204. Ali Siddiq: Telling His Own Story

Summary

Podcast Summary: Mike Birbiglia’s Working It Out — Episode 204: Ali Siddiq: Telling His Own Story

Main Theme / Purpose (00:00-04:00)
This episode features Houston-based comedian and master storyteller Ali Siddiq. The conversation explores Siddiq's unique path through comedy—outside the mainstream, forging his own creative process—and dives deep into making personal stories universal, self-producing comedy specials, navigating the standup world both inside and outside the system, and the lessons learned along the way. Birbiglia and Siddiq discuss mentorship, authenticity, family, and the realities of the comedy grind.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Lane Outside the Mainstream (00:00, 18:47, 19:03)

• Siddiq describes himself as neither mainstream nor alternative, but in his “own lane.”
  • “I feel like I'm not in either space, man. Like, I'm in my own lane.” —Ali Siddiq (00:04, 18:47)
• Independence means fewer invitations, yet more control:
  • “I don't get invited to a lot of stuff. ...when people see me, oh, I'm happy here. But you didn’t invite me, though.” —Ali Siddiq (00:16, 19:06)

2. Origins & Entry into Comedy (04:33-06:00)

• Siddiq started standup at 25, inspired by watching TV—not by people telling him he was funny.
  • “Just saw—watching TV. Just felt like I wanted to do that. Make people laugh.” —Ali Siddiq (05:13)
• Rejects the idea that making people laugh privately qualifies them for standup.
  • “I know people that's good with knives. I don't ask them to be surgeons.” —Ali Siddiq (05:37)

3. Making Stories Universal—The “Tracy Effect” (06:46-07:50)

• The challenge is making unfamiliar people and events relatable.
  • “The goal of a professional comedian is to explain who Tracy is, why she's funny, and then by the end, people are like, obviously, Tracy’s funny.” —Mike Birbiglia (07:19)
• The power of specificity: Audiences see themselves in the story (“I have a Tracy.”).

4. Family, Parenting Across Generations & Lessons (07:58-12:13)

• Siddiq has nine children (ages 32 to 5). Parenting styles and patience have evolved.
  • “All lessons are the same now. The problem is the leniency of the lessons. I give you more time to learn it.” —Ali Siddiq (08:29)
• Intergenerational reflections on how parents/grandparents treated children differently over time.
• Siddiq reveals his childhood lacked family outings or parental support at sports events—contrasting sharply with his children’s upbringing.

5. Swim Meets, Everyday Relatability (12:23-14:18)

• Bonds with Birbiglia over the monotony and subtle hilarity of children’s swim meets.
  • “My whole thing with swim meets is you go, 'Oh, I'm watching my daughter swim for two and a half minutes. I’m watching other people’s kids swim for four and a half hours. I didn’t sign up for this.'” —Mike Birbiglia (12:43)

6. Pioneering, Recognition, and Independence (14:21-16:12)

• Siddiq released a groundbreaking four-part special for free on YouTube but notes, “No comedic credit for it.” (14:34)
• Observes support structures (or lack thereof) in the comedy community:
  • “People that's around you… really can't see the excellence in you because they feel like they're around.” —Ali Siddiq (14:48)

7. Mainstream vs. Competitive Comedy Worlds (16:13-18:29)

• Contrasts “cutthroat” competitive scenes (e.g., BET's Comic View) with more communal, supportive platforms (e.g., Comedy Central’s This Is Not Happening).
  • “On Comic View, it was competitive… even my haircut is better than yours. ...On This Is Not Happening, it was so inviting: ‘Hope you have a wonderful set.’” —Ali Siddiq (16:52-17:35)

8. Mentorship & Ranking Storytellers (20:48-22:29)

• Discusses admiration for and influence of greats like Pryor, Cosby, Carlin, Joy Diaz—ranks himself as #1 storyteller for the first time.
  • “I would go, Joey Diaz is four. Carlin is three. Cosby is two. I’m one.” —Ali Siddiq (22:05)

9. Mechanics of Stage-Worthy Stories (23:08-24:42)

• Key requirement: an underlying message in every story, often stressing life lessons over mere entertainment.
  • “I’m not just telling a story just to be telling it. … I’m gonna give the underlying message.” —Ali Siddiq (23:13)
• Draws on family influences for storytelling style, each with a distinct approach and purpose.

10. Purely Personal Material & Creative Process (27:46-29:55)

• Siddiq sources only from personal experience—does not write conventional “bits.”
  • “Because I’m only telling things that happen to me. I’m not drawn from any other place besides inside of me.” —Ali Siddiq (27:46)
• Hasn’t written material down in six years; performs spontaneously.
  • “Domino Effect 2—the first time the director… ever seen it was when I did it. I didn’t run it.” —Ali Siddiq (28:33)

11. Challenging Upbringing & Self-Determination (32:59-35:35)

• Siddiq's family had solid work ethics; his "street hustle" was not out of necessity, but choice and environment.
  • “I didn't ever have to sell drugs, right? My mom had a job, my dad had a job... My aunts a registered nurse... my uncle was a cobbler.” —Ali Siddiq (33:03-34:16)
• Hilarious family story about misunderstanding his uncle’s profession (thought he was in the mob; actually a cobbler).

12. Comedy and Hustle Parallels (36:02-37:08)

• Equates surviving in the street world to hustling in independent comedy:
  • “In the streets, when you hustle, you get it on your own. You don’t hope—you hustle.” —Ali Siddiq (36:09)
• The “What are you doing?” Era: standup in the '90s was obscure and unsupported, similar to forging any new path.

13. DIY Comedy: Self-Producing & Building Audiences (40:04-41:33)

• Comedy Central copyright dispute inspired Siddiq to self-produce and release his work directly to YouTube, reaching millions.
• Details the benefits of hosting his own shows, controlling his creative output, and building from scratch.

14. The Drive to Forge a New Path (44:00-44:54)

• Internal drive comes from family legacy:
  • “My dad saying the same energy that you can put in for somebody else, you can put in for yourself. If you have a desire to do something, then just do it.” —Ali Siddiq (44:00)

15. Guidance, Mentorship, and Honesty in Comedy (46:18-50:56)

• Siddiq’s approach: no one-size-fits-all advice. True mentorship means understanding what someone seeks from comedy.
• Advice from BR Burns:
  • “Comedy is long, hard road. Stay in line. If you stay in line, you’ll get your chance. But if you get out of line, you never get your chance.” —BR Burns via Ali Siddiq (48:32)
• DL Hughley’s inherited Prince advice:
  • “Are you the man? Then create a new sound.” —As told to Siddiq via DL Hughley (50:09)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I know people that's good with knives. I don't ask them to be surgeons.” — Ali Siddiq (05:37)
• “The goal of a professional comedian is to explain who Tracy is, why she's funny, and then by the end, people are like, obviously, Tracy’s funny.” — Mike Birbiglia (07:19)
• “I haven't written anything in six years.” — Ali Siddiq (28:23)
• “In the streets, when you hustle, you get it on your own. You don’t hope—you hustle.” — Ali Siddiq (36:09)
• “Comedy is long, hard road. Stay in line, though.” — BR Burns, quoted by Ali Siddiq (48:32)
• “Are you the man? Then create a new sound.” — Prince, via DL Hughley, quoted by Ali Siddiq (50:09)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:00 — Opening: On being outside the mainstream
• 04:33 — Ali Siddiq’s start in standup and views on comedic craft
• 07:05 — “Tracy” as a stand-in for universal relatability
• 08:04 — Parenting reflections and family life
• 12:23 — Experiences at children’s swim meets
• 14:26 — On pioneering a four-part special and credit in comedy
• 16:12 — Mainstream vs. competitive comedy cultures
• 18:47 — The loneliness of creating your own lane
• 22:05 — Ranking great storytelling comedians
• 23:08 — What makes a story “stage-worthy”
• 27:46 — Why Siddiq only performs personal stories and never writes bits
• 33:01 — Childhood, hustling, and family professions
• 36:02 — Street hustle parallels in comedy
• 40:04 — Break with networks: self-producing on YouTube
• 44:00 — Source of creative and life drive (family inspiration)
• 48:32 — Essential advice: “Stay in line”
• 50:09 — DL Hughley/Prince: “Create a new sound”
• 52:31 — Ali Siddiq’s chosen cause: Houston Food Bank

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Cause Highlight (52:31)

• Houston Food Bank
  • “We live in a country where no elderly people and no children should be hungry at all. ...We throw away more food in a day than more countries produce in a year.” —Ali Siddiq (52:40)
  • Houston Food Bank Website

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Summary Takeaways

Ali Siddiq’s journey exemplifies self-determination, authenticity, and the power of making the personal universal. He offers deep insights into what it means to create one’s own path both on stage and in life, stressing that art with substance comes from lived experience, perseverance, and a refusal to conform. This episode is a must for anyone interested in the craft of comedy, resilience, and storytelling that resonates.

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For more from Ali Siddiq, check out his specials free on YouTube and follow him on social media at @alisiddiq.

Transcript

[Mike Birbiglia]

Do you feel like you're in the mainstream or not in the mainstream?

[Ali Siddiq]

I feel like I'm not in either space, man. Like, I'm in my own lane. Well, I think so too, you know, but that's a gift and a curse.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, it's a gift and a curse.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah. Like, I don't get invited to a lot of stuff.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

You know, but it's one of them things when people see me, oh, I'm happy here. But you didn't invite me, though.

[Mike Birbiglia]

That is the voice of the great Ali Siddiq. Ali Siddiq is a comedian who I've been a fan of for a while. He is a brilliant storyteller. Absolutely fascinating life story. He's extraordinarily prolific. If you search him on YouTube, you'll find days worth of comedy, nine comedy specials, fascinating life story. He went. He actually went to prison for six years. Talk about it in the show today. He's from Houston. He lives in Houston still. Today he produces pretty much all of his specials independently, which we talk about a lot on this podcast, and he's a really inspirational example of it. So I think you're gonna love this episode today. Completely unique. By the way. Thanks to everyone who signed up for Working it out premium on Apple Podcasts. We just released a new episode. This is a premium episode where I play seven minutes of one of my comedy sellers sets. It's basically one of the stories I'm working on on this podcast, except with a live audience. And it's crazy because I never imagined, when we started the podcast, I was like, well, what if I shared material in progress? Oh, that would be kind of crazy in a certain sense, because you're quote unquote, blowing material. That's what comedians when I was coming up in the 90s would say. You can't share material before you put it on a special or put it on TV or put it on an album, because you're blowing that material. And so we're like. With this podcast, it was like, oh, you could, like, we could talk about material. But then. And then what I found is I would tour and people would be interested in the evolution of those jokes. And now with this premium episode, I played audio, which will not be the audio of the final record, the final album, the final special. It's a work in progress piece of audio, but it's professionally recorded. You can hear where the laughs are. And then we talk. Me and Gary Simons and Mabel Lewis talk about what I'm going to do next and how I'm going to change it and how it's going to evolve. It's a great episode. It's in the premium feed. If you sign up for the premium feed on Apple podcasts, you get no ads on any of the episodes and you get bonus episodes like the one I just described. And also you support the show. We appreciate it. It's five bucks a month and then you get no ads on any of the episodes. Plus you get these bonus episodes like the one I just described and you support the show. We appreciate it. Also, I have some tour dates with John Mulaney, Nick Kroll and Fred Armisen coming up in the fall, so stay tuned for those. I will also be at the Netflix is a joke festival May 6 at the Wilshire Ebel Theater. That's just Mike and friends. Mike Birbiglia working it out and friends in a really cool venue. I played there before. It was very super fun. It's going to be like probably like 30 to 45 minutes of new material from me and guests. The guests will be great. Not going to tell you who they are. [e-mail] if you're anywhere near Los Angeles. Thanks, by the way, to everyone who signed up for text message alerts. I've had the mailing list for a million years, but now we do text alerts just in case it's going to your spam. You text BURBIGS to 917-444-7150 and you will be the first to know about my upcoming shows. I really think you're going to love this episode with Ali Siddiq today.

[Ali Siddiq]

Thank you.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Phenomenal storyteller. We talk about how to make personal stories relatable to a larger audience. We talk about making your own path in comedy, working inside the system versus outside the system. Very wise person. Very funny person. We didn't know each other before. I think one of the best things about this podcast is I'm able to meet people who I've just admired from afar. So enjoy my conversation with the great Ali Siddiq. Working it. How old were you when you started?

[Ali Siddiq]

25.

[Mike Birbiglia]

You were. Oh, 25. Is that the first mic that you went to?

[Ali Siddiq]

Yes. Just joking. Yeah, just joking. Comedy Cafe, December 4, 1997.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Wow. Yeah. So almost exact. Yeah, I, I, I think 97 was mine too. That's crazy. And it was in Houston.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

And did you just have a sense from the moment you got on, you were just like, this is where I should be kind of thing?

[Ali Siddiq]

Before.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Before.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah, before I got on what did you.

[Mike Birbiglia]

What was that? What did that feel like? What was that moment? People tell you people like, you're hilarious. You should. You gotta get on stage.

[Ali Siddiq]

No, kid. Just saw. Watching tv.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Just felt like I wanted to do that.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Make people laugh.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah. I really don't agree with that. You make somebody laugh, you're supposed to be a comedian. I think that that cheapens our craft so much. It's like, it's a lot of people that made me laugh. I never told them they should have be a comedian.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

I know people that's good with knives. I don't ask them to be surgeons.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

So, yeah. I don't. Nah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

But I think that's the sleight of hand when you're really good. But your stuff is like that. Your stuff is like. Like, oh, he's just talking.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah. And my uncle be just talking. But he. He. He's the funniest person I know. I've never said, hey, you should get on stage.

[Mike Birbiglia]

That's funny.

[Ali Siddiq]

I know.

[Mike Birbiglia]

He.

[Ali Siddiq]

He wouldn't survive it. He was like. He would freeze up. And I've seen people do it before. You know, I used to go to open mics or somebody would ask me to go, come. That was in the barbershop. That was barbershop funny.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And then they would get to open mic and. See, this is different than everybody in the barbershop that knows, you know, I think that's the whole thing about standup when you're. Our craft is to make people laugh or entertain people that have no idea who we are or what we're even talking about. I'm not even familiar with the story.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yes.

[Ali Siddiq]

You know what I'm saying? And then I'm finding this story hilarious. You know, I don't know this person. But when you around people who know, you know, it's easy to make family laugh.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Cause they know the stories. You know, I know Kim when she was little, so. But who is Tracy? Some.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Who the fuck is Tracy?

[Ali Siddiq]

Some random person named Tracy.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Okay. And then I get into it and be like, yo, Tracy's crazy. So that's, you know.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Right? It's like the goal of a professional comedian is to explain who Tracy is, why she's funny, and then by the end, people are like, obviously, Tracy's funny.

[Ali Siddiq]

Obviously, Tracy's funny.

[Mike Birbiglia]

We know Tracy. A thousand strangers are like, yeah, I know Tracy.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah, I know who. I have a Tracy.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I have a Tracy.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah. That's the thing when some. You identify, you'd Say something and you describe it so well that somebody said, you know something. I know this person. Yeah, but this person's name. Larry.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, that's right. I got one of those. His name's Larry. Yeah, yeah. No, that's exactly right. How. How old are your kids? There's big difference, right?

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah, huge. Which kids? You know, I have different kids.

[Mike Birbiglia]

How many kids you have total?

[Ali Siddiq]

Nine.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Nine kids?

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

But you're.

[Ali Siddiq]

Which ones? The 30. The ones you have.

[Mike Birbiglia]

One that's 31 and you have. Your youngest is like two.

[Ali Siddiq]

32.

[Mike Birbiglia]

32. Youngest is four.

[Ali Siddiq]

Five. Wow. Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

What's the difference between what you teach your kid who's. Who's five now versus when you're your first kid who was five?

[Ali Siddiq]

No, all lessons are the same now. The problem is the leniency of the lessons. I give you more time to learn it. You know, at first it was like, no, you got to get it today. I said it today. You get it today. Now the five year old was like, she. She five. What?

[Mike Birbiglia]

I think she's five. What are you gonna do?

[Ali Siddiq]

Okay. You know, she don't. She don't know that you're not supposed to throw stuff on the ground as you finish eating. She don't know that.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Right.

[Ali Siddiq]

But she's been throwing places. But today, you know, she forgot. You know, I'm way more lenient.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah. I'm a different, you know, and I see it just like I'm getting ready to shoot another special in a couple days. What's crazy, I just came up with the title for it after all the stuff together. But my first love, and it's a lot about my first love. And she was different, you know, when she first met me versus how she is now. You know, she's totally different. Cause she lives a different life.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

You know, with my parents. My mom, she kind of reared me under frustration, kind of like, you know, so frustration and, you know, and fear and all of these type of things versus how she is with my. My son. My mama is real. My son get away with murder.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Like. And I was like, yo, you done killed me.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Over there. Like, you wouldn't even did that, like, you know.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

You wouldn't even care about my feelings in that. Like, Right. Like, she's totally different versus your kid.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. You know, I mean, very fertile territory. Very relatable.

[Ali Siddiq]

It's a. It's a thing. Like I'm. I don't. My kids are under. Well, not when I. And I said it last Night, you know, we went to a basketball game to celebrate another family.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And as we riding home, I said, y' all just don't really realize how different your life is from mine.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. Of course.

[Ali Siddiq]

I never remember going anywhere as a family.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Like, ever.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Like, my whole 52 years. I can't. That's a memory that I don't have.

[Mike Birbiglia]

When you were a kid. Yeah. You just never went out with your family.

[Ali Siddiq]

Nope. Well.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Cause your parents are split from each other pretty early, right? Yeah. Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

I don't remember going out with either one of them's. New situation.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I don't remember.

[Ali Siddiq]

Like, I don't remember. Like, did me and said Michael. Like, I don't remember that.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Did we do anything.

[Ali Siddiq]

Like, it just always was.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Didn't go on vacation, one or the other. Didn't go to basketball games, didn't go to concerts.

[Ali Siddiq]

It's crazy. I never went to. My dad came to one basketball game. My mama came to two football games.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

My whole, like. And I played sports the whole time.

[Mike Birbiglia]

No kidding.

[Ali Siddiq]

High school in middle school and two games. Two football games.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Your whole. Your whole life.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah. Two football games.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Wow.

[Ali Siddiq]

And my dad came to one basketball game. And we talking about. We ain't talking about high school. We talking about seventh, eighth grade.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Eighth grade. We talking about eighth grade. That's crazy. Yeah, that's crazy time.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

When I think about it.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Well, yeah, for me, it's really. I go to my daughter's swim meets, like, every. Practically every weekend.

[Ali Siddiq]

And that's. That's. And swim meets are really tough.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Oh, yeah. They're long.

[Ali Siddiq]

It's a long situation. You never thought that you would eat pasta that you boil the night before in a. In a bag. You just eating pasta.

[Mike Birbiglia]

You didn't. You didn't think that was gonna happen? My whole thing with swim meets is you go, oh, I'm watching my daughter swim for two and a half minutes. I'm watching other people's kids swim for four and a half hours. I didn't sign up for this.

[Ali Siddiq]

It's crazy. And then you think that it's not a say. It's like you checking things like, when is your event? Like, when is your event?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Dude, I got the app with the event ties.

[Ali Siddiq]

Crazy. We've been here since. Why did they tell us to be here this early? Your event is at 11. We've been here since 6.

[Mike Birbiglia]

We went at 7. One day. No one showed up till 8. How come we did not get the memo? No one's coming to late.

[Ali Siddiq]

It's Your first. Your first meet. Did you have food already? Did you finish?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Oh, no, no. We didn't know anything.

[Ali Siddiq]

You went straight to concessions. You was buying stuff from concessions and

[Mike Birbiglia]

you was, like, with the vending machine.

[Ali Siddiq]

Then you start realizing, like, we spent $40

[Mike Birbiglia]

eating bugles and vitamin water all day.

[Ali Siddiq]

It's like, you know, my oldest daughter swam for years, like, from six to all the way through high school. Lifegu. Yeah, she swim for a long time. Yeah, like a long time.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

So you.

[Mike Birbiglia]

So you went through a lot.

[Ali Siddiq]

She would do. She would do the 500s.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Oh, the 500s.

[Ali Siddiq]

Like you. Like you.

[Mike Birbiglia]

It's like 20 laps or something.

[Ali Siddiq]

I'm not. Why do I have to hold this boy for you? I'm not a part of the team. I miss being a swim parent, though. Now I'm a ice skating parent.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Oh, that's cool.

[Ali Siddiq]

Which is even crazier.

[Mike Birbiglia]

What's funny? Like, you did a four part special.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

So good. I couldn't recommend it more highly to the listeners. It's on YouTube. It's free.

[Ali Siddiq]

No credit for it. No comedy.

[Mike Birbiglia]

What do you mean, no credit?

[Ali Siddiq]

No comedic credit for it.

[Mike Birbiglia]

What do you mean?

[Ali Siddiq]

You know, when. When you do something that's never been done in a craft.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Oh, okay. No credit for pioneering, like, a four part special.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah. And, yeah, like, comics would. I think this is amongst the comedy community, we have, like, this disease where that we think that some comic that already is huge, if we support them, that they gonna say, you know something. I saw his post. He reposted my stuff. Let me take him on the road and invest in him. Invest in him. But the people that's around you, they really can't see the excellence in you because they feel like they're around. I could imagine people being around Jordan and not seeing it. Like, how can you not. How could you be around Magic Johnson and not see it? You on his team?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

You know, LeBron's teammates saw it. They clearly. They clearly like. Like, yo.

[Mike Birbiglia]

But I think Magic, Jordan's and Ma and Magic's teams got. Teammates got it. Right.

[Ali Siddiq]

I don't think Jordan. I think Jordan teammates got it. But in comedy, I don't. I think it's two levels. It's two different levels of thing. I. I see the. Let me see how I say it. The mainstream side is, like, I used to be so against the mainstream side of comedy.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Like.

[Ali Siddiq]

Like, they're soft, and mainstream is so much better. It's so. It's. It's humongous. The. The level of better is Insane for the.

[Mike Birbiglia]

For the consumer, for people watching the specials.

[Ali Siddiq]

For comics. For comics.

[Mike Birbiglia]

The level of comedy in, like, the, like, Netflix, HBO space. You mean like that mainstream amongst.

[Ali Siddiq]

Like, give you an example. So I would. When I went to Comic View, when I was on Comic View, we would go film, and it would be all these comics there. It was like this competition of who's going to have the best set on Comic View.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. Comic View on bet, which was huge in its day.

[Ali Siddiq]

It was like. It was. When you walked in the door, it was like, it was competitive from. For every aspect of it. My haircut is better than yours. My clothes are better than yours. I smell better. I'm gonna do. I got more. It's just. It was just so much competition. It was crazy.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

So then I walked on the set of this Is Not Happening.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Gonna be on Comedy Central. And it was so inviting.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

It was like, nice haircut, nice outfit, man. You smell great, man. I hope you. Man, I hope you have a wonderful set.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Okay. What's the difference? Like, why is it so much competition over here versus over here? It's. I want you to go out and have a good show so we can get another season of this.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

I want to be the standout person. It's just about me.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Right.

[Ali Siddiq]

Two different.

[Mike Birbiglia]

That's interesting.

[Ali Siddiq]

Two different aspects of it. You know, it kind of mainstream. Kind of feels like old classic comedy. When I would listen to a Rodney Winfield or Ronaldo Ray talking about stuff that they wrote for Richard.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

You know, or comics say that we would write for each other to make sure that you going on Ed Sullivan. We gonna write some stuff for you to make sure. Cause it's somebody else trying to get in the door.

[Mike Birbiglia]

No, of course.

[Ali Siddiq]

You know, so we writing for each other, making sure that everybody is doing well versus just about me. You know, So I. And I. And I've never been into the just about me. Cause I've always played on the team.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. But do you feel like you're in the mainstream or not in the mainstream?

[Ali Siddiq]

I feel like I'm not in either space, man. Like, I'm in my own lane. Well, I think so too, you know, but that's a gift and a curse.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, it's a gift and a curse.

[Ali Siddiq]

And, like, I don't. I don't get invited to a lot of stuff.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

You know, but it's one of the things when people see me, oh, I'm happy here. But you didn't invite me, though.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Right.

[Ali Siddiq]

You know, so do you ever.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Okay. Do you ever get. Do you. Are there big mainstream comics who are particularly respectful or disrespectful to you? Mostly respectful, I would imagine.

[Ali Siddiq]

Mostly. Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I would imagine, like, the biggest comics would go, yeah, you're one of the best comics. I don't think there's a lot of dispute there.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah, but then it's. It's weird with. With people. People think because. Just because they like somebody, that somebody can't be better than the person that they like, but it's not even a better thing. It's like, sometimes work is just different. Work ethic is just different. You know, it's like I could watch somebody say, I love Anita Baker, like, one of my favorite artists. Anita Baker, Whitney Houston. But I can't deny Ella Mae is. Is insane. Like, you. Like, I. And I just listen. I back. Like, how do you deny somebody that? You know, it may not be your favorite at this point, but it's. You know, they. They really good. You know, you know, I. And I sit back and I watch other comics. I'm like, this dude is growing into his own. Like, I'm. I'm. I'm a fan. It's like, okay, I like Richard Pryor. Okay. I like it. And even with Richard, I try to figure out, do I like him because he was the first album that I listened to.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. Yeah. It's a good question.

[Ali Siddiq]

You know, do I like Eddie? Because it was the time, you know, did I like Cosby because of all the, you know, Fat Albert and, you know, and all the works. Cause I didn't see his. The sitcom he was in. I just saw himself and then Fat Albert and then the Cosby show, and then I saw the movies with him and Sidney Poitier. Okay, do I. Because I felt like Dick Gregory was so smart. Is that the reason? But then I understand why I liked Don Rickles.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

You know, I understand why I liked Rodney Dangerfield, but do I. Look, can I not say that? There's a DL, you know what I'm saying? There's a Bill Burr.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

You know, do I not. Or do I just stay in that realm? These are the only people.

[Mike Birbiglia]

These are the greats.

[Ali Siddiq]

These are the greats. And that is it. Do Carlin. You know, so nobody. So, like, people ask me one time, do I think I'm the best storyteller? And I said, now, if you asked me a couple years ago, I would have said, no. I'd have put Cosby and Carl in front of me. Yeah, I don't anymore.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Good for you.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah. Like, when I look at it, I'm like, nah, I think, you know, Joy Diaz. It's like, if I rank it, which I don't, I would go, Joey Diaz is four. Carlin is three. Cosby is two. I'm one.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Where's Pryor?

[Ali Siddiq]

Five?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Five. Pryor's below. Joey Diaz. Come on.

[Ali Siddiq]

What are we doing when we talking about stories?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, he's got good stories.

[Ali Siddiq]

Joey Diaz is. And I'm not just talking about the stories. I'm talking about the mechanics of telling the story.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Joy Diaz is really good. When I look at it.

[Mike Birbiglia]

What. Okay, so if you break down what you think is a worthwhile story for you to tell on stage, what. What makes it. What pushes it over the top to

[Ali Siddiq]

being stage worthy, Having an underlying message at the end.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

I'm not just telling a story just to be telling it, because it's. If I tell a story about, say, if I told a story about drugs. Let's go. Like Prior, If I told a story about drugs, it's gonna be a story that you can kind of see the message in and lead you away from doing drugs. Whatever the message, whether it's selling, doing, handling, being out with somebody that you wasn't supposed to be, I'm gonna give the underlying message. It's not gonna be the dog and the monkey type thing. Prior was clearly high when he was doing this. Monkey was talking to him, and a dog jumped over the fence. I'll be trying to eat you next week. I was like, okay, where's the message in this? Like, you know, But Priya tells stories like my Uncle Mac. My Uncle Mac stories are very embellished, and they always. Something wild. And then I don't. Like, at the end of the story, I'm like, okay, right.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Did that happen?

[Ali Siddiq]

Right.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Where do we go from here?

[Ali Siddiq]

Where's the rest of it? What did I get out of this? And my grandmother's stories were always historic. It was something about teaching something.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Something generational.

[Ali Siddiq]

My mom's stories were very informationally against me. Like,

[Mike Birbiglia]

proof of why you shouldn't be doing what you're doing.

[Ali Siddiq]

Proof of I should have just aborted you. Okay. Um, so when I. When I draw from the people that I learned how to tell stories from.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

You know, my grandfather was a very subtle storyteller.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

You don't even know that you. In a story.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Until you. What? Like, what is he talking about? Oh, this is. Oh, I'm supposed to be listening.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And. And that's how he navigated. So you have all these different levels to draw from. And then you pick. When are you being jovial in a story? When are you being informational? When you have some really deep point that you trying to get to or you trying to soothe somebody in a story? Like Domino Effect to was the whole thing was about getting people to understand about loss and variations of losing things up until the ultimate loss of life.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. Your sister.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yes. And then coming full circle, understanding that you kind of lost yourself in this. So three first day of school is. No matter how long you have been living, it's always a first day of learning something new for you. You know, like when you. I don't know how old you were when your kids started swimming, but it was a whole different learn. Like, you've done. Probably did multiple things before then.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Then you get there and it's like, oh, I have to learn this new world.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. One of my favorite tracks of yours is when you talk about your mom giving you the front door key and just being like, I gotta make sure I don't lose the front door key. And there's something about the. When you're a kid and you're given some responsibility, how terrifying that is.

[Ali Siddiq]

Losing that key was the worst day. And my. My sister, she saw me from a distance and noticed that I didn't have a string around my neck. She was like, what? Your key? It's like, I. I don't know. Parents felt like somebody found that key. It's no apartment number on it, but it's like. Like they would know, like, where to go. Like, how.

[Mike Birbiglia]

So you. I've seen you say in other interviews, like, you don't think of things as bits. You think of everything as stories. But. But it's like, how do you decide what's a story? Like, you're like, oh, front door key. How do you go? Like, okay, that's a story. That's a story for the stage.

[Ali Siddiq]

Because I'm only. I'm only telling things that happen to me.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Or like, I don't have. I'm not drawn from any other place besides inside of me. So I don't have a bit. Right. I'm not. Because. A bit. It seems like. Because I've written them, you know, it's something I had to work on. I don't say it a lot because it seems in the comedy community. Cause everybody wants everybody to be the same. And I don't have the same story as nobody else. So I don't want to sound arrogant. I haven't written anything in six Years.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Wow. You haven't written. In other words, you haven't written anything down. But you've thrown stuff on stage.

[Ali Siddiq]

Domino effect 2. The first time the director. Anybody ever seen it was when I did it. Wow. I didn't run it. Wow.

[Mike Birbiglia]

You don't run it.

[Ali Siddiq]

No. So you.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Right. And it's very personal. You're talking about your sister dying deep.

[Ali Siddiq]

Couldn't have ran it.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. Yeah. You didn't want it.

[Ali Siddiq]

It's impossible for me to run that anywhere and be intact.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. You just said to the director, I have a special. I'm not gonna really tell you what it is.

[Ali Siddiq]

I got it.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. And where'd you film it?

[Ali Siddiq]

Houston.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Houston.

[Ali Siddiq]

In the Houston Improv. And I told him what I wanted to look like.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

I said, man, I want it to be the light post. I wanted to look dark. I wanted to look like when I was on the block.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

They made it happen. And they never knew what it was. They. It was. It was crazy. My manager didn't know it. I just kept saying, trust me, I got it.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And they like, all right. He said, you got it. Like, what you going to wear? And I'm like, man, I got it, bro. Like, because me even explaining it was too much. It's like, I just. I just had.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I had. You'd lose it. You'd lose it.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah. Support for Working it out comes from article. Article offers a curated range of mid century modern, coastal and Scandinavian inspired pieces that not only shine on their own, but also pair seamlessly with nearly any other Article product. I love this Article furniture. They have a thoughtful design approach that makes it incredibly easy to mix and match, helping you create a space that feels cohesive as well as stylish. I feel like if you went on the Article website, you could spend hours there. I was on the site and I got this little bookcase and a little rug. They all sort of have a nice matching color palette. With Article's 30 day satisfaction guarantee, you can shop with confidence, knowing that if you're not completely in love with your new furniture, you. You can easily return it. The peace of mind ensures that you can invest in your home without hesitation. Article is offering our listeners $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more. To claim that, visit article.comwio for working it out and the discount will be automatically applied at checkout. That's article.com wio for $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more. Working it out is supported by Helix. Helix makes award winning sleep products Tested and reviewed by Exper Orbs and Wired. Helix offers a 120 night sleep trial and limited lifetime warranty. 120 nights. I've been a Helix customer myself for many years, since the beginning of this podcast almost six years ago. Everyone on the staff here at Working it out has a Helix mattress. We all really love them. I know a thing or two about sleep and Helix makes the best mattress I've ever slept on. And I've slept on a lot of mattresses. I travel quite a bit, stay in a lot of hotels. Traveling actually can be hard. If I could bring my Helix mattress with me on tour, I would go to helixleep.com and you will get this is a really good deal. 27% off site wide. Exclusive for listeners of Mike Birbigli is working it out. That's helixsleep.com B I R B I G S for 27% off site wide. Make sure you enter our show name after checkout so they know we sent you. Helixsleep.com Brew Biggs. I feel like you're a throwback in some ways. Like it's a throwback to like a Prior, like a Richard Prior era in the sense that like Richard Prior had this tough upbringing, Peoria, and he saw a lot of stuff and at a certain point he figured out how to tell those stories in a way that like crushed. And I feel like that's to me, when I watch your stuff, I'm like, that's exactly what you're doing. Like, you've had a really, you've had a challenging life. You know what I mean?

[Ali Siddiq]

Self imposed.

[Mike Birbiglia]

It's not self. Not all self imposed.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah, man.

[Mike Birbiglia]

You think so?

[Ali Siddiq]

A lot of this was like, I explain this all the time. I didn't ever had to sell drugs, right? My mom had a job, my dad had a job. Even though my dad wasn't there, my mom still had a job. And she was. My mom had a lot of great work ethics. Two jobs, went to school. When she couldn't take care of us, she would send us to her brothers and her sisters. My mom got nine siblings, so they had jobs. You know, my aunt's a registered nurse. One of my aunts worked for Nabisco for 35 years. My uncles worked in the medical field. One of my uncles was a cobbler, which is crazy. My uncle Lamont, right, He used to come to family functions and he always had this long leather jacket on, leather hat, shoes, and he'd look so tough all the time and. And nobody ever said what he did. And I always like, yo, Uncle Lamont worked for the mob. He definitely kills people for the mob.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

So for you, this is years, like all throughout my childhood, early adult. I'm like, yo, my uncle Lamont works for the mob.

[Mike Birbiglia]

There's no other explanation.

[Ali Siddiq]

Same leather jacket, same leather hat. He is definitely the iceman, the black Iceman. So I do comedy special, Comedy Central in 2018. My uncle. I'm in LA and my uncle comes and sits down at my aunt house and he says, hey, nephew. Hey, man, you oughta let me make some shoes for you. I said, what? Yeah, man, I be seeing you got nice shoes on your feet. You gotta let me make some shoes for you. I'm like, why would he be making shoes? Like, is this some type of code?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, code word.

[Ali Siddiq]

Like, he said. I said, why would you be making shoes? He said, cause I'm a cobbler. I make shoes for a living. Been making shoes 35 years. I was like, you make shoes?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

He's like, yeah, I make shoes. I'm like, no, you work with a mob. Like, who told you that?

[Mike Birbiglia]

I'm like, so funny.

[Ali Siddiq]

I couldn't believe my uncle was a cobbler.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I was like, that's so funny.

[Ali Siddiq]

I'm thinking, this man been killing people for the mob for decades.

[Mike Birbiglia]

It's fun. Well, it's funny. One of the things that hits me when I'm listening to your comedy and your story, because you were in jail and you sold drugs and you had all these dramatic things, there's similarities to the comedy world. Like, the same hustle that's in that world is a lot of the same hustle that's in comedy.

[Ali Siddiq]

This is why I don't believe a lot of people when they say they was hustling in the streets.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I don't believe you say more about

[Ali Siddiq]

that because of this. Then you wouldn't be asking for so much from other people. You wouldn't be mad at people not giving you something or doing something for you. Because in the streets, when you hustle, you get it on your own.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

You don't hope you hustle. So.

[Mike Birbiglia]

That's right.

[Ali Siddiq]

I'm a gangster. When gangsters never told you they was gangsters.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

It wasn't a badge of honor. It was something that you hid.

[Mike Birbiglia]

It wasn't.

[Ali Siddiq]

They, hey, hey, look at my shirt. I'm a gangster. It's like, no. People like, what is he doing?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, yeah, sure.

[Ali Siddiq]

There was a lot of. Still a lot of mystery around us. What is he doing? Yeah, you know, I Could have been anything at the time. Just like with comedy. I was in open mics late at night, and this is when your girl, like, what are you.

[Mike Birbiglia]

What are you doing?

[Ali Siddiq]

It's always a what are you doing? Era.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, it's the what are you doing? Era.

[Ali Siddiq]

It's like.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Cause no phones, no accountability.

[Ali Siddiq]

And so you. You been around the same time as me. I had no idea how to become a comic.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[Ali Siddiq]

Like, no.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I try to explain that now to people about our era, that it wasn't a thing you did. It wasn't a choice. It literally, like, it was so unpopular and so uncool to be a comedian.

[Ali Siddiq]

Like, what are you doing? Like, what do you mean you.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, like, you had to explain it to people. I explained. I said to my dad once, I'm being a comedian. He goes, comedian? What do they do, strip? No, they do comedy. He had no idea what I was talking about.

[Ali Siddiq]

It's like, I told my mom I was gonna be a comedian. She's like, no, you're gonna get a job. This is my job. Like. Cause you had no. If somebody would've asked you in 1997, what. How do you become a comedian? What would been the first thing you would even wrote? You like, nothing. Nothing. It's. I have no guidance.

[Mike Birbiglia]

No.

[Ali Siddiq]

At all. Like, I don't even know where to go. Like, I'm asking, like, okay, how do you even start this conversation?

[Mike Birbiglia]

I would go in dc, I would go in the back of, like, the local weekly magazine and just be like, what are. What is an open mic of any kind of. Like, is there a music open mic? I could go, and then I would just show up and they'd be like, what do you do? I'd be like, I do comedy. They'd be like, we don't do that. I'm like, well, I'm gonna use my time for that.

[Ali Siddiq]

I started at Apollo Night, like, where people were booing people who were juggling Apollo Night. It's like, you would sing, people would dance, they would juggle, they would do magic.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Wow.

[Ali Siddiq]

And they would do. Everything is In Houston. In Houston.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Wow.

[Ali Siddiq]

And you would get booed.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

You saying, like, you wasn't juggling fast. First of all, juggling is an amazing talent, and I don't care. Most people can't juggle anything.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

You know what I'm saying? But, man, boo. Juggling socks, you suck. Like, what? He's juggling socks. It's amazing. You know what I'm saying? And then he opened the socks.

[Mike Birbiglia]

It's so hard to explain where you start. Yeah. So hard to explain to people. But it's not unrelated to, like, where you came from, which is like. Which is you don't hope. You hustle. It's like you just figured it out. Even your YouTube specials, it's like, you. They're on Netflix or on HBO, you're like, no, I produced them myself. I put them on YouTube. They got seen by tens of millions of people. That's. That's a crazy outcome.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Like, that's a. That is. In through one lens, you go, that's the least likely outcome you could possibly have. Through another lens, you go, well, of course that's what happened. Like, both of those things are true at the same time.

[Ali Siddiq]

At the exact same time.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And it only happened because I had a special on Comedy Central. I did a half hour and a full hour, and I posted something about my special, and they copyright infringed me. I was like, what? It's. But it's my face.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Comedy Central did. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So they sent you a notice saying, pull this down. Yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

It's insane.

[Mike Birbiglia]

And so you were like, oh, forget this. I'm gonna just put up my own stuff.

[Ali Siddiq]

Doing my own stuff.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I'm gonna film it myself. Put it up myself.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah. I'm like, man, I'm not doing that. And so I just knew when I started the Apollo Knight couldn't have been the only way to start in my mind. So I started getting. Going to clubs and would ask, hey, do y' all have anything going on at this time? He's like, nah. I say, well, can we start a happy hour comedy show? And then I would get a spot, and I would start bringing other comics that was trying to get on. But I'm doing the bulk of the time, it's like, I'm the ho. So I'm.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And that's the thing, man. Being a host of your own room, it was probably the most beneficial thing.

[Mike Birbiglia]

It's the smartest thing you could possibly do because some.

[Ali Siddiq]

It would be like, people wouldn't show up. Like, comics wouldn't show up late, or sometimes there's only be, like, two comics. So now you're using. Using a new. Another new comic as just a. A break. Almost like you go out there and you do seven minutes and then eight minutes, and then they struggle. Then you come back and you like, oh, yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I guess the next thing you know, you're doing at 45 minutes.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah. And yeah, it was. Cause we. We actually didn't know just Imagine you started, and I applaud you on this, you know, And I think that the guys in our era and the ones before should really have a healthy respect for the craft and what we accomplish. Because you started in a time where you had no earthly idea what you could make.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Mm.

[Ali Siddiq]

Who knew?

[Mike Birbiglia]

No path.

[Ali Siddiq]

It's like the forest, and you just got to. You got to start navigating the road through this forest.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, that's right.

[Ali Siddiq]

You had no idea, did what you can actually make. And you have been doing this for 28 years and surviving and making a living off of this for 28 years when you had. So you a real person that remember getting $20.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Oh, yeah, five.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Like we used to get five at the. the Comic Strip on the upper east side. $5 buns.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah, it's. That's a club I'm talking about.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

From another person. Like, I would go in my pocket and literally give somebody $20 of the hundred dollars that. The. That. That I got paid from this happy hour.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

That I came over, they gave me $100, they gave me $150. And then I booked four other comics and gave them $20.

[Mike Birbiglia]

But what. Okay, but let's dig underneath this, which is like, where does the drive come from to be, like, there's no path. I'm gonna find a path. Like, where does that come from, man?

[Ali Siddiq]

My dad saying the same energy that you can put in for somebody else, you can put in for yourself. So if you trying and you have a desire to do something, then just do it. You know, my mom, two jobs and going to school because she wants to another profession, you know what I'm saying? And she wants to graduate, you know what I'm saying? She 20 years old, she got two kids living in a place that she not from. Do I stop? Do I give up?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Right? What am I doing? If she's doing that, what am I doing?

[Ali Siddiq]

Do I just grind? My grandmother coming from Clarksdale, Mississippi, you know, being in a cotton field, like, do I stop here? Do I keep pushing? You know, you got this lineage of people in my family that never gave up on anything. If you're going to make it, you're going to have to do it.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Are you waiting on somebody to come save you? Okay, let me know how that works out. You know, like in Houston, I chose never to move to LA or New York. I would come to New York and do rooms. I would go to la, but I never said I would move there. Oh, you gotta move. You gotta move. And I Think when somebody tell me that I have to do something bothers me. Cause, like, why would I have to do it? It doesn't make.

[Mike Birbiglia]

I know what you mean. There's something that. There is something that really bothers me about when people say, you have to do this or it has to be this, or this is the way it's done for me. It's like all these red flags go off.

[Ali Siddiq]

Like what?

[Mike Birbiglia]

Like what?

[Ali Siddiq]

I have to. So even with young comics now, some young comics actually think that I'm mean because I don't give them cookie cutter nonsense. Yo, man, what would you say? What would you say to a young, inspiring comic? Nothing. I wouldn't be talking to you. Like, what would I be talking to you about, man? I'm just asking you. You don't have no tips for me?

[Mike Birbiglia]

No.

[Ali Siddiq]

I said, now what I will do, I'll give you my number, and then we can talk and I can get to know you, and then I can guide you. Because I don't know what you want to do in comedy. So what you want me to do? Okay. You want me to give you some cookie cutter? Stay on stage, keep writing. Yeah, but am I telling the comedic actor to keep. To stay on stage or keep writing? Or I'm telling the actual standup or I'm telling the sketch guy, what do you want to do in comedy? What do you want to be? So I gotta know. Kind of know that first, and then I can guide you from there, I say, or you can just pick up my book, applied advice. And out of the 13 things that's in there, those things were isolated for me. Those things were given to me. Those are the 13 pieces of advice from 13 different people that I respected that gave me the advice at that I say, but even with this, I got that advice at the time that I actually needed it.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Like in comedy, as you know, it's peaks and valleys, highs and lows, and it's been. It's like, I gotta. I'm on fire this year, the next year. I don't even know if I'm. I don't even know if I want to do this.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And then. Or you get something, you get in position, then somebody takes something from you, or you felt like you put out your best work and then you didn't get recognized for it in the space that you wanted to get recognized for, and somebody comes and throws a log in your fire that you need.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And for me, that was. It happened at different times and. But the base of it is this Guy named BR Burns that was a playwright. I'm young comic very early on. And BR said to me, straight out, comedy is long, hard road. Stay in line, though.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Cause if you stay in line, you'll get your chance.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

But if you get out of line, you never get your chance.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Smart.

[Ali Siddiq]

And that I needed it at that time. Cause I don't know what my direction it was. The time.05, it was crazy. In 2005, this was a difficult year in stand up for me for some reason. Then 2007, I meet D.L. hughley. Yeah. And that. That relationship, you know, turned into something wonderful. Yeah. DL, I do something in 2009, and I'm complaining to DL about something like, man, this dude, you know, doing stuff just like me. And it's funny when somebody does something that you don't know they can do, they attempt to do it. DL was like, I'm gonna tell you the same thing that Prince told Timbaland. And he tried to do a Prince impression. And DL doesn't do impressions. I was like, yo, you sound crazy. It was terrible.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

But the message was right on time. And then he also said to me right after that, he said, man, the best you ever be on stage is based on how honest you want to be.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And these are the things that you kind of need.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Just chilling.

[Ali Siddiq]

How do I.

[Mike Birbiglia]

What's the Prince advice? Can you say?

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah, he was like. He said Timbaland was telling him that everybody was out here trying to redo his sound.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And Prince was like, this is DL's impression of Prince. Are you the man? Until it's like, yeah, I'm the man. Then create a new sound. And then he. And then Prince hung up on him. And then DL hung up on me.

[Mike Birbiglia]

That's so funny. Are you the man? Like, create a new sound.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah, create a new sound. You know, so.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Oh, I love that.

[Ali Siddiq]

That's great advice. Do something new.

[Mike Birbiglia]

That's nice.

[Ali Siddiq]

They copying something new.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Wow. I mean, you can't follow that. You can't follow that. Working it out is supported by Rula. Let's talk about therapy for a second. We talk about therapy all the time on this show. I've talked about it with Gary, Gman, with Sarah Sherman. That was a good episode where we talk about therapy. I've been in therapy. I know firsthand. Sometimes navigating mental health care can be challenging. Here's the thing about Rula. Rula helps to make that part easier. Rula works with major insurance plans. Sessions can cost as little as $15 and in some case, $0, depending on what your benefits are. Rula isn't just a directory. They help book appointments. They stay on top of your schedule and and keep track of progress so you actually can get somewhere with therapy. Whether it's therapy or medication management, Rula makes it simple to get the full scope of care you need. No time wasted navigating between platforms or offices. Thousands of people have already used Rula to finally get the care they needed. Go to rula.compurbigs and get started today. That's R U L A.combrbigs Take the first step. Get connected. Take control of your mental health. The final thing we do is working it out for a cause. Is there a non profit that you like to contribute to? And what we do is we contribute to them and then we link to them in the show notes.

[Ali Siddiq]

Houston Food Bank.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Houston Food Bank. We always love contributing to food banks. So I always tell people to support their local food banks.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah. You know, we live in a country where no elderly people and no children should be hungry at all. We produce. We throw away more food in a day than more countries produce in a year.

[Mike Birbiglia]

That's outrageous.

[Ali Siddiq]

And it's outrageous, man.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And that's the thing. Like, we have an abundance of food.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And it's kind of, it's one of them things with me and my family. I need you to, I understand what mama said, clean your plate. And then I understood it even more when you would be in school and you didn't eat something. And then now you in the fifth period and you starving and in your mind, like, if I would have just ate that last piece of pancake, I wouldn't even be hungry right now. Maybe it's true, maybe it's not, but it's definitely, you know, a thing.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Well, thanks for being here. We'll contribute to the Houston Food bank and Ali Siddiq. Amazing work.

[Ali Siddiq]

Oh, thank you.

[Mike Birbiglia]

Incredible.

[Ali Siddiq]

Thank you. An honor and a pleasure working it out. Cause it's not done. We're working it out because there's no.

[Mike Birbiglia]

That's gonna do it. For another episode of Working it out, you can follow Ali Siddiq on Instagram at a l I s I d d I q and on YouTube at Ali Siddiq Comedy. He's got a zillion comedy Specials free on YouTube. Check out birdbigs.com to sign up for my mailing list and to be the first to to know about my upcoming shows. You can watch the full video of this episode on our YouTube channel ikeberbiglia and please subscribe. It helps us out. We're posting more and more videos by the day. Don't miss it. Our producers of Working it out are myself, along with Peter Salomon, Joseph Birbiglia, Mabel Lewis and Gary Simons. Sound mix by Shub Sarah and supervising engineer Kate Balinsky. Special thanks to Jack Antonoff and Bleachers for their music. They have a new album coming out. They dropped one song. It is fantastic. Special thanks as always to my wife, the poet J. Hope Stein, and our daughter Oona, who built the original radio fort made of pillows. Thanks most of all to you who are listening. If you enjoy the show, please rate us and review us on Apple Podcasts. That helps out. We've done over 200 episodes, all free. We did it. Thank you all. Tell your friends. Tell your enemies. Tell. Tell that other parent who's stuck in a long swim meet. Go. Hey, you must be new. While you're waiting what feels like hours for your child to swim, you should try listening to this podcast called Mike Birbiglia is Working it Out. Mike Birbiglia talks about the creative process with other comedians and creatives like Ali Siddiq, so you can listen to Ollie. And also, for what it's worth, when you come to swim meets, bring some pasta in a bag. Thanks everybody. We're working it out. We'll see you next.