Speaker 1: You're listening to Comedy Central, Please welcome bost some musif.
Speaker 2: Hello, Wow, you've got life audience.
Speaker 3: Yes, now you don't have an audience.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's why I use puppets.
Speaker 3: Use puppets because you don't have an audience.
Speaker 5: Are there any shows in Egypt that have an audience
Speaker 5: and they do live studio audience?
Speaker 4: No, we are actually trying to do that. Next year.
Speaker 2: We're going to be the first Arab satirical political show
Speaker 2: with life audience, which is huge because we don't actually
Speaker 2: have this kind of industry the television.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the live audiences and things like that.
Speaker 5: How difficult is it to do a show like you're
Speaker 5: doing a comedy show when the stability of the country
Speaker 5: is still in question, Because it's difficult for me and
Speaker 5: we're pretty stable, but I still get the hate with
Speaker 5: the people.
Speaker 3: They don't like me. What happens with you?
Speaker 4: But death threats? Uh check check.
Speaker 5: We're not so different you and I Sometimes I get beaten.
Speaker 2: It not no, they're just kidding. It's it's actually it's
Speaker 2: been quite right. And what we do is has actually
Speaker 2: we broke ground in the television programming because now people say, wow,
Speaker 2: he actually says what we want to say, and we're trying.
Speaker 4: To be funny.
Speaker 2: We failed most of the time, but we we try
Speaker 2: check check yes, But can I ask a question?
Speaker 4: Can I question? Last we did you have catain Cita.
Speaker 5: Jones here, catin Zea Jones was in your seat, sir,
Speaker 5: in this seat you're very se Yeah, yeah, death and
Speaker 5: asked me what you take it back?
Speaker 3: Take it to take it to Cairo. We don't care. Nice, right, Yes, yeah,
Speaker 3: she's been so she's very sweet. Yes, yeah, it's nice.
Speaker 3: You're gonna like You're gonna like TV. You're gonna like it.
Speaker 3: Here's the thing that is very unusual to me.
Speaker 5: You are a very accomplished heart surgeon as well before
Speaker 5: you got into this.
Speaker 3: Now, obviously Jews and Muslims.
Speaker 5: There is tension amongst the cultures at times two thousand
Speaker 5: years for uh, but one thing we probably share is
Speaker 5: that going to your mother as a heart surgeon and
Speaker 5: saying yeah, I think I'm gonna be a comedian would
Speaker 5: be a problem.
Speaker 2: It was a problem until actually she showed that she
Speaker 2: sowed the money and and she sold my new big
Speaker 2: TV and living room, so she was okay with that.
Speaker 5: So comedy a little more lucrative than the heart surgery
Speaker 5: business a lot.
Speaker 3: I knew.
Speaker 2: I was, yes, and smart and you don't get that
Speaker 2: many that you're don't get sued like every every five seconds.
Speaker 3: I think that's probably smart too. How did this all
Speaker 3: beget what?
Speaker 5: During the revolution, tars did you just decide this is
Speaker 5: the time to try and express this thought, this is
Speaker 5: the time to do something I wanted to try for
Speaker 5: a while.
Speaker 2: Well, the eighteen days of the revolution was incredible because
Speaker 2: you would go to Tarreer, you see what's happening, You
Speaker 2: come back, you open the TV and it's a totally
Speaker 2: different for it's it's.
Speaker 4: Amazing and you know what it's happening again.
Speaker 2: Now it's like all these rumors about like aliens coming
Speaker 2: down and trying that they are the people driving the
Speaker 2: revolution and the Free Masons.
Speaker 5: Yes, really this type of conspiracy stuff, because that's we
Speaker 5: have a gentleman here.
Speaker 3: Does Glenn Beck have a show in Egypt or now?
Speaker 4: It's his evil twin? Really, and you know a guy.
Speaker 5: Who's who's spreading sort of conspiracy.
Speaker 2: He's a little bit kind of cloned everywhere. Really, Yes,
Speaker 2: even in sports programs. Imagine Lembeck actually doing a sports
Speaker 2: show and that's what you'll get. That's what was a
Speaker 2: foul because some blu ray came from the eyes of their.
Speaker 3: Basically, it's it's freemason.
Speaker 5: And the Americans and Israel have gathered together to hypnotize
Speaker 5: the Egyptian people to go to Tario Square to complain.
Speaker 2: Yes, okay, and Hames, oh really and then too.
Speaker 4: And Iran, all these people.
Speaker 2: Can you imagine Israel, Hamas, Iran, Israel and America are
Speaker 2: actually all like unified yes against Egypt.
Speaker 3: Wow? How do they decide what to eat at the meeting?
Speaker 3: That would be pusher. So there are.
Speaker 5: The people resentful that the powers that be don't believe
Speaker 5: that they would have the wherewithal to stand up on
Speaker 5: their own.
Speaker 2: The problem is that like people want to believe, they
Speaker 2: want to believe. But like when you when you have
Speaker 2: the media kind of pound knowing them with all these conspiracies,
Speaker 2: you will find people that will fall for that. I mean,
Speaker 2: for example, you have what's his name Kramer, like mad Money, Yes, yes, yes,
Speaker 2: still watch him. I mean the guy like bank dropped
Speaker 2: the whole country's and then see people watch his show.
Speaker 4: It's the same.
Speaker 5: Well, it's it's very interesting that the media is in
Speaker 5: our country that are not that there's sort of an
Speaker 5: established media, and then there's what's going on in the street,
Speaker 5: and the and the twain don't really meet. Yes, and
Speaker 5: you try and occupy that space in the middle of that.
Speaker 2: Yes, because it has been extremely funny and hilarious to
Speaker 2: watch the media right now.
Speaker 4: I mean back in.
Speaker 2: Egypt, it's it's it's we're not very much different.
Speaker 5: No, I think you look better in a suit, but
Speaker 5: other than that, I think we're the same.
Speaker 4: It's in our money. Look at you.
Speaker 3: Learn short.
Speaker 4: I had to pay for it. He gets his for three.
Speaker 3: Given fourteen years, my friend, let not go Bossome.
Speaker 5: I can't tell you. Here's the thing. I watch your program.
Speaker 5: I had it translated. I don't know a tremendous amount
Speaker 5: about Egyptian politics, because obviously, as an American we prefer
Speaker 5: not to know that much about countries we meddle in.
Speaker 5: But I do know a little something about the humor business.
Speaker 5: Your show is sharp, You're really good on it. It's smart,
Speaker 5: it's well executed. I just I think the world of
Speaker 5: what you're doing down there, and I couldn't be more
Speaker 5: pleased that you're here. Can you stick around we'll throw
Speaker 5: a little bit more up on the web and.
Speaker 3: Have you a nice talk. Yes, Bossom, Musif ladies.
Speaker 6: And gentlemen, Welcome back to the Daily Social Distancing Show.
Speaker 6: So earlier today I spoke with actor and comedian Rummy Yusuf.
Speaker 6: His Hulu series Rummy is the first Muslim American sitcom
Speaker 6: to receive an Emmy nomination.
Speaker 7: It's twenty twenty. They don't want a man like me anymore.
Speaker 7: Trump kick up too much. He's too much a man.
Speaker 7: You know, the people are afraid. Do they want a
Speaker 7: man like you? A man who feels a little bit
Speaker 7: like a woman but is still officially a man.
Speaker 3: Maybe it turn sexual.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 7: This is good, which is why I want you to
Speaker 7: join me and become a small little partner in the store.
Speaker 8: It's your future.
Speaker 6: Rommi Yusuf, Welcome to the Daily Social Distancing Show.
Speaker 9: Dude, it says too much distance, but I feel like
Speaker 9: we should have been closer. But it's what are we
Speaker 9: gonna do?
Speaker 6: We I'm actually I think you're actually lucky that we're
Speaker 6: not closer, because I'm such a big fan of the
Speaker 6: show that I would have been one of those nauseating
Speaker 6: fans who would have been asking you too many questions.
Speaker 6: I would have been all over you because, like I remember,
Speaker 6: when Rommy first came out, first came out, a few
Speaker 6: people were talking about here, but I just stumbled across
Speaker 6: the show and I was like I was running around
Speaker 6: preaching it to people. You gotta watch Rummy, you gotta
Speaker 6: watch Rummy, you gotta watch Rummy. And now I mean
Speaker 6: it's widely accepted. Yeah, Rommy is much must watch viewing.
Speaker 6: What has that journey been like for you from going
Speaker 6: you know, creating a show about a Muslim millennial in
Speaker 6: New Jersey and the Muslim world as a comedy, you know,
Speaker 6: to now being a show that people just go like, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 6: this is normal because it, let's be honest, it wasn't
Speaker 6: normal like a few years ago when you decided to
Speaker 6: do this.
Speaker 9: No, and it's still really shocks me, Like there are
Speaker 9: definitely moments where people are talking about the show a lot.
Speaker 9: It's getting a lot of recognition, people are excited about it,
Speaker 9: and I'm like, really, guys, this is a show about
Speaker 9: like an era of Muslim dude that watches too much poorn,
Speaker 9: Like I can't believe that many people are looking at it.
Speaker 9: The thing that's probably most overwhelming is the international love. Yeah,
Speaker 9: because I think, like here, it's like awesome, you know whatever,
Speaker 9: we got publicists and all this. But for me when
Speaker 9: my aunt calls me and she's like, Egypt's watching the
Speaker 9: show and I'm like, have you seen it? And she's
Speaker 9: like not yet, and I'm like, thank god. But but
Speaker 9: she's she's like, I hear the kids are watching it.
Speaker 9: I'm like, good, it's just let them watch it. That's
Speaker 9: that's really special.
Speaker 6: I think what I found special about the show, and
Speaker 6: this is probably what connects to so many people, is
Speaker 6: it's not just the story of an Arab Muslim kid
Speaker 6: growing up in New Jersey. It's also the story of
Speaker 6: a community that for so long has been seen through
Speaker 6: one lens Man. You take us into a world where
Speaker 6: we see human beings, we see the complexities of Islam,
Speaker 6: you know, we see the complexities of different generations and
Speaker 6: how they relate to the religion, and then the cultures
Speaker 6: that come. Like that's not an easy thing to do.
Speaker 6: Was they have a part of you that was afraid
Speaker 6: to either tell the story incorrectly to an outside audience
Speaker 6: or piss off the inside audience.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean that's kind of the typewrope walk that
Speaker 9: we're constantly walking with this show because we haven't really
Speaker 9: had any chance at seeing ourselves on screen in a
Speaker 9: story that doesn't involve explosives or national security. To your
Speaker 9: question about was I nervous where I'm really nervous because
Speaker 9: I know that Muslims are such a vast group of people.
Speaker 9: There are many communities that people even say, like, what
Speaker 9: does the Muslim community think about your show? And I'm like, right,
Speaker 9: it's not a pop band, Like there are a lot
Speaker 9: of different Muslim communities, Like, it's not just this one
Speaker 9: this one thing, and so we, you know, kind of
Speaker 9: made the choice pretty early on that like we're not
Speaker 9: going to try and check all the boxes. You know,
Speaker 9: this isn't a census, this isn't a totality of something
Speaker 9: that can't be encompassed. Really, this is just the story
Speaker 9: of this family, and we're really going to kind of
Speaker 9: humanize them by watching them deal with their problems in
Speaker 9: the way that everyone does.
Speaker 6: What makes us so successful for me is is that
Speaker 6: it follows the golden rule of telling a story, and
Speaker 6: that is showing the human beings who exist within the story.
Speaker 6: What I loved was how even in your story, you know,
Speaker 6: the Rumi that you play, when he went to Egypt,
Speaker 6: he himself realized that he had stereotypes and connotations of
Speaker 6: his own family in Egypt in a way that he
Speaker 6: didn't even realize to take it to Egypt and then
Speaker 6: have like an Egyptian family who are fans of Donald Trump,
Speaker 6: and all of America's going Donald Trump's the present, and
Speaker 6: here you have Arabs somewhere in the world saying, this
Speaker 6: guy's the best guy, even though he wants to ban
Speaker 6: on Muslims. Why was that so important for you to do?
Speaker 9: And I remember being in the back of a cab
Speaker 9: in Cairo in twenty fifteen and this guy just being
Speaker 9: like he's a strong man, and I was like, WHOA,
Speaker 9: all right? I think we're just used to dictators and
Speaker 9: he just kind of matches the vibe. But he's not
Speaker 9: what we need. We know he's not, and I think
Speaker 9: most of us feel that on a certain you know,
Speaker 9: with a certain clarity. And I think something that I
Speaker 9: really wanted to do in making a story about a
Speaker 9: family we hadn't seen before, was I wanted to be
Speaker 9: clear that I'm not trying to make something that's some
Speaker 9: sort of like pr hit to make us look good
Speaker 9: and make it seem like, hey, we deserve to be
Speaker 9: in this country, give us a shot, Like look how
Speaker 9: cute we are on Rami on Hulu. That's not a
Speaker 9: real portrayal. That's like propaganda in and of itself. You know,
Speaker 9: for me, it's how do I make something that is
Speaker 9: challenging my character, that is putting him in situations where
Speaker 9: he seeing his own biases, he's seeing his flaws, and
Speaker 9: that really gets highlighted when he goes to Cairo, Because
Speaker 9: I think the show is more about someone trying to
Speaker 9: fill the gap between who they want to be and
Speaker 9: who they actually are than it is a show about Muslims.
Speaker 6: I would be remiss if I didn't mention some of
Speaker 6: the breakout stars of your shows of the show, and
Speaker 6: one of those characters has to be Steve. You know,
Speaker 6: we meet your best friend in the show who's in
Speaker 6: a wheelchair, and already you know from TV and movies
Speaker 6: we've watched, we think we have an idea of who
Speaker 6: this person should be, but he's like a full fledged
Speaker 6: character in that Like there's times when he's an asshole,
Speaker 6: there's times when we like him times when we don't
Speaker 6: like him, times when we feel sorry for him, times
Speaker 6: when we forget that he has a disability. Tell me
Speaker 6: a little bit about how he came to be in
Speaker 6: the show and why you felt it was so important
Speaker 6: for him to get his own show.
Speaker 9: Well, in terms of him getting his own show, that
Speaker 9: was just straight up him bullying me into it. He
Speaker 9: was like, you have the power to produce something now,
Speaker 9: and this is going to be the first thing you do,
Speaker 9: and so that there's no really there's no option there
Speaker 9: for me. But you know, I've known Steve since we
Speaker 9: were in third grade. You know, we grew up five
Speaker 9: minutes from each other, we went to school together. We
Speaker 9: actually learned how to make things together in high school.
Speaker 9: And I think what was really exciting for us in
Speaker 9: the show is so many times in sitcoms you see
Speaker 9: an ethnic best friend, and in this show, we're predominantly
Speaker 9: with an Arab cast that's speaking Arabic, and we're like,
Speaker 9: all right, I guess we're gonna have to have the
Speaker 9: white best friend. But it was really funny to kind
Speaker 9: of pitch him as the white best friend. And he
Speaker 9: also has muscular distribute, but really what he is is
Speaker 9: he's the white best friend. And also in a show
Speaker 9: where the lead character believes in God, it's really interesting
Speaker 9: to have someone who doesn't, and his reasoning is very
Speaker 9: rooted in something where he's like, well, why would I
Speaker 9: believe that?
Speaker 4: If this is how I am?
Speaker 9: And then in making something for him, what's really cool
Speaker 9: is again flipping this idea where Okay, now we have
Speaker 9: in my show, I think he's disserviced. I love my show.
Speaker 9: And I'm also like, we don't do enough for him
Speaker 9: just the disabled best friend. I want to make a
Speaker 9: show where what would it look like where able bodied
Speaker 9: people are the side characters. And now we get to
Speaker 9: flip this again and we get to see a totally
Speaker 9: holy new perspective. And so we're putting together, we're developing
Speaker 9: the show with Apple, and so yeah, it's a world
Speaker 9: that we're really excited to crack open.
Speaker 6: Well, I'll say I've thoroughly enjoyed your journey man from
Speaker 6: being a comedian that some people spoke about, like in
Speaker 6: word of Mouth, to being a Golden Globe werner and
Speaker 6: now stepping into it once again, three time Emmy nominee
Speaker 6: Best Director, Best Acting, and then obviously with Maherschela Aliz
Speaker 6: makes it three for Amie. Congratulations on everything, and thank
Speaker 6: you so much for joining us on the show.
Speaker 9: Thanks man, so good to see you.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the day Show.
Speaker 6: My guest tonight is a comedian whose Netflix stand up
Speaker 6: special is called The Vagabond.
Speaker 10: My first name is Muhammed.
Speaker 1: Oh quit playing baby, No, really, what's the old first name?
Speaker 1: I'm like, that is my first name.
Speaker 10: She's like, oh, you ain't gonna get your citizenship, baby.
Speaker 1: Please hold.
Speaker 3: I was like, what the fuck's.
Speaker 1: Happened to me?
Speaker 11: This lady puts me on hold and the hold music
Speaker 11: was never gonna get it, never gonna get it, never,
Speaker 11: And then she picked up the phone roll quick and
Speaker 11: goes like whoa woo woo.
Speaker 6: And hangs up.
Speaker 1: Please welcome, mommer, Welcome to the show.
Speaker 10: Oh, thank you for having me.
Speaker 6: You know, a lot of the time they say that
Speaker 6: the best comedy comes from the biggest tragedies, and in
Speaker 6: many ways, your life could be considered by some as
Speaker 6: being a rolling series of tragedies that you've turned into comedy,
Speaker 6: and you've turned success.
Speaker 1: A little bit of your story would shock most people
Speaker 1: out there. You are.
Speaker 6: Someone who came to America as a refugee.
Speaker 1: Correct from Kuwait.
Speaker 4: Correct.
Speaker 10: I was born in Kuwait. I left Quait after the
Speaker 10: first golf for right, so I had to call the prequel. Uh.
Speaker 10: I went to a really nice private British English school
Speaker 10: in Kuwait and then uh, we migrated to Houston, Texas.
Speaker 1: And it's a culture shock.
Speaker 10: It's a culture shock. And they put me in ESL class,
Speaker 10: which is English is a second language class. And I
Speaker 10: was the only guy that spoke English in the class.
Speaker 10: I won't get All the kids are like, oh love,
Speaker 10: do anything. Way, Wakey had a hint of a British accent.
Speaker 10: I'm like, sorry, what language are you speaking. All of
Speaker 10: a sudden, this other dude just rolls up.
Speaker 1: Out of nowhere. He's like, you're weird, dude, why do
Speaker 1: you talk LinkedIn?
Speaker 10: And that was my teacher.
Speaker 1: You know, it's a very good situation. This is like,
Speaker 1: here's the thing.
Speaker 6: A lot of the time, when you know, we have
Speaker 6: these conversations in America about like immigrant refugee et cetera,
Speaker 6: it's always like like a sad story. It's always like,
Speaker 6: you know, these people who need this place's refuge, but
Speaker 6: you really have an interesting story about how your mom
Speaker 6: was the driving force behind getting your family to the
Speaker 6: US and starting up a new life. Just from your perspective, like,
Speaker 6: how would you try to explain to somebody what it
Speaker 6: is like to be a refugee and how hard it
Speaker 6: is to come into the United States.
Speaker 10: It's really difficult to explain or put it into words,
Speaker 10: the excruciating process of getting your citizenship.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 10: It took me twenty years wow, to get my citizenship.
Speaker 10: I traveled all over the world doing stand up comedy
Speaker 10: without a passport.
Speaker 6: Wait, how do you travel without a possible?
Speaker 10: They give you a United States travel document that it's
Speaker 10: only good for like a year, and then you have
Speaker 10: to you know, most countries need more of a year
Speaker 10: validity on your passport to even enter the country. Right,
Speaker 10: It's incredibly complicated those cases, I'm not even allowed to go,
Speaker 10: but I just would go and see what would happen. Anyway,
Speaker 10: I would get questioned in a lot of different countries.
Speaker 1: So let me understand that.
Speaker 6: You are a Palestinian Kuwaiti Muslim traveling the world with
Speaker 6: no possport and you were like, yeah, I want to
Speaker 6: try to do this in more countries.
Speaker 10: Yeah, Well, the thing I'm born many times.
Speaker 6: How many times did you get how many times you
Speaker 6: get stopped?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 10: How many times?
Speaker 1: Every time?
Speaker 10: No, it was every time to the point to when
Speaker 10: I became a citizen and I was re entering America
Speaker 10: and he was like, Okay, go ahead, and I was like, no,
Speaker 10: are you sure?
Speaker 3: I think there's another.
Speaker 10: Is there something else that needs to happen here?
Speaker 4: I feel awkward?
Speaker 1: Can we just talk for a little while? I'm serious?
Speaker 1: It did.
Speaker 10: I was like, what's going on?
Speaker 12: I was like no.
Speaker 10: I was like, no, we need to chat a little bit.
Speaker 10: Like Japan was my favorite interrogation I had. It was
Speaker 10: just an hour of them trying to figure out what
Speaker 10: I did for a living. The entire hour, for real, consisted of,
Speaker 10: so what is your occupation? I was like, I'm a comedian.
Speaker 10: He's like comedian. I'm like, yeah, yeah, I do stand
Speaker 10: up comedy, sting, dipper, Kumada. I'm like, yeah, I'm a
Speaker 10: I do comedy Koma, Yeah I do. I'm a comedian comedia.
Speaker 10: I'm like, am I being roasted right now?
Speaker 1: What's happening?
Speaker 10: Finally his buddy walks in his partner.
Speaker 4: He's like, how does that?
Speaker 2: How does that?
Speaker 3: Comedian?
Speaker 10: And he goes Oh yeah, he's like a bier Kosby.
Speaker 4: And that's what.
Speaker 10: Got me off, was Bill Cosmic I mean not literally.
Speaker 1: Proud you.
Speaker 6: You you have this really interesting journey growing up in America.
Speaker 6: Takes twenty years to become a resident.
Speaker 4: Uh A citizen?
Speaker 1: Yeah, sorry, citizen?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 6: And and here here's the thing that I that I've
Speaker 6: always wandered from your your perspective. You know, do do
Speaker 6: you ever find yourself in a space where because you
Speaker 6: speak about things that are happening in the US, people
Speaker 6: are like, hey, you should just be grateful to be
Speaker 6: in the US. Don't talk about anything that might be
Speaker 6: going wrong in the US because the US has welcomed
Speaker 6: you in.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 10: Nah, I mean look as an Arab American Muslim Palestinian
Speaker 10: on top of it, you know, someone who's fled war.
Speaker 10: I was nine years old, so I didn't really know.
Speaker 10: But it's not like, hey, mom, are you sure about Houston?
Speaker 10: You just had to go right. And I'm very proud
Speaker 10: of Estonian and I grew up in Aly was is
Speaker 10: really multicultural neighborhood. But the thing is is that growing up.
Speaker 1: That way, I was always you know, told.
Speaker 10: To not talk about politics, not say anything because they're
Speaker 10: gonna send us back.
Speaker 4: Wow, that was the whole thing.
Speaker 10: Don't say anything, they're gonna send you back, you know,
Speaker 10: make sure you don't talk about I was like, you know,
Speaker 10: all this stuff that's been festering inside for so many years.
Speaker 10: That's why when I started stand up comedy, it was
Speaker 10: the perfect outlet for me to allow me to express
Speaker 10: everything that was happening to me. And also, you know,
Speaker 10: releasing the special and seeing the reaction from so many
Speaker 10: different people that can relate to the same story that
Speaker 10: have refugee. There are refugees that went through a similar
Speaker 10: process that are you know, dealing with the immigration system
Speaker 10: right now. They talk about extreme vetting. I mean, my god,
Speaker 10: it took us twenty years. How much more extreme can
Speaker 10: it be?
Speaker 1: Well, you wanted to take forever?
Speaker 10: Yeah, that's the point, and so it's very, very frustrating.
Speaker 10: But at this point in time, I'm an American citizen.
Speaker 10: So in your face, bitch, I say whatever I wanted.
Speaker 10: You become really confident once you get that passport. Was
Speaker 10: that a passport? Like, what'd you gonna do?
Speaker 6: Now they can take it away from you, can they?
Speaker 6: Oh shit, that's what that was one of the things
Speaker 6: that like, you know, people were talking about with Trump.
Speaker 6: They said like, oh, you never know what he's gonna do.
Speaker 6: You never know. You know, Trump was floating ideas like
Speaker 6: our citizenships real have people lied about the.
Speaker 1: Et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 6: And a lot of people who are refugees or maybe
Speaker 6: came to the US as immigrants had this connection with
Speaker 6: Trump where they were worried. You had a different connection
Speaker 6: with Trump, which is one of the reasons you you
Speaker 6: came into prominence. Really insane story where you found yourself
Speaker 6: on a plane seated next to Eric Trump.
Speaker 10: That's yeah, you know, being a frequent flyer help sometimes
Speaker 10: I didn't know this was going to happen. Like I
Speaker 10: was upgrading the first class and I ended up sitting
Speaker 10: next to Eric Trump. I didn't even know I was
Speaker 10: gonna get upgraded because I put my name on the
Speaker 10: list way too late. You know, comedians are you know,
Speaker 10: the best procrastinators in the best, And I didn't know
Speaker 10: I was gonna get upgraded much. Let's sitting next to Eric.
Speaker 10: But I do know one thing. The lady that upgraded me,
Speaker 10: it's probably a Clinton supporter, you know, to be real,
Speaker 10: she was probably sitting there like.
Speaker 1: Oh, Eric Trump is on my flying Okay.
Speaker 10: I don't know why she has a mustache, but okay, Oh,
Speaker 10: there's an empty seat next to Eric. Let me take
Speaker 10: a look at this upgrade list. See who's standing by
Speaker 10: patiently here? Oh, Mohammed Moustaf forever.
Speaker 1: Okay, can I tell you.
Speaker 6: Man, I've seen your stand up on the road. You
Speaker 6: were amazing opening for Dave Chappelle. The special is truly phenomenal.
Speaker 6: I tell everyone to go od and watch it. Thanks
Speaker 6: so much for coming on the show.
Speaker 1: I hope to see you again. The Bag of bon
Speaker 1: is currently on Netflix. Please go and watch it. No,
Speaker 1: im and everybody, We'll be right back.
Speaker 6: My guest tonight is a Grammy nominated to the hip
Speaker 6: hop artist whose new album is called Jungle Rules. Please welcome,
Speaker 6: French Montana.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the show.
Speaker 13: Dylan and I.
Speaker 6: We're doing good, man, we're doing real good. We're doing
Speaker 6: real good, but not as good as you are doing. Congratulations.
Speaker 6: Your single Unforgettable currently number five on the Billboard charts.
Speaker 1: It's going up. Congratulations on that. You've got that news
Speaker 1: today you have.
Speaker 6: You have a story that's more interesting than most, not
Speaker 6: just because of what you do and how successful you become,
Speaker 6: but because.
Speaker 3: Of where you came from.
Speaker 6: You were born and raised in Morocco. Right, you moved
Speaker 6: to the US when you were thirteen years old, Yes,
Speaker 6: and then got into hip hop? Like how I got
Speaker 6: Like it's it just a universal.
Speaker 13: Language, honestly, Honestly, I tell everybody this. You know, I
Speaker 13: feel like music is the only language that people speak
Speaker 13: in the whole world, right, not even knowing English before
Speaker 13: I came here. It's a loving music, loving loving the
Speaker 13: rush I get when I hear it, it's totally different
Speaker 13: from making it if I just knew English and new
Speaker 13: Like you know, I hear what you're saying.
Speaker 6: What were you listening to when you were a kid
Speaker 6: before you could speak English?
Speaker 13: I would listen to Chef Hesney and I was listening
Speaker 13: to Moroccan music, Right.
Speaker 6: Was any American hip hop you were listening to? Because
Speaker 6: I know, like my cousin was, of course, like my
Speaker 6: cousin was a huge Tupac fan, but he couldn't speak English.
Speaker 6: So then my cousin would walk around in the place
Speaker 6: of South Africa, a place called Zanine, right, and he
Speaker 6: was he was like he was a gangster in his mind,
Speaker 6: And so we'd be like pushing a wheelbarrow going to
Speaker 6: the river.
Speaker 1: This is no joke.
Speaker 6: So we'd be pushing a wheelbarrow to the river and
Speaker 6: the whole way he'd be walking in be like, no,
Speaker 6: my enemies.
Speaker 9: And defend.
Speaker 6: The body and I and then I would say it
Speaker 6: would be like, wow, your English got really good.
Speaker 1: Norman, and he'd be like, and it's the weirdest thing.
Speaker 6: You Like, what was there like an American artist that
Speaker 6: you listened to even though you didn't understand.
Speaker 13: Tupac had a gift to speaking to the Americans. He
Speaker 13: spoke to everybody that was like, I don't speak English.
Speaker 14: Had a gift of speaking to Africans. I don't think
Speaker 14: anyone has ever said that in the history of language.
Speaker 14: Let's let's talk about what you've been doing with this album.
Speaker 14: You know, we saw you performing at the BT Awards
Speaker 14: and you had on stage with you uh.
Speaker 6: Trooper dance, triblic Rights that okay, right from Uganda. Now
Speaker 6: you you went out to Uganda. But I still struggle
Speaker 6: to understand the full story. How on earth do you
Speaker 6: end up on stage performing with Ugandan kids in the
Speaker 6: United States.
Speaker 13: It goes back to African music, And I was like,
Speaker 13: you know.
Speaker 3: I usually just go and like, listen, keep up to date.
Speaker 13: I just saw this video of these kids, you know,
Speaker 13: and when I seen it, I just fell in love
Speaker 13: with it. I never seen nobody dance like that, you know.
Speaker 13: So when I'm watching it, I'm like, why these kids
Speaker 13: dancing like this? Then I found that they don't have
Speaker 13: no TVs.
Speaker 6: That's amazing.
Speaker 13: So all they moves was the original, like they created
Speaker 13: they moves and they all lived together. It's twenty of them.
Speaker 13: They all lost their parents. So let me tell you something.
Speaker 13: I don't know why I did it, but I did it.
Speaker 1: And you went You went on to fall in love
Speaker 1: with Uganda.
Speaker 3: Like, yeah, you didn't.
Speaker 13: Just the best decision I ever made in my career.
Speaker 6: Yeah, because I know many people will go to African
Speaker 6: and be like, oh, I loved it so much, and
Speaker 6: then it's done. But you have now stayed in touch
Speaker 6: with Uganda, with the people you're involved in a in
Speaker 6: a project now with Mama Hope.
Speaker 1: I think, Mama Hope, what is hope about?
Speaker 13: Non private organization shot the Global Citizen. These are people
Speaker 13: that help people around the world, you know, to make
Speaker 13: a better place for children and mothers. You know, I
Speaker 13: feel like every mother and every every child I should have,
Speaker 13: you know, the right the right care.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 13: And and ever since I've been involved with him, man,
Speaker 13: it feels really great. So when I got there, I
Speaker 13: saw these a bunch of beautiful kids that standing outside smiling.
Speaker 4: In that clinic, you know.
Speaker 13: So when I came out, I said, I gotta come
Speaker 13: back here.
Speaker 4: And just do something, you know.
Speaker 13: But honestly, me building that with a shot to the
Speaker 13: I can't take all the credit shots of the weekend
Speaker 13: he helped.
Speaker 6: Oh yeah, because this, this is this is honestly, this
Speaker 6: is only honestly one of my one.
Speaker 3: Of my favorite stories.
Speaker 6: Because you said, I'm going to help build up this
Speaker 6: medical facility and get.
Speaker 3: More people to be treated.
Speaker 6: I think it went up from treating having the capacity
Speaker 6: to treat fifties now going to and and what I
Speaker 6: found amazing was you like, I'm gonna donate the money.
Speaker 6: And then the weekend was like, oh, I'm also gonna
Speaker 6: drop one hundred grand on this, And I was I
Speaker 6: was like, is this gonna be like the new like
Speaker 6: thing in the hip hop Yes, where it's like guys,
Speaker 6: guys are gonna be breaking instead of bottles in.
Speaker 1: The clubs, a hospital. I got it. You could make
Speaker 1: it a thing. You could make it a thing.
Speaker 13: Yeah, I hope, so, I hope so yeah, definitely definitely
Speaker 13: shot for the weekend and ever since then, you know,
Speaker 13: we almost it went from two rooms now it's almost
Speaker 13: fifty rooms.
Speaker 4: Wow.
Speaker 6: Wow, yo, man, thank you so much for what you're doing.
Speaker 1: Congratulations from the music. We wish the best, Mama Hope
Speaker 1: check it out.
Speaker 6: Jungle Rules is available now, and for more information about
Speaker 6: the Unforgettable Movement go to Mama Hope dot org.
Speaker 1: French Montana. Everybody will be right back.
Speaker 5: I guess tonight A scholar of religions and author. His
Speaker 5: latest book is the best seller Zealot, The Life and
Speaker 5: Times of Jesus of Nazareth.
Speaker 3: Please welcome back to the program res as on right,
Speaker 3: all right, I just I just want to be clear.
Speaker 3: You're a Muslim.
Speaker 5: Why would you write a book on the founder of Christianity?
Speaker 8: This is my secret Muslim plan to destroy Christianity.
Speaker 3: I was just reading that. Do you remember. I don't
Speaker 3: know if you remember this.
Speaker 5: You went on Fox and the lady was asking those
Speaker 5: questions and I was just watching that, like, oh my God,
Speaker 5: is gonna straggle, I did, Okay, you did wonderful. I
Speaker 5: did it was it was incredible and the book is
Speaker 5: so good.
Speaker 12: Thank you.
Speaker 8: Yeah, the perfect Christmas gift for your Jewish friends.
Speaker 5: Yes, there's nothing we like better around this time of year.
Speaker 5: Of him looking judgmentally at us, Yeah yeah, right right, yeah,
Speaker 5: nice Manora. Yeah, hey, enjoy your pertato Lockis.
Speaker 3: How are you doing? Otherwise?
Speaker 5: These are these are very exciting times for Iran.
Speaker 12: Absolutely.
Speaker 8: I mean, this nuclear deal has really changed the atmosphere
Speaker 8: in Iran.
Speaker 12: So much excitement over it.
Speaker 8: Frankly, a little too much excitement over it, because it's
Speaker 8: not really that big of a deal in so far
Speaker 8: as sanctions really for helping the economy. But whereas here
Speaker 8: in the United States, nobody talks about this deal as
Speaker 8: possibly laying the groundwork for some kind of future normalization.
Speaker 12: That's all they talk about in Iran.
Speaker 8: In fact, it's created these two camps, like a reconciliation
Speaker 8: camp and an isolationist camp. Right and right now, the
Speaker 8: reconciliation camp has all the momentum. The isolationists, particularly in
Speaker 8: the military, are still there. They're a little bit muted.
Speaker 8: They're waiting for this thing to collapse. So that they
Speaker 8: can attack the Rohani administration and listen, frankly, the Congress
Speaker 8: might give them that opportunity.
Speaker 3: How much power does Rohani?
Speaker 5: You know, we saw the eight years of Akmadinajad, We
Speaker 5: saw the Green Revolution where Musabi appeared to have defeated
Speaker 5: Akmadinajad electorally. It seemed like there was shenanigan's that's a
Speaker 5: Yiddish word for manipulated election. There were tremendous protests in
Speaker 5: the streets, tremendous violence. This movement is sort of driven underground.
Speaker 5: Rahani is considered in that sort of Musabi camp.
Speaker 8: Yes, wellmist yeah, he's a bit of a moderate, He's
Speaker 8: got some reformist tendency.
Speaker 5: Does he have any real power or does it all
Speaker 5: still rest with the Supreme Leader? And if Hamane says
Speaker 5: that he's in the isolationists camp, are they in the
Speaker 5: isolationists camp?
Speaker 4: Yes?
Speaker 12: I mean, the simple answer is that all the power.
Speaker 8: And the only voice that really matters is the Supreme
Speaker 8: Leader's voice. But it's much more complex than that. There's
Speaker 8: a very robust civic infrastructure in Iran, and the resident
Speaker 8: has the opportunity to actually make some fundamental changes. What
Speaker 8: Rohani has going for him. Is that so far Hamina,
Speaker 8: the Supreme Leader, is supporting this. I think that's why
Speaker 8: the the reconciliation camp has, you know, this great momentum
Speaker 8: on its side, and why the isolationists are keeping for
Speaker 8: the most part quiet, because if you disagree with this deal,
Speaker 8: then you're disagreeing with the Supreme Leader. But really the
Speaker 8: issue again, uh and I and I hate to just
Speaker 8: bring this up rests with the US Congress.
Speaker 3: Oh, I thought you're gonna gonna go to Jews again.
Speaker 3: I thought that, yeah, I thought that's here.
Speaker 5: And then I was gonna have to again once again
Speaker 5: say we're actually quite pleasant when you get to know it.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 8: What I was going to say was, this is the
Speaker 8: problem is that you know, everybody in the US keeps
Speaker 8: talking about how well well can we trust Iran to
Speaker 8: uh hold up its end of the bargain.
Speaker 12: That's not the.
Speaker 5: Problem because in the country we have an isolationist camp
Speaker 5: and we have a camp.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's it's similar.
Speaker 5: You're you're playing to a very particular, uh much more
Speaker 5: rigid base here that won't allow you know, you saw
Speaker 5: the kerfuffle that occurred when Obama just shook me Poul
Speaker 5: Castro's hand let alone trying to forge some kind of
Speaker 5: way forward with Iran.
Speaker 8: Look, far be it from me to suggest that Congress
Speaker 8: is full of petty children presiding over a cessful of
Speaker 8: wasted space.
Speaker 3: So you do watch our show, Yeah, you do watch.
Speaker 8: But yes, you can't help but feel that they are
Speaker 8: actively trying to scuttle this deal.
Speaker 12: I mean, the negotiation is pretty clear.
Speaker 8: In exchange for Iran freezing and rolling back its nuclear program,
Speaker 8: which they've done, we will release a little bit of
Speaker 8: their frozen assets and also promise not to engage in
Speaker 8: any new sanctions. This bill that Congress is trying to
Speaker 8: pass to new sanctions is a violation of the agreement.
Speaker 8: In fact, the Foreign Minister of Iran, a pretty Western friendly,
Speaker 8: you know, moderate guy, has said if this thing passes,
Speaker 8: that's the end.
Speaker 3: Of the deal.
Speaker 8: It's a deal breaker, right, And it just you can't
Speaker 8: help but feel that this Congress is full of people
Speaker 8: who are less interested in sort of the good of
Speaker 8: the country than in their own political good. They want
Speaker 8: to go back to Missoula, Montana, and you know, tell
Speaker 8: the three thousand people who voted them into office that
Speaker 8: they were tough on Iran and a friend to Israel,
Speaker 8: and it might you know, it's a good it'll get
Speaker 8: them re elected for two more years of a fairly
Speaker 8: cushy job.
Speaker 12: I mean, you get paid to do nothing. Yes, you know,
Speaker 12: but it's a danger to the country.
Speaker 5: No, And I think, but when you look at it,
Speaker 5: there are certain absolute boogeymen that are out there, the
Speaker 5: United Nations, Iran and not for no reason. There are
Speaker 5: certain things that Iran is doing. They are bad actors
Speaker 5: in certain fields of.
Speaker 3: Play, how absolutely.
Speaker 5: But if we don't engage these countries and try and
Speaker 5: build more productive relationships, I think we're beginning to learn
Speaker 5: that pure sanctions driven consequences or invading them and trying
Speaker 5: to hold the territory until a government rises that likes
Speaker 5: us not maybe.
Speaker 8: The answer no, And in fact, what cracks me up
Speaker 8: is that the entire purpose of these sanctions was to
Speaker 8: get Iran to the negotiating table. Well, guess what, they worked.
Speaker 8: They're at the negotiating table, So what are.
Speaker 12: We doing now?
Speaker 8: Sanctioning them is a punishment for coming to the negotiating table.
Speaker 8: And in any case, these sanctions work because they were
Speaker 8: international sanctions, correct, They worked because we got the Europeans
Speaker 8: and Russia and even China to go along with them.
Speaker 8: If this sanctions law passes in Congress, then it is
Speaker 8: as clear a message to our allies that this is
Speaker 8: all a joke for us, that we're not really serious
Speaker 8: about this, and the entire sanctions regime will fall apart.
Speaker 8: And guess what, Iran will continue to enrich uranium to
Speaker 8: its hearts content.
Speaker 5: And they will erode it anyway. Yeah, absolutely unbelievable. Stick
Speaker 5: around for a little bit. Yeah, yeah, I want to
Speaker 5: talk about a couple of other things. Zelle is on
Speaker 5: the bookshelves now, rez os on Ladies and Gentlemen.
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