Episode #1334 - Fahim Anwar

JRE Episode # 1332 – Fahim Anwar

Podcast:

http://podcasts.joerogan.net/podcasts/fahim-anwar

Youtube:

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Show Notes:

Joe Rogan and Fahim Anwar start off talking about how many people comedians meet, and the capability of trying to remember them all. Both Joe and Fahim agree there are places that they run into people they recognize, but it’s not possible to remember everyone you meet.

Moving on to practicing an art skill, like a musician or martial artist, you can’t practice alone, you need an audience. It’s not the words, on paper it is the same joke, and none of it is really written anywhere, but it’s like when a musician plays a note a little different, it’s the performance given. Fahim was recently asked for a transcript for a show he decided not to do, but said it takes the magic out of the show to do that.

Rogan brings up Just For Laughs as it is a weird situation. It used to be a huge asset for comedians getting to meet industry leaders and get their name out there, but now it is more so used to the benefit of Just For Laughs, where they tossed out so much money and are only trying to make money off the comedians now.

Chicken – topic – comedian, thought to be the next Jim Carey, Joe met at JFLaughs. He was terrible, he was not very well known and JFLaughs tried to get him shows, and it didn’t work out…he ended up committing suicide. If he was well established, this may have just been a bump in the road he could have recovered from, but he wasn’t, which could be a key factor in why his actions were so drastic.

Joe brings up how about every 2 years he, and a few others like, Buss, Kricher, and Segura create a special. So, you’re like a beginner again, and it makes you freak out a little getting prepared for the crowd again. Fahim talks about Burrough’s dilution of specials and the specifics between albums and specials.

The topic is then changed by Joe to Fahim being one of the rare comedians that doesn’t use marijuana recreationally. Fahim jokingly questions the use of marijuana and CBD and why people use it, Joe goes on to educate Fahim on CBD and the different medical reasons to use it.

Alex Jones is a good friend of Joe Rogan, whom was mentioned after Joe doing an impression of an elderly man. Joe goes on to talk about his personal friendship and experiences with Alex Jones. According to Joe Rogan, Alex Jones predicted, or rather informed the public, of the Jeffery Epstein shit….he called it years before anything was put in mainstream media, and knew what was happening and the details of what took place on the island. Alex Jones also called the human hybrid experiments that were taking place….years ago. Alex is very open, and people need to stop writing him off.

Joe recalls his previous interview with Bernie Sanders, and makes it very clear to viewers he is NOT right wing, he is 100% left wing. The only disagreements he has is with left wing people is support for military, police, and 2nd amendment rights. He would 100% support Bernie Sanders, and vote for him if he wins the primary. Joe’s interview with Bernie Sanders was set up by his friend Kyle Kalinsky who is a left wing progressive youtuber.

The idea that it’s bad for you to talk to anyone, regardless of political stance, is just wrong. Fahim and Joe agree that it gives people the chance to ask different questions and get to know the people wanting your vote. Joe makes a great point, when you are having a 3+ hour conversation, it is hard to hide the real you and your real thoughts, even though he only had about an hour with Bernie. Last year’s transhumanist presidential candidate, Zoltan Istvan, were both brought up in comparison to Bernie Sanders as far as having the time availability to interview. Fahim likes the swing in the country as far as the political stance.

Joe brings up Michael Avenatti, and how everyone was set that he is going to beat Trump, and then he is gone, like a ghost. During Trump campaign, Joe states he realized pretty early in the campaigning that Trump wasn’t going away and had a lot of pull. Joe has lots of right wing friends in big big democratic cities along both east and west coasts, they were all believing that Hilary was going to be the savior and the middle of the country like Iowa, Indiana, Missouri saw right through her bullshit.

Ultimately, Joe and Fahim realized that Trump was a monkey wrench thrown into the works, and it was a good thing to shake up the country and what had become the normal.

Fahim brings up how nicknames are given to these politicians, and people remember their names…like Moscow Mitch, Sleepy Joe Biden, and Pocahontas. Fahim and Joe don’t get why people were so upset at Trump for calling Elizabeth Warren Pocahontas. Both Joe and Fahim would be happy to be called Aladdin, or any Disney character.

Speaking of Disney, both Fahim and Joe have seen the most recent Aladdin that was just released in theaters in Spring of 2019. They enjoyed it, but were curious why it received bad reviews, which is believed to be due to Will Smith using modern vocabulary.

Fahim and Joe then joke about how easy it is to get the country worked up over a movie, like the release of Will Smith as the genie in Aladdin, or that Sonic the Hedgehog doesn’t look like he does in the old video games. Joe still thinks one of the biggest mistakes was Ben Afflec auditioning for Batman.

Old TV shows that are no longer producing new episodes, but are still rerunning multiple seasons, which both Joe and Fahim can’t believe some are still running like Survivor, and some that are no longer running, like Jag, but can’t understand how they got to 20+ seasons.

News radio and sitcom shows are gone into in depth by both Joe and Fahim. They discuss how rare and hard it is to write a sitcom and news radio. When taping a sitcom, the studio will have around 30 people in the waiting room practicing their laughs because the director, producer, actors need the confidence boost.

This topic segways into Trump and Chris Cuomo and the Fredo comment. Joe is 3/4 Italian, and he has never heard that term being used like the “N word”, both Joe and Fahim seem to agree that President Trump was trying to get a reaction out of Cuomo. Joe has a great point that the majority of people would get pissed and cause a scene when they are offended, but a political leader who is in the public eye, should not behave in that way in reaction to anything said to them. CNN wrote an article on the incident supporting Chris Cuomo, calling it an ethnic slur.

Joe and Fahim continue discussing Chris Cuomo’s reaction, then segment into people selling stacks of celebrities photos with autographs for money. They are similar to sports ticket scalpers, but making money off of pictures that is signed by a celebrity. When events happen for celebrities, there are promotions for fans to get signed merchandise, and there is a major difference between a fan and a seller of this merchandise trying to make a couple bucks.

The transition to the next topic which touches on how Joe has a lot going on between family, UFC, the podcast, but still manages to find time to communicate, support, and enjoy The Comedy Store. Joe goes into why acts the way he does with others, and he loves the community at The Comedy Store. Also, why you shouldn’t just dismiss the newcomers and how he has been dismissed by big name comedians and now that he has surpassed them in fame, they are now friendly smiling faces who want to converse. The Elite need to stop dismissing people, and start being more humble to those under them, they are also the ones missing out on possible friendships, or opportunities. Fahim brings up Ice House and the smooth transition between Joe Rogan and Adam, and seeing the evolution, because Fahim was passed in 2010.

The conversation transitions to Hollywood for beginners first starting out, it is difficult and just getting up out of the house is a win for the day. Fahim and Joe reminisce on being star struck when they first started getting famous, The Comedy Store, and theatrics with their fans.

Transitioning to different types and styles of comedy, projections when performing, and the first time they realized how the audience hears when they perform. Cathedrals, amphitheaters, stadiums….you need to know how to perform in these locations otherwise fans sitting further back will not be able to hear the punchlines while others in front are laughing.

Joe and Fahim talk about Ali Wong and how she started out and some of her accomplishments. The best places are the IceHouse The Comedy Store and The Improv, they only seat 200-300 people which is perfect.

Transitioning to traveling and needing all the energy you can get, Joe and Fahim discuss B12 briefly after Joe makes a comment about feeling like he can run through a wall when he gets his B12 shot. The two touch briefly on rock stars having it all figured out between shows, parting, and sleeping. Joe and Fahim go on to share stories of taking helicopter rides and personal jet rides, and how uncomfortable it is when you know who’s flying. They briefly touch on JFK’s death, and the autopsy report for JFK Jr after talking about aircraft.

The conversation changes to Elon Musk and cars. Fahim mentions driving a 2007 Mazda 3 and Joe suggests he gets a Mazda Miata. Joe goes on to talk about Tesla cars and the horsepower. Joe touches on mechanics and how he views cars. The research he has done on the new S Class Plug In Hybrid Mercedes, and electric cars, the downfall to all electric cars is when the battery dies!

The conversations then goes to Adderall and the effects it has on the human body, like increased focus. Joe Rogan compares it to Speed. Adderall is addictive, is a stimulant, and it is very close to methamphetamines. The conversation changes to marijuana and the effects it has on the human body. Joe shares a couple memories of times he was stoned and interactions he had in his younger years.

The conversation transitions to conspiracies and conspiracy theorists. Joe shares a memory of a weed doctor he had that went crazy 9/11 on him about what happened, and blamed Tesla technology. Fahim and Joe discuss what ethnicity would possibly show as highest race to believe conspiracy theories.

This brings Joe to inquire about Fahim’s time working for Boeing, what position, details on tasks, etc. Fahim touches on when he first knew he wanted to do stand up comedy, shares memories of younger years through college trying to achieve his goal of wanting to do stand up. His parents helped with the costs of college, so Fahim got a Mechanical Engineering degree to afford his dream of being a stand up comedian. Fahim shares how he got his mother to finally approve of him doing stand up, with a memory of bringing her to meet Tina Fey. His father on the other hand is still not 100% on board with it but Fahim’s father is more worried about stability, security, and income. Joe and Fahim have a long laugh on Fahim’s dad making a comment about Fahim being out all night doing comedy with the pimps and prostitutes.

Joe asks about Fahim’s Instagram sketches, (where he plays all the characters in the video) Fahim explains that a lot of those videos are just byproduct of being creatively backlogged. He enjoys doing sketches and stand up, he started doing it in his younger years, and stopped doing it for a while. Fahim shares a memory of a video he made in 2007 called Afgan Wedding – this is what he used in lieu of waiting for more stand up bookings.

They next transition into Fahim’s special he bombed in. When he was 17/18, he signed up for open stand up at The Apollo, and made it through and was picked in the top 11. As most people would with that amount of excitement, he invited everyone he knew. The dress rehearsal the director asks for a change in his skit, there are about 3,000 people in the audience, he was booed off in about 15 seconds after saying he is Afghan. It was shell shocking, and embarrassing, and to rub salt in the wound, on the drive home his father cut the tension with a joke himself…”There’s no business like show business….”

Fahim is grateful for that experience, not a pleasurable one, but it makes for a great bombed story when talking with other comedians. It also shows him that he has a fire in him to have that happen at 17/18 and then come back from that by 35.

Joe asks some more about Fahim’s parents support and thoughts on Fahim doing stand up. The two touch on a couple of comedy clubs that they used to go to that went under; The Parlor, Giggles. The conversation turns to how little pathways and principles there are for comedy and upcoming comedians. Each comedian is different than the next, but most come from a rough background.

Transitioning back to comedy and where it is today, both Joe and Fahim believe it is a tough time for comedy in 2019. There are so many people that get offended so easily now, overly sensitive, there are others that will dissect the joke before just enjoying it. It is hard now it 2019 because you never know if you are going to piss your fans off or if they are going to enjoy it.

The topic changes to impersonators of comedians, like Dane Cook and Mitch Headburg. Patrice O’neill calls them “babies”, people that impersonate a comedian, and that was the bubble. When the babies stopped booking gigs, all that was left was the actual comedians that came with original skits, and practiced their material. Joe shares his experiences seeing high level comedians perform and then a baby perform and completely bomb. The babies would get hired specifically for the high level comedians to shit on them. The club, Nick’s Comedy Stop, would pay comics in Coke says Joe. He was never offered or took Coke as payment, but he knows it used to happen.

Both Fahim and Joe agree that they enjoy hearing new comics and having fun doing shows. They don’t like being in a show where they are the only one getting the love and attention. They talk about how majority of the comedy scene’s now are more of a community than it used to be. There are more people supporting each other in the clubs and pushing each other to be successful. They touch on how many new opportunities there are for comedians with Amazon Prime and Hulu, now that Netflix isn’t the only streaming platform they have options in.

They touch base on Andrew Shulz’s upcoming from a youtuber to a podcaster. Joe brings up how Andrew’s personal Instagram page has been shadowbanned. There is no explanation as to why he had been shadowbanned, some people can see his page, and others can’t see it. They continue talking about Andrew Shulz success from not selling out clubs, to selling out theaters internationally.

The segment ends with Fahim and Joe joking about Fahim’s engineering degree and using it at times during comedy, how they release stress when having a blocked mind, and coming back to Chris Cuomo needing to embrace the new name Fredo. Talking a bit about music, some of the apps used to download new music like HypeMachine. HypeMachine doesn’t use your typical Top 40, a lot of the music on there is like teen and mid 20’s music.

Fahim explains that he doesn’t have a day job, so for him it is a bit easier to focus on and have the time to work on materials, references back to working at Boeing and sharing stories. Joe thinks of a next entrepreneurial business he’d think about opening as his next gig.

Joe and Fahim continue to talk about Fahim’s road to success, his time at Boeing, the art of comedy in general, and maybe even a few comedians getting together and coming up with a type of play book or guide book for upcoming comedians.

Find Fahim Anwar on:

Instagram @fahimanwar

Or at FahimAnwar.com

Quotes:

My guest today is hilarious stand up comedian, and former engineer at Boeing, and a fucking awesome guy give it up for…Fahim Anwar!
– Joe Rogan

Figure out what you can learn from other people’s success and failure, but don’t think of it as your own success or failure.
-Joe Rogan

I want to give someone an opportunity for redemption, like I want to believe that they’ve changed. It’s hard, because I don’t want to be like fuck that guy for life.
– Joe Rogan