Murahd Shawki - From Fired to Funny: The Viral Success of Dirty Little Immigrant Boy

Episode 14: Life, Laughter, and Virality with Murahd Shawki

Join Reece Kidd for a lively discussion with Murahd Shawki, an Egyptian-American comedian hailing from San Francisco. Murahd's witty and candid brand of humor, as featured in his viral taping of "Dirty Little Immigrant Boy," has captured the attention of millions. Garnering over 30 million views across major social media platforms and YouTube Shorts, Murahd's comedic content has amassed a substantial following exceeding 350,000 across Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.

Murahd is a familiar figure at renowned comedy clubs and events like The San Francisco Punch Line, Cobb's Comedy Club, SF Sketchfest, and The San Jose Improv. He's shared stages with notable comics such as Vir Das, Kyle Kinane, Michael Longfellow, Damon Wayans Sr, Sugar Sammy, and Brandon Wardell.

In this episode, Reece and Murahd traverse a variety of topics. Beginning with a discussion on the Pokemon TV show controversy, they delve into the connection between weed and mediocrity, and then explore the more controversial aspects of comedy, such as racial ambiguity. They discuss the challenges and rewards of running and performing shows, career independence, and the strategy behind building a substantial social media following.

Reece and Murahd also touch on the SF comedy scene's Sunday Showcase, sharing stories of worst bombing experiences at a birthday party and navigating the world of corporate Zoom gigs. They dive into the worst advice given to comics, reflect on the insightful explanations of Louis C.K., and discuss the strategies behind booking shows in advance and managing intermissions during comedy shows.

The pair conclude the conversation with a deep dive into the complexities of social media algorithms and their role in engagement, and discuss Murahd's experiences performing at the Bill Murray.

This episode offers an intriguing look into the world of a comedian on the rise, providing listeners with a rare glimpse into the intersection of comedy, digital culture, and the nuances of navigating a career in the age of social media.

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Transcript

0:00

I'm here with Murad Shauky. Yeah, did I really? Murad. Oh, it's so funny. I as a person who fucks up other people's names, I have all the everybody. It's all somebody else getting like really upset on my behalf and I appreciate it. It's like, Oh, I got it wrong. Can we note that I did nail it without knowing at the first time? Yes, yes. Yeah, that's not the usual. People don't usually get it right and then fuck it up. So hey, at least it's memorable. So you're an Egyptian American comedian from San Francisco. Your clips of dirty little immigrant boy garnered over 30 million views across social media platforms. And you've accumulated all the followers, 300,000 followers across Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Yeah, I feel like Facebook just doesn't count. Facebook, no, I know because like Facebook, they're they and they're the ones that monetize the best and they're helping me pay my rent. But like if I get an audience boom in Facebook, I'm like, and if I get it in Instagram, I'm like, yes. And TikTok, I'm like, fuck these zoomers. They don't they don't know good content. Facebook people can afford tickets to the show. Yeah, it's funny because like, I feel like Facebook is like in a weird way, the least superficial social media because it's not like just Instagram where people are trying to make their life look cool or TikTok where people are just participating. And basically, I think it's just the new TV, except you can upload your own shit. But Facebook is like you plan like activities out on Facebook. So like people who engage on that are like they are will buy tickets to your show and stuff. So yeah, yeah, go Facebook. That was a real lesson. Thank you, Mark Zuckerberg. Yeah, love it. That's very funny. So let's take it all the way to start. When did you start comedy? I had a false start like I did it a couple times in high school and college, but it's like we do an open mic every six months. It doesn't really count. Right. And then I transferred schools in like my second or third year, second year. And I like I did pretty well for myself socially at my first school. And I when I transferred, I was like, I'll just make a bunch of friends here. I'll go do a bunch of stand up in San Francisco. But I went to USF, which is I didn't get the memo to commuter school. So I'd be like after class and be like, hey, what's the move guys? And they're like, I'm going home to San Mateo 45 minutes away. So like, I kind of like, I don't know, you move to a new city. It's hard to make friends in a new city. So like, kind of like I fell into like this weed coma for like two or three years. And then I got I graduated. I got one of the few stable jobs you can get with a journalism degree, which is PR. And then Pokemon fired me and I started doing stand up. My first week on the job doing PR at this like video game PR agency, like our big client was Pokemon. Our first week, I think the NDA expired. I don't give a shit. Our first week, I didn't realize the Pokemon TV show was still going at the time. And there was some controversy controversy because to blend in with a monkey Pokemon, Ash put on blackface. And that was my first week on the job. And like I because I'd worked in like film PR and tech PR. And I hated my job because it's like like like all right, like let's say you're a barista, you're on your feet all day. It's a tough job, but you're making coffee for someone. The coffee is giving them some fuel. It's part of their routine. It maybe enables them to go do their job. And if you work for like eight hours at a PR job, you're like, I made no difference. I wrote a press release that a bot is going to read and nobody fucking else. And I was just getting really depressed by it. I was like, oh, maybe if I switch to an industry that's fun, it'll be cool. And it wasn't because if you work in a fun industry, they know you're working on passion. So they exploit you. Right. I was still pretty miserable at this place and I was just getting ripped stoned before like before I showed up. I was just the amount, dude, I would take a gram of weed to the face at 7 a.m. just to just to get the strength to commute to this place. And this is the PR job. Yeah. And I would show up blitzed, but nobody I did fine or whatever. And the thing about weed is it makes you kind of tolerate mediocrity. Right. And I hit a point where it's like, all right, I got to get it together. I got to be professional. And I stopped doing that. And then I realized how shitty they treated us. And I just didn't notice before because I was just like, Pikachu. And so like I was getting good performance reviews, but I was becoming increasingly like I was like, hey, when I joined this company, I told you I was good at this, this and this. And that's why you hired me. And you've just made me this data entry monkey. Obviously, I'm using polite or terms in this. But it's like like this is not the job I thought I was getting. And you also said you do this by this point, you do this by this point. And it's not happening. So they decided to fire me two weeks before Christmas so they wouldn't have to give me the bonus. And I had this really thick porcelain Pikachu mug from one of the conventions. And I step outside of the office and I throw it on the ground in anger and it just bounced. I've never felt so impotent and emasculated in my fucking life. Pikachu's looking open. Yeah. So at that point, it was like, all right, bro. Like at that point, I already felt like I'd given up on my dreams. And I was like, OK, dude, you're 23. You're fired. If you were ever going to like tell some dick jokes. Now's the time. And I just I bummed in my sister's garage for six months. And I was just doing, dude, I was doing like five open mics a day. Wow. And like the only days you couldn't do that was like Friday and Saturday because that's when the venues wanted proper shows. Thursday, too, was a little hard. And then, you know, it's just like I imagine it's like here, like, you know, at an open mic, you have a lot of insane people, but you also have like a lot of legit comics who are just trying to work out any bit that, you know, they wrote. So eventually, like local comics and producers noticed me. I started running my own shows and then then COVID hit. And as soon as we got outdoor dining, I started running as many shows as I could because we were the only safe. We were the only legal live entertainment in town because it's just a person with a microphone. Like you couldn't have a live band because that was too many people close to each other. So I started this thing called Dope Show and there's like Dope Show Bay Area and Dope Show LA. And we just kind of like filled the space and I was running like six or seven shows a week. I started meeting a lot of people in LA. I started getting booked down there and I got the taping Dirty Little Immigrant Boy with Don't Tell Comedy. Do you know Don't Tell? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. People who don't know it, I'm like, it's just Gen Z Dry Bar. That's all it is. And it's beautiful. It's beautiful. Yeah. Cole Garrett, the very funny, very sweet Cole Garrett booked me. And it was funny too because my taping was like six people, killers, all of them, half of them bombed. The crowd was terrible. Half the tapings were scrapped. Only me, Jessica, Michelle Singleton and oh no, Matt Lockwood. Yes, I did. Matt Lockwood. Our three sets were the only ones that made it out. And the thing is I was the only person on that lineup that had performed at that particular venue before. And I knew how dead the crowd could be. So I was like, I'm going to go up there. I'm just doing this for the camera. Fuck these people. And it worked out. And like I had my two jokes that got me my audience. One of them was off the taping. It was just like my own clip. The other clip is like a clip about like my racial ambiguity and then a clip about eating ass. And that's how I got my following. Fuck Pokemon. I have a real weird mix of people at my show because a lot of it is just, you know, average, like just people just like me. But also like I'll have this mix of like perverts and like and then like older Muslim women in the jobs. And I'm like, boy, most of my set is out sucking and fucking. I really hope you're just bringing communities. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm kind of voice of a generation, honestly. So you basically just went full time comedy from the job. Yeah, I did. I was like I was. It's weird. I don't say this to discredit myself. I used to say this to discredit myself. But it's like I was lucky that I had like family I could freeload with. And like I'm one of those rare comedians where their family's like supportive and dreams and stuff. And then the thing is, is like, you know, when you're new and you run shows, it's to give yourself stage time. But I literally just fell ass backwards into making a living off of it. And now I'm here. Well, so explain you run a show every night, basically, didn't you? It was it was Tuesday through Sunday, but it'd be six or seven because one or two of those nights would be a doubleheader. So, yeah, I still like even if I have a wonderfully successful career, I still might never work as hard as I did at peak Dope Show. Because like now Dope Show, like it's seasonal in the Bay Area. It's like October through March. And L.A. is just like this twice a month show or whatever. Because I had to downsize it because like it was getting like I have a good reputation in the sense of like like I won't rip you off. I'm like a friendly person. I like, you know, giving stage time to like a new promising person. I do not have a good reputation for being organized. So like there was a certain point where it's like not only do I need to like delegate more work, I also just have to do less. And like I had that like when I started, I had that like famine mentality of like you just wasted three years of your life. You have to you cannot say no to a single set. And then Covid hit. It's like you lost another fucking you cannot turn down any. And then they hit a point where I was like, really, just this year, like like I realized I'd been burnt out for probably like a straight up like almost two years. I'd just been running on fumes and I just hit a breaking point just in like April. And for the first time I took a break. I just didn't do stand up for a month and holy. And that's also when I booked this because I was like, this is the first time stand up has not been fun for me. Even when I'm doing well, I just am not enjoying it. This trip or this podcast. No, this trip because I was like, I need a fucking change of scenery or whatever. Fortunately, after like my break, I got back into it. I had some tour dates that I just had to do and I was getting back into the vibe of it. But like this trip has been was sorely needed. Like just be excited to do it in front of a new audience and a new area and stuff like that. It's been a lot of fun. Well, good job you for recognizing you needed a break. Yeah, it's tough. It's tough. Just fucking it's weird. I always growing up like I was just thought I was this like lazy ADHD piece of shit. But when I'm into something like comedy is the first time anybody's ever called me a hard worker in my life. And I'm like, wow, I tricked them. I've somehow fooled them into thinking I'm a hard worker. And what about running the night? So in my situation, I've recently just sort of stopped working as a software engineer. Their choice, but that's fine. I was a terrible employee and I recognize that unless they ask, in which case I was great employee. But my plan is the run multiple nights. So do you think that's a good plan? Absolutely. Like the old we were talking earlier, the old I don't know if I'm using this fancy word right. The old paradigm was like I don't think I'm using it was like you hit a certain point in your career in the states. You either have to move to L.A. or New York because that's where all the industry is. Like if you want to act right, you're going to L.A. If you go to New York, it's more for stand up. Also some writing, but mostly for stand up. But by running all those shows in the Bay, like I was just importing comics from L.A. all the time. And I kind of met everybody I needed to meet for my goals. You know what I mean? So if you run a bunch of shows, like that's how you get the opportunities to come to you. So like absolutely. Just don't do as I did. And maybe just, you know, be kind to yourself. Delegate. Maybe give up money once in a while just so you're not like because I was like I'm showing up to these venues. I'm clearing out the tables. I'm setting up the folding chairs. I'm checking people in. Yeah. And you got it. And honestly, dude, I was cut. I was like I was in good shape. It was like because it was like low key crossfit. Just like, yeah. And it's like once I started running just one or two shows a week, I started gaining weight. And I was like, oh, fuck, that was my exercise. I got to start moving again. And were you always performing at the shows you were running as well? I don't think I ever skipped one. I really, I really I'm thinking and I don't think I've ever. The only time I've ever skipped them is when I hired somebody else to run it. And I just like either I had another booking or I just was sick, didn't leave the house, something like that. But if I was physically there, I was going up like I even would show up and be like, I'm just going to watch this. I'm just going to walk. And then the host would be like, and then I go up to the host and I'd be like, is there do you think there's time for a guest? It's like it's fucking your show. I know. But like in your artistic, you know, opinion, do you think this audience is too fit? I'm like, OK, I'll do. We've already scheduled you and you do this every week. And it's like I go, I'm just going to do five. I'm just going to do five. And then 12 minutes later, I'm off stage. I'm like, I'm a bitch. Well, the set you published is so punchy. Oh, thank you. Every line. It's so good. Thank you. I didn't I really didn't I didn't know the car was a struggle because I was like, he's fucking murdering. Oh, thank you. If you read the YouTube comments, there's a lot of people who are like, why is this crowd so dead? Also, the first comment on it, because like people are comedy nerds now, like like the way someone who enjoys like like soccer or American football, but who has never played it can still have an eye for like tactics and stuff because they're so deep in. I feel like that's how comedy fans are now. And the first YouTube comment was a perfect breakdown of all of my shortcomings. And like it was on point, like this guy, this guy is going too fast. When he gets a laugh, he moves on to the next joke and he's stepping on his own laughs. And this is some dude who's clearly never done comedy. I'm like, oh, shit, dude, you're right. I should slow down. But it's like when you have a taping like that, I'm like, I'm getting all the because it's like, I know these are chopped up and put on tick tock. I'm getting as many in as I can. You're preaching to the choir. But interestingly, I'll ask you about you right after. But interestingly, on your profile, it says you don't have an agent. Yeah. Is that by choice or what? I've been approached by like one major management thing and like it seemed like a very good offer. And like, God knows I could still use the help in some ways. But the margins on comedy are so brutal that I was like, I think I want to see if I can keep my 10 percent and see how far I can go because I've never had writing or acting aspirations. I just want to I hate group projects. I've never found anything less appealing than like because like anytime I've done a writer's room with comics just like punch up jokes, I leave it going like, boy, I sure made everybody else's jokes better. It sounds arrogant, but it's like it's just like I just know that if I was in a writer's room for a TV show and I came up with a funny line, I'd be like, fuck, I wish that was in my act and not this show or whatever. So like the group that approached me like. Part of me is like, damn, I should have taken him. But, you know, well, I really respect independence. Yeah. But also I've not been approached by. I'm like the only dude on Don't Tell that has that doesn't. Well, I don't live and everybody thinks over there that I live in L.A. and I'm just like a recluse, but I live in Berkeley. You just haven't moved out of the Bay because it's just like. Doesn't seem like I need to. And it's weird because it simultaneously feels like the smart decision for my career and the lazy one. You know what I mean? So there's some days I'm just like, ah, I'm refusing to grow up or whatever. And then some days I'm like, I beat the system. But with the following, do you really feel like an agent is going to add anything? The only well agents have like, you know, it's weird. Like they just have like connections with venues and club circuits and stuff like that. And if I like, like I can get myself booked at venues, but like getting your foot in the door so hard, not because they are dismissive of you. It's just that like, you know, I think when they get an email from like WME or Brillstein or something like that, it just goes to the top of their inbox. But if it's just Maraud Chockey, it's just like, you know, it falls in wherever because it's like I would just, you know, like I do know that if I got management, the calendar would fill up a lot easier. And, you know, as like a comic now, it's like your your own podcast producer. You're like an editor. You're a comedian. You're a show producer. You are editing your clips. You're doing subtitles and like to also be your own tour booker on top of that. That's the yeah, I'm hoping to get to a point where I'm making enough money where I can just kind of hire an assistant and they would do basically what the agent is doing. But, you know, that is a good point. They add the legitimacy for bookings. But I think it's very cool what you're doing. Thank you. I built up the fall. It's not like you got no results. Yeah, that's what makes booking venues so aggravating because I'm looking at the calendar and I'm like, I have a this would be good for both of us. Your headliner this weekend has no audience. Just I'm just trying to get a Tuesday, bro. Like, get back to me. Do you think it's going to change? Oh, yeah. And it already is. But like I've only been like properly touring since I'm almost embarrassed to admit February. Like like this time last year. Well, like I'll say like 13 or 14 months ago because my taping came out, I think almost exactly a year ago. I had like 900 followers across all my platforms. And when the taping came out, I got like 10 K. I was like, oh, my God, that's crazy. And I started posting clips and I was like building like by like September, I got to like 30 K. And I was like, this is great. And then I ran out of like material to post that I felt was ready to post. And a comedian was just like, hey, man, just repost your your most viewed joke, like off of feed. Like, that's the thing on Instagram. Like you can make your real not show up on your feed and it just goes out into the real ether. Oh, you have to explain this. Yeah, yeah, it's very useful. And it blew up again, except the difference was like the first time my clip blew up. If they went to my profile, there was one other clip they could watch. So they couldn't exactly binge or whatever. They just see like a cumulative like three minutes of material and they dip. But this time I got that big exposure again, except people could binge watch me for like 20 or 30 minutes. So in just November, I went from like 20 K to basically the audience I have now, which is like almost like it's like I don't say the number feels like it's a big it's a much bigger audience. I could say it's 300 K at least 350. And that's when I was like, oh, fuck it. It is time to tour. And I started co-headlining because I just wasn't sure if I had more than 30 or 40. But I got booked by this club in Calgary, which is like the Texas of Canada. And they wanted me like a normal weekend is like a Friday, Saturday. Maybe you add a Thursday or Sunday to it. They wanted me to do six nights solo. And they were and I was like, hey, I don't think I have an audience in Calgary. Like, I don't think I like I don't know if I'd have an easy time selling one night. And they were like, oh, no, we pay you a flat rate. We don't care. Like if you just they just needed a warm body doing stand up. So I spent, you know, freshly dumped spent a week in Calgary just getting bloated nosebleeds from how dry it is out there. And I just kind of found out like, oh, shit, I know I can do an hour. I can do a good hour. And I and like I'd like I don't know this headlining show I have at the Bill Murray on the 22nd is probably only my. Eight or ninth like proper headlining date. So it's all been very new. It's all been very for you means during the show like doing a proper hour. Yeah, because headline here, not just like doing 15 minutes at the end that I'd done a bunch of. But like in terms of like a long form set. Yeah, I think it's I think it's a lot of work to do the like the I think people get confused because the results are what what's that called an exponential. But like it's a lot of work to get to that point. Yeah, I wish I had something to do that, but I don't. It's been pretty fucking exhausted. But I've been also having a blast. The crowds here are so fun. Really polite. I feel like I get heckled way more in the States like way, way more. I don't know if the UK's manners stereotype is true, but I also feel like people here are just generally more polite. Like also like I live in San Francisco, so it's a bunch of techies. So it's very autistic. You'll find that in some. Oh, yeah, because it's like I used to run a show with my dear, hilarious friend Victor Trivino. He still runs the show from time to time. It was at Noisebridge, which is an anarchist tech co-op, very San Francisco thing. I don't even know any of the basically it means it's where people go to invent shit or to do like like really illegal cyber. Not even joking. Like I like like I was like standing in there and I was like, I wonder how many millions of dollars have been stolen in this room. But it was this amazing room because like they had this little performance area and all these fucking nerds just like like would just contribute to the like we had this backdrop. It was a bunch of milk crates filled with these Coca-Cola bottles that had these LED lights in them that would flash at like really cool intervals. We had a robot bartender. But I established all this because we'd have this techie audience and you do a joke and you wouldn't bomb, but you wouldn't get a big laugh. You just see the sea of smiling faces because of how spectrum either way. And my friend Mark Smalls, he also has like a taping on Don't Tell, he's hilarious. I remember he was headlining our show and he was getting that reaction. He just went, man, I'm killing and y'all aren't letting me. That's exactly it. That's exactly it. But but the show is actually great now. And like Victor and my friend Ryan Sudokran have added this thing since like the AI craze where like you do a set and then like the AI is listening to the set and it does its own version of it. It's very, very cool. That's innovative. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's very cool. Well, back to the punch material. What is the process? How do you go from idea to? Usually it's conversational, which is like, it's weird. I heard I don't know on like what podcast, but I heard Jim Gaffigan say something that Dave Chappelle. So this is fourth hand information. But apparently Chappelle told them that he's like, figure out the circumstances in which you are most creative and then just try to keep recreating the circumstances. Because like I have a lot of trouble, like a lot of people just staring at a blank page and hoping something comes out. And I just find that I like having a conversation like this. I some some funny topic comes up. I write a line down in my phone. Maybe I think of a second line and then I go on stage and I know I have three lines of it figured out or whatever. And I just sandwich it in between some like more reliable material. But part of why like I think you say it's punchy is like SF is like a very disciplined scene, like a very like the way you like the biggest club in in California that isn't like, you know, one of the big three in Los Angeles is the San Francisco punch line. And they've had this thing called the Sunday Showcase for like decades like Robin Williams and Richard Pryor used to do it. Also, San Francisco has a long like most current massive headliners lived in San Francisco for a couple years in the early 90s. It's weird. They all just kind of showed up there at the same time. But the way it works is if you're new, you show up on a Sunday, they let you in for free. You have to introduce yourself to the Booker and then you have to show up basically every Sunday for eight to ten months. It used to be shorter, but basically they just want to make sure that you're not trying this out for fun or just to see what it's like or something. They want to make sure that if they're going to put you up that you're someone who's been taking it seriously. So I showed up. I like did my time just waiting and waiting and waiting. You're just watching in this eight to ten months? For like eight months, every single Sunday. And the way they book it, which is so different from here, it's like by the time I was like in the ninth month or whatever, and I knew I was due like our Booker Ron Vi. He now does it like remotely and now like Steve Osborne and Ben Feldman run it. They're very, very promise. I'm not kissing your asses. You guys are awesome. Ron would walk around like, oh my God, who's the, you know, Joaquin Phoenix and Gladiator. He would just like walk up and he was the master of avoiding eye contact because he would walk out and there'd be a hundred comics just like, like, please love me. Yes. Yeah. Like, like there are people that complained about the system and I'm like, bro, if I was the catalyst for a thousand insane people's hopes and dreams, I don't know how friendly I'd be. Like, I really don't know. What do you do? He'd walk around seeing who's here and he would always turn his head really quick because if you couldn't catch his eyes, you know what I mean? Because if he was turning it slowly, he'd be like, please notice me or whatever. So he's turning it quick. And I remember I was just due and he like there was a comic on. They're doing six minutes. They're three minutes into their set and Ron comes up to me and he's like five minutes and I was like, okay. And he's like, you're up next. And like you get two or three minutes notice you're performing for this crowd of like maybe 150 people, but also no, I'm getting this number. Maybe like let's say 120 people. But what the audience doesn't know is that everybody in the risers on the side of the stage are all comedians waiting their turn. So you're performing for like 120 people and 80 of your colleagues on three minutes notice. So you have to be super tight like they want to see like a tights reliable set and they you have to if they like you, they put you up again in like three or four months. If they like you again, it puts you up in like two or three months. And then you start getting guest sets on a random Tuesday show, a random Wednesday show. Then you get an audition and if you pass the audition, you're like a regular. But because it's so competitive, people are like tight. And that's why like our scene does disproportionately well in like LA and New York. Like don't tell huge number of Bay Area alumni where it's like Andrew Rolfo, Dawood Namiar, Mark Smalls, Irene Tu, Jeff Dean. Like just like all the homies are on. Don't tell. And I really think it's just because of how like cutthroat the Sunday showcase could be. And then once you get comfortable, you realize it's just like a lovely place to see all your friends every Sunday and it becomes a lot more relaxed. Like I used to be stressed out every time I walked in there and I'm just like, what's up guys? And once you get past, it's great because like you get up like pretty regularly. It's a four camera shoot in a packed club, one of the best in the country. It's Dave Chappelle's literal number one favorite club. He does pop up shows there all the time. Like I really if you if you're ever in the Bay Area, I know you have the money. Just go. You should go. It's the ten months. No, I'm not talking about the comics. Yeah, you guys please quit. There's too many. There is too many. That's very good. What about weird gigs? Did you do any weird gigs in the early days? My first paid gig paid quote for the listeners. There's a heavy quote unquote happening. I got a great you know, Keith is a Keith when you grind weed. Okay, I thought you said a person's name. No, no, no. First of half the fuck is weed not legal here. I just assumed when I landed here that I could swing by dispensary and I was like, oh, no. I have to drink. Damn it. Because when you're a pothead, alcohol is just kind of icky. But in a weed grinder, a lot of them will have like this mesh filter and like the tiny microscopic weed crumbs are like the ultra potent. They're called trichomes and they collect into like a little it's just like the crack rock of weed basically. And that was my first paid gig is I got a gram of weed at a place called Mutiny Radio. And oh, dude, my I still think the biggest bomb to this day for me, I did like a like an all black birthday party in South San Francisco. And like the clip that got me like that got me to blow up is about my racial ambiguity. And it's about like this weird gray area with North Africans where like nobody's sure if they're black or not. And everybody just wants to because the West is so like binary with race that they don't understand that Egypt is like Brazil where it's got like the full rainbow of people and genetics and that I'm just Egyptian. You know what I mean, which is weird because I feel like I'm saying I'm not black emoji. But the way that bit started, because I was new and a hack, I would just ask the audience cold if I was white or not. And I was used to a bunch of white San Francisco hipsters giggling nervously. And I could roll with that. But I did that at this all black birthday party. And they all started giving me their opinion at the same time. And I was hit with this wall of noise and derision and condescension. And because it was all at once, I couldn't make out individual voices. So I couldn't even respond to people like I couldn't even try and roll with the punches. The one voice I heard in the back was it depends. But I heard like someone to the right of me go, you nappy headed idiot. And the worst part is I've bombed where nobody's laughing. And that doesn't feel good. This was worse because what happened was they just started talking to each other. And like eventually it was just like a bunch of friends just chatting while I'm trying to do my act. And it's like at least when I'm bombing in silence, I have your attention. Like at least I have your focus. And that's the reason that bomb was the worst because it was like I was invisible. And I remember I stepped out just like I had to smoke a joint the way like Ray Liotta would smoke a cigarette. Like you know what I mean? Just like or whatever. And there were like a couple of comics that I like admired on the show and I wanted them to see me do well. Obviously they didn't. And I step outside and one of them's out there. I'm about to talk to him, but I get cut off by this like very nice old black man, like very like fatherly kind attitude and comes up to me. He's like, hey, man, you just got to write new jokes. And my friend, Kelly Evans, who I didn't know very well at the time and I wanted to do well in front of him. He's just like he's like smoking his cigarette like across the street. He just starts pointing and laughing at me like while I'm nodding to this guy politely. Kelly's just like, oh, we were just talking about weird gigs. Yeah. OK. I was like, why am I talking? Yeah. I'm trying to think if I've had any like I did a lot of corporate. You know, what paid the rent for me during Covid was corporate Zoom gigs because people were just desperate. But they're still the best paying gigs I've ever. Dude, I would make like I would pay my rent with a seven minute clean set on Zoom where I didn't even have to leave my house. Do you have to write about the company or anything? No, you just had to have a clean set. And I remember we had two in a day once and it was one was for the credit card company, Capital One, and it was for their Indian engineering team. And then the other one was for Snapchat. I wasn't nervous about the Snapchat one. I was nervous about Capital One wondering if the humor would translate to like the overseas staff. The Capital One show was first. Awesome. Corporate gigs usually are terrible because even if they like your material, HR is right there and they don't know what they can laugh at and what they can't. But that I feel like that's like a Western thing, whereas like these people were just like, let's have a good time. You know, and it was everybody crushed. It was so fun. And then Snapchat, I'm not even worried about Snapchat. It like like the Zoom opens. It's like a rainbow of young people of like like every it's like algorithmic like every race, my age group. I'm like, this is my demo. Silence. Just silence from front to back. My friend Logan Gunselman, who's a door guy at the store, one of her like she still opens with a joke about that gig, which I booked her on, where some guy was on his phone and for her whole set. And she's like, hey, what are you doing on your phone? And he turned it around and it was LinkedIn jobs. And he was looking for another job during her set. Yeah, that was brutal. That was brutal. I remember I think I booked my he's he's a paid regular at the store. Stephen Fury. Very funny. I still I run my L.A. show with him. The only time I've ever seen the fear of God in his eyes. He's like one of the most like swaggy, confident, charismatic, really skilled comic, great reputation. But he's also like a technophobe. Sorry, Steve, but you are. And like, first off, like I we'd have our zooms where you have the gallery view. You can see like, you know, the 40 people who are actually there. He had is where it's like in that little bar at the top. So to him, it only looked like three or four people were there. And he was just getting silence. And I remember he did one of his like most reliable jokes, which one of the best things as a comic is seeing one of your very skilled friends bomb because you don't feel bad because you know, you're not the only one. You don't feel bad because you know, they're doing well otherwise. And you just it's fun because you get to see them deal with the challenge. But to see him do like this one, I'll get him. And then it doesn't. I just remember seeing his eyes go like, I just remember just like just this like, oh, I'm mortal. Oh, no. What about you? Oh, I guess maybe you've probably talked about. Oh, yeah. Every gig did. But that's funny. This is not just delete Snapchat on his phone after. I'm going to Instagram. Stupid happened. What about what's the worst device you hear given the comics? You know, I heard. I it's weird. I here's actually a bit of good advice. I heard that's about bad advice, which is like when a comic is giving you feedback nine times out of 10. They're just trying to tell you how to be more like them. And that's something I bump into a lot is like somebody's like, you got to do it this way. And it's like, no, you got to. And like, I'm trying to think of like specifically bad advice I've gotten. That's very good. That thing you just said. Yeah, no. Whenever I tell whenever I'm like, oh, look, I'm just like, oh, sometimes I'm going to argue it as well. When someone tells me that that's just exactly what they do. And I'm like, I should do that. I should be more like any time like a newer comic asked me for advice. I always predicate it with that. I'm like, I can give you some feedback, but just know that this is how I do it. And that's maybe not how you're going to do it. And like my feedback is usually like, oh, tighter. Like your voice is too monotone. But, you know, if you're a dry comic that has like a like a verbose style of writing, that can be totally legitimate. And it's just like, I'm not a useful person to give advice for in that regard. But like specifically bad advice. Oh, you know what? And this is from you, Kelly. I remember like like before I had this like perfume salesman facial hair, I was I was clean shaven because when this grows in, it does not look encouraging because I'm like the least hairy Arab. Like I don't grow facial hair. So when you just see the beginning of this mustache and soul patch and like little chin strap, it looks like just the most awkward puberty facial hair. So until my mid 20s, I always kept myself clean shaven. So I always looked like 17 and everybody was always surprised that I was like 23 or whatever. And I remember I started doing jokes about sex and Kelly was just like. I think people want to hear you talk about sex. And then I grew facial hair and all of a sudden it was more palatable. Oh, here's an adult talking about sex, not a minor, you know, a minor imagine. Oh, dude, I bet this feels this way. If you have to form a super comedian out of like three comedians who you choose and then what do they bring? That's a great question. I already know Rory Scovel is one of them. I, Roy Scovel is probably like my favorite contemporary comic. Like I aspire just to be fucking silly. And I really we were talking, I was mentioning like a Norm MacDonald quote to you outside where like he likes comics like you can be a hilarious comic. But if you're doing a lot of dirty and dark premises, you can feel your audience feeling like a little dirty afterwards, which there's I still love those comics. But to leave your audience just kind of smiling and feeling happy. That's how I feel. Anytime I watch Rory, I just feel like I'm giggling with a friend about some stupid shit, which is like a discredit. His writing is also very actually like smart. He makes very good points about some stuff. But I would put like I think his energy and like I really like Michelle Wolf's like like she does like social commentary without it being like too holier than thou. So like those two plus. Hmm. I love. You know, whatever you think about him. The way Louis C.K. will take an incredibly abstract, really intelligent concept and explain it to you in like a 10 year old's vocabulary is so impressive to me. Because he just uses completely accessible, comprehensible like language to like break down metaphysics. You know what I mean? And anybody can get it. So I think those that would be like my is a Voltron. Voltron. It's a good word. What is it? The the no, there's like it's like a transformer where they link up. I think it's Voltron, right? Yeah. OK, I know why I trust you more than they'll do. Very good answer. Yeah, that would be mine. I'm watching Louis for the first time in the TV series through what a fucking classic. It's very good. Oh, my God. I love how he is like totally willing to like break reality. Like one of my favorite scenes in it is like he's in a really cramped economy class seat in a plane and he's handed a literal thimble of water. Like it's literally this big. And I love for the punch line. He's just like, I'm going to break reality. Like, my point is, is this is cramped and they do not even hydrate. So instead of the real tiny paper cup, you just get this thumb sized thimble. I love that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's wonderful. Yeah. So what are your what are the plans for the rest of the tour? Calling it a tour is generous. Your tour. Well, really, I only have one proper headlining date, which is at the Bill Murray on the 22nd. Tickets available on a Vimprite on my Instagram. Anyway, I'm flying out to Lisbon because when I booked this, I was like, oh, yeah, everything in Europe is fucking right next to each other. And I have a friend out there who like got me on some shows. So I'm going to spend like three or four days there. I'm doing like two or three showcases. And then I'm back here and I'm just going to be like, you know, because also, dude, showcase spots here pay so much better than the states. Like all the clubs in the states are owned by. I'm wondering if I should talk about this. I'll just say clubs have been paying comics the same rate that they were paying in the 80s. And you can't do shit with that money, really. Like all that money is covering is was your Uber to the venue or maybe dinner that night. Whereas here, like it seems like if you're getting booked on a lot of indie shows, you can maybe pay your rent with that. So it's it's it's weird. It's like this seems like a great home base to have because like in a scenario where like let's say you put out a special and that you're out of material, you have to start from scratch. It seems like way more financially viable to be here because like like in the states, you just accept like, all right, I'm going to have to do a couple tour spots a month to pay rent. And I'm just going to go toil at the indie shows for like not even no money. I'm going to lose money. Like, you know, is that the new material? Nice. I would just say there's no new material. OK, so that's a that's a that's a new material. Nice or not a thing. OK, so like like at some places they'll have like it'll be like the selling point of the show. Like it'll be a novelty that once a month they have a new material. There's a lot of stuff different here. So an indie show is just like an independent. Oh, like, like, oh, you go do a bar show. OK, but also like like a lot of people run like they're called rental shows where like, you know, you rent the club on like a Wednesday or whatever. So it's weird. It'll be an indie show at a major club or whatever. But also clubs just have regular showcases, too. And they're booking you and stuff like that. But you're still you're barely making shit. That's really cool that you say that here's a good home base, because I guess a lot of us here just look at American. We're like, wow, they can do seven gigs a day. I don't know. Yeah, yeah, it's weird. It feels like the inverse where the way better home base seems to be here. But like the higher touring ceiling seems to be in the in the U.S. Yeah, if I was loaded, I think I would spend a couple of months here and like then go like get the work done in this in the states. But I've really liked it here. You fuckers book way too far in advance. And it's it's it's against the spirit of comedy because comedy is spontaneous. And like I thought I was we were D.M.ing about this. I should clarify. I was annoying you about this because like I thought I was super responsible and super proactive and professional by giving people two months notice. If you hit up any scene, two months notice in the states, you are set. You're solid. But here, like the amount of weaseling I've had to do to get on shows, they're like, oh, it's a bit short. Like I'm booking these July dates back in fucking early May and they're like, oh, it's a bit short notice. I'm like, what the fuck do you mean short notice? Do you know what a guest set is? I can't believe it. You fucking what have you done to our art for guest sets? We call them guesties. They're so common. It's like, oh, I have a fully booked lineup. But Mr. Famous Comedian Man's in town visiting his sister. Let's give him six minutes. Like we can't give him a full. It's only for six minutes as well. No, like I'm talking like I'll run a show. This was a very common occurrence. I'll run a show. It's fully booked. My friend, not even Mr. Famous out of towner, my friend shows up and he's like, ah, my show got canceled. I'm like, oh, you want to do you want to do seven real quick? And like it's such a casual like you get up, you do it like like like a lot like let's say like, oh, I have a taping coming up. It's sooner than I thought. Can I hop on? Like it's just so common. And here the fact that nobody has understood the term guest set, it's weird. It's like to me, it's as crazy as being like, do you know what a punch line is? Do you know? And they're like a punch line. But I guess it's just because you're going for the like the top clubs, like you have all the weird bars and the other stuff that are. Well, do you guess that's our universal? Literally only the top top clubs are where like the guest sets are less common. But the people get the guest sets are like, you know, Aziz Ansari or like, you know, what the issue is called getting bumped. Do you guys get bumped? Oh, yeah, that's so we have that. OK, at least there's some purity. The injustice of being bumped is universal. My theory, the reason we don't have the guest set is because like I run the night, for example, and if I advertise, there's a guest set. Everyone that wants to spot is going to arrive. No, yeah, it's applied now because people were showing up before and I said don't show up. I never do the way people add and drop to shows so spontaneously in the states. I stopped advertising lineups like what I would advertise isn't what which comedians you'll see. I advertise the type of industry credits you'll see like you like I don't know who's on the lineup, but you will see somebody who's been on Comedy Central. Probably you will somebody who see somebody who's so like my ad will be like comedian seen on this, this, this and more because it's true. It's just that I don't know what it's going to be until like a week ahead. Yeah. And then the only place that books with an American attitude is top secret, which they have the reputation for being like very spontaneous. And I'm like, I'm back home. I'm very happy you got it noted because it's one of the best rooms in London. God that that that room is just about as good as any club I've done really just about as good as any club I've done. So fun. I will say I was talking earlier. The intermission thing blows my mind because if we had intermissions in the states, everybody would be like, that was fun. But do you want to get some Chinese food? Like, I'm kind of hungry now. And then whoever you'd have doing the back half would have like half the audience left here. But I watch like the intermissions here. Everybody steps out, pounds a drink, smokes a cigarette faster than I've ever seen anybody smoke a cigarette. And the door guys like, all right, get back in. And then they all go back in. I'm like, this is alien. This is crazy. I do want to clarify that is a very top secret. Oh, yeah. Because the the master where the kids aren't as good. People be like, oh, we have an opportunity to skip. Yeah, that's good. But but like I did the backyard yesterday, which was a lot of fun. And they had two or three. I think they had three intermissions. And I went up last. Every seat was still full. And that is something that would just not happen. That would absolutely not happen in the States. Because honestly, like, I remember when you're new, like you all you want to do is close out the show. Like you want the longer set at the end. You want this the the status, the opportunity to like stretch your legs more a bit on stage. But like my friend, Daoud, eventually like I would always book him to headline because he was like, you know, one of the varsity kids when I like when I started, he was one of the big headliners in town. And I remember once I had this other headliner and Daoud was like, hey, man, my show got canceled. Can I get on your show? And I had like a full spot left, like somebody else had canceled. And I was like, oh, I can get you on. But I'd have to put you first. And he's like, thank God, because like as a headliner, what ends up happening is you on a showcase where like five comics have performed before you. Like the audience is a bit fatigued. Some people maybe even if the show's great, some people have left home early. So like as soon as I became someone who headline shows, I was like, can I go third? Can I go third? Third is the best. Third is amazing. Third is the best because like two people warmed them up. They still have all their energy. It's just it's just ripe for the taking. But like when I saw that I was closing out shows here, I was like, I hope people stick around. And yeah, they have. They have. So you're going to post more clips, do more dates? I'm I've hit this point with clips where like that, this is maybe inside baseball, baseball. It's like cricket. The way social media algorithms have changed in like the last year or so, like it used to be like if you have your audience and you post, your audience will see it. But now it's very competitive. So if you put out a piece of content that isn't really engaging your followers, nobody's going to see it. Right. So like now I really only put out clips if I'm trying to sell tickets to a show because I started putting out, you know, once I like depleted my material and start writing again, I felt like a joke was polished and finished. I put it out and it would do OK. But I realized that the clips that got me to blow up for the most part were jokes I worked on for a couple of years. You know, like like the the racial ambiguity when I keep referencing that joke took me like three years to finish writing. So I've kind of hit a point where I've accepted like, all right, this is the size audience I'm going to have for a while. And once I'm like really just fucking proud of a joke, that's what I'm going to start posting again, because it's so once you have a little I'm sure you felt this. You have a little taste of success. You're like, I got to start posting every day because that's the only way the algorithm is going to favor me. And it's just like, ah, they're making us like a fucking sweatshop. That's all it is, dude. It's like it's a content sweatshop and they're working us to the bone to give us access to the audience we earned. That's making them all their ad revenue. And I just decided like, I'm not playing the game anymore. Like like now what I do is like if I have like a crowd work clip or something that's like or like something where I just riff in the moment or or a joke that's very topical. Like I just put out a joke about AI because like chat GPT was going crazy. Right. That's the only type of clip I'll post at the moment because I'm like, those are spur of the moment. They're disposable. They're fun. And like those are usually jerk jerks jokes that, you know, I'm not married to or whatever. But yeah, right now I'm just working like I feel like the old model was, you know, you put your 10 years in and you put out your hour. Now I feel like you should be putting out 15 minutes a year. You know what I mean? So like I'm trying to do that. It's like I've got this 15 that I really like and I'm thinking like maybe by the end of the year of like maybe doing a co-headlining show with another friend who's at a similar point. Having it like multi cam shot. And that's like the new quote unquote special is you chop up that 15 and you put it out. Like you have like a two week stretch where you're posting every day and then you replenish. And that's what I'm trying to go for now. It seems very smart. I'm very excited for your show. I'm going to come see it and we'll get this out before the show. Okay. Has been in how long was this? 52. So oh shit. Yeah. I'm dehydrated. That's the main lesson. We all need to get on out of all. Yeah. What a way. No, but I guess so give the socials in the boom already. It's at Maraad Shaki. M-U-R-A-H-D-S-H-A-W-K-I. I thought I lucked out getting my name. Nobody can fucking start. And there's like, dude, and it's like there's one guy who has at Maraad and it's not because his name is Maraad. It's like his first initial and like part of his name turns into like 50 followers. I've DM'd him. Please can I have it? Please. So please find at Maraad, spam him and tell him no, don't do that. Please don't harass that man. It's at Maraad Shaki on Instagram, TikTok. Facebook is Maraad Shaki comedian for some reason. And on any one of those socials, you can click my link tree. There will be links to tickets at the Bill Murray on the 22nd. Tickets are actually selling fast, which is a fucking relief. There's a few left. I would love to see some people out there. Cool. Well, yeah, thank you very much. Thank you very much, everyone, for listening. If you enjoyed it, give it a five star on Spotify. I was like, oh, I was like, oh, yeah, I just accepted that. It's like that's what people call Spotify here. Yeah, cool. If you have any feedback, send it to me and I will be posting clips soon on the Kid in the Podcast Instagram. But I'm a bit behind in those, to be honest. I don't like posting clips. It's capitalism, bro. You're not behind on anything. Listen to your heart. But yeah, thank you very much for coming. Of course, it's a lot of fun.