become so self-aware of who you are on stage. So, so when you're posting content, it's like, yeah, I'm being consistent, but it's like, yeah, but, but like, you're consistently posting shit. You know? That's what I've, I'm, I'm, this is something I'm telling myself, you know? So you are basically saying quality over quantity. Yes and no because you, okay, you wanna post quant cuz you wanna be consistent, but remember, quality comes out of the quantity, you know? So like, the more you're posting, you're just getting better. You're in this practice, you know? And it's like, there's a difference between being consistent and then being consistent and then reviewing what you're doing. You, you know what I mean? Yeah. So it's like, so like, I'm thinking like, all right, I posted this. How did this pop off? Well, I'm hitting, I'm saying these certain subjects. I'm saying, I have an example, I wrote a joke about astrology only because I knew I, and it's like, it's like as if they fell for my trap. Like I knew it was just a, it's a very social media topic. It's a very like, Hot topic. And I live in La, Gemini, Gemini, Sagittarius. What's up ladies? Um, but, but like, I, I was like this, I'm gonna write this joke and I know I'm gonna say I'm gonna get on stage. I'm like, every time I tell people my astrology sign, which is a Gemini, and then I just knew some girl's gonna say something and then boom, they're, let's just talk to 'em and make it work. Right? And I have it pinned on my profile. Like it's a, it's a, but that, like, that's what popped me off on Facebook like that, that had like millions of views on Facebook because it's all, because con with content, people want, they wanna relate. They wanna be like, oh my God, I'm a gem, I'm a serious, and then you have like, oh, the geo astrology doesn't even exist. And we're like, it just, it didn't matter. It just needed people to be like, oh, let me put my, let me put my 2 cents in this. Put the al to work. Just, just get it, you know what I mean? Like, get it to work. Like, so I knew, I knew this was a hot topic. Let me make a, I wrote the, the, the thing about LaCroix and Diet Coke right now, people are like, this is a personalty, or I love Diet Coke, or, you know what I mean? And I, I'm just gonna leave it there cuz I know in the future when another video pops off, people are gonna start seeing this. Right. And in my other, like right now, when the Arab roommate series started picking up, people were looking at my other videos and then I, they started seeing my Captain America joke that popped off, or my suicide joke that popped off. Or the, uh, it was like an old podcast while my friend Jonathan kept saying Ahed. And I'm teaching him how to say Ahmed, you know, very random videos that are all just like, now they're in the ethernet. Yep. But that's what I'm saying. It's your library quality comes out of the quantity. Right. When I posted it, I didn't think I knew it was. Did it not do well in the beginning? Yeah. But I was like, I know there is something there. I trust myself. And then sometimes, like, especially with TikTok, I will post something and I'll do a review and I'm like, you know what? Let me just, I don't delete it. I private it. Right, because you wanna keep the likes. Yeah. And also TikTok doesn't reward the deletes apparently. Yeah, it doesn't. So Instagram, I'll delete, you know, after a certain while I was like, I'm not proud of it, or like, I can make a better version of it, so I'll go ahead and delete it. Or if it's just too many people that were like, pissed off at it, which I understood. Okay. Like, uh, it's happened like once or twice where I'm like, I know this is edgy, and then I'll literal. I'm like, yeah, that's what I thought it, but hey, you know, you know, you just, Hey look, it's all part of content creation, right? It's all, it's all part of the game. Um, but, uh, yeah, I, I, I'm glad you're asking me about this and I'm sorry for talking so much cuz I, I, no, I mean, we want this like, you know, what do people need to do? They need to understand, like, it's not, you know, just, you know, it's, it's not as easy, uh, and it needs to get better and consistency, right? You're trying. Yeah. It's consistency. Well, as you post, again, quality comes outta quantity and there are moments where, um, uh, like I'm, I'm doing very well, uh, let's say like my career-wise from standup to content creating, everything's going well. And it's, I I like to think it's kind of like, uh, Louis CK he had a really good analogy about this, where he was like, when things are going well in my career, and I'm thinking, huh? It's like blackjack. You're like, you're winning the card, the cards are in your favor. You're like, oh man, I'm fucking winning in blackjack. I know how to play blackjack. Right? But you don't know how to play blackjack. You know, right now the everything's in your favor. But lately, look, but then you're gonna get to a point where it's like, you're getting fucked right now. I dunno. I, when it comes to gambling, I've played blackjack once or twice and I was like, not for me. Not for you. But, but only, and the reason why it was, I remember it was at a work party and, uh, I was working for this private equity firm. They took us, like on a, they, they took us on a work trip and they gave everybody $50 and that's it. And I remember watching the movie 21, and I was like, let me try to count cards. And then like, I was like, hold on. I was like, here's this $50 I'm, and I was like, you know, fucking badass, bro. Hey, $22 an hour baby. But. But like, I, I, I remember I was like, okay, this is the money that they gave me. I hope, like I'm not getting in trouble for this. And I'm not like, I don't like gambling whatsoever. Um, I only like to gamble with myself, but it was so, I like played blackjack, but it was just nice to like learn of like, oh, this is the feeling. And then, you know, I went to Vegas, do shows and my friend, uh, Lonnie was with me, great content creator, and I was just watching him play blackjack. But it was just interesting like then hearing Louis c K's analogy of like, oh yeah, like this is exactly how it is with, with the algorithm or your career. It's like you don't have, you only have so much control. Right. You know? So just worry about the things you have control over and just let go of the things you can't control. I posted this video, you know, I, I'm, I'm proud of it. I think it's funny. I think it's good. Let's see how it goes. Okay, well, that's good. And then the next day, let's see how it go. Let's see what happens. All right. You know, uh, and try to be relatable. Sorry, that's the last thing. Try to try. What is something, what is something that the people would be like, oh my God, I drink diet Coke, or, oh God, I, you know what I mean? Like, you know what I'm talking about. I know, I know exactly what you're saying, right? It's like, like you have to relate, but you know, the chances of putting content out there and being relatable is like literally 50 50, right? Like, you're good 50, you have a 50 50 shot of it being somewhat, you know, but I try to make it fun. Money. Yeah. Yeah. Like, well, well first it's like, like when the idea comes, I go for this, it's a lot of, it's from personal experience, but it's like, like, here's this funny thought. How can I make it connect with the audience? And that's what I love about standup. It's like I have this idea, how can I make it connect with the audience? How can I And and if it connects, that makes them laugh and, you know. Yeah. The better you like work on it, try and then you get better from there. You work experience model, man. Look, I know you have a show you need to get to. Oh yeah. What time is it? Oh, it's 7 0 8. Nice. And it's super excited to be there. So I'm gonna cut this short. I wanna thank you, uh, for being here. Thanks for having me, taking the time to come and meet me and talk to me, and it was really good. Uh, and once again, thank you from me and the entire team. Uh, yeah man. Shout out to your team. They're all great and hot. Nice. All right. Uh, Zara, we're de we're definitely gonna need, uh, him on season two for sure, cuz I feel like we haven't had enough, uh, and we could talk for like hours, you know? For sure. So season two, uh, seal the deal. Hell yeah, dude. Count me in. Alright, and with that, thank you man. Thank you. Really appreciate your time. Yeah, thank you for having me. Follow me on Instagram. Ahmed loves bread. Um, you know, and if, if you have any questions, shoot me a dm. And if you have any negative comments to send me, don't. Please don't send it. I'm sensitive. Not kidding. Send them to me. Yeah, send it to Hamza.