Sharam Namdarian Starts a Revolution

Ashley M Fils-Aime gives me comedy advice

• Sharam Namdarian

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Seriously good comedian Ashley M Fils-Aime joins the revolution.

In this podcast we chat about what the hell the revolution is, gratitude, goals and stand up comedy as a whole.

He got it in the end, but Sharam got a lot of advice along the way. Really good comedy advice for stand up comedy.



• The value of appreciating small audiences who plan their day around seeing you perform
• Why writing jokes is the fundamental currency of comedy that solves creative problems
• How achievements become a form of currency that strengthens you for future challenges
• The fear that your unique perspective won't be understood versus the power of authenticity
• Being unapologetically yourself attracts people who resonate with your distinct voice
• The danger of pursuing fame and followers instead of mastering joke writing
• Comedy as an experience rather than just a performance or path to recognition
• Finding purpose in resolving personal trauma through creative expression


Send me Fan Mail! It could be anything, we are desperate at this point.

Sharam:

you hi. Welcome to sharam. Namdarian. Starts a revolution where we start a revolution, but we haven't figured it out. This is the second time we're starting to record it, because the first time cut out, but of course you cared about that. The second revolution the second revolution.

Sharam:

We're starting to record it because the first time cut out, but of course you cared about that. The second revolution. The second revolution. Ash was telling us about the horrors that it is to be himself Stand-up comedian. And why is it so bad all the time? No, why is it you know? You're on a cruise and they're like oh, you have to make thousands of people laugh on a cruise he was just telling me live small, you have to make thousands of people laugh on a cruise, he was just telling me live small.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

It was like if you should perform to only two people.

Sharam:

Yes, what he was saying says you just got to appreciate those crowds of two.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

You just came back from a cruise yeah, man, look I was, I was telling him because he has what four tonight yeah, so far, so far, but I'm saying that.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

But but it's. Those four people are the ones who here's the thing, whether whether it's 1,000 or one, as cheesy as it sounds, those four people. They bought tickets and they're living their life today for you. They get up in the morning, they go to work whatever it is that they're going to do, babysit, whatever they got to do. They know come tonight that they're coming to see you. That's the energy that you should very tap into. Those are four people who plan their day around you yeah, I'm planning to always give it.

Sharam:

What are my new phrases? Leave it all on the stage leave it on the stage you know they say leave it all in the field. Yeah, leave it on, leave it.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Leave it on the stage man, yeah, so so you so, instead of saying there'll be more, be content with the four that you have.

Sharam:

Yeah, I'm totally content. I'm just more worried about will I break even, not tonight, but overall the whole festival. And I think I will. To be honest, the way things are looking, I'm totally happy with that.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Oh look, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival is not a place to make money unless you're already famous and popular and have a huge following. It's more of the experience of having to deal with the admin and uh and uh, stage performance as well.

Sharam:

That's all it is. Yeah, because you were saying something that about yourself just before, where you were like it's, yeah, it's for the experience where you've done, you've done like plenty of your own stuff yeah, I have.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

I have done a lot of. I've done a lot of my own things yeah, because you've been what?

Sharam:

10 years, 20 years I don't know how long you've been doing comedy for this august would be 29 years shit, yeah, yeah, that's a few that's two decades.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

That's almost almost three decades. How?

Sharam:

old, are you?

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

I'm 46 damn yeah bro, you know that's you know what I'm gonna say? Yeah, but I'm not. Yeah, black crack, I guess we don't man, we sell it shit, that's.

Sharam:

Yeah, I've been thinking I need a especially. I've got a lot of what do you call it skin area. Right, I need a lotion more.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

No, it's just yeah. You just got to keep your skin.

Sharam:

I'm not saying you do, I'm saying I need to.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

No, I got a really strict skin reg. I have um fuck, I'll grab it for you. If I show it to you, yeah, you can grab it, it's a fucking you'll be, you're gonna, you're gonna laugh at this shit, but it's.

Sharam:

It's something I have to take seriously nah, that's something I need to take seriously. Like I get sunspots, what is that?

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

oh my god, okay this is how I do not wash my face with my hands. It's almost like I'm doing a commercial for this guy.

Sharam:

Yeah.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

This is a face washer.

Sharam:

Okay, dear Lord, okay yeah everyone can hear it.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

And then you scrub your face. It's a and you're obviously giving love. And you scrub your face for like a minute.

Sharam:

Okay.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

And then you let whatever face wash you have on. I wash it for a minute and then I'll let it sit for a minute and then I rinse it off and then I put a certain I use a serum, that's everything's all natural. My wife's a nutritionist, so I got all the great natural stuff and I just sit and I just try to be careful what I put in my gut.

Sharam:

Yeah, I'm all more about that than ever before.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

And what's your background?

Sharam:

Half Indian, half Iranian. Okay, does that help you about what I should put in my stomach?

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Yeah, curry, I don't know yeah.

Sharam:

Do you know what it's like. So I tried learning how to cook curry from my mom, but I don't think my mom was ever properly taught. There's no recipe. So I had to actually watch her cook a few times and she's like you, just, you just chuck it in yeah, yeah you.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Just then they put this in and it's done. And I'm like what did you put in you?

Sharam:

just do it, and then it's like oh okay, there's an order, there's an amount, there's a this, there's a that there's a taste, of course, I think what.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

What goes on is that you have to amount. What goes on is you can learn anything on youtube, man yeah go on YouTube and just get a whole. What I do is I get a whole bunch of like Because I do all the cooking in my house.

Sharam:

Yeah.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

All the cooking. My wife doesn't touch the stove at all, what about when you're on cruise?

Sharam:

Did she just start? That's not.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

She either Uber Eats, or I probably prepared a certain amount of food, but her mom also, you know, they're Lebanese, so her mom's always giving her plenty of food. So she has, you know, because she works. It's not that she can't cook, it's just that she's on her feet like seven, eight hours a day. So I feel like there's no point in her coming in and having to cook. So whenever she comes home, like you know, like she'll come home today, and then whatever meal she desires will be ready.

Sharam:

That's really. Does she put it in order with you?

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Pretty much. That's really cute. I'm her personal chef.

Sharam:

Yeah, and how does that, how do you guys fit in your work-life balance? Because that's what I'm always worried about. I guess you know my partner she works nine to five. I work nine to five and then do comedy afterwards.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Yeah, well, yeah.

Sharam:

So that's a bit hard. Imagine being away a lot. Yeah, exactly.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

But, to be fair, she knew what she was signing up for. She met me as a comedian. It wasn't like she met me and then I started doing comedy. When she met me, I was always on the road. When she met me, I was always on the road. And then she lives that life, to her credit, though, she's learned how to balance it out. It's hard, man, it's hard, know, in this business you have to travel. You can't be in this, you can't be stationary, and you know just, I don't.

Sharam:

I'm not on radio yet, I'm on tv yet, so it's just do you want to be on radio and tv like that's the real do?

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

you know what I mean.

Sharam:

Everybody, everybody wants to do that that's so, because I find it really funny, because it is like like I feel like radio and tv is almost a semi-dying medium. But then the age is coming to review my wednesday show and I'm like, yeah, like you know, I'm so excited and it's like do I read the age?

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

I could. It's, it's, it's one of those things where they, if you get a review from them, it's a, you know, reputable company. So you can put it on there I haven't read the age, unless it's like a facebook post that they put up. But the thing at the end of the day, tv and radio is always going to be there, because uh there's still old people living. I think, when, when? Generation, what, what? What do you mean? What do you mean z?

Sharam:

I don't know, I'm 34.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Whatever, that is probably z whatever generation is the youngest generation now. When they become like Super adults, then maybe television will be wiped off, but right now it's still. It's still a bit of a standard, you know. Yeah, so the internet is huge, but Television is huge, but it's I don't know man, it's like Television is like clouds, you know they're there. That's a bad fucking reference. I can't find a. I'm really, I'm really usually good at fucking parallels. It's like it's there but it's not. It's not necessary, but it's, it's still respected do you know what I find interesting?

Sharam:

I you know some people talking about like content, fatigue and stuff like that. I do think one of the reasons why that's the case is because we do have access to everything all the time yeah and like 10 years ago, you had to get dvds or whatever you know, like it was a different universe and now we crave new stories, new exciting things oh, you're scrolling through your phone.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Yeah, every scroll is a different channel yeah, that's fair, yeah, and you have the ability to watch it or move on. And then then we live in this age where, like I'm part of it too Like if the content I'm watching isn't hitting fast enough, I'll skip through it.

Sharam:

If.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

I'm not invested into it. You know Like so people will be watching this. If they're not invested to it, they're going to scroll past it, and I can blame you, Of course.

Sharam:

No, it's like all of that, the social media marketing for, like the third wave barbecue, it's a meat place. That's where I get my. That's where I get my. I'm trying to hit everyone's dopamine at every point in time, so my own channel. I don't want to do that, although I probably should and I know how to. I'm like I want it to be but your shit's gone viral.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Man, I got there's like american um influencers. Did I send you that that?

Sharam:

uh, yeah, yeah, yeah, um beardo, yeah, yeah, he does that stuff all the time. But there's a whole bunch of people as well like yes so you're doing a great job in that aspect.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

If you could just turn that around and you be your own. Fucking is what you're trying to do right now yeah, essentially.

Sharam:

So. This is the start of that, so maybe there'll be clips from this that I can use and stuff like that but, realistically, I also want this to be a little bit of a documented journey, because it's like, oh yeah, I'm gonna start a revolution, but really, what is a revolution? Yeah, exactly, revolution is like we're gonna change the world. How change? Well, what's the cause? What?

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

do you want to?

Sharam:

change.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

I'm not 100 sure yet oh, so you don't have your, why no, and I have I.

Sharam:

Well, my why really is just to see how far I can go with comedy at this point, because it's like I know, once I've I've got various ideas of what I want to achieve yeah but I know that for me it's more about solving problems, and then, once I get there, I'll probably want something else yeah, okay so I'm not really that. I'm equanimous. Equanimous, yeah, I have a level of equanimity with my, with my goals, if that makes sense, because I wanted to.

Sharam:

When I was a relationship coach I wanted to help everyone and then I meditated a lot and realized actually it wasn't everyone, it was like a thousand people. Do you know what I mean? Like it was like a thousand people. Do you know what I mean? Like I was like, oh so like I feel like comedy really hits me in many, many levels of where I want to be and what I want to do with pretty much the rest of my life. The goal really is to be an old man comedian, but the, dare I say, metaphor of starting a revolution is this idea that one thing I've always loved is being able to whip people up into like sort of like a frenzy and comedy. You can do that, and I one of my earliest jokes was basically an outrage about how, when I first started comedy, I was really upset that I discovered some comedians lie, like it's not all true, coming from yeah, exactly, and I was like that's, they're lying to us.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

What else are they?

Sharam:

lying to us and it was like that's they're lying to us. What else?

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

are they lying to us? And it was like this ah, you know.

Sharam:

And then there was punch lines about like, like, really nonsensical conspiracy theories yeah and the first time I did it the audience was like yeah, like they were really riled up, like yeah, billy irish isn't really the bad guy yeah, and it's just.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

it was just stuff like that, okay.

Sharam:

And so that's where I'm at. It's sort of like I love this, I love this journey. It's more how far I can go. So this revolution is, I don't really know, but I spent a lot of time thinking about it.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

I think it sounds like your revolution is just comes from not being content in anything.

Sharam:

Yeah, I like solving problems Really.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Yeah, but there's so many problems and I think you just took all the problems and you're trying to fix them all. Maybe that's your evolution trying to fix all the problems, man.

Sharam:

Yeah, Well, in this case it's creative problems. It's like how do you get a joke started? How do you figure it out? What, what do you want to say? How do you remember it all?

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

like I think how do you sell the tickets? It's all very exciting, I think.

Sharam:

Yeah, I think we've been doing it three ish, three and a half years now what?

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

you're doing is you're taking on way too many aspects.

Sharam:

Oh, I've got an answer to that after you say all of that, but yeah, yeah, you.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

What's your answer?

Sharam:

uh, my answer is I had a massive breakthrough recently where I realized I make things way too hard for myself that's exactly what, what that's not.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

That's not the answer. It's more just uh, you're just piggybacking off what I'm saying. Yeah exactly.

Sharam:

Well it was. I realized I think certain things should be harder. So if they're easy, I make them harder. And also there are certain things that are hard that I think should be hard as well. So it's like so, for example, a good thing was like what if? What if selling tickets was easy? It's like well, if it was easy then I wouldn't try so hard. And I did realize well, with the festival guess what? They do a lot of work. Yeah, did you? Yeah?

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

they do that, who's they? As in the festival the people who run the festival. Yeah, they do a lot of posters everywhere they cover the city you mean? You mean the people do running the festival, or the comments?

Sharam:

sorry the people running. It's a collective effort is what I'm trying to say, and so by me making it harder, I'm actually coming from it from a perspective of, uh, like I've got a, like what if they're not there? You know, I've got to be able to sell it randomly.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Yeah it's just unfortunate, you're thinking, and it's just because you grew up in australia, right?

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

yeah here's the thing about us. I grew up in australia and festivals I grew up in an area in in the united states there wasn't. We don't do festivals, we just do comedy shows. And if you want to do comedy shows, you have to do comedy clubs. If you want to do comedy clubs, you have to be, and if you want to do comedy shows, you have to do comedy clubs. If you want to do comedy clubs, you have to be funny. If you want to be funny, you have to write a joke. That's where it all stems from.

Sharam:

Whereas.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Australia. What I noticed is I've been here for 11 years. What I've noticed is that a lot of comedians equate comedy to the festival and they just override comedy into writing and being a comedian. So when they see the festival, they get this fear of missing out or they get this. They think that's what it is and it's totally the opposite. I think what you've done is you, you, you're, you're looking at all the things that come with it and you're not focusing on what it comes from. If that makes any sense yeah write a joke and that's it.

Sharam:

I spend one to two hours trying to write comedy a day now.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Are you forcing yourself to write comedy?

Sharam:

It comes from love.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Okay. Okay, then you're not forcing yourself.

Sharam:

Like I'm literally sitting there, like what is this? Like what's funny about it? Asking questions.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Do you have an idea at first, or do you sit down and then think of an idea?

Sharam:

Sometimes I have questions do you have an idea at first or do you sit down and then think of an idea? Uh, sometimes I have an idea. Sometimes I'll come out with a topic and sometimes I will look at it and be like, well, I've got a blank page, what can come from that? And I've got some really insane ideas that have come from just a blank page, where your brain is like cats and horse yeah ah, yeah then you, you, you're misunderstanding, um, you're misunderstanding what this is about, then comedy is about having a message.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Yeah, if I would start with what pisses you off, what really pisses you off, and something that pisses you off is usually something that happens all the time and people are okay with it, but you're not. Why are you not? And why are they okay with?

Sharam:

this. What are you pissed off at?

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

oh, there's a lot of things, man.

Sharam:

Yeah, you've got a lot of jokes about, uh like the contrast between, I guess, racism in australia and america, the whole possible yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

that that the racism I'm dialing down on, because I'm starting to see that every ethnic comic is that's what they're leaning into and it's like, oh, you know, it's everybody's doing it and I don't want to, I don't be doing it. Um, I just um talk about things that I've seen. It's like in this business you can be a joker or you can be an artist. You start off as a joker because you want to learn how to tell jokes and then, once you realize your power, then you can become an artist and start using things, because you have people who do shtick stuff and they're doing shticky. You're pretty shticky.

Sharam:

What's my shtick? I don't know, you're just wild what's my shtick?

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

I don't know, you're just, you're just wild.

Sharam:

Yeah, you got, you're wearing a, a skeleton costume. Oh yeah, it's not all the time, yeah, but I'm saying sometimes, yeah exactly so it's like it.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

And then you have cats like damien power. You know, damien power yeah, yeah he got guys who just are very, very well, um, artistically in expression, yeah, um, but I think for three years, I think what you've done is you've skipped so many steps, or you're thinking about the outcomes, you're thinking about everything but the actual, focusing on something that's very simple, which is writing jokes.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

If your energy is going all these different places, then you're not giving 100% into your joke writing. If I were you, I would just solely give myself one year just to test it out, just to see what I can do. For one year, just write jokes and just go and do nights, write jokes and do nights, and you'd be amazed at what everything else all that stuff you're thinking about right now will fall into place. Everything will come together. Anybody who's ever done anything great has never worried about how to just focus on the outcome and then how it was presented itself.

Sharam:

I do agree with that in the sense that I, after I, realize I'm making things hard for myself I should probably not. Maybe if, if you see me do next the next festival, it's probably because I've resolved some other issues, because it is like maybe it's a lot of stress and I enjoy the pressure, like I've come from this background of entrepreneurship of like, no pressure, no diamonds yeah and now I've realized wait a second.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

We're putting ourself under that pressure yeah those are fake diamonds, yeah, but there's, there's pressure in this simplicity of writing a joke yeah, that's pressure. I know there's getting on stage and getting to laugh.

Sharam:

That's pressure yeah, there's enough pressure, that's.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

That's all the pressure you're ever going to need comes from that.

Sharam:

Everything else is admin yeah, I do have a new quote which I'll be as in shahram darian quote, which is you'd be surprised how many problems writing comedy solves, like just trying to write, and that's since I've been writing at least an hour to two hours a day. That's a great quote, man, because that, that, because I so much better, I say all the time I talk to a lot of comedians who are like oh, they're frustrated, I'm frustrated.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Whatever frustration you're going through within the context and the realm of comedy, like if you got, like got age or some shit. You know that's different. I'm talking about like realm of comedy. Yeah, whatever you're going through within the realm of comedy, you write a joke, you're fine. Imagine if you had an hour of killer material. Imagine if you had an hour of jokes and after every joke you got an applause break. How would you feel?

Sharam:

yeah, that'd be pretty insane. That's a fair point.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Imagine that, yeah that's what I go for. And and because if they can go anywhere and you got, they say, okay, you got five minutes here. Fine, you know those five minutes you're gonna kill you. Go over here. They want you three minutes? Fine, you got three minutes I can kill you. Go over there. You want you to hour? Fine, you're gonna kill. That's what that's. That's to me. That to me, that's the top of the the line goal. Right there everything else will fall into place. You got three hours of killing. Material man, your career you're. You are literally set for the rest of your life. The more material you have, the more uh ability you have to do things. We can't do anything without material man and you can't create something without the fucking.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

You see this cloth here. This is material yeah this is because this material derived from something else so earlier on you were like what's your purpose?

Sharam:

I have two sort of purposes. I do hear you with that. The first one is, you know, saying like how far can I go? It is a point of how do I put this into words? Just be strict, yeah, no the message is I do think goals are a little bit arbitrary, Like life is what do you mean by that? As in.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Not real.

Sharam:

No, not, not real, but they're not all they're cracked up to be. So that's probably why you see me doing almost nonsensical wild stuff.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

That comes from an attitude of ungratefulness, because what happens is you reach your goals and then you get there and you want. When I filmed my special, I decided I'll do it on my own and I'm like I don't even know if I can sell tickets or whatever, but I went out and I just threw it. I threw everything into it. I mean everything I did. I didn't ever I put so much effort into it. You know, I'm saying I started eating healthier, I started going to the gym. I did, I'd say like about six, seven, eight months of preparation for the festival, for my festival, for my my special.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

And then the day that I filmed it, I sold out the whole room, the comics lounge, with 400 people. Um, great response, one of the best of nights I've seen, uh, that I've had in my life. And then, when it was all said and done, I felt empty and I had to spend and the festival started like three or four days because you gave it your.

Sharam:

That emptiness is because you gave it your all Right. That's how I see it, but I had nothing to aspire to.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Yeah, next. If I was in a community I would not be living the life that I live. Like, I try to live a pretty healthy life, you know for the most part. But what happens is when you got so many goals you're achieving, you got to be grateful. And man, I did that. You gotta be grateful, and the more grateful you are.

Sharam:

So did you feel grateful after your special? Yeah, I did. I thought I used a special.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

I felt empty after because I'm like I put so much into it.

Sharam:

Like I didn't know.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

I didn't have a reason to wake up in the morning anymore. You know what I'm saying Like stuff, but I'm saying it after what. What I learned after the special is anything I decide to do. I know exactly how to do it because the same.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

I just do the same format that I created my special and that special always reminds me whenever, whenever I'm having low days or low points in my career, I go no, but you did that, look at what you did. You can do that with something else. So there's two things I'm working on currently that I'm not going to mention um, and I'm putting the same amount of effort, the same amount of, you know, uh, energy. The same amount. It's just you have to get back to yourself, man and um, but you're, you're scattered man, you, you're, you're all over the place, zero in on one thing and just do that. But you say you're hitting all these goals and when you hit them, you feel empty.

Sharam:

No, what I'm trying to say is A great way of saying it is I've. How do I put this into words? I've come from a background of basically, life is hard or it should be hard okay and so, therefore, I sort of put goals on these pedestals of like, I've got to work real hard to achieve it. But once because I thought that if I was to achieve it, I myself would have some form of significance from it.

Sharam:

And I remember having my conversation and talking to my conversation with my partner about this the other day, where we're both like, like okay, so say we were to achieve all of these things. We've set our mind to what's next and it's like, I guess it's like. It's like getting fit, like, once you're fit, what's the rest of the journey? It's just, maybe there's something else, but at the very least, all it is is going to the gym every day. Like's nothing really special, like you're saying, just like write a joke. There's, there's. I believe there is significance in the simple things. Um, but my focus comes in from this whole thing is like, I don't know, I think we draw way too much meaning from the world around us. I guess it's a bit of a buddhist approach, like economists, like have the goal, but know that it might not be your whole identity, I. But what I'm trying to say is I, I made my identity before comedy.

Sharam:

Someone who was a, like I struggled with so many things like depression and anxiety and this and that that I made solving those problems my identity right, and then I resolved those issues and I realized, ah, okay, I thought that resolving them would make me happy. Now I'm just a person without depression or anxiety and I'm not like, yeah, my life is different and crazy. So I guess sort of that's the message I'm trying to say. Like it's exciting, but it's. The excitement to me doesn't always come from. I feel like you've got a million things you want to say that's good, but the excitement doesn't always come from.

Sharam:

I think I think when non, like at a call, like I've got a joke recently that either lands really well or doesn't, and I've been trying to make it work even even better. But it is just about how I wish I could ride one of my cats, like I wish my cat was a horse-sized cat and that's it. And it's like comparing the problems between my cat not being a car and my car not like and the. You know, like it's, it's there and I, you can, I can see you enjoying it, but the. Do you see how that almost fucks with your brain a little? It's like it's got. No, it's not real, there's no reality. And that's what I'm sort of trying to say. I'm trying to say that things are real but also subjective at the same time.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Do you see other people you wish you lived their lives? Do you have that in any way?

Sharam:

Was somebody famous.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

I'm not asking for a specific person, but do you see that?

Sharam:

There's a couple people.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Yeah, yeah, you know, and they have the same thing. They have the same thing too. What happens is it's a currency that you're not using. You build the currency and you're not using it. Let's say, being fit, for example.

Sharam:

Yeah.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Now you're fit, now you get to live your life as a fit person. You can walk around and enjoy all the benefits. Now you spend that currency. When you write a joke, joke's a currency.

Sharam:

Yeah, I relate to that, you can spend those jokes, turn into money. Yeah.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

And you buy things with it. It's a currency. So it's like when you have the goal and by money I mean whatever it is that, whether it's having a set or there's being fit now you have that money, you store it away and you find another stream of income. You store it away and you and then, when you want to, and you when you want to, you could spend that currency but, that that's what it is you.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

You don't get currencyed out. You just keep spending money, just keep spending. And that's what? Um uh, when you achieve your goal, you, now you have a currency you can spend however you want to use. You accomplished, you know, you beat your depression, the anxiety. Now you get to use that and some aspect on your next life that you built for yourself. Everything that you're doing. Every goal you accomplish doesn't go to the side. It just makes you stronger for the next goal.

Sharam:

Yeah, and that's what I'm saying. It makes you stronger for the next goal, what's that? And then you yeah, and that's what I'm saying. Makes you stronger for the next goal, what's that?

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

And then you do that, and then what's that? If you don't know what the next goal is, then you just have to live your life until you get inspired. You can't force it.

Sharam:

No, I haven't been. To be honest, stand-up is one of those things I've always wanted to do. I you know people talk about representation. Some people like, ah, inclusion and representation, that's bad. I'm like, ah, you know 30, yeah 30 was the guy. When I saw him perform like he's from the same background as me, like zoroastrian half, yeah, and I'm like, oh, I didn't know we were allowed to do that. I literally thought we all had to be accountants and lawyers and I was for shaming them not doing that sort of stuff.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

You can't leave a left recording for other people, man yeah, exactly if that's the case, you might as well care about how their blood tastes. What, yeah, if you care that much about, you might as well care how their blood tastes.

Sharam:

Like it's like okay, I mean I get it, but I don't love that for you.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

I love that, that's yeah I'm just saying you don't, you, don't you, you? You might as well care about how this shit smells yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah okay it's like he is what no, what I'm trying to say is look, man, nobody has a right to, and that's, this is a thing that I've learned to. I, I've learned, and sometimes I forget, and I have to relearn, which is fine, because that's the point of forgetting is to remember yourself, um, which is read, and then remember yeah, yeah, yeah remember yourself.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

The thing is that you're not here. You're not here on this earth to create, to do anything other than create yeah that's why you're here to create says the artist.

Sharam:

I'm saying that because if you were a doctor, you might think differently but if I was a doctor, I could. I could think the same thing yeah, yeah, I mean, you could, I could, you could. I'm not saying, you won't yeah, but you know it's well the reason I'm saying that is enough work life in in relationship coaching you often see everyone sort of has like a distinct amount of metaphors that they view, like lenses that they view the world well, look, but a doctor does create, though everybody creates yeah, yeah, you're right, you, you create yourself anew like it's.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

It's not like it's. It's not like it's it's. It all comes from gratitude and all comes from understanding that you're here not to appease other people. And then and that means anybody, from your parents to your friends you have to cut that shit out and live within yourself. As long as you're not hurting anybody else, then you're fine man, and if you doing something hurts them, then that's not your problem, that's their problem and that's and they're impeding on your life, to, to, to and your right to live as a human. If you're stabbing somebody, then, yeah, motherfucker, stop.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

You're hurting them yeah if you're stabbing yourself as fucked up as it sounds. Uh, you know, that's what you choose for yourself, then I have the decision to I.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

I have to make a choice whether I think it's a bad thing if, if, if I allowed to hurt me, or you know I'm saying like you are responsible for your own, uh, feelings. And when we start letting other people control, and even indirectly control, how we, how we dictate ourselves, it's fucking fucked. It's like, you know, being married, you know they, I, you know my wife's thoughts. When you're married, you're one, so I guess it's different, but, um, cause, like my wife's thoughts about me really affects me. So and how she feels, cause together we're one, but outside of that man, I don't give a fuck, like I don't care what you know anybody else thinks, really, and I do. You know, as a comedian, you're supposed to care about the audience.

Sharam:

How do you reconcile that within yourself?

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

yeah, well, that's the thing. You know what's funny? You know, I've done shows where the audience didn't laugh and I'm like I don't give a shit. That was, that wasn't my fault, that was just the audience yeah, I've done many of those.

Sharam:

Yeah, I did one of those last night. Yeah, yeah, oh. And the worst is, then they leave and they're like that was so good. I'm like what are you talking about?

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

yeah, yeah, well, they'll tell you those you'll be. There'll be two comments ago. You were funny. Uh, yeah, you were good too, or some shit like that, like you know, the audience oh the other.

Sharam:

The other core message I guess I would have is that it's okay to not make sense.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

It's perfectly okay.

Sharam:

Wait, wait, wait, wait wait, Because we're talking, yeah, because we're talking about like, ooh, who are you trying to please? And it's like I the more I write comedy, the more I realize there's a core of me that is deeply afraid that no one will understand what I truly am thinking and feeling.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

But that's exactly what is your breakthrough. That's exactly what makes you who you are.

Sharam:

Yeah, exactly.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

But we're always afraid they're not going to get it. So what do we do? We end up writing a joke a different way, so they can understand which is so fucked up. I agree If you write it the way you write, because we're all humans, man, we know what you mean, we know what you're trying to say that's a great, I like that.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Yeah, it's like yeah, okay, no, fair enough yeah, so even so, you're writing to and that I get caught up in that too when I'm writing jokes. That's something that doesn't leave. It just doesn't present it. It presents itself less you know, what I'm saying.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

So, like man, I'll be writing a book. Man, this makes so much sense to me. But they're not going to get it. And then I go fuck, I'll try it anyway. And then they get it, and there's just a, it's a great feeling. And then there are times where they don't get it and you have to go back and go oh too, you're not performing to aliens, you're not performing to people who don't speak english yeah, you know what I'm saying, so that's a great lesson that you've imparted.

Sharam:

Yeah, yeah that's, that's.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

That's the key man. I feel that too, like they're not gonna get it. They're not gonna get, or I just it makes sense to me, but it doesn't make sense to them, which is the exact thing you should be doing, what you think doesn't make sense. That's what do you want to make sense with all the other comedians? Yeah, no, you want to stand out right then fucking don't make sense, and that make that the essence of not making sense.

Sharam:

Make sense yeah, no, I get that, that's a you're the perfect candidate because?

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

because you don't make sense. You don't make any sense, but I'm entertained, I'm I'm always entertained, like whenever I'm scrolling through. I'm like what, what are you doing now? You're always doing some weird shit, man, and I find it so entertaining. This guy is very strange but very entertaining at the same time. But I don't get what he's doing here, but it's entertaining to watch. I think you're one of the most entertaining people that I have on my Instagram and TikTok.

Sharam:

I appreciate that that is a lot and I'm never going to forget that. Once I used to do this joke, which never gonna forget that. Um, once I used to do this joke, which I stopped because it was just too volatile. It either worked perfectly or it was just insane. It was basically me repeating a joke over and over again but adding the word cat to it every single time, because it was meant to be that.

Sharam:

I was locked in a logic loop because it's like my girlfriend and I we like adding the word cat to things to make it funnier. Like so cat dinner is better than dinner, cat breakfast is better than breakfast, because we have cats and we just think it's cute. And so the joke is I just keep repeating it and I'm sort of it becomes a bit of a clowning Like I'm stuck in this journey of I can't. And so I'm now at a point where it's like five, six times and I'm like, oh, and my cat, cat, cat, cat, this and the cat. Oh, but my girlfriend and I we love to add the word cat to things, so that joke would be better with an extra cat. And so I've repeated the same joke, but where I've added a cat there's an extra word, cat. So now I'm saying cat five, ten times in each spot, okay, and the audience is like like they're like when it really works. The audience is like no, stop it.

Sharam:

They're like yelling and laughing and abusing and they're seeing that I'm stuck in a because I have a bit of a I would say a structured brain, like a brain where I can get really stuck into habits it's a catastrophe, yeah, exactly and one point. I did that and this girl stuck her hand up and the whole audience is like laughing and this and that I was doing really well, and this girl goes. I don't get what the joke is okay and and I was like that, I think, is the reaction I was after.

Sharam:

It was such a weird moment, but then I was like nah, I think I want it to make a little bit more sense.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Have you heard of Andy Kaufman?

Sharam:

People have mentioned him to me.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

I think you should really watch a documentary about him and then watch the movie Jim Carrey did about him. That's where you're leaning towards. Everything you're talking about has 100% Andy Kaufman man.

Sharam:

I think I understand. I'm just going to be thinking about your phrase before, where you're like they're not, they're human, they're human, they're not aliens.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

They get it, they're not. They're always going to get it, man, because you're speaking with them. There's no separation between you and the audience, man. They're just people, and then they just happen to be sitting at a different place and they don't have a microphone, but they're listening and there's energy, man, it's a vibration, it's the energy that you're emitting, it's the energy that they're accepting and they understand because, of the frequency.

Sharam:

But you're also transmitting everything. So this is what I learned from. Coaching is like if you're transmitting in your frequency, no one understands this. They're picking up on the joke and then no one understands this yeah and they're like well, I understand it. So now there's a disconnect. Does that make sense? So so, like in a relationship, you're like, I like you, let's hang out. But you're also like oh, please like me, because otherwise I won't like myself. They can feel that and they go.

Sharam:

But I like you. But why do I have to validate your feelings at the same time? And then that comes off as needy. So I'm very aware of like. When I first started I think you said something like that. It's like, it's a relationship with you and the audience, like yeah, that's what I've come into with this hoping and feeling and thinking. You know, I don't know what I was expecting with this podcast, but it came out a lot more introspective than I thought.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

You wanted to be wild? No, I didn't, because you're a wild cat.

Sharam:

No, I don't know what I was going for. To be honest, this is the first interview we've done with this and I'm pretty happy with it. It's good man, but I can't remember what I was going to say. It's an interesting thing.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

You're talking about you being needy, yeah it's like needing to be understood.

Sharam:

I feel like, as I've been like, the more I'm okay leaning into the insanity, the more they're like oh, this is just what he is.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

When you become. You want to be at a level where you become unapologetically yourself. Yeah, People respect that. When you're unapologetic and you're yourself, people go this person, because you know what Everybody wants to do that, yeah, everybody wishes they had the balls to fucking be that strange and be that weird. So they just gravitate to it and they start living via curiosity through you. And that's how you get fans, because they know you're fucking strange, and you through you, and that's how you get fans, because that, because they know you're fucking strange, and then they want to be strange too. Exactly, there's a there's a group of you know, there's a group of us out there who there's. There's a group of people out there who resonate with you, and there's a group and there's also a group who doesn't. And that's just the way of the world. So you just keep doing your thing and you'll filter out the ones who resonate and you'll, you'll get your own man, and that's how that shit works, man.

Sharam:

Do you have your following yet? I feel like you had. When you started posting your stuff for your stand-up. It was just like it took off quite quickly.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Yeah, and then I stopped.

Sharam:

How come?

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

I just fucking stopped.

Sharam:

Yeah, you can, you don't have to no it was when I put myself on Instagram.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

On TikTok, I had 400 followers Like. Within a week and a half it went to 13,000. Yeah, and then I'm like oh okay, but then what happened was they'll be like, let's say, there's a thousand comments, there'll be two comments that are bad, and it was fucking with me. I'm like I don't think I want this Because I'll get really angry. I'm like who the fuck are you?

Sharam:

Then I started talking to other people who had followings.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

I was talking to Anissa, I was talking to Dave Thornton other comments who have followings and I was like how do you deal with that? They go, we don't give a fuck. I go, you know what, I'm not going to give a fuck either. So then, but I had stopped posting and then I started when I started you become a mark to go oh so just suppress your views and then you got to keep posting and posting and posting it.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

To get back to that work and I don't, I don't fucking want to do that they also do a thing.

Sharam:

I one of my theories is they do make it harder every single time so if you're if you're going well, there will be a point where now they're like you could work a little bit harder.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Yeah.

Sharam:

So I do think if you're playing an algorithmic game, you are playing the algorithm.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Yeah.

Sharam:

You're not always. Some people are like, oh, it's just give people what they're interested in, and it's like, yeah, okay, but there is like a weird algorithmic distribution. For example, if you grow too quickly here's a fun fact that I have a theory and I do think it's true If you grow too quickly, it's because you've reached new audiences, but not everyone in that audience is going to like you. So if you've got your followers grow way too quickly, then you start pushing out content. Those followers go oh, but I liked it, only like this one aspect. So, say, you've done a joke about Minecraft and you hate doing jokes about Minecraft. You've now reached the.

Sharam:

Minecraft audience and now they're all your followers. So if you do a joke that's not Minecraft, they're going to be like what the hell is this? So suddenly you're penalized for actually growing too quickly?

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

That's fucking strange man.

Sharam:

Yeah, it's a weird result so it's fucking.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

That world is so strange. People would rather become famous quicker than learning the art.

Sharam:

That's my wife that's alright, we'll wrap it up soon.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

No, no, she's sending a message. People are so in comedy, everything's about comedy, and people are so obsessed with becoming famous that comedy is secondary. It shouldn't be secondary, it should be the prime, and it's really fucked up. A lot of comedians and I feel bad for comedians in this generation, man, I really do, because they will never understand the experience of having to be funny on stage first, then growing your audience.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Instead, what they do is they grow their audience. A lot of them do that. That's fine. They grow their audience and, uh, and they get into comedy and some of them do well, but a majority of them don't. But they have numbers, you know, and it's just like they're all about the net. They've jumped into that creepy fucking agent vibe you know what I'm saying Like they're so concerned about their numbers and stuff and their jokes are lacking. You see comics who have huge numbers, who sell all the time, and then you see them in an environment where the crowd doesn't know who they are and they fail and it's just like it's because you're upset with the numbers and good for you. I guess you can't have both, you know. Yeah, so you know, maybe you can't, but I wish them well. I don, but I'm just saying I'm glad I grew up in an era where I had to be funny. I'd rather kill all the time than fucking be the person that is well-known and everybody around me is killing more than me which is predominant in this industry.

Sharam:

One of my mindsets straight from the start and this is something I carried over from coaching was you get the gigs you get If I don't say, for example, you're currently performing at the lounge, I'm currently not performing at the lounge. I'm currently not performing at the lounge. If I'm not performing at the lounge, it's because I currently need to not be performing at the lounge. Does that make sense? No, as in like, if I ask for a gig and they say no, I haven't actually asked or communicated with the lounge at all. But say I ask for something and they say no, in my mind it's because I needed to hear the no more than I needed the performance.

Sharam:

I need to actually learn how to handle rejection more.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Oh yeah, boy things in this business man you rejection is, you get five thousand no's in one year yeah, I'm actually starting to enjoy it, yeah it's, it's.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

That's that shit's hard man. You get five thousand no's in one yes. What what I've learned to uh get up, uh try to balance myself with is seeing the someone who's asking for the same thing that I'm asking for, who I know is not nearly as half as talented as I am, or well, it's subjective, so it's half as um. On the level, there's different levels to it. There's levels to this shit and they're not on the same level and they're getting a lot more just because they got purple hair or some shit like that. You know that's that levels to it. There's levels to this shit and they're not on the same level and they're getting a lot more just because they got purple hair or some shit like that. You know that's how it is what I'm just saying some person's very weird.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

You know what I'm saying some person's very, and they're not funny, but they're just strange, and people just not people, but the, the agencies gravitate to them. You know they're supply, demand.

Sharam:

It's. There's a different demand. Is that what you're trying? But there's no demand for what they're doing. Oh, okay, and I?

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

thought there's no demand for that shit. But then again, what do I know? I'm not an agent, but I do know this business. I do know, you know how it is from the stage point of view. So I don't know what they're looking for.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

And I've just learned to deal with that. Let's learn to just be my own. Um, uh, I'm strong enough to do things on my own. I don't necessarily need to have an agent. I have a cruise agent and that's great. But I've tried to get agencies and it just never came to fruition. And I'm a big believer in God and the universe, whichever way you look at it, and know that whatever you're doing is exactly what you're supposed to be doing.

Sharam:

Yeah, exactly.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Nothing happens by. There's no such thing as as coincidence, there's no such thing as this shouldn't happen, even in accidents. You know that's what was supposed to happen. It's just, it's just hard to accept and it's really hard to gather, because we don't want to dig that deep in ourselves or dig that deep into whatever it is to figure things out. But man, life is a great game, man, it's just a game to be played, because we're all going to die.

Sharam:

Yeah, exactly, it's like that's the point. Yeah, that's what I'm trying to say. We're all going to die. Everything's a verb. That's all I'm trying to say. The revolution is a verb.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Yeah.

Sharam:

It's a metaphor, but maybe it's not. I'm not sure yet we did it.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Yeah, the revolution. You know what your revolution is, man what a question mark yeah, one of the original.

Sharam:

I was like later on, if we start the revolution, we're gonna well, one of my ideas was having a if, if this ever gets a following is having like a um, a nonsensical, what do they? They call it. Everyone has the signs.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Protest.

Sharam:

Yeah, like a protest, but about nothing. So everyone comes and they've all got questions what do? We want.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

What do we want now? Yeah, literally that.

Sharam:

Or everyone gets signs and they've all got question marks.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

This is the podcast that you're talking about. I thought you already started. This is it. You've done commercials for it. I'm like I don't know what this is about, so I'm the first guest.

Sharam:

You're the first guest. This is what I'm. Was that not clear from the start?

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

It all just came in?

Sharam:

Yeah, because you went on this whole thing of like man, you're just not focusing on the jokes enough. I'm like yeah, I agree with you. I've made that shift in the last two months and that's where this podcast. Do you know why I'm doing this? One of the reasons it's because I've started writing so much. I realize when you solve problems writing yeah you actually start to solve it in your life as a whole absolutely yeah.

Sharam:

So I'm like, oh, I can't think about something funny in this, like, say, for example, about mobile phones, and then I realized, oh, it's because, whatever reason why I've buried that deep down yeah and then, as I open up, I start to actually make my life more inspiring yeah because it's like I need more things to trigger me, but now I'm more open to it so you know your.

Sharam:

Your external world reflects your internal world so me starting the podcast is also me being like oh, I'm actually starting to access all the things I want to say okay and that's why you're like what do you want to talk about? I'm like I'm actually not sure, but I know it's in there, it's a, it's trying to and, yeah, you're like we're all gonna die someday, like you did it. Yeah, thanks for the 40-minute therapy session.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

But you finally came.

Sharam:

We're all on this journey together and you die someday. And it's like what is the journey? Writing jokes, performing it, that's it.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

I will say this though, man you have to connect. Whatever your soul wants to do. You experience yourself through thought, but thought isn't enough. You got to experience yourself experientially Whatever that word is, you have to experience yourself experientially. Whatever that word is, you have to experience it yourself. So you have thought, and then you have the thought goes into experience, and that's what we're all doing. We're after the experience, we're just going to experience things. That's what all life is experience, whether you're telling a joke on stage, you want to experience the stuff.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

When you're having sex, you want to experience having sex. Everything is an experience. When you're eating, you want to experience tasting the food. You want to experience taking a shit to get out of your system. Everything is an experience, man. That's what a revolution is man? What are you? What do you want to experience before you expire?

Sharam:

Yeah, comedy. Yeah, to be honest, it was originally. Do you know why I stopped? And I've got to stop saying this everywhere I go because eventually my mom will hear it. Um, I realized I quit being a stand. I'm not stand up. I quit being a coach. I stopped actively marketing it because I realized the entire time I was just trying to get my mom and dad to connect.

Sharam:

Like it was like a little kid in me who was like, maybe if I make men better, my dad will connect with my mom maybe if I make women help to connect, get over men's issues or get over whatever my dad, because my dad's an insane man yeah maybe if I was a better man, I could be what he wasn't right and so I am very well prepared that I might, at the age of 90, after doing comedy for however many years, realize oh wait, a second. I was just trying to make one kid in high school laugh, yeah like, and that could have just fueled an entire lifetime of things.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

I'm very aware of the subconscious I mean, look, they say, hitler was his, his uh yeah his thing was he was in love with this jewish girl and I mean he's in love with this girl and I mean he's in love with this girl and the girl didn't like him back and left him for a Jewish person and that shit spawned this whole fucking hatred towards Jews. I've heard that before. I don't know if it's true, but I mean that could make sense. Man, yours is a villain story, but you're not a villain.

Sharam:

You know what I'm saying. It's like you I can, okay, like you know like no, but I'll the green goblin yeah but I'll tell you okay, I like you're saying villain story without a villain. I very relate to that, very much yeah um, my only answer rebuttal to that is is that often, narratively, villains are just the hero, but gone unchecked. So like Spider-Man is Spider-Man, but the Rhino is someone who's gotten whatever Rhino genes, who knows. But now they're unhinged, basically they're an unhinged version of the hero. Yeah, is that what you mean?

Sharam:

No no that's not what I mean. Explain more before I interrupt what I'm trying to say is that you're you.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

No, that's not what I mean. Explain more before I interrupt you. What I'm trying to say is that something spawns, something happens in our life that's personal, that's traumatic, and it creates who we are. And so your traumatic thing was, from what I understand, something your parents' relationship being in a bit of turbulence or whatever, and that turbulence you've ingested and you've taken that on and you've been trying to work that shit out, but I've resolved it Exactly and now I'm aware that other things could be resolved.

Sharam:

Does that make sense? I'm like the subconscious mind is a fickle.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

So you want more. You let the taste of it being resolved, let the journey of it. Yeah, I guess so now, that's now that you're, you're, you're, you're. That's that taste, is it's like uh, working at mcdonald's man? You before you, before before you went to mcdonald's, you know the zionist support ambassadors that they are um you, um you uh let's get political. Say what you're really trying to say um, you, you, before you work at mcdonald's, you think a big mac is interesting, and you, then you start, then you go to mcdonald's, yeah, and you get there and then you work there yeah and I you know big, you don't care.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

You don't care about big macs anymore. You've already conquered that. So you want to go somewhere else?

Sharam:

so that's what you have that with comedy, where you're like now it's not the same, nah, the the more I've learned, the more I appreciate being like that.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

I love it. I love it so much that it's because it's the only thing that I didn't go to school for. It's the only thing that I've ever committed for in my life.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

You know, it's the only thing that's kept me. That keeps one of the only things that and God. But I'm saying outside of that it's. You can say whatever you want to about me, but you can never say I'm not funny. You can never say you know? A lot of people used to talk a lot of shit about me growing up and they still do now currently. Whatever Not a lot of people, whatever but in comedy they can't fuck with me as far as like, because they can't say dick. It's like. Comedy is my kryptonite for them and I like that and I'm doing. I'm doing it because I enjoy it, I love it. I love making people laugh. Fortunately, since I was eight years old, I always knew I would become a comedian.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

That's fine and ten years later I started, so it wasn't like. So I found myself very fortunate that I knew what I wanted. A lot of people don't know what they want to do. You know, I say, if you don't know what you want to do that, no matter how crazy it is, just do that, do that, work towards doing that, and in the process of doing that, you're going to have to do something you don't want to do. To do that.

Sharam:

Yeah.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

You know what I'm saying.

Sharam:

Like a work 9 to 5. Yeah, exactly.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

I've had many jobs. I was a plasterer, I was a waiter, I was a janitor, I was 18. When you're 18, you're young, you don't know. Yeah, you sort of got yeah, and I lived in my car too. So I was like I was kind of home because my parents were like you can't do that shit here, get out my biggest fans today. They're my biggest fans in my family. I thought I had fans there. They're my biggest fans, so that's my mom right there. By the way, the lady in the middle.

Sharam:

Oh nice, she's much shorter than you.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

Yeah, it makes me feel pretty tall. Is that your partner? Yeah, that's your wife. Yeah, yeah, she's Lebanese.

Sharam:

Oh nice, I don't.

Ashley M Fils-Aime:

I've been with her for 11 years and she's never raised her voice at me. Are you quiet around her? No, yeah, opposites attract. She's very reserved. She's a vegan. She's a nutritionist. You know what I'm saying? She's very reserved, she's very disciplined. She's everything that I'm not.

Sharam:

And I think maybe in an aspect I'm everything that she isn't because I'm undisciplined and I'm pretty wild. I don't think you're undisciplined at all. Maybe you mean that in a positive way, I don't know.

Sharam:

But again I was going to say I've realized that sometimes the right career is a little bit like being in the right relationship. I've noticed again through coaching people's negative patterns are all their fears. If they're meeting someone who's really right for them, they'll actually get over all their issues, yeah, or issues that they usually red flags they usually found in someone else is no longer good enough. Like there were all of this stuff that I usually were like with my partner, like, oh no, I would have left by then but I was like man that's fine, whatever.

Sharam:

And she's like okay, he's loud, he's obnoxious, whatever yeah um, we're gonna have to wrap this up in a second. But the question will we join the revolution? Of course, yeah. Yeah, that's all. You've been seduced, I don't even know. All right, bye.