#135 - Ali Siddiq

Summary

Stavvy's World - Episode #135: Ali Siddiq

Release Date: June 30, 2025
Host: Stavros Halkias
Guest: Ali Siddiq
Podcast Description: A podcast where you can hang out with your pal Stavros. Every week Stavros Halkias and his friends help you solve all your problems. Wanna be a part of the show? Call 904-800-STAV, leave a voicemail, and get some advice!

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Introduction

In episode #135 of Stavvy's World, host Stavros Halkias welcomes Ali Siddiq, a prominent stand-up comedian celebrated for his compelling storytelling and unique comedic style. The episode delves into Ali's journey through life, his rise in the comedy scene, and the personal experiences that have shaped his craft.

Career Beginnings and Rise in Comedy

Ali Siddiq shares insights into his early days in comedy, starting his career in 1997. He discusses his initial struggles to gain recognition and his first appearance on Comedy Central's "Comic View." Although his stint was brief—lasting only four minutes and thirty seconds ([10:26])—it marked the beginning of his persistent pursuit of success in the competitive world of stand-up comedy.

Notable Quote:
Ali Siddiq [07:28]: “I have a healthy range. They start at 31 and then they go down to four.”

Life in Houston and Family Influences

Ali opens up about his life in Houston, emphasizing how the city's culture and his Greek heritage have influenced his comedic perspective. He recounts stories about his family, including interactions with his father and uncles, highlighting the blend of traditional values and personal quirks that have contributed to his humor.

Notable Quote:
Stavros Halkias [04:16]: “Now you got the three is good. So I was, I was here, I was in this apartment, living in the living room with a fake wall, eating cereal with fucking water in it.”

Prison Stories and Character Development

A significant portion of the conversation revolves around Ali Siddiq's time in prison, where he began entertaining fellow inmates. This period was pivotal in honing his storytelling abilities and developing his comedic voice. Ali shares anecdotes about interactions with notable figures like Dexter Manley, a legendary NFL player, illustrating how these experiences deepened his resilience and enriched his material.

Notable Quote:
Ali Siddiq [21:15]: “So I walk out of. Because we're on the... we're on the trustee side. So I walk out, going over by the calf, and I'm looking, I was like, is that Dexter, man?”

Transition to Success and YouTube Proliferation

Ali discusses the impact of digital platforms, particularly YouTube, on his career trajectory. He highlights how creating content for YouTube allowed him to reach a broader audience, leading to increased popularity and the ability to produce multiple specials. This digital presence was instrumental in establishing his brand and securing numerous touring opportunities.

Notable Quote:
Ali Siddiq [09:32]: “And I've had some good ones. I've had some really good ones to where I broke my knuckles on people. That's why I don't have them right there.”

Personal Anecdotes and Family Dynamics

The episode delves into Ali's personal life, exploring his relationships with his parents and siblings. He shares heartfelt stories about his father's influence, his mother's support, and the unique dynamics within his extended family. These narratives not only provide depth to his character but also serve as rich material for his comedic routines.

Notable Quote:
Ali Siddiq [35:04]: “I went to another prison. I was... you know, this is a minimum security prison. I went to a Max. And... And this was different.”

Advice Segment and Listener Calls

Midway through the episode, Stavros and Ali engage with listener calls, offering advice on various personal and relational issues. Topics range from struggles with romantic relationships, dealing with infidelity, to navigating long-term friendships. Both hosts provide candid, humorous, yet thoughtful responses, blending their comedic flair with genuine problem-solving strategies.

Notable Quote:
Ali Siddiq [64:48]: “This is how you get pushed off a cliff in the east Coast. I don't know what happened to me.”

Conclusion and Future Projects

In the concluding segment, Ali Siddiq promotes his upcoming tour dates across the UK, Ireland, and various US cities, encouraging listeners to attend his shows. Stavros Halkias wraps up the episode by commending Ali's prolific output on YouTube and expressing excitement for his future endeavors in comedy.

Notable Quote:
Stavros Halkias [107:45]: “So truly so much good stuff on the YouTube and you know I mean I said it at the beginning but it's like you're incredibly prolific so when people go they go to your YouTube. It's like there's so much stuff to dig into and I think you guys are gonna really like it.”

Overall Insights and Reflections

Stavvy's World episode #135 offers a comprehensive look into Ali Siddiq's life and career, illustrating how personal challenges and unique experiences can fuel creativity and success in the comedy industry. Ali's ability to transform hardships into humor underscores the therapeutic and transformative power of comedy. The episode not only entertains but also provides valuable lessons on resilience, authenticity, and the importance of storytelling.

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Note: This summary focuses solely on the content of the conversation between Stavros Halkias and Ali Siddiq, deliberately excluding advertisements, intros, outros, and non-content segments as per the instructions.

Transcript

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[Stavros Halkias]

Hello, everybody. We have an incredible show coming up for you right now with the great Ali Siddiq. One of the best comics working today, maybe the best storyteller in stand up comedy currently. You're gonna love the episode. He was great on the show. Just wanted to let you know we are gonna be on the road a bunch coming to the UK and Ireland in September. We're talking Manchester, we're talking London, Glasgow, then also Dublin, of course. How could I forget? Let's not forget coming back stateside, Memphis, Huntsville, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Asheville, Greensboro, North Carolina, Wilmington, Myrtle Beach, Austin and Boston. And we are adding more shows, believe me. Don't worry, more shows are coming. Go right now to Stavi Biz to get your tickets. Can't wait to see you there. So fun. And now let's start the show. Welcome Everybody to Stavi's World. 904-800-STAV call in. We'll sol all your problems on the couch today. We're pumped to have Alisa Deek. Thank you for being here, man. One, one of the most prolific. I truly don't like. I see your YouTube channel. I'm like, man, I gotta work so much harder than this. We'll do. I'll do one special every two years. I'm like, this guy's doing that. I'm like, people are crying, they're laughing. You're moving people. I'm like, damn, do I even do the same art form? I Just talk about my dick being small for about half of it and being too fat the other half. So I love your is out of. I mean truly, dude, it's like nobody's doing what you're doing on the like on YouTube and like with your specials and so we're so, so happy to, to have you here. I'm a bit. We're huge fans here for sure.

[Ali Siddiq]

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Yeah.

[Stavros Halkias]

And you got a special right now that just came out like a couple.

[Ali Siddiq]

Weeks ago probably my two.

[Stavros Halkias]

My two sons.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah. Four million already. So. Yeah, dude, it's moving.

[Stavros Halkias]

I every. Everybody I talked to, I'm like, YouTube's dead. Don't even bother putting a special up. And I check your shit and you got 8 million on like on some film with like one kid. It looks like security camera footage like this. He just did a special in the lobby of us of a fucking. You're doing theaters. You're like, let's just do another one for fun. Let's do one at a club. It's incredible what you're doing, man. For real.

[Ali Siddiq]

So that's actually what happened. We had. Did all these other specials and then we had some footage and we was looking at it like this is pretty structured. It's why they waiting on another.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, don't get used to that. You are not getting. If you're a Stavros Algus fan, do not expect that kind of production. We are taking our time with this special, man. Yeah, no, dude. So. And. And I love. I mean, you know, you have so many of them, but the domino effect, so great. A four part special, that's like six hours. Almost like the whole thing. It's so. And your life story is incredible. I mean, you know, I don't want to go check. Go check all these stuff out, but you know, we'll just talk about you from Houston and the whole thing. I mean, I love the domino effect because it takes you essentially from like childhood into when you come out of prison, which is like, you know, such a. Such a beautiful arc to the whole thing. So. But yeah, Houston, I mean, we're big fans of Houston too. We love it.

[Ali Siddiq]

It's a man great city, man. It is.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

It. I don't think I would live anywhere else. You know, I still stay there.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And I'm so anti moving anywhere else.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, I do it. If the place you're from is cool. Like, you know, I'm from Baltimore. I love Baltimore. But it's like first of all, my family's There, which I love, but I like being four hours is nice. Four hours in a car is the perfect distance from your family. An emergency happens. I'm in the RAV4. I'm there, but my mom can't just pop over. You know what I mean? My dad can't annoy me. You know what I mean? It's like, they are far enough away where I literally went down yesterday for the day. And I did, like, I checked off a visit to everybody. My dad, my mom, my brothers.

[Ali Siddiq]

Looking at the back.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

You Greek?

[Stavros Halkias]

I'm Greek, but yeah. Yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

So I'd be going to Greece.

[Stavros Halkias]

Oh, hell, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

July.

[Stavros Halkias]

Oh, nice. Where you going? You got the.

[Ali Siddiq]

You got the truck. Like, three islands, I think y' all.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, we got a lot more, but, yeah, the three is good.

[Ali Siddiq]

It's like three spots.

[Stavros Halkias]

The big ones. Yeah. No, Greece is the best.

[Ali Siddiq]

I'm going because this is a place where I could wear a Speedo and.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, look, no one is. Yeah. Everyone's gonna be like, nice, dude. That guy. That guy's crushed it. They might call you Obama. That's the thing. Greek racism is, like, nice. It's like, they just. Their favorite. If they see a black person, they'll just say their favorite black person. They might come up to you and be like, lebron. You know, they'll say some shit like that to you. I was. I was there with an ex girlfriend, and we were having. You know, we're breaking up on the trip. It's horrible. And then. But then I just. This, like. Like. Like, stately older couple, right? Like this black dude, you know, black couple. And they're like, you know, in their 50s, and they really look like. He looks like a senator or something, right?

[Ali Siddiq]

And.

[Stavros Halkias]

And the guy just won't stop. The Greek waiter does not know any English. Won't stop calling him Obama. I'm just like, they're ruining this vacation. But I'm like, all right. It's making me laugh while I'm breaking up with my girlfriend in a beautiful island. So they might hit you that.

[Ali Siddiq]

Can you break up in Greece?

[Stavros Halkias]

I didn't think you could, Ali. Apparently, everything I've heard about Greece, like.

[Ali Siddiq]

Can you break up in Greece?

[Stavros Halkias]

That's what happens when you date a rich girl. Like, I grew up poor. I was like, we're going to Greece. She can't say anything. I mean, I'm the man for bringing her to Greece, but when someone's family is. Her parents have taken her to, like, every place you can imagine. So to me, this Is a big deal to her. It's like she's annoyed. She can't, you know, she's missing out on New York. We two different worlds. I fucked up.

[Ali Siddiq]

Now you making me think, is this what my daughters are going to be like?

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, unfortunately, that is the problem with success. Your kids end up being like, ugh, you know what? They've. They like, I don't want my children to know what ramen is. Like, real ramen Is until they're 25. You know what I mean? Like, it's got to be packaged.

[Ali Siddiq]

Oh, no, they. They. I. I think I'm a healthy mix in between. Well to do.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

You know, not well to do.

[Stavros Halkias]

Sure, sure, sure.

[Ali Siddiq]

I was on another podcast and guy was like, yo, I think, what are you. Are you bougie or are you regular? I said, okay, I. I heard exactly what you said.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But.

[Ali Siddiq]

But I. I was listening, but I wasn't listening because I'm actually sitting inside my Bentley and all I can think about is shooting these squirrels that's eating my apples. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I'm sitting there like, the pellet gun that I just bought is in the trunk.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Like, I just can't wait to get on this podcast, shoot these squirrels. Like, I am going squirrel hunting. I'm gonna have a trash bag full of. Full of bodies.

[Stavros Halkias]

You still have it in you? Yeah, I still have.

[Ali Siddiq]

I still have it, man.

[Stavros Halkias]

You do. But unfortunately, I think you are. How many. How many kids you have? Because I know a plethora. Yeah. Nice.

[Ali Siddiq]

That's. That's how I describe it.

[Stavros Halkias]

Maybe that's smart.

[Ali Siddiq]

This is the plethora. And they, you know, I have a healthy range. They start at 31 and then they go down to four.

[Stavros Halkias]

Wow, dude. Yeah, that's smart. Because then you're like, all right, I'm spreading the resources out. So none of you gets to be that rich that. You know what I mean? Maybe. Maybe that's how you'll stop it from them being too bougie.

[Ali Siddiq]

So what's crazy, I only own this Bentley is because I was with my 4 year old getting my truck serviced, and she was like, that's a nice car. And I said, well, let's look in it. Dealership is right next to the other dealership. I said, let's just go look in it.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And she got in the back and I. She literally crossed her legs and crossed her hands like, this is nice.

[Stavros Halkias]

Okay, well, yeah, she is toast. She's going to be like, my ex.

[Ali Siddiq]

It'S going to be the worst.

[Stavros Halkias]

Sorry. She's done for sure. You know, the 31 year old, probably they'll be cool. You know what I mean?

[Ali Siddiq]

He is. He is definitely not upper crust. He is definitely rough around the edge.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. Before the YouTube ad money came in, he was before the.

[Ali Siddiq]

Before almost. He really. Before the career even.

[Stavros Halkias]

Oh, wow.

[Ali Siddiq]

I've been doing stand up 27 years.

[Stavros Halkias]

Okay.

[Ali Siddiq]

So my oldest daughter is 26. My oldest son is 31. So he is.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

The brunt of.

[Stavros Halkias]

Of course.

[Ali Siddiq]

Hey, man. I mean, where do you actually work at?

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, several places. Yeah. What's the little. What's the. Because, you know, what's the little gap between when the career. Because I. You know, in the specials, you're talking about how you sort of kind of started doing standup entertaining other inmates when you were in prison. And it was like, so what's that little gap when the career. When you got out, before it like really started going off? What are you doing?

[Ali Siddiq]

I am. And this is in the Shadows gives an explanation of how I started in 1997, December 2nd, and how I go up from from there. I was actually 18 months before I was on my first TV show.

[Stavros Halkias]

Wow. Holy.

[Ali Siddiq]

Which was Comic View, which is cool. 4 minutes and 30 seconds. And then you think that you. You are exploding after that.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

You realize, no, I only really like the host.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Absolutely. It was always like a famous guy would be hosting. Yeah. I mean, he was doing. That was kind of like the farm system where it was like you would. If you do well enough, they might bring you back another time. And if you have some other shit going on, then you get to also host the thing too. Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

If you, if you used to be a competition to host, then they just start making this, you know, random staples. Bruce. Bruce was the host one year. Ricky Smiley was the host. I think Ricky did it twice. So they. The. The three years I was on, it was Bruce, it was Ricky, and then they had. I think it was a weird year in there where it was like two hosts.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Because they taped in multiple places.

[Stavros Halkias]

Right, right, right. That's when she started falling apart. When it was just like no one even give. Gave a. Anymore. They're like, whatever, man. You hosted. You know what I mean?

[Ali Siddiq]

I remember people would do Comic View and then they would come in the club with shades on. Yeah, Them shades ca more than you made.

[Stavros Halkias]

I know they did. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Those first. I mean, I remember my first thing for Comedy Central that was like four Minutes. It was like a. They were like, oh, last year this paid $8,000, and we did it in Hawaii. This year it's in Brooklyn. It's $400 and you get. You get an Uber ride. I'm like the. I was the first. I'm the first generation. They're downsizing this. It was literally. It went from Adam Devine's house party was like the little. And they would fly you to Hawaii. And the next year they just did it at like, you know, one of these somewhere in, like, Park Slope. It was. It was horrible.

[Ali Siddiq]

I decline. I declined Adam Devine's house party. Ah, yeah, yeah, it did it didn't I? Cuz I won. I had won.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, you're in a different place by then. You know what I mean?

[Ali Siddiq]

No, I just won Comedy Central's comic to watch, right?

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And it came with, you know, an album appearance on one of the Comedy Central shows. And they kept offering me shows and I kept declining them. And he was like, yo, what's going on with this? With this guy? And then they was like, well, Adam Devine's is a great one. You can go on. And he's blowing up. I said, cool. So I watched an episode.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, not really your sensibility.

[Ali Siddiq]

And then I called back and I'm like, no. And one of the guys that did it, Matt Broussard.

[Stavros Halkias]

Oh, yeah, I know, man.

[Ali Siddiq]

He called me. Houston guy. Oh, he called me and he was like, yo, you gotta do it. I was like, yeah, no, Matt, you were on there.

[Stavros Halkias]

Exactly, exactly. I can't think of a more cartoonishly opposite. Like, like, also, Matt is like the most handsome villain. Exactly, He's a handsome villain.

[Ali Siddiq]

He's a handsome villain.

[Stavros Halkias]

He knows Matt. He can do, like, equations in his head. He's the kind of guy who's like. When they think about the guy who traps you in a bad contract, it looks like Matt Broussard.

[Ali Siddiq]

Matt is like Matt Broussard and then Rocky, Del Davis.

[Stavros Halkias]

Totally different situations. Yeah, yeah. He's on the other side. He's on the other camp that's trying to get yours shut down in the movie. You know what I mean? It's like we have to stop them from taking over the campground. And he's where, you know, he's got a little fucking sweater wrapped around his neck. That's who Matt Broussard is. No, I remember. I mean, our. Our pal Brandon Wardell did that show and he's exactly you. And that's a. That's not the show you need to be on. But at the time I was, I was here, I was in this apartment, living in the living room with a fake wall, eating cereal with fucking water in it. So I was, I would have killed to be on Adam Devine's house party. That was, that's what I was looking for. Dude. I remember getting, I remember he put eating cinnamon toast. I was like, oh, cinnamon toast crunch is sweet enough that the water, you kind of forget it's water and it kind of feels like a dessert. And then I posted that and I got like eight calls from people in Baltimore. They're like, hey man, is shit going that bad in New York? When you're eating. When you're eating.

[Ali Siddiq]

I would have called you. I would have called you. I was like, hey, no, it's not sweet enough.

[Stavros Halkias]

It's pretty good. I will say to this day it's kind of like horchata, you know.

[Ali Siddiq]

Did you put it in the freezer? For a little bit.

[Stavros Halkias]

True. If you put it in the fridge, it actually helps. You put it in the fridge for.

[Ali Siddiq]

A little bit, it helps. Not saying that I know, but I'm just saying I know.

[Stavros Halkias]

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[Ali Siddiq]

You know what's weird is not in favor in this career. None of it's in favor of us.

[Stavros Halkias]

No, it's a lottery ticket. It is hilarious. Even if you're funny as the odds are so against you that I just. I legit feel like I won the lottery. It's so stupid.

[Ali Siddiq]

It's like making it to the NFL and actually being a person that they know.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yes, exactly.

[Ali Siddiq]

People don't realize it's 53 people on that team, dude.

[Stavros Halkias]

It's insane.

[Ali Siddiq]

You know, if. Even if it's your team, you only know five people.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Out of the 53.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. And then you look at the numbers. It's like the average career is four years and those motherfuckers are making maybe like 400. Like them. The league minimum now might be 800k or some shit like that, but it's like half that's gone depending on where you're playing. That's gone on taxes. Like. Yeah, we had a. We had a coach that was. That played in the NFL. I think it was the year he was a scab. It was the year they were doing the year the. They had the lockout. And they're like, fuck it. Whoever's on the street, we're. We're putting them. He was pretty good though. But yeah, that was like. He was a music teacher and running backs coach at a Baltimore city public high school. So that's kind of what. What most of the career leads to.

[Ali Siddiq]

So this is why I don't feel like people. I don't ever feel bad about not making it to a certain league because I have been privy to have people who back playing basketball in middle school. My middle school coach played for the Atlanta Hawks.

[Stavros Halkias]

Wow.

[Ali Siddiq]

But he was our middle school.

[Stavros Halkias]

Right.

[Ali Siddiq]

Like, you're A gym coach.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. And that's 12, by the way. The NBA is like. It's not the NFL. You know what I mean? Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

In the NFL. Right. So I'm.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, that's crazy.

[Ali Siddiq]

I decided I'm gonna get fit and I go. I go to 24 Hour Fitness in Houston recently.

[Stavros Halkias]

What are we talking about?

[Ali Siddiq]

No, this is. This is years ago.

[Stavros Halkias]

Okay. Okay.

[Ali Siddiq]

I wasn't. I was we gonna say 2004.

[Stavros Halkias]

Okay. Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And I'm in there working out, and I noticed that my trainer.

[Stavros Halkias]

Oh, no trainer.

[Ali Siddiq]

Has on a Super bowl ring.

[Stavros Halkias]

The ring on. He's fucking. He's holding your. Making sure your squat form is good and the ring is hitting your back.

[Ali Siddiq]

Who did you. Who did you play for? He was like, the Cowboys.

[Stavros Halkias]

Brutal. In Texas, A ring from the Cowboys.

[Ali Siddiq]

And I rooted against you.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Now you're my trainer. What happened?

[Stavros Halkias]

Brutal stuff. Weren't you. Yeah. You said you were in. When you were in Houston, when you were in prison, there was a player from the. Where was he from? He played on Dexter Manley. Yeah. Dexter Manley. Not only. That guy was a legend. Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Legend.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Like, I. I. This is. It's not my favorite story, but it's up there.

[Stavros Halkias]

It's a good story, man, that we.

[Ali Siddiq]

In the day room. I remember when he got there, right? They was. He wake up and told me. He's like, yo, there is a monster.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He played D end, right?

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah, yeah.

[Stavros Halkias]

He's usually like a huge guy.

[Ali Siddiq]

And I'm like, okay, I'll just pull.

[Stavros Halkias]

Up some, do some producing, for Christ's sake.

[Ali Siddiq]

So I walk out of. Because we're on the. We're on the trustee side. So I walk out, going over by the calf, and I'm looking, I was like, is that Dexter, man?

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

We from the same neighborhood.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And I go over, I said, dexter. He like, what's up? Hey, man, what's going on? Yeah, so I'm like, yo, man, I. I was telling her. Do y' all know who this is? This is Dexter, man.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

So then they moved Dexter Manley from full building to the trustee building. Right? And so he. We're watching. We're watching television. This is when ABC used to do them things where they talk about sports.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And Dexter, man, they are showing Dexter Manley. I mean, he was like. And when it went off, when it went to commercial, and it said, dexter Manley, one of the greatest deep DNS in the whole league.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And this is me. Dexter's sitting on the bench behind me.

[Stavros Halkias]

That's brutal, by the way. Imagine watching your highlights and you're wearing like, you know.

[Ali Siddiq]

And I turned so slow, and I said, now look at you. They thinking, Dexter's about to get. Kill me.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

I mean, Dexter was a gentle soul, man. He got up and went to his bunk, and it was so crazy that I had to go upstairs. Like, yo, man, you need to go talk to Dex. I'm not going to talk to. And I went up and I sat on the edge of his bunk. I said, is his. He was facing me. And I like, Dex, I was just messing with you, man. And Dexter, I can only do like. Dexter was looking at me like this, and he turned his back, like, he said, no, you, man, you gotta come to the cafeteria. We gotta walk in. Cause you making me.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

People mad at me.

[Stavros Halkias]

You heard Dexter Manley's feelings. It seems like a pretty cool prison, all things considered. The fact they're like, hey, check in with Dexter. Let's work through this as a community.

[Ali Siddiq]

Let's go with Dexter. Wasn't doing nothing to you, man. Holly, you're an asshole.

[Stavros Halkias]

Honestly, pretty good. You don't hear those stories about prison where it's like, you have to talk it out with a former hall of. With a football legend, man.

[Ali Siddiq]

Definitely going to the hall of Fame.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah, man. Dexter was. Dexter was. And then I saw him.

[Stavros Halkias]

What do you do? What was he in? Like, what did he do?

[Ali Siddiq]

Drugs? It was something drug related. Dexter's in a better space now, for sure. And I always be asking people, is. You know. Because you don't keep up a lot, of course. Like, is he still alive?

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

I always ask myself if he's still alive.

[Stavros Halkias]

I mean, NFL players, the odds aren't good. You know what I mean? When you're that. I mean, the whole thing is you fuck your body up.

[Ali Siddiq]

Hollywood Henderson was locked up, and he won the lottery twice.

[Stavros Halkias]

Wow.

[Ali Siddiq]

You know how crazy it is? Do you win a lottery twice?

[Stavros Halkias]

An actual lottery?

[Ali Siddiq]

Like, you won a lottery two times?

[Stavros Halkias]

Henderson?

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah. It's like people look him up. Hollywood Henderson won the lottery two times.

[Stavros Halkias]

Great name.

[Ali Siddiq]

Like, how do you. How do you look?

[Stavros Halkias]

28 million. Holy fuck. He had previously spent 20,000 on lotteries. Oh, so he was a.

[Ali Siddiq]

He was.

[Stavros Halkias]

He was kind of trying to game the system that he often plays with. The jackpot exceeds 20 million. He purchased the winning ticket of pharmacy in Austin. That's wild. To go from, like, super bowl winner to prison to two lotteries. That is. That's some High highs and some low lows. I respect that.

[Ali Siddiq]

He's won like a bunch. That's crazy. To win the lottery. Most people don't ever win the lottery. He's won twice.

[Stavros Halkias]

My grandfather was addicted to the lottery. He won maybe 800, the equivalent of $800. He played the lottery every fucking day in Greece to the point where he was using all his like the equivalent of his Social Security. It went to exotic birds and the lottery. He collected birds in a shitty little balcony in, in Athens, covered in bird, you know, just like would everything up and he just played the lottery. He would go into the. He was like a junk guy. He would like check out that he was a big hoarder. But he literally. He won it. Truly. He won it one time for essentially $800. I mean, talk about. He did not have Hollywood henderson's luck.

[Ali Siddiq]

That is $800 is a cockatiel.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, absolutely. They went to some pills to make a fucking. To make a parrot's coat shiny. Yeah, my. Yeah, they were, you know, and he's. You know, my. My grandparents were in a arranged marriage. So this like old school, like, you know, villager shit. And they hated each. And it was literally like. He wouldn't let my grandma put the fucking lights on. He's like, you're wasting money. And then he would just put all the money. Bird feed. He would buy like high end bird feed and he's eating like canned sardines. That's the kind of guy he was.

[Ali Siddiq]

What's wrong with just regular sunflowers?

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah. I think they would have been fine either way. Shout out to Stavros Halkis, who I'm named after. That's, that's my.

[Ali Siddiq]

Because I've been thinking when you, when you feed animals like this high end food, but you see healthier animals that don't have anybody looking after them.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Like what are they eating?

[Stavros Halkias]

It's the rich child kid who had to scrap. That's basically it. The animals were just figuring out that's you. And then the high end feed is like your kids. You know what I mean? You gotta do a little sprinkling of like struggle in there.

[Ali Siddiq]

I think, I think that's what. And I truly believe it. This is what my children miss. Like struggle. Like my 14 year old son, he doesn't. He like in his mind, he's like, struggle. Yeah, I've heard of that word.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a concept. It's a concept. Not, not a lived experience.

[Ali Siddiq]

His struggle is, do I want a dozen Oysters, or do I want two dozen?

[Stavros Halkias]

Should I get the ones from Long island, or should I do a West coast oyster? Today.

[Ali Siddiq]

I'm not feeling raw today. I am feeling charbro. And. And I'm upset because they're not actually charred. Like, I.

[Stavros Halkias]

Like, that's his struggle, man.

[Ali Siddiq]

Seabass, a flounder. That's weird. And I tell them all the time that it was different for me, you know? And I hear these other guys. I'm. My kids. I. I. My kids struggle. I. I make my kids struggle. I have them do chores. For real. For real, like, for real. It's not no struggle is. Everybody has to be going through it at one time.

[Stavros Halkias]

It can't be.

[Ali Siddiq]

You're.

[Stavros Halkias]

How do you make manufactured struggles? Not real struggles.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah. How do you make your kids struggle in a 7,000 square foot.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

How.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Like, what's the struggle?

[Stavros Halkias]

I know what you mean.

[Ali Siddiq]

It's like my struggle is I look at them steps and I'm not going up there.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah. That's. That's maybe the reason to move. That's what I love about New York is, like, I was looking for apartments, and I've had a couple good years, and it's just like, kind of dog. Whereas if the amount of money I spent, like, rich kids here actually have, like, up. You know, like, the neighbor's toilet might. Might leak into your. You know what I mean? Like, in the. In the train, you're seeing home. You know what I mean? Like, homeless people. People are beating off in front of rich people the same way they're beating off in front of poor people on the train in New York.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah.

[Stavros Halkias]

So there is some real struggles here that you're not going to get in a beautiful suburban Texas mansion.

[Ali Siddiq]

You know what I mean, man, I don't have to. I don't have to see people if I don't want to.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[Ali Siddiq]

Like the. The pandemic. I. When doing the pandemic. I know was rough for y' all doing.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

It was. It was brutal. I was like, outside.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. You had pro. You had greens to tend to. Yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

I have no idea. I'm not wearing a mask.

[Stavros Halkias]

I'm not wearing a mask.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah.

[Stavros Halkias]

Driving a golf cart to other parts of your house. Meanwhile, I had a roommate until two years ago, and I'm successful. You know what I mean? Like, let alone folks, you know, here at Stavi's World, we're a fan of the mother guys at Medicine, the herb that grows from the earth, you know, we like to get, get nice on Kush Brothers, our monthly Patreon series. And me, frankly, the older I get, the less I want to smoke my thc, the more I want to sip on it, baby.

[Ali Siddiq]

Come on.

[Stavros Halkias]

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[Ali Siddiq]

Totally.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

My. My kids don't even. I'm. I'm a. I'm present. That's one.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Like, all the time present.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Like, my dad was sporadic.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. Yeah. Popped in and out.

[Ali Siddiq]

He popped in and out, you know, and I'm there and. And I don't want the relationship that I had with my dad.

[Stavros Halkias]

Of course. Yeah. Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

But my dad was there when. Kind of like when he needed to be something. And then I go back.

[Stavros Halkias]

Like, for you or just, like, for him? What do you mean?

[Ali Siddiq]

Just period. For me and my sister, when he. When he need. It was like if you called him and asked him to come to something, he would.

[Stavros Halkias]

Gotcha.

[Ali Siddiq]

Gotcha. But you had to call and ask. He wasn't present. And then you're thinking, is it gonna make it right? You know? But. So when I lived with him.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. How old were you when you lived with him?

[Ali Siddiq]

10.

[Stavros Halkias]

10, okay.

[Ali Siddiq]

10 to 14.

[Stavros Halkias]

Oh, wow. Okay.

[Ali Siddiq]

And my dad is the reason why I eat oysters, but I never.

[Stavros Halkias]

They're good. We're big oyster guys around here.

[Ali Siddiq]

She had them in. In, like, this glass jar.

[Stavros Halkias]

Oh, I've seen those. Those are. Those are.

[Ali Siddiq]

And he would eat them out the jar. I'm like.

[Stavros Halkias]

That'S a long way from the ocean. You know what I mean? A glass jar from the shell. Oh, yeah, those. That's up.

[Ali Siddiq]

Those right there.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. Yeah. That sucks.

[Ali Siddiq]

And that's the little jar right there with the white. With the white lid.

[Stavros Halkias]

No, the white lid. Goose point. Yes.

[Ali Siddiq]

I don't even know what that would even be from. Like. Yeah, dude, that. That was. It was. Because it was just so much slime.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

In there.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Like, I don't know. This is not. This is not a good presentation.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. I mean. And so it was you and your dad. You're. You're 10 to 14. It's like. And he's a single guy, I'm guessing.

[Ali Siddiq]

Oh, yeah, Very single. Single. I'm talking about. I thought Houdini made this song for him. Like, it's a song Houdini has. I'm a hoe. And. And it's. When I listen to the lyrics, I always think of my dad.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

He said, I'm a jigga high, I'm a jigger low I'm a jigger Every place I go When I walked in the party I was by myself 9 times out of 10 I leave with someone else Something about the way I rock the microphone the ladies in the place wanna take me home that's beautiful. Stretch me out all along the couch and show me what they loving it's all about and what I get them.

[Stavros Halkias]

Wow.

[Ali Siddiq]

And then I hit them. My dad, I met 42 women the first year I lived.

[VGW Group]

My dad.

[Ali Siddiq]

My dad was using me as part of his game. I'm taking care of my son. I'm like, I just got here. I just got here. I was been living a whole 10 years.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. Yeah. I've had oysters for breakfast and lunch four days in a row.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah, man, it was, it was, it was crazy how single he was.

[Stavros Halkias]

What's the. It's very funny to think about, about that time period too. Like what's a getter at this time in Houston? What's your dad's vibe like? What's he, what are we looking like? What's he dressing like?

[Ali Siddiq]

My dad, Taylor made suit.

[Stavros Halkias]

Love that.

[Ali Siddiq]

I'm talking about he, he only owned one pair of jeans and that's when he rode his motorcycle. Yeah, he owned two pair of tan slacks. That's what he had on the carrier service downtown. So he had all white shirts and maybe a hundred tailor made suits in his.

[Stavros Halkias]

Wow.

[Ali Siddiq]

It was weird because people say I got a walk in closet. That's the only goddamn kind of closet I've ever known living with him. Like, you walk in, there's a whole plethora of suits. And then he had. Okay, so he wore python boots, he wore ropers.

[Stavros Halkias]

Beautiful.

[Ali Siddiq]

He wore loafers and then lace ups. They had different. He, he never really. He had a couple pair of snake skins, but he really liked eel skin.

[Stavros Halkias]

Eel skin? Hell yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah, like four cars.

[Stavros Halkias]

Love that.

[Ali Siddiq]

Like my dad was really. But he had this car called a Peugeot.

[Stavros Halkias]

Oh yeah, the French car.

[Ali Siddiq]

Oh man, it was blue with like tan insides.

[Stavros Halkias]

And that's a hard car to get back then. I mean they don't even have them around now.

[Ali Siddiq]

And my dad was doing it.

[Stavros Halkias]

That's beautiful. What's the hairstyle looking like?

[Ali Siddiq]

Oh, small, little afro, like real small Afro, thick mustache.

[Stavros Halkias]

Holy. He sounds incredible, man.

[Ali Siddiq]

J, I'm talking about jet black. Always moisturized.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And he was like, yo, he, he, he. What was his, his fragrance then? Two fragrances. Lager Fail and Obsession.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, those were the two fragrances. An early adopter to obsession. It's been around forever now, man.

[Ali Siddiq]

And my dad used to get them, get them. And he could dance like my dad was a real good dance dancer.

[Stavros Halkias]

What years are we talking here?

[Ali Siddiq]

Oh, the 80s.

[Stavros Halkias]

Early early 80s. That's a forgotten time in black culture. I feel like, I feel like everyone thinks About Soul Train and then they kind of like move to, you know, like, you know, just like hip hop. But it was like that Houdini era, you know what I mean? People do forget about. I feel like that's kind of memory hold a little bit.

[Ali Siddiq]

If you think about how 80s rappers dressed. Yeah, it was kind of still 70s, but with a little funk to it. But my dad was bruh. This was this. Everything was tailor made still.

[Stavros Halkias]

I mean, it is crazy how you don't have a TV show because every, every person you mention, it's like, I want to. I want four seasons about your dad. You know what I mean? Every person that you, you know that then you were like, when you were selling drugs, like, your crew sounded hilarious. The girls you were dating when you were like 19, when you were in high school, when you're in prison, it's like every person you like. I literally just want to read your father's biography right now. I want like a presidential level biography just about your dad, let alone everybody else. You described what's weird.

[Ali Siddiq]

I just shot a special called My father in Detroit. But it was something that I did not add in there because I didn't think about it until afterwards. I just started thinking about why would he put. Put the cocaine in a Cool Whip container in the refrigerator? Like, were you not thinking about me?

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. Yeah. You think it's gonna be dessert?

[Ali Siddiq]

You know how many times I, I thought about dipping strawberries?

[Stavros Halkias]

Just the whole inside of your mouth is numb.

[Ali Siddiq]

I was like, no, I don't think this is. I don't think this is cool. But why is it in this cold? Like, this is the easiest thing. Like, I know you hiding it from the police, but I could have.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, you're 10. I know people have the, the, you know, everybody talks about how, you know, your mom put the, like, sewing equipment in that cookie container. You remember that container? You know what I mean? The, like the tin one. No one talks about cocaine in the Cool Whip. That's all you, man. That's the first time I've heard of that one.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah, it's in the refrigerator in the Cool Whip. I'm like this.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, there's. Yo, they have powdered Kool Aid or they have powdered Kool Whip now, man.

[Ali Siddiq]

I, I just wondered that. Like, why would he do that? And, you know, I can send you a picture of this. When my father passed, right, I. I kept his. A pair of his boots and I got him re sold and everything. And it's a pair of boots that's in my closet, I'd never wear. I can't fit them.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Wear the same size shoe. But my son. I'll probably be able to. To wear them. I'm like, yo, these are your grandfather's eel skin.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Boots that I got, you know, is.

[Stavros Halkias]

Your grandpa's getting boots.

[Ali Siddiq]

When you put them on, that's a.

[Stavros Halkias]

Cherished heirloom in the family.

[Ali Siddiq]

When you put them on, bro, just know it's gonna flip, fall in your lap.

[Stavros Halkias]

His spirit comes back now that. You know what I mean, that's like they're haunted. They're like, he takes over. Your father's reincarnated through the boots.

[Ali Siddiq]

I kept his hat. I. He had this smooth little straw hat that he used to wear when he got older.

[Stavros Halkias]

Love that.

[Ali Siddiq]

I kept his head. But my dad was. I see how my mom fell for him.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

[Ali Siddiq]

And. And I wish I could find my mom's old fur coat. Cause my mom. When I look at the pictures of my mom back then, my mom was a fox. And I see how my dad was after my mom.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

You know?

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And so I was like, yeah, I can see it.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Ali Siddiq]

My mom, she drove, like, the old Camaro.

[Stavros Halkias]

Oh, wow.

[Ali Siddiq]

It was gray with burgundy inside. And this is not the woman that you wanted to come to the school and get you. My mom was 4, 11, big heels on. On. And she used to wear these silky dresses with a thin gold belt. And she had this huge curly Afro. Mom was beautiful. She come to school, just sexy. She wanted to be like, hey, you in trouble.

[Stavros Halkias]

Mom? No. Yeah. Embarrassing you and then all your friends, like, your mom's pretty hot.

[Ali Siddiq]

Your mom's pretty hot. Black fair faucet.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, that's a. Yeah, that's. Why. Is that why you had to learn to fight? Because of whatever what everybody was telling you? Because I do love that detail. You've been boxing since you were a kid. I mean, if your mom's hot, you kind of have to fight.

[Ali Siddiq]

That was my grandma. My grandma was like, yo, everybody in this family can fight. Like, we. This is what we don't play about.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Because you. I remember my grandmother telling me, you're not going to be a big man.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. I've looked at the DNA. I've looked at the genetics.

[Ali Siddiq]

It doesn't matter that your father is sick. Three, your mom is four, 11. You're gonna fall somewhere between them, and you're gonna have to be able to fight. And then I look at all my uncles. I have One tall uncle on my mom's side. Everybody else is like the highest. We gonna go five, nine.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

But everybody else is like five, six. You know, it's about five, nine. But these are the toughest. My mom's brothers. My mom has seven brothers. These are the toughest. Thick handed men.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

That like, they did not. My and my dad used to talk about my uncles. Yeah.

[Stavros Halkias]

They ever kick his ass?

[Ali Siddiq]

Your uncle? Like, like, my dad was the only one that my Uncle David didn't kick the. Out of that tried to talk to my mom.

[Stavros Halkias]

Oh, wow.

[Ali Siddiq]

Like they would literally beat. Because they have three sisters.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

You know, and the men who married my aunts literally was under the. And my Uncle Chicken, he married my aunt Eunice.

[Stavros Halkias]

Incredible nickname.

[Ali Siddiq]

And then Uncle Chicken. My. My. My aunt Angela, she married a guy named Marvin that didn't come through the ranks. So then they end up getting divorced because he didn't come through the ring. But man.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

You had to come see them brothers.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And they were on one.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

My Uncle David would tell me, he said, you know how many men I chased up a tree? And I'm like, a tree up a.

[Stavros Halkias]

Tree, like Looney Tunes.

[Ali Siddiq]

And then you would see their hands. You like, like, yeah, I could see.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Like, I think, like, my hand is. And I. And I've had some good ones. I've had some really good ones to where I broke my knuckles on people. That's why I don't have them right there.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

But it's like my uncle's hands are like two or three of my hands together in the thickness.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

I was like, yo, y' all. Y' all are really. Yeah. My uncle like, yeah, I knock your ass out too. And. And that's why I used to get me. My mom used to get me to act right. You want me to call your uncles? And she would sometimes.

[Stavros Halkias]

Oh, no.

[Ali Siddiq]

The type of threatening phone calls. Like my uncle be on the phone talking to me. It's like the mob.

[Stavros Halkias]

Like a loan shark.

[Ali Siddiq]

Like, hey, listen, listen, listen. You like, I am. Do you want me to fly down there and break your fucking spine? And you like, I'm nine. You know I'm nine, right?

[Stavros Halkias]

Pretty nice etches sketch you got there. Be a real shame if something happened to it.

[Ali Siddiq]

My Uncle Lamont, right? For. And this is. This is so true. This is one of the truest. So I can ever tell. Up until four years ago, I thought that my Uncle Lamont killed people for the mob because that's what he looked like.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And he always had this long black leather jacket. These. He wore the same shoes, these black kind of boots. And he looks so menacing with his hat. And like, four years ago, he was like. We was at a family function, and he said, hey, man, you oughta let me make some shoes for you. I said, what? And I'm thinking, like. Like, semen shoes. Like, yeah, you gonna kill me? He's like, no, you have to let me make some shoes for you. I said, why would I do that? Because that's what I do.

[Stavros Halkias]

Wow.

[Ali Siddiq]

I'm. I'm a. I make shoes.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And I said, like, for how long? He's like, forever. Like, my whole 40 years. Like, I've been making shoes for 40 years. And I said, you are a cobbler. And he was like, yeah, what you talking about?

[Stavros Halkias]

You've got a medieval occupation.

[Ali Siddiq]

What do you think I did? I said, I thought you killed me for the mob.

[Stavros Halkias]

If you threaten someone enough when they're nine, they'll think of. They'll think about that for the rest of their lives. Like, oh, he's a murderer. Of course.

[Ali Siddiq]

That is crazy. My Uncle Lamont makes shoes in California. For a long time, my Uncle Donald, which I never thought was a mobster who shot people more than anybody else.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Because he owned the cleaners for 40 years, and he owns a corner store, so people have tried to rob him. And the crazy thing, when he. He owned the cleaners before he sold the cleaners, his wife's name was Louise, so I used to call him George Jefferson.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah. But he shot. Maybe, like two years ago, he shot somebody who tried to rob his store.

[Stavros Halkias]

Wow.

[Ali Siddiq]

Like, where's.

[Stavros Halkias]

Where's the store?

[Ali Siddiq]

In Mississippi?

[Stavros Halkias]

Okay. Damn.

[Ali Siddiq]

And the funniest thing. So how the world is. People say the world is small, but it's not. It's just. You just get in these spaces with people. Roy Woods, Jr. Yeah. We're. We're taping this show with Ari Shafir, and we chatting it up, and he's like, y' all have people in Carterdale? And he's like. I said, I got people in Clarksdale. He said, who your people? Then we go through the who your people thing is, and I tell them who my uncle is. So he hits his uncle and was like, yo, do you know this person? And he was like, donald Mitchell? Hell, yeah, I know.

[Stavros Halkias]

Don.

[Ali Siddiq]

Don helped me get out of prison.

[Stavros Halkias]

He's a corner store. He owns a corner store. And he's like.

[Ali Siddiq]

He's a. He's a congressman out there. Like, yo, he's, he's been, he was the only one that they let stay in Mississippi. They ran. Yeah, all the rest of my uncles out running people up trees and like.

[Stavros Halkias]

Go get some, go buy some leather and make some shoes in Los Angeles, man. You got to get out of here.

[Ali Siddiq]

My uncle Bolton, when, when he passed, they, they buried him at this, this place in la, in Pasadena where they bury all these high ranking military people. So I'm, we're going to the funeral. And I was like, hey. I said this to my aunt. I was like, hey, I don't know who else passed, but they must be really important because they got all the flags lowered. They had all these high ranking people out there. They got the people coming to do the 21 gun salute. And I was like, who, who else passed? She's like, this is for your uncle.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

I was like, what?

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, they didn't double book the funeral.

[Ali Siddiq]

And he was some big shot in the Air Force.

[Stavros Halkias]

Oh, wow.

[Ali Siddiq]

And I was like, like, I didn't really know any of this about y' all. I'm just thinking about the threat.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah, the threats will stick. Yeah, the threats.

[Ali Siddiq]

All of them had called me talking about you playing with my sister. Like, no, it's my mom though.

[Stavros Halkias]

That. So even though. So it just sounds like you had a ton of like a bunch of different sort of like your dad was in and out, whatever, but it's like you did have a ton of like male like figures to look up. And then even, even outside of your family. I, you know, when, you know, as you were growing up, like people in high school when you were. And then like the other thing about prison where you were talking about just like a lot of the older guys too, that's an interesting aspect. You don't think about how much like community is in there, how much like you learn from the guys that have been there. It was, I mean, that's, that's another thing I love about it. It's like, it does humanize and it's like a, it's weirdly a light hearted take on prison, which you never get. It's always like doom and gloom or whatever. And I'm sure it's bad, but I mean, yeah, I'm sure you'd rather not have been in there, but I could.

[Ali Siddiq]

Have still not met any of you. Appreciate the advice but didn't want to meet you under these circumstances. And, and that's the, that's the thing. You meet people who, and they never talk about the people who learned from Their mistakes in trying to. It's like in the hood, right? It's a. It's a misunderstanding that it was people that never. We never allowed to be in the streets because we saw potential right in them.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yep.

[Ali Siddiq]

You know, so we would say, like, my. My boy, he played basketball. Hey, man, he trying to get out here in the streets. I'm like, for what, though? This is not. This is not you.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

So here goes some bread. Go to school, get all the stuff that you want to get that you. That you feel like you want, and we'll see you on the other side, not this side.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

You know, but they never talk about those. Those guys, because real street guys would never let you get in the streets if you had other potential, you know, unless they. Man, if we caught you doing something that you wasn't supposed to be doing, that's a whole nother threat.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yo, man, get out of here.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. Go work on your jump shot.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah, yeah, Go, man. We had this guy named Phil, right? Phil played all the instruments, but his instrument was the saxophone. And Phil would be walking from school. I'll be like, yo, Phil, come over here and play your little harmonica for the people, right? And because they don't believe that you good. And it'll be other dudes, like, he can't play that.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And then you, like, man, feel. Hit the head with something. And so feel will be playing little concert. We give. Give him some bread plate. But then I remember when our boys got killed, right? And Phil is coming, and I said, yo, Phil, man, play something to uplift their spirits, man.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

That's the.

[Stavros Halkias]

Play something to honor him.

[Ali Siddiq]

And. And Phil is a good producer.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

You know, we. It's certain things that they forget about what we would not allow for.

[Stavros Halkias]

Sure.

[Ali Siddiq]

I'm saying, in our neighborhood, you couldn't be, like, a dude known as being creepy with kids. Yeah, yeah, we gonna come.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. That's nice. I think that's a universal. A universal good to police those. You know, it's a. You.

[Ali Siddiq]

Hey, man, you're a grown man. You talking to. To girls. I. Yo, yo, yo. What you doing? Yeah, and you. I think it's a space for neighborhoods that don't have active police for the per. It's got to be somebody that polices.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

The situation.

[Stavros Halkias]

Well, that's also. I mean, that is. The funny thing is, like, people. Whenever they talk about. Because American culture, it's so funny how Italians talk about how good the mafia is, and it's always like, that where it's like. When it started, it was kind of like. Kind of starts like a neighborhood, almost like, policing thing and then obviously gets out of control. I think with each generation, that's kind of harder and harder to pull off. It just becomes like, you know, morals go down. Morals go down. Every generation. Like, hey, it's pretty cool having a lot of drugs and money. I'm gonna stop doing this bullshit community service and just get fucked up and get p. I think that that's a hard thing to put. You know, you got to thread the needle for a while, but it is fun. Yeah. There is no credit for that for sure. But I do love the. I do love that. And this, when you're doing all this stuff, that's when. This is like, when you're. Because you're also young at the time, right? You're like 19, 20.

[Ali Siddiq]

No, I. I went to prison at 19.

[Stavros Halkias]

Oh, you went to prison at 19?

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah, I was. I was 14, 15, 16, 17, 18. Four days on the street at 19.

[Stavros Halkias]

Wow. Four days. That's not a bad work schedule. You get three day weekends.

[Ali Siddiq]

October 17th is my birthday. I was gone by October 21st.

[Stavros Halkias]

Wow.

[Ali Siddiq]

So I never really. I was on the streets four days at 19. Wow. I missed all of 19.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Got out when I was 25.

[Stavros Halkias]

25, okay. Yeah. Six years. Some crucial years.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah.

[Stavros Halkias]

I mean, I guess that is sort of like. Like kind of going to college, I guess.

[Ali Siddiq]

A lot of development. A lot of development. Yeah. Like, the. The worst part about it was I had no, like, women skills. Like, all of my skills was very juvenile because, like, yo, you want a shrimp basket?

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. Because you have a ton of money, you're like, yeah, I'll just buy you something nice. Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

But when you get out, that's kind of. I was really awkward.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And I. And I still think that I'm awkward, but yeah, I was really awkward when it came to women. When I came home.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

25. No real interaction, for sure. All those years, he's like, yeah. You know, you talking to a teacher that works in the front office is not the same as being in a relationship.

[Stavros Halkias]

Of course. Yeah. Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And then you have developed this. This callus of how you. You talk.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

So in prison, every conversation was basically aggressive.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. Yeah, of course.

[Ali Siddiq]

So you just learn to talk. Yeah. Everything is a aggressive or it's an argument.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. Want to go to TGI Fridays? Are you free? Yeah. That's not gon. I'll trade you two cigarettes and a bar of Irish soap for you to come to TGI Fridays with me. It's not.

[Ali Siddiq]

It's not.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

It's not a feeling. They didn't like it.

[Stavros Halkias]

And especially because you're. You're like. You go out and now it's like you're an awkward kid. But you. You kind of like. You also probably felt like the man when you're making so much money. Yeah. You're wearing. Cool. I remember this. You tell a story about how you're just. Just at like a homecoming game or something. You wear a fur coat.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah.

[Stavros Halkias]

You're. You're 18 or whatever.

[Ali Siddiq]

The. The high schools are right next to each other. We connected by annex, but we rivals.

[Stavros Halkias]

Gotcha. Gotcha.

[Ali Siddiq]

And this is academically high school. We. And I'm there with a short mink on. Like.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Y' all see what this is?

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. You're gonna. You're gonna be able to. When you have a mink on as. As a 17 year old or whatever.

[Ali Siddiq]

Everybody.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. Like, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Back to being my dad.

[Stavros Halkias]

And then. And then you're 25 and you have none of that. You're just like, how do I even figure it out? That is a tough one.

[Ali Siddiq]

Unless I have so not any money. So not anybody. Like, you know, you get out. They give you like $100. You. When you initially get out. And then you have to report to your parole officer to get the other hundred. So you get total of 200 when you release.

[Stavros Halkias]

Perfect.

[Ali Siddiq]

Like rebuild your life with 200. I bought a bag of ruffles and a Orange crush, and all of a sudden I had 1750. Inflation has increased while man. And I see how people can go back to doing what they.

[Stavros Halkias]

Of course, it's almost set up to do that. It feels like.

[Ali Siddiq]

But I think my mindset was so against it because they thought that that's what I was gonna do.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And it irritated the. Out of me.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah. I remember this. The CEO told me I. He would see me again. I was like. Like, why would you see me?

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Like, what would I be doing?

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

For you to see me again. I would be. Oh, I. I never told the story, but I got transferred from one unit to another. And I. Because I went to school to elect electrician school. Right. So they transfer you to another unit because that's where the school is at. And then I got transferred back to my original unit. And this white guy who I was cool with, he was being really standoffish with me. I thought maybe something had happened to him while I was at home or something. And Then he just one day just came to me, said, man, I believed in you.

[Stavros Halkias]

Oh.

[Ali Siddiq]

I was like, what? He said, man, we used to talk about developing and getting out and not never coming back. He said, man, I believed in you. I said, why did you stop?

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

He said, because you're back. Back from where?

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah. He thought you were. You guys.

[Ali Siddiq]

He thought I got out.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And came back. I'm like, no, I went to another school.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

I went to another prison. I was. You know, I was. This is a minimum security prison. I went to a Max. And. And this was different.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. You lucky.

[Ali Siddiq]

You see me.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

On. Bill Clemens was totally different from Torres. Yeah, The. The riot happened on Torres. That's just a simple riot.

[Stavros Halkias]

Sure.

[Ali Siddiq]

Bill Clemens was a different monster.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Like a Max. Max. Super Max and Minimum are so far away from each other.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

It is crazy. And I was like, so you went.

[Stavros Halkias]

From the minimum to the supermax, then back to the minimum?

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah, they transferred me back.

[Stavros Halkias]

That is kind of a heartwarming. I mean, those two stories are kind of weirdly hard. It's like a Disney story where the guy's like, I believed in you, man. It's like, again, the, like, connection you had with. With either guys in prison is. Is horror. I mean, the. The Dexter manly story is hilarious. His feelings are hurt. It's like, guys, we got to put this between us. And then this guy being like, I really wanted you to get your potential. You know, it's. It's really. It's a funny thing to. That's a. That is. And if you haven't seen it, go. Go watch it, guys. Go watch all the special he's got, you know, so many on his YouTube. On his YouTube channel. Free. Go see him right now. And I think. I think you're gonna be prepped for this. We like to give advice to our fans here, so they leave voicemails and they'll call in and we just. We'll give them a little advice here. So. Yeah. Yeah, they've called in. Eldis, what do you got for us, buddy?

[Ryan Seacrest]

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[VGW Group]

No purchase necessary.

[Stavros Halkias]

VGW Group void.

[VGW Group]

We're prohibited by law.

[Stavros Halkias]

21/ Terms and Conditions apply.

[VGW Group]

Hey, style this. And guests and or guests would appreciate your hey, style this. And guests and or guests would appreciate your. Your advice on something I've been struggling with. So I am almost 30 and have never had a girlfriend. We're going to get into all the reasons, but I was not in a great place in much of my 20s and just. It just, you know, never happened. Nevertheless, the last couple of years have been better. And there have been a couple of instances where I'd been seeing somebody for a little bit. And, you know, we get to that point talking about exes. And when I say I don't have one, you can just right away kind of see the look on their face, like, what the fuck is wrong with this person? And I try to explain myself and, you know, do what I can to ease concerns, but they rightfully, in my opinion, are worried. You know, I'm almost 30. If I'm talking to some girl who's 30, she's probably looking for a husband. And someone my age has never had a girlfriend. The question starts to come up of, you know, would you marry the first girl you date? Et cetera, et cetera. So I try to do my best.

[Stavros Halkias]

To this guy, definitely smooth things over.

[VGW Group]

But every time that this conversation happens, they end it within a couple weeks after that.

[Stavros Halkias]

So.

[VGW Group]

Just looking for some advice on maybe ways that I could message this better or ways that I can help sort of get them over the hump that, you know, just the fact that I've never had a girlfriend doesn't totally disqualify me because I. I think I'm a kind, thoughtful person and would be a good partner, boyfriend, father, the whole deal. But it's just sort of been an issue as of late, so. Appreciating how to have much love.

[Stavros Halkias]

Interesting. Interesting. Damn. Never had a girlfriend. I mean, I don't know.

[Ali Siddiq]

I think that's. I think he's phrasing that wrong.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Okay, so this. He says it's happened multiple times, right?

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, exactly.

[Ali Siddiq]

Use them as references.

[Stavros Halkias]

Totally. Yeah. Like, I've had one technical girlfriend. You know what I mean? Like, I've dated a bunch of girls. Like, who cares?

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah, I've dated. I really haven't been in a committed relationship with these people. But if something that. And oddly enough, the reason why is because I don't claim them as exes at that point because it wasn't long term. You know, three weeks is not A long time. You could be my first ex.

[Stavros Halkias]

You like the first also lie. Who gives a fuck about this? This isn't like a. It's. I would say call those little three week, three week bullshit. Just say they're your exes. You had some. You've dated, you've been whatever. The fact that. The fact that you haven't had a serious girlfriend. I think this guy's letting it stop him. Yeah, right. Because it's like if he's like a charming. It sounds like your dad never technically had any exes.

[Ali Siddiq]

Have to be like this.

[Stavros Halkias]

That's right. If you're like. The problem here is a classic problem of just not believing. Thinking this is going to be an issue, right? Because like, who cares? Dude who like, it comes up, what happens is this comes up and he goes, I've never really had an egg. You know what I mean? If he's like, you know, I've been seeing a couple of people here. On again, off again. Nothing really clicks, you know, just. That's all. And if you just moved it forward, it wouldn't be that big a deal. You're just. You are scared to bring up the fact you haven't had a girlfriend. It sounds like you fucked before, which is big.

[Ali Siddiq]

Stop talking like you just had only sex workers.

[Stavros Halkias]

I guess that is. Yeah, exactly.

[Ali Siddiq]

I've never really been with them. I just paid for it.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've had some long. I mean if that item actually be better because you might actually have some camaraderie with the. If you saw one sex worker over and over again. It's like we have a barber you really like. That's like, that's like. That's a relationship that could last a decade, honestly. So maybe that's the key, dude. But yeah, just message this better. You are. You're clamming up. I promise you if these girls like. Because the other thing is you could spin this. This guy clearly want. He sounds like the type of guy who would get married to his first.

[Ali Siddiq]

Say he was saving yourself.

[Stavros Halkias]

Oh, that's good. That's.

[Ali Siddiq]

Women say it religious and then it put the eyebrow up and say I've been saving myself for the right person. He's talking like, you killed everybody.

[Stavros Halkias]

My exes. No, you can't talk to them.

[Ali Siddiq]

Why.

[Stavros Halkias]

Stop behaving like that and you'll be fine, dude. I promise. This is just. Because this could be a positive too. This could be like I've. I've known women who have. Who've sort of like trained. You sound like the kind of guy who would like to submit to the will of us. Of a woman who can control his life. Elvis's wife makes all the big decisions. Isn't that right? Eldest? And you love it. That's. You sound like an eldest type of fella. One of these women. You're gonna find the right type of girl and you're gonna be fine. Just stop letting this be the thing that you get nervous about. Because it's all in your approach. You think it's a big deal. So you've made it a big deal. If you're like, ah, I've seen a couple people. I've been in a cup. And you can also like, it's a resume. You're never as hard a worker as you pretend you are. On your resume. You saw a girl for three weeks. Make it seem like it was a couple month relationship. It's not the big. You're not a piece of shit. You're. Unless you are. Unless you did do some weird shit. But it doesn't sound like it. It sounds like you had some mental illness things. You had some other shit going on. And by the way, recovering from all that shit, that can be cool too. You could be like, look, I was struggling in my 20s and then I had a couple little short term relationships. But I'm really looking now to date seriously. And I want something serious. Because that. You think you're already getting ahead of them, thinking it's going to be a deal breaker. Make sure it's not. Be like, no, I'm over that now. You know, I was a bit of a late bloomer, but I feel good now and I'm. I'm really looking for something serious. You'll be fine, bud.

[Ali Siddiq]

Especially if you have a good career.

[Stavros Halkias]

Totally.

[Ali Siddiq]

You focused on your career. You. You 30.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. And the second round is about to happen.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah. And like you didn't really have anything to offer.

[Stavros Halkias]

Right. That might be the bigger problem.

[Ali Siddiq]

You didn't have anything. My son's 31. He shouldn't have had any goddamn girlfriend before now. Have all of a broke ass. Why would you know. Why would your broke ass even have somebody. Yo, I was struggling with this girl. I ain't have she, man. Look, man, and that's. I think that's the thing. And then if you want to boost yourself up, there are. This is what always gets me. And I've always seen homeless men with.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. With women. They'll have women in their tent for sure.

[Ali Siddiq]

Sir. You can get a woman.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Even if.

[Stavros Halkias]

Absolutely, absolutely.

[Ali Siddiq]

Look at Somebody that looks worse than you. I'm like, this guy has someone.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah, no, that's exactly it. You're letting this be the stop. You're letting this stop you. The homeless guy's not letting anything stop it. He's getting for some combos.

[Ali Siddiq]

Outside.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, dude, maybe. Yeah, maybe you've had a couple intimacy issues, but you have plumbing, you have warm. A warm bed. You'll be good. Hit us with some other ones. Eldis.

[VGW Group]

Hey, Stavi. Big fan of the show. Long time. First time. Just calling back because I didn't really get my point across the first time I called. So I'm having an issue with my friend who I've been buddies with since we were nine years old. He keeps things close to the chest, but I have it on good authority from another friend that he was cheated on by his fiance. Two of them have been dating for 10 years and apparently she's cheating with him. On him. With this guy from work.

[Stavros Halkias]

Damn.

[VGW Group]

I don't know how she thought she'd get away with it. Because he's a detective, so he'd figure that shit out eventually. Probably. Detective, I need your help. Because my friend is the kind of guy who doesn't really let his emotions out around his friends. So I don't think I'm ever gonna hear about it from him.

[Stavros Halkias]

Oh, hell yeah.

[VGW Group]

But every time I see him, I can tell he's in a lot of pain. And it seems like this is really crushing him. But I don't want to betray his trust by letting him know that I heard from somebody else. So I don't really know what to do. I see him about once every two weeks and this happened, I think, about eight months ago. So I just need some advice on how to navigate this friendship, knowing what I know. Thank you. Love you, baby.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. Help me out.

[Ali Siddiq]

Oh, my goodness.

[Stavros Halkias]

Well, the good news is this. It feels like this is an important step to being a great detective. You have to be broken by a woman, become an alcoholic, smoke cigarettes with some, you know, five o' clock shadow. And that's the. A good detective has to get cucked. This is sort of like a detective's origin story, you know?

[Ali Siddiq]

48 hours.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

What's the cat for 48 hours?

[Stavros Halkias]

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Fuck yeah. Oh, yeah. Nick Nolte from. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. You need a hard boiled detective who fucking hates his ex wife. Like that's classic. You need a guy drinking whiskey with the lights off in his office with a five o' clock shadow going. And that seems like the The. The path he's on. But I mean, you know, mind your.

[Ali Siddiq]

Business until he tell you.

[Stavros Halkias]

Oh, I like that.

[Ali Siddiq]

I'm so. I'm looking at the pain in his eyes.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, you.

[Ali Siddiq]

You ain't got to do. I got a lot of friends. And I see when I see him like, yo, man, what's on your mind? Oh, you're not telling me. Okay, cool. Hey, yeah, bring another round.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yo, it's also like. So everybody. Your other friend is gossiping about him behind his back. That seems up also. Yeah, dude, I. I mean, look, somebody's getting cucked and they don't know. They don't. You know, who knows what their situation is? And you might be misreading it. That's the other thing.

[Ali Siddiq]

You.

[Stavros Halkias]

You don't actually know what the. Is going on. Yeah, I mean, you could. You could pretend you got cheated on and see if it sparks anything. You could be like, oh, man, yeah, my wife sucked off the guy from accounting. I'm pretty pissed about it. Maybe. Maybe I can open up to you. Is that okay? And see what. You know, if he starts crying when you say that, maybe then you have proof. But.

[Ali Siddiq]

But, you know, this is some soft. Though. If you been friends since nine, your friendship is pretty fragile if you just can't say it.

[Stavros Halkias]

That is true.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yo, yo, man, what the you got going on? Yeah, Your girl cheat on you some?

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, like.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah, like I'm gonna say it. I'm not sugarcoating.

[Stavros Halkias]

Since 9, you have to pick a lane. I think you're absolutely right. If you guys are this close, you either say it or, like you say the first time, mind your business. There's no in between. There's no, like, gazing at him longingly and. And seeing and feeling like you can feel the pain in his eyes. It's like, you can't. It's. Pick one or the other. If felt this were to get cucked, I would be like, you know, what's up, bro?

[Ali Siddiq]

So this is another. The other friend. How long y' all been knowing him?

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, who's the other guy?

[Ali Siddiq]

This is another guy. Like, yo, this.

[Stavros Halkias]

This is.

[Ali Siddiq]

This is when. No, I remember I was going through this tragic. It was a tragic breakup. It was so crazy. And I was sleeping on my friend's kid's couch, and I was.

[Stavros Halkias]

Oh, wow.

[Ali Siddiq]

Not eating and all this.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And kid came and sat on his coffee table.

[Stavros Halkias]

Cuz you were taking up his couch. All the seating was spoken for. Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And now I'm like, Dexter, man, I'm looking at it and he Says, hey, man, not eating is not going to help.

[Stavros Halkias]

That mean that's a low point if your friend's son is the one who's helping you out.

[Ali Siddiq]

And then he explained. He said, yo, man, you sit on this couch, not bathing, and you. You have. You have allowed this woman to. Would make you forget who you are.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And I was like, you, right, But I'm still so weak. Then that was over. Yeah, yeah, it was like over. It's like, yo, man, we're. You're not supposed to let your friends wallow in nothing and you're not supposed to hold it back, man. I went to go see my friends when they've gotten and out of bad relationships or out of good relationship that they felt that was so good. I'm like, yo. Oh no, she's definitely him.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Like, I like. No, for real, for real. Like, she's definitely him no matter what you say. Yeah, but she said she wasn't. Look at my eyes.

[Stavros Halkias]

Come on, man, look at me.

[Ali Siddiq]

I'm telling you. And I'm not a detective. I'm telling you.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. And so, you know, you gotta let this either say it or. Or just put it out of your mind, but. But this kind of in between. And he doesn't let his emotions around. Around his friends. It's like, why. Why is now the time you've decided to work on this? You know what I mean? Like, it's actually kind of insane to wait for an emergency to. To become better friends like you should have been. If you really wanted his emotions out, if you really wanted a healthier whatever, you should have started this earlier. Not when there's a emergency happening. Let him deal with it the way he deals with it. If he wants help, he'll. He'll give you some help. Otherwise, you know, just like, shut the up, get some wings. And if you want to do anything for him, help him cheat on his fiance back. That's how you become a good friend.

[Ali Siddiq]

Hey, man, do y' all have a Hooters?

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Nothing like dating a hot Hooters chick.

[Stavros Halkias]

That sounds pretty.

[Ali Siddiq]

All this.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, I fully agree. Hit somebody gets. Go get some wings. Tip someone tip a Hooters waitress who's maybe struggling financially 200% and see what go. What happens from there. Let it play. Yeah, that. Either way, you're a no man's name. What else you got? Eldis?

[E]

Hey, St. El. I'm going to get right to it. I'm calling from Europe. I have no idea how much this call is C me.

[Stavros Halkias]

Call from Europe.

[E]

Yeah. Okay. So my, I'm. I've had poor mental health my whole life. My parents hooked me up there, pretty up themselves. But in the last few years I've had a breakthrough with my mental health. I cut them off and it's been difficult, but it has given me the ability to be able to write music, which is something that I've always wanted to do. I studied music, so it's not completely new to me, but writing music was never something that I could do. I just, my self esteem was so bad and yeah, I just couldn't. And I couldn't even start. But I released my first single at the end of last year, which is exciting. And I guess my question is, it is delusional for me to think that I could make a career in music even though I'm already 32 years old. I feel like anyone who's kind of successful has been doing an art. Like, like I've got friends who are successful musicians, but they've been working already for 10 years. And I don't know, I just feel like, is it delusional of me to think that I could make this work? I mean, I'm not lucky enough to be like hugely successful, whatever. Just to make ends meet and live comfortably and have a nice time. I have other things I can fall back on. I'm a trained music therapist, but I don't know, I just. There's something inside me that's like, I.

[VGW Group]

Want to do this.

[E]

I wanna.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah.

[E]

Do music full time. But is it delusional me to think that that is even a possibility or a delusion or success?

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. Is it delusional if you start an artistic career later in life to think you can have a career is basically her question.

[Ali Siddiq]

You talking to two cops? I'm 51.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And yo, baby, if you start and you feel good about what you doing, then you can have a successful career doing anything if you put the work into it. You can't look at people who were younger than you. Oh, they, they did it and they started when they was young. You can't run for president here until you 36.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely.

[Ali Siddiq]

So it's not a, a, it's not a time limit on your success. And this is the thing that I, I tell comics a lot who ask me about advice. They always tell me about the industry and they tell me about all this other stuff and I'll say, the problem is that you're taking the creator out of it. You like, everything depends on what man says. And you don't understand what's been written for you or what the crazy. I don't know what your spiritual upbringing is, but it's still another higher power that has something to do with where you're, where you're heading and what your belief system is. So don't allow your mental struggles to. Because you're saying, is it delusional? No, it's not delusional. Especially if you put the effort into it.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

A lot of older music doesn't have an age, just like comedy doesn't have. Rodney Dangerfield started at 55.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. Yeah. He failed when he was younger and then he was selling aluminum siding or whatever and then he went back to it. For real? Yeah. It's crazy. And so look. Yeah, I think it's about how you're framing it. Right. Because it's like, is it delusional to say you're going to be Dua Lipa or Taylor Swift? Yeah. Okay. Let's just start right there. Right. You're probably not selling out arenas or whatever, but it doesn't sound like that's what you want. But is it delusional? Think you can have a career? Like, you know, I the, Like a career in, in music, in whatever. No, it's not delusional. And it's good that you have something that's kind of, kind of related where it's like music. You know, you could be your trained therapist. You could have a day job. I would have been doing stand up no matter what. Right. Like, if I had to have a day job and I did it, I'm honestly, the happiest years of my life were when I had a shitty day job and I was going to shows every single night. And I was trying to get better at it and I was trying to figure it out. And I'll be honest, I was literally happier then than I am now when my career's gone good. But it's like it's expected. Yeah. And it's like there's. There's pressure. It's a job. I'm supporting people. Like, you're kind of in a fun part of the creative process where it's like you're figuring your out, you're putting out your first. You had a block. You had a block mentally that wouldn't let you be creative. Now you get to just create the music. Like, I like figuring out my hour of stand up. I like, I like working on it so much more than I like filming it or even people seeing it. Like, you have to do that for your career or whatever. You have to package it and show people something and make some money off of it. But my favorite part of this job is touring, is the actual creative process is. Is making stuff. And I would have been doing that even if I had a day job and I could only do it on weekends or if I had to, if I still lived in Baltimore. And I was just. And I was like, you know, would run a local show. There's people like that. You go, you know, you're on tour and you see some incredibly talented people who, for one reason or another, it's not always talent. Like we were saying earlier, some of this is a. It's just a lottery ticket. Right place, right time, you know, the correct algorithms. I mean, we're. I think both of us. YouTube helped our careers a lot.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yes, sir.

[Stavros Halkias]

You know, you change that, you shift that window five years earlier or five years later, maybe, you know, maybe if I didn't. If I wasn't doing crowdfund clips when the algorithm was just shooting those fuckers to the top for some reason, my life's a lot different. Same thing with, you know, Patreon and Cometown. We were making a ton of money. Like, timing's a lot of stuff. Even if the timing was bad and I wasn't doing so great, I'd be doing this for a creative reason, and I would try and figure it out. And there's other things, right? With comedy, you could write, you could be. You could show run, you could, you know, produce stuff for other people and for you, too. It's like you can. You were saying you had a friend, you know, you know, your boy from Houston who was like a good musician. He becomes a producer, right? Like, you could find something. And that's the important thing is, like, living your life in a way that makes you happy, Creating what you want to and seeing where the ride takes you. It's not delusional. Don't let worrying about the future stop you from doing what you like. And whatever happens, happens. If. If you're just putting out music for yourself and you have some small fans, whatever, but you keep a day job your whole life, but you, you know, you're creating stuff you love, and then maybe you make connections, you do some other. That's great. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'll eat my words. And you are Taylor Swift in 10 years. And you, you are selling out arenas, but, you know, who knows? But don't. Don't limit yourself with kind of negative thinking. See where it can take you for sure, man.

[Ali Siddiq]

I have a friend that is booked year round. He's an incredible lounge singer.

[Stavros Halkias]

Hell yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And you don't realize how many lounges when he pulls up because. And nobody knows him unless you're been to a lounge he's been in. Then he got a cruise ship gig when it has a lounge in it and he's like yo. And people like. And then I see you on Norwegian. He's like, yeah, yeah. And he's very.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Well to do.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Because it, it all adds up totally. It depends on. I think people look at one level of success and forget that there's other lanes of success, man. It's guys who don't ever want to be that don't ever want to have a special. But they've been doing stand up for 40 years.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And making a living on.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Do you know how crazy it is when I found out the warm up for a show?

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. A guy you've never heard of that you never.

[Ali Siddiq]

He's a. He's a warm up for a show and he gets out in his collar's up and he jumps in a Maserati in la. He's like, yeah man, see you guys on Monday.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

He's like, who is he? He's like, yo, he's Chucky Brown.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Been opening up for Ellen show for 25 years.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. And you're making. They're making like a doctor's salary doing that. So. Yeah. We believe in you.

[Ryan Seacrest]

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[VGW Group]

No purchase necessary VGW Group VOID where.

[Stavros Halkias]

Prohibited by law 21 + terms and conditions apply. What else you got for us? Big eld.

[VGW Group]

Big fan. Let's start a cult. Amazing movie.

[Stavros Halkias]

Thanks man.

[VGW Group]

I'm just calling because my, my wife, she. She. She doesn't do blow jobs. I think she maybe did one in the five years we've been together. Oh, it was pretty awesome.

[Stavros Halkias]

What?

[VGW Group]

She just, she said she doesn't feel comfortable. Whatever. Yeah, you know, we're pretty open with each other and recently she told me hilarious story about how she one of her old guy friends in the ave. With the strap on.

[Stavros Halkias]

She'll do that, but you won't suck dick.

[VGW Group]

And now I just, I feel like, wow. This dirty.

[Stavros Halkias]

Well, oh, wow. We had the same idea, dude. In the ass.

[VGW Group]

But you won't blow me. And I'm just curious, do you think this is fair? You think?

[Stavros Halkias]

Fair?

[VGW Group]

Yeah, you know, am I. I feel entitled to it, you know? Yeah. I don't.

[Stavros Halkias]

I don't know.

[VGW Group]

I'd just love to hear your opinion.

[Stavros Halkias]

Fair. This man is trying to like, argue statutes to get ahead from his wife. It can't be. You're not gonna debate yourself into some head dude.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yo, your wife doesn't like your meat. Your meat probably has a stench to it, some sort of taste that she don't. That she don't agree with. You know, Shave your pubic hair, wash off your damn meat.

[Stavros Halkias]

Making it. Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And drunk is probably. Is gonna be your. Your avenue to this. You're gonna have to get your wife drunk.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And you make. Had to get in the ass.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. How much you willing to barter here?

[Ali Siddiq]

Maybe start off with the strap on this.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. Let's open negotiations. Let's open it. Go. It's like one inch. I hit two. One inch. Got a two inch. Two inch. Two inch minus two inch for three. Three times three blow jobs. I mean, this is. I mean, look, here's the other thing. This is on you, clearly, because you're a coward and you're a pushover. I can tell from your voice. First of all, not getting head for five years is insane.

[Ali Siddiq]

From your wife.

[Stavros Halkias]

From your wife.

[Ali Siddiq]

Legally bought. This is an indigenous servant legally bought with love, in time. And you not get like, this is terrible.

[Stavros Halkias]

You know what? Obviously like we're. We. We hate. Let's just say philosophically, we hate your. We just don't approve of how she lives her life. We're a very pro head podcast here and we just do not see eye to eye with your wife. But this is also your fault because I can't fathom like never getting head and just being like, cool. This is acceptable. You have you fucked up so hard when you set the parameters of what's acceptable in this relationship. And I'm a little worried that there is no coming back from this. Right?

[Ali Siddiq]

Yeah.

[Stavros Halkias]

Because you. You've made it pretty much clear that, oh, haha, I don't even care about getting head. Meanwhile, you're seething every night. You're just like, just suck it. You. I'm. I work hard in the back of your head. You're constantly. You just want there to be some head. I think your whole demeanor has to shift. I think you have to change something about your life that you have to become a head getter. You're not a head getter right now. You're a guy who will allow himself not to be sucked off. Even in a. In a mayor, in a long term relationship. And this isn't like the heads dropped off. This is from the jump. One yet one blowjob in five years. That's one. That's one. The ratio of days in this relationship, the blowjobs gotten is one to like 1800. That's insane, dude.

[VGW Group]

How do you even make it to the altar?

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, you're. You're on one knee. You're like, I bet I have a ring in here. But you see how I'm on a knee? How about we switch that posture? You want this to open up? Why don't I stand up?

[Ali Siddiq]

I do. To somebody like this?

[Stavros Halkias]

Objection. Yeah, if I was your best friend, I would like. Objection, your honor. She only sucked him off once after a Halloween party.

[VGW Group]

It's like when people are like, you.

[Stavros Halkias]

Know, before you get married, talk about kids, talk about, Talk about your values, you need to make sure you're on the same page with getting head. I'm sorry, These are. This is. This honestly might be one of my strongest held beliefs, more than literally anything is. I must get head. This for real.

[Ali Siddiq]

For me, this might be broke up in Greece. Like, God damn, this must have been the grease.

[Stavros Halkias]

It didn't help.

[Ali Siddiq]

Goodness. Like, y' all never been nowhere romantic. Just felt like, yo, you know something? We in Paris. I gotta suck your dick in Paris.

[Stavros Halkias]

That's true. You go, you take a romantic vacation and then you start decorating. You put a picture of the Eiffel tower at your house. You go somewhere and get your dick sucked. Then you try and Pavlov's dog her into fucking, thinking your apartment is the same place.

[Ali Siddiq]

I would only watch porn. She would catch me watching blowjob porn. Yeah, I would just turn it on like a regular. Hey.

[Stavros Halkias]

Wow, Mike. Oh, yeah. You see how Mike bought it? Yeah, Mike bought his wife and you Lexus. I hear she sucks him off every day. Crazy. But truly. Okay, we've. We're done clowning. You and me will say you have to shift things here. You have to change something about yourself to become a guy who gets head. You have to be cooler. You have to be more in control of this relationship. My guess is you're Just a pushover. And you have to be more of a. You know, you have to be a more commanding presence. Or you could trade your ass for head. Those are your two. Those are kind of your two. It's also funny that she'll tell you this story. It's like, you should start telling stories about how you got sucked off in the past and how awesome it was. But at the end of the day, this boils down to. You just gotta have a conver. It's hilarious. Almost all problems boil down to have a conversation. And I have. I mean, it's funny, but I literally have had. I was like, seeing somebody, whatever, and I did. I did notice rates of head were starting to drop off. And I for real have had this conversation where I was like, we can't have this. I was like this. I'm still eating the same clip. And all I want. All I want is equity in this relationship. And you have to have that conversation. I mean, are you eating? Because that's another. I mean, you gotta. You gotta get in there somehow, bro. I mean, you just gotta. You gotta figure something out. Yeah, this is most of this show, Ali. These are most of our problems here. I'm sure Els has another one of these queued up.

[VGW Group]

What up, Savvy? What's good, L. El Eldest and esteemed guest. This is a. A take two of my previous message. But, yeah, so I've been dating this girl for about five, six months. She's really cool. I don't really see, like, a feature with her in terms of that, you know, like marriage or anything like that.

[Stavros Halkias]

She's really cool. Hilarious trip planned.

[VGW Group]

We're gonna go to the east coast. We're gonna do some hiking, things like that. And I really want to go on the trip, but I don't want to break up with her prior.

[Stavros Halkias]

Jesus.

[VGW Group]

Because obviously I really want to go on the trip, but I know that when I come back, I'm gonna want to break up with her and just, oh, my God, be a free bird again. I do that after having an amazing trip because I'm the person that can make the best out of any situation. And obviously I'm not going to make the trip hell for her.

[Stavros Halkias]

You. You're pretending the fact that you secretly want to blindside your girlfriend with a breakup as you triumphing over adversity and being able to make the best of the situation. This woman has no idea what she's in for. Let's finish this call before we go in on him, but make the best.

[VGW Group]

Out of Any situation. And obviously, I'm not going to make the trip hell for her or anything like that, because I'm gonna have a. You know, I'm gonna have a good time. Yeah, we're. We're hiking in some mountains, things like that. So I just want to know any advice on how to do that?

[Stavros Halkias]

What?

[VGW Group]

For context, I don't like hurting people's feelings, so I will gladly put this all on me. I will gladly tell her that I'm the asshole.

[Stavros Halkias]

I'm there. I mean, you are. There's no. You're not faking anything by doing that.

[VGW Group]

But, yeah, I'm just. I'm just curious to see what. What used to. Just. What are some things that I could potentially do or not do, like to hurt her, like, not cheat or anything.

[Ali Siddiq]

But, I don't know, come up with.

[VGW Group]

A story, something like that. Feel free to make it funny. Feel free to put it behind a payoff. Whatever you. You feel like it.

[Stavros Halkias]

The permission.

[VGW Group]

I appreciate you. You greet God. And I also appreciate you, the Albanian producer. Thank you.

[Stavros Halkias]

This is insane. This is just a socio. Just how calm he is. Yeah, he's talking about this like it's a normal thing, you know, when you have to secretly. You want to a girl for six months, but you really want to go hike. You really want to go hike in the Poconos. So you can't tell. I mean, this is insane.

[Ali Siddiq]

Yo, you the brokest I ever even encountered. Why you can't go on the hiking trip yourself if you. I know why. Like, like, why you gotta. I wouldn't even ruin the trip by going knowing that I. I'm secretly planning on breaking up with you.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

Like, I was like, yo, I'm. I. I don't want to go anywhere with you.

[Stavros Halkias]

You wouldn't feel guilty. I mean, basically what this boils down to is he wants to get. He wants to fuck a girl while on this trip. This is essentially a guy who's like, well, I don't see a future. But. But what? I'm gonna. What. I have to get there a couple days early, get on Tinder. It's gonna be hard to get on this trip, but. So I'll just string this woman along. I mean, you're a p. Let's be honest. You're just a piece of dude.

[Ali Siddiq]

This is how you get pushed off a cliff in the east Coast. I don't know what happened to me.

[Stavros Halkias]

But, yeah. There's no stuff we're not gonna tell. Help you craft left a lie. Just. Just be honest. Don't mistreat someone. It's not even like you're like, I don't really see a future, but we'll see where it goes. You know, you want to break up with this person, you got it. I mean, the right thing to do is to just. Is to break up before, like, don't.

[Ali Siddiq]

Or.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. Who knows? I mean, I've. I'm somebody who's broken up on a vacation. Maybe there will just be bad vibes immediately, but it's just kind of crazy. You don't feel guilty, dude, doing this. There's not even. That doesn't even creep in a little bit. He's just like, what's the best way to. To let her down? And it's like.

[Ali Siddiq]

And do a joke about it so I can feel like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Stavros Halkias]

I'd love to unload this on you. I'd love to make this your problem. But, yeah, dude, you're. You're a. You should break up with her before and. Yeah. What are you going half on the Airbnb? Is that. Is that what you're worried about here? What the is going on?

[Ali Siddiq]

I want to see you in a swimsuit one last time.

[Stavros Halkias]

You got to break over there, dude. You're being a piece of. I'm sure this has already happened, probably, but yeah, in the future, just be honest with people. He says. He says he's like, anti.

[VGW Group]

Confrontational.

[Stavros Halkias]

He doesn't like hurting people's feelings. This will be a good. So much worse. Yeah, well, that's the thing. It's like, again, clearly a coward. And that's the thing is like, you can't. This is worse. You do.

[Ali Siddiq]

You.

[Stavros Halkias]

It's not that you don't like hurting people's feelings. It's that you don't like experiencing what you do to other people. You. You're like. Because you have to get better confrontation. First of all, that's. Being a adult is like, this happens and you have to just say it. And every time you do, every time there's a hard conversation, having it makes you like, it improves you. You become a bet. You. You're better off every hard conversation you have. Have. Just stop being a coward. Tell this woman how you feel and just take a trip by yourself. I mean, you shouldn't. This is kind of like a diabolical move, because if she really likes you, she thinks you're getting more closer. She thinks this is like a vacation is kind of like the next step. It's the kind of thing after like, six months where it's like, oh, wow. We're in a real.

[VGW Group]

On the trip.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yes.

[VGW Group]

We're getting along great on this trip.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. Yeah. She's telling her friends, like, I think this actually, you know, he was a piece of. Like, this is what she's telling her friends is the group chat you got, you know, and you're wrong. I told you he wasn't a piece of. He's taking me to New Jersey to hike. It's like.

[Ali Siddiq]

And I'd be like, he's trying to kill you.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah, exactly. That's. That is the other thing. It would almost be more.

[Ali Siddiq]

No God damn Yellowstone. You want to go to the train station?

[Stavros Halkias]

God damn. What a. You really are a cow. It's like a shitty coward. You're not only a cat, but you're. You're a selfish coward. And you know, we don't support that here at Stavi's World. And it sounds like you can get a girlfriend. So just break up with her and get somebody else if you really want to. The longer you do this, though, the more of a piece of you are.

[Ali Siddiq]

But she has the tickets to the. To the trip.

[Stavros Halkias]

But her dad works for American Airlines. We're going to fly on a buddy pass. We're flying standby. I don't want to buy tickets.

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[Stavros Halkias]

Prohibited by law 21 + terms and conditions apply. You got something nice for us to go on? I know you gotta get out of here. Ali.

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Hey. Just caught you on the dreamboat tour in Vancouver. Wicked show, man. But I'd like to formally apologize on behalf of all of Vancouver for the boobirds. When you're making fun of us for being on England's dick.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, Canada's pathetic in that way. You know, they still have connect. They still have like the Royal Family in England on their money. It's like fucking. They're like, England is not there anymore, bro. They can't do shit to you. Get off their dick. It's pathetic.

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[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

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Anyway, to my question. I am a 35 year old, recently divorced single dad of one 5 year old daughter. And I was recently at a park and a woman approached me. She was there with her two kids and me being naive to the fact and like newly, newly single and back in the dating world. She was very clearly hitting on me, but I didn't clue into it. So I'm just like wondering what like etiquette is for this. Like, obviously it's kind of tough sometimes to meet women when you're a parent. Like, is it okay to, you know, approach a woman, like hit on them if they're with their children? Like that seems slimy to me. Or obviously, like just feel the situation out and like, let it evolve naturally. Me, like if small talk starts and whatever. But yeah, yeah, any advice would be appreciated. Cheers.

[Ali Siddiq]

Oh, I'm, I'm an expert at this.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah, yeah, please.

[Ali Siddiq]

I don't, I don't approach women with their children. Like you say it seems slimy. But this, this case, you were being approached, right? She saw that you were being a nurturing father.

[Stavros Halkias]

Right.

[Ali Siddiq]

And she looked at her crushed life with her too.

[Stavros Halkias]

Exactly, exactly.

[Ali Siddiq]

I would like that. And think about the Brady Bunch, man. You know, two single, you know, people and they had kids and bruh, this is totally a cool thing. Especially if you, the one doing the pickup, don't approach women with their kid. That's just me. And I would, I would have went for this. And, and I'm like you, I never know when women are hitting on me. It goes over my head all the time. And if you like noted a few.

[Stavros Halkias]

Times how many kids we got.

[Ali Siddiq]

No, no, I was definitely hitting on them.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. Okay.

[Ali Siddiq]

That was definitely me. What's up? So that was that. That would be my advice. You, you missed. You missed this one. Maybe you can go back to the same part. Have your daughter. Don't, don't do like my.

[Stavros Halkias]

That starts looking pathetic though. It's like, hey, you're swinging your daughter. You guys see that lady from here? Anybody seen that lady? Can I go home? Not yet. They'll be here any minute.

[Ali Siddiq]

My father was clearly using me to pick up like take care of my son.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. And the important thing to remember is that, you know, these women have been crushed by life. They're not naive anymore. They're. You know what I mean? Like, like that's the other thing. It might seem a little Slimy. But it's like, there. It's not. This isn't like high school. There's no, like, nerves. It's like you're dealing with people who have been through the meat grinder who just want to. And they might just. They might, you know, they might want to. They might want a new dad for their kid. They might just want. They might just want to, you know, get every once in a while because their life is stressful. Maybe you're not. Maybe you don't even meet their kids. Maybe you're just meeting at a Courtyard Marriott out, you know, every six weeks. Maybe that's the relationship. But it's like, don't be naive. It's all good. You're all adults here. And. Yeah, I think. And you obviously have more, you know, experience here, but my guess is even, like, don't approach women in a slimy way if you see somebody. But if you're just making small talk at a. At a, like, you know, park or whatever, and it's like you could just feel it out. You know what I mean? Like, if you just sort of hit it off with somebody or you see someone at the same park or the same whatever daycare, whatever it is, like, you know, you get a report just like anything else. Except I think the. The thing with a single mom is, like, there's no real time to waste either, you know, one way or another. You'll know pretty soon if they're interested in you because it's like they have to pencil you in between like, after school programs and cooking dinner and all this other shit. It's like, they'll let you know. It's pretty efficient, I would guess.

[Ali Siddiq]

But keep your kid with you.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

If you. Approaching women with children, keep yours.

[Stavros Halkias]

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

[Ali Siddiq]

Other than that, you seem like, real.

[Stavros Halkias]

No, I should make that caveat. You gotta have your own kid. Don't. Don't go to playgrounds. Like, what's up? How you guys doing?

[Ali Siddiq]

Everybody's out here. Okay.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. No. No parental. No male figure. Huh? Must get pretty hard. Do you want an Nintendo Switch? Little guy.

[Ali Siddiq]

With a money on a thing. Almost got it.

[Stavros Halkias]

Pretty funny stuff here. Is that your f. Was that your finale, elders? You have a. You have a fun one for us, or was that. That was the.

[Ali Siddiq]

Fine.

[Stavros Halkias]

That was fun.

[VGW Group]

Final one.

[Stavros Halkias]

Okay. Wasn't that fun? Just kind of a regular question, but, you know, that's what we. That's what we expect of the. Of your producer. Do you know any Albanians? They got Albanians in Houston.

[Ali Siddiq]

It's probably something There.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

But ever since taken I probably ever since you know, certain, you know, you, you was. I was definitely coming to see you because my, my one of my favorite movies. I'm horrible for this but if people ask me My Great Big Fat Greek.

[Stavros Halkias]

My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Great movie goodness.

[Ali Siddiq]

I watch watch all, all of them.

[Stavros Halkias]

All three. Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

And I love that like she's great.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah.

[Ali Siddiq]

This is when I know I love a movie because it. It doesn't matter when what part is on. You hop on, you're like oh okay, here we go.

[Stavros Halkias]

Here comes the party. Here comes all the cousins.

[Ali Siddiq]

I am in. No matter when it's like coming to America, I' ma watch it. If it's at the end of the beginning, totally. It don't matter.

[Stavros Halkias]

Absolutely.

[Ali Siddiq]

That's my. That's my. And now to see them grow up and they daughter grow up, it was just. That was a great movie, man.

[Stavros Halkias]

Yeah. Shout out to Nia Vardalos, Greek legend. I think it's one of the most profitable like I think it's like the most profitable romantic comedy ever or something like that. She has some kind of crazy. Some kind of crazy record because it was a completely indie movie and it was like yeah, what do we got? Eldis Worldwide total of 368 million. Being the highest grossing romantic comedy of all time. She made made 368 million on a 5 million dollar budget. So shout out to her never never reached number one. She made the most money never being number one. So salute to her. I remember we were take our church would take like bus trips to a to to go see like Greek people were just lining the up to see that movie.

[Ali Siddiq]

So that was crazy.

[Stavros Halkias]

There's a little plug for my Big Fat Greek Wedding. And also Ali Siddiq go he's got you know specials are out when they.

[Ali Siddiq]

Rugged comes out on Father on Father's Day. Yeah we announced we open up the announcement for the second half of the tour tomorrow actually you know she's going to sell tomorrow for pre sale and Friday for regular population. And then speaking of weddings, Marcus D w special that I produced for definitely not 5 million. Marriage is major surgery. So yeah you know just, just keeping it moving man.

[Stavros Halkias]

Go check it out. So truly so much good stuff on the YouTube and you know I mean I said it at the beginning but it's like you're incredibly prolific so when people go they go to your YouTube. It's like there's so much stuff to to dig into and I think you guys are gonna really like it. Ali. Thanks for coming, man.

[Ali Siddiq]

Oh, man. Thanks for having me.

[Stavros Halkias]

Anytime. Anytime you're in New York, please come back. And we will talk to you guys next time. Bye. Bye.

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