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From Ahmed Ahmed's website
Born in Helwan, Egypt June 27th, 1970. Parents immigrated to the US when he was one month old and grew up in Riverside, CA. Moved to Hollywood when he was 19 years old to pursue a career as an actor and stand up comedian. Attended The American Academy of Dramatic Arts for one year and studied with various acting coaches such as Cliff Osmond, Ivana Chubbuck and Sandy Marshall.
Seen in such films and television shows as Iron Man, You Don't Mess With The Zohan, Swingers, Tracey Takes On, Roseanne, JAG, Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn on Comedy Central and MTV's PUNK'D. Also appeared on CNN, The View, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and NPR. Was featured on the front page of The Wall Street Journal in December of 2001 and featured in Newsweek Magazine. Will be seen in the upcoming ONION MOVIE for FOX Searchlight. Currently can be seen on the Fahrenheit 9/11 DVD bonus track performing stand up comedy. ahmed ahmed wild west full torrent.
A paid regular performer at The World Famous Comedy Store in Hollywood and tours all across America and Europe. Winner of the first annual Richard Pryor Award for ethnic comedy at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival in Scotland summer of 2004.
Wrote an original screenplay titled "The Pilgrimage" based on his Hajj (Pilgrimage to Mecca). He also co-wrote the script "Google Me" with comedian Erik Griffin.
Ahmed Ahmed (born June 27, 1970) is an Egyptian American actor and comedian.
Career
Ahmed Ahmed moved to Hollywood when he was 19 years old to pursue a career as an actor and stand-up comedian, and he has been working there ever since.
He has appeared in several films and television shows such as Executive Decision, Swingers, Tracey Takes On, Roseanne, JAG, Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn on Comedy Central, and MTV's Punk'd with Ashton Kutcher. He has also appeared on CNN, The View, and National Public Radio, and was featured on the front page of The Wall Street Journal in December 2001, as well as in Newsweek. He was featured in the PBS television documentary America at a Crossroads series in "STAND UP: Muslim American Comics Come of Age", an episode about Muslim American comedians.
Ahmed Ahmed is a regular performer at The Comedy Store in Hollywood and tours all across the US and Europe. He was the winner of the first annual Richard Pryor Award for ethnic comedy at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland in the summer of 2004. Ahmed is currently with the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour. He was also a notable guest for Axis of Justice which is a rock and heavy metal concert which fights for social justice.
Personal life
Ahmed was born in Helwan, Egypt. His family came to the United States when he was one month old and he grew up in Riverside, California. Ahmed says his role models include his parents, Muhammad Ali, Mitzi Shore, and Vince Vaughn. free 30 days and 30 nights full dvd download
Ahmed Ahmed's Filmography
Films:
You Don't Mess With The Zohan (2008)
Iron Man (2008)
The Onion Movie (2008)
Looking For Comedy In The Muslim World (2005)
All In (2005)
Swingers (1996)
Executive Decision (1996)
Steel Sharks (1996)
Virtuosity (1995)
Documentaries:
Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days & 30 Nights (2008)
30 days and 30 nights. 30 days 30 nights
Stand Up: Muslim-American Comics Come of Age (2007) Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)
Television Appearances:
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (2008)
Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn (2003)
Last Call with Carson Daly (2003)The View (2001)
February 27, 2009 - Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH
March 20, 2009 - Wake Forest University, Winston Salem, NC
March 21, 2009 - Middle East Council of the Carolinas Festival, Charlotte, NC
April 17, 2009 - Ahmed, Maz & Friends, Cairo International Conference Center, Cairo, Egypt
April 18, 2009 - Ahmed, Maz & FriendsAlexandria, Egypt
Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days & 30 Nights - Hollywood to the Heartland is a comedy documentary film directed by Ari Sandel and follows the 30 day comedy of tour of several stand up comedians. It premiered September 8, 2006 at the Toronto International Film Festival. It opened in limited release in the United States on February 8, 2008.
Synopsis
The documentary follows the month-long live comedy variety tour of Vince Vaughn and four stand-up comedians in the spirit of Wild West Shows. Vaughn picked four comedians from The Comedy Store in Los Angeles (Ahmed Ahmed, John Caparulo, Bret Ernst and Sebastian Maniscalco) for the tour. The tour began September 12, 2005 in Hollywood at the Music Box Theater and spanned 30 shows over 30 consecutive nights in 30 cities across the United States. Vince Vaughn acts as emcee and performs improv sketches with surprise guests. The comedians traveled over 6,000 miles on their tour and included stops in the Western, Southern, and Midwestern states. The film highlights their performances on-stage and contains interviews with the various comedians.
Cast
Ahmed Ahmed
Peter Billingsley
John Caparulo
Bret Ernst
Justin Long
Sebastian Maniscalco
Keir O'Donnell
Vince Vaughn
Production
Vince Vaughn was a producer for the film. Vaughn's older sister Victoria was also a producer. Chris Henkel, Paul Ruffolo, Dave Rutherford, and Jani Zandovskis served as camera operators. The show director was Chad Horning. The stage manager was Jason Ruffolo.
Critical reception
The film received mixed reviews from critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 56% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 75 reviews, with the consensus that the film "has some entertaining moments, but is a mostly hit-and-miss documentary." Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 51 out of 100, based on 24 reviews.
Peter Hartlaub of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote "It's a funny comedy, and sometimes an even better drama" and called it a "nice companion piece" to the 2002 film Comedian. Hartlaub said "The comics all have their good and bad moments, but John Caparulo is arguably the most hilarious both on- and offstage" and "the movie is best when Vaughn plays off his own pop culture stature." Hartlaub also wrote that "director Ari Sandel paces the film well."
Stephen Holden of The New York Times described the film as "more of a backstage documentary" than a concert film. Holden wrote the film "includes some moderately funny snippets of actual performances" but "we never see a complete performance or even a quarter of one." Holden called it "among the tamest tours ever filmed." Holden wrote that the tour was re-routed because it came after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. Holden wrote "In the most revealing scene Mr. Vaughn and his crew visit an Alabama trailer camp to give free tickets to the residents, many of them New Orleans evacuees who lost everything."
Kyle Smith of the New York Post gave the film one star out of four, writing "A 2 1/2-year-old collection of mediocre stand-up routines and dull backstage chatter, Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show demonstrates why comedy clubs require you to have a couple of drinks." Smith said "Only about 40 percent of the movie is even comedy; the rest consists of lots of shots of maps" and said the film was "worse than open-mike night."
Box office performance
The film opened in limited release in the United States on February 8, 2008 and grossed $464,170 in 962 theaters that weekend, averaging $482 per theater. The film grossed a total of $603,894 after three weeks in theaters.
What question are you most sick of answering?
Ahmed Ahmed: "Was Vince really on the bus?"
Did people think he was digitally added in afterwards?
Ahmed Ahmed: Like they Photoshoped him in. He was there every night. A lot of people asked me what my favorite city was. Did you guys have that in there?
Actually, we did. But I'm sure the answer is Phoenix.
Ahmed Ahmed: My favorite city was Las Vegas because of the sweet redemption. Arizona was great. The footage they shot wasn't great, so for some reason they couldn't use the footage from the celebrity theater. It just didn't translate on film. I thought it was one of our best shows.
How did you pick which locations to perform at?
Ahmed Ahmed: Vince picked them. He wanted to pick cities in the Midwest and the South that didn't normally get variety shows. The idea was to go through rural America. A lot of these places had never seen anything like that, with a movie star and guest celebrities.
In the film we got to see Caparulo dispense quite a few vulgarities, and we know that two of the shows you guys had to do "clean". Where do you draw the line of decency when you create your sets - or is there one?
Ahmed Ahmed: I try to work clean. If I don't have to curse, I won't. In a comedy club at night when people are drinking, I think it's okay to throw the F-bomb in there once in awhile. But I try to stay relatively clean with my material. Most comics will stay away from handicapped people, anyone who's the underdog. I don't make fun of cancer, rape - there's nothing funny about that. People say "Oh, you're a comic, you should push the limits, funny's funny". Yeah, but to an extent. Being an Arab-Comedian is a statement enough.
How much footage was shot?
Ahmed Ahmed: 700 hours.
How are you handling the publicity? Are people recognizing you?
Ahmed Ahmed: Not really, because in the movie I had hair. People are like, "who're you, a bouncer?"
I heard you had written a couple of scripts, and that you'll be in the upcoming films Iron Man and You Don't Mess with the Zohan. Is stand-up your number-one pursuit or do you enjoy filmmaking more?
Ahmed Ahmed: Right now things are good because I've been getting a lot of inquiries to perform and travel. My manager called me the other day and said: "You just got an inquiry from Uganda." It's kinda cool. "What're you doing this weekend?" I've got a gig in Uganda. Stand-up is instant gratification - movies you have to wait a year or two before they come out. It's been my dream to do both. If you can do stand-up between movies, it's a great career. ahmed ahmed comedy download
When you're doing your routine how do you determine which jokes to pursue? Is it dependent on the crowd and their response?
Ahmed Ahmed: My material is translated pretty equally across America - I haven't really changed it that much. It depends. Every audience is different. If there are kids in the audience, I'll keep it clean, and if there's a bunch of drunk people at a comedy club then...there's no limit. A lot of times I'll gauge the audience beforehand. If there's a comic up before me, I'll sit in the back of the room and watch to see what works and what doesn't work.
Did anything really embarrassing happen to you during the tour?
Ahmed Ahmed: There was one time I missed the bus. I overslept 45 minutes. I ran downstairs and the engines were rolling and people were looking at me. I felt so bad.
Well, that's not that bad.
Ahmed Ahmed: When we're on a schedule - that's bad. When we have to be in a city at a certain time and there's people waiting for us - I don't like being late.
Were you being filmed nonstop? How much privacy did you have?
Ahmed Ahmed: Pretty much. The only time we weren't being filmed was in the middle of the night when we were on the road. Cameras were rolling probably 15-20 hours per day.
In the epilogue of the film it states that Caparulo finally got a girlfriend. Is he still with her?
Ahmed Ahmed: Not really, because in the movie I had hair. People are like, "who're you, a bouncer?"
I heard you had written a couple of scripts, and that you'll be in the upcoming films Iron Man and You Don't Mess with the Zohan. Is stand-up your number-one pursuit or do you enjoy filmmaking more?
Ahmed Ahmed: Right now things are good because I've been getting a lot of inquiries to perform and travel. My manager called me the other day and said: "You just got an inquiry from Uganda." It's kinda cool. "What're you doing this weekend?" I've got a gig in Uganda. Stand-up is instant gratification - movies you have to wait a year or two before they come out. It's been my dream to do both. If you can do stand-up between movies, it's a great career.
When you're doing your routine how do you determine which jokes to pursue? Is it dependent on the crowd and their response?
Ahmed Ahmed: My material is translated pretty equally across America - I haven't really changed it that much. It depends. Every audience is different. If there are kids in the audience, I'll keep it clean, and if there's a bunch of drunk people at a comedy club then...there's no limit. A lot of times I'll gauge the audience beforehand. If there's a comic up before me, I'll sit in the back of the room and watch to see what works and what doesn't work.
Did anything really embarrassing happen to you during the tour?
Ahmed Ahmed: There was one time I missed the bus. I overslept 45 minutes. I ran downstairs and the engines were rolling and people were looking at me. I felt so bad.
Well, that's not that bad.
Ahmed Ahmed: When we're on a schedule - that's bad. When we have to be in a city at a certain time and there's people waiting for us - I don't like being late.
Were you being filmed nonstop? How much privacy did you have?
Ahmed Ahmed: Pretty much. The only time we weren't being filmed was in the middle of the night when we were on the road. Cameras were rolling probably 15-20 hours per day.
In the epilogue of the film it states that Caparulo finally got a girlfriend. Is he still with her?
Ahmed Ahmed: I don't know. It's unclear. He doesn't really talk about it.
What about you?
Ahmed Ahmed: As sad as it sounds, I don't really have time to date. I travel around so much, and I'm not one of those guys who like to have a girlfriend on the side. I'd rather be single and when the time is right, get involved with somebody. You have to have time to be in a relationship. A lot of girls wouldn't trust that fact that I'm on the road all the time. But it's the geek tour. Girls aren't jumping all over me. I always attract old Jewish women. "You're so funny. You're adorable. You remind me of my son."
Do you have any advice for aspiring comedians?
Ahmed Ahmed: You really have to love the art of stand-up comedy. If you want to be famous or get in magazines or be on talk shows, don't be a comedian. It's not about fame. You have to sacrifice. Comics battle depression. Just from my time at the Comedy Store, a lot of us will be sitting backstage chain-smoking, "my girlfriend sucks, my agent won't call me, my life sucks. Hold on, they're introducing me." They're on stage for 15-20 minutes: "Thank you very much, that's my time, good night!" Then they come backstage: "My girlfriend sucks, my agent won't call me..." Comics are bipolar.
Did you always know you wanted to be a stand-up comedian?
Ahmed Ahmed: I didn't. I always thought I'd start when I was 40. I wanted to be an actor. I wanted to be a critically acclaimed actor and win an Oscar. There weren't a lot of roles being written for Arab actors that were any good, so I kind of stumbled into comedy. It's an easier way for me to have a voice.
Where do you get your inspirations for your comedy?
Ahmed Ahmed: When I first got started I watched that documentary "When We Were Kings". Muhammad Ali was so electric. Not only was he a good athlete, he was funny and he talked a lot of shit. He was quick-witted. I look at comedy much like a boxer. I actually met Ali. I met his daughter at the Comedy Store. She came up to me and said, "You're a funny Muslim brother. Y'know my dad would love to meet you." I said, "Cool, who's you dad?" "Muhammad Ali." He was in town and she called me up, so I walked in his room and he shook my hand and his hands were enormous. He looked at me and said: "I'm still the champ." I got chills up my spine. free video downloads.
What are you current projects? (30 days of nights)
Ahmed Ahmed: Iron Man with Robert Downey Jr. and You Don't Mess with the Zohan with Adam Sandler. In Iron Man I play a bad guy. I'm going on tour with Russell Peters to Australia for three weeks. I also did this PBS documentary called Stand-up: Muslim Comics Coming of Age. It's coming out May 11th on PBS. That's it for now. I'm going back to the Middle East to do some shows. Dubai, Lebanon... Uganda. 30 days nights. Ahmed Ahmed torrent.
I see that you guys aren’t stabbing me with a fork for having to do this during your meal, and I thank you for that. How do you find Dubai?
Aron Kader: I love it. It’s very, very opulent. My relatives in Jerusalem live humbly – no dirt floors or anything, but a very simple life, and this is a big contrast.
Maz Jobrani: People here get our references.
Ahmed Ahmed: Dubai is very modern. It’s a beacon of light, in this sense.
Maz Jobrani: It’s not exactly perfect. But there are problems everywhere you go, right?
So, I’ve done my research or so I hope. I think I can see what you guys have in common. The Middle Eastern heritage, the desire to challenge stereotypes, the dashing good looks. How are you different?
Aron Kader: Different fashion sense. Ahmed is the one who wears the hats…
Maz Jobrani: Are you writing this down? Because he’s joking.
Let’s talk about racism against people of Middle Eastern origin in the United States.
Ahmed Ahmed: It’s huge. There’s nothing funny about being Middle Eastern in America right now. I’ve been called a “sand-nigger,” etc. But comedy about stereotypes is like therapy, in that sense.
Maz Jobrani: I think American co-exist well with each other, all things considered, but there are still issues of prejudice you can’t escape, which is why laughing with people is important, which is why this tour is important. It shatters stereotypes. Someone once told me: “I had no idea that you people even laughed.” We are portrayed as completely humourless and that’s not even the worst of it. You know, my mother has been told, “go back to your country, bitch.” She had an accent, and people with accents seem threatening. This is beside all the stuff you would get at school, as a kid. Kids are brutal. But there are always people who have it worse than you. Like the gas station attendants, think about the crap they get on a daily basis.
Ahmed Ahmed: American racists are lazy too. Someone started targeting Sikhs after 9/11, because of the turbans. Sikhs aren’t even Muslim. It’s like the Joe DeRosa joke about American people thinking that Egypt has oil.
What about relationship weirdness? Ever since I met my Arab boyfriend all of these well-meaning people have been telling me that I must be very oppressed, raped and beaten on a daily basis. Do the women in your lives get similar crap?
Maz Jobrani: My wife is a very intelligent woman, she can block it all out if need be. Our tour manager, however, had people really worried for her when we took the comedy tour to the Middle East.
Ahmed Ahmed: You’ve seen the show, so you know my Egyptian princess joke, right? Girls date you to piss off daddy, and because you’re dark and exotic. A girl says, “Make me your Egyptian princess.” I put a sheet over her head and tell her to be quiet.
Aron Kader: Jokes are good if you know what you’re talking about. Someone close to my girlfriend offers to give me a pack of Camel cigarettes, and thinks it’s the funniest thing in the world. Or else we’ll talk about golfing, and suddenly there are these lame jokes being made about sand.
Maz Jobrani: People base their assumptions about Middle Eastern men and relationships on the Sally Field film, “Not Without My Daughter.”
People have mentioned it to me at least fifty times since I’ve met my boyfriend.
Maz Jobrani: You should watch it. It really clues you in to the attitude.
I watched in high school. It was actually during a lesson of U.S. history. Come to think of it, I’m not really sure how it tied in at all.
Ahmed Ahmed: Speaking of attitude, we do radio shows, and sometimes it goes well, and sometimes it’s ridiculous. People have said things like, “Hey fellas, did you fly in on a magic carpet today?”
You’re kidding.
Ahmed Ahmed: Nope. You probably know that a ridiculous number of Americans don’t even have passports. The ignorance makes sense, in this light.
Maz Jobrani: Here’s something we’ve noticed: the local news always juxtaposes a segment on our comedy tour with a story about angry Muslims chanting, preferably burning an American flag.
Aron Kader: [in sugary newscaster voice] “Thirteen marines dead in Iraq. And on a lighter note…” And she goes on to talk about us.
This is surreal. Let’s talk about happy, joyful things. Such as your comic influences – anyone in particular come to mind?
Aron Kader: George Carlin.
Maz Jobrani: When I was a kid, I loved Eddie Murphy. Career-wise, I think my biggest influence is Richard Pryor. You know what they say about Pryor – he could talk about setting himself on fire and make it hilarious. This is something I admire.
Ok, some people find the next question annoying, but I have to ask: what are your thoughts on Election 2008 in the States?
Aron Kader: Hillary.
Maz Jobrani: I’m a Bill Clinton fan. We need to have him back in the White House in some capacity.
Aron Kader: Bill Clinton probably wasted less sperm than Bush has wasted lives. Since we’re talking about politics, I have this to say: when we make fun of our current leadership, we are not selling out our country. We want to be proud of our country. But the Bush White House is a disaster. It should be OK to say that without being labeled a traitor.
Ahmed Ahmed: Bush is an embarrassment. If I ran into him in a public place, I’d hand him some cash and ask him to stop ruining everything with his presence.
Tell me more about taking the tour to the Middle East. How are things different?
Maz Jobrani: This is the longest time we’ve been on the road, ever. We’re shooting a documentary when we’re not performing. The Showtime Arabia crew is also filming us.
Aron Kader: In Jordan, King Abdullah came to our show. In Cairo, the audience was mostly working class. We did two shows in one day, and a total of 3,000 people saw us in 24 hours alone.
Ahmed Ahmed: In Beirut, I think we ended up sold out before we even had a venue. There are all these popular Facebook groups set up over there; it’s amazing.
Maz Jobrani: And we do interview after interview.
Such as this one. Wherein I’m not even letting you chew your food.
Aron Kader: You should just have some pizza.
No thanks.
Aron Kader: [concerned auntie voice] You have to eat! The leftovers will just get thrown away otherwise.
Maz Jobrani: No, no, write down that we gave it to the children.
I don’t think there are any needy children at Mall of the Emirates in Dubai. At the very least, I don’t see any right now.
Ahmed Ahmed: Dubai’s an amazing place, like I already said. There’s another joke I do that you’re probably familiar with, the one about conservative Muslim families hanging out next to European men in Speedos on the beach in Dubai.
You know, I’m originally from Ukraine, and most men wear Speedos on the beach. They can look quite fetching on the right person.
Ahmed Ahmed: Yeah, but on most people they look not so fetching.
Aron Kader: Especially after you’ve just been in the cold water.
Maz Jobrani: I can pull off a Speedo. For all you know, I’m wearing one right now.
I’ll tell everyone you showed it to me.
Maz Jobrani: Yes! Because you’re Ukrainian! And you get it!
Ahmed Ahmed: OH MY GOD, is that Jack Nicholson over there?