Nasser Al Rayess: HE SKIPPED THE 10-YEAR GRIND?! The Stand-Up “Cheat Code” Exposed | DSH #1598

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Speaker 3 In order for you to develop the stage presence, the knowledge of how to move and transition and crowd work and being able to pick up different things and be able to change a joke and understand that joke can be better if I just maybe pause for three seconds longer or change the emphasis on that word, it will take you like 10 years to get to that point.

Speaker 3 But in my situation, I've been passionate about stand-up comedy since I was a kid. Like, I used to memorize the sets, I used to pay attention to this stuff.

Speaker 3 So, for me, when it came time to transition from doing like social media content into stand-up, combined with my public speaking experience being an MC for like Cal, I felt ready.

Speaker 3 okay guys nasser alreyis how'd i do on that did okay 50 50 we're gonna work on it all right but it's better than most white people have done it so i think you're asian craig give you some some love on the on that one so half asian half white baby yeah it's enough enough culture for you yeah whatever situation i'm in i'll apply that race and i'll it's good i'll leverage that it's called a little bit of a selective uh selective racism is that a good way to say it okay it's good like i feel out the crowd and if if they want me to be white i'll act more white

Speaker 3 more asian i'll act more white. Okay, so code switching in general.
Yeah. I like that.
When I'm hooping, I act more white because if you're Asian, you get picked last. 100%.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 Unless you're Jeremy Lynn. Well, that was only like two weeks that lasted, Lynn Sandy.
That was a crazy time. It was.
You know, randomly the other day I was watching his highlights.

Speaker 3 I've been down that same route. It's just one of those things I do.
I just, I'm like, Jeremy Lynn highlights.

Speaker 3 Those two weeks, I think, were the most fascinating two weeks of basketball I've seen in my life. Yeah, every few years I'll think about, oh, Jeremy Lynn happened.
Jeremy Lynn happened.

Speaker 3 Jamie Lynn happened. And he beat the Lakers one year.
I'm a big Lakers fan and he beat the Lakers and it was very embarrassing because I'm like, Kobe's a guy.

Speaker 3 And Jeremy Lynn dropped like, I don't know, like 40 points MSG against Kobe. It was wild.
But not to digress, to talk about Jeremy Lynn and start the podcast. No, I'm a big hooper.
Oh, you are, okay?

Speaker 3 He ended up playing with Kobe a few years later, right? He did. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 There was that, there's a famous, famous scene where Jeremy Lynn has a ball and he's been on Lakers, and Kobe's asking for the ball with like 10 seconds left.

Speaker 3 And Jeremy Lynn, like, says, no, no, I got this. Kobe has his hands up.
He's like, what are you doing? It's my ball. And he hits the shot.
And he hits the shot, which is only Jeremy Lynn.

Speaker 3 I wonder what he's doing now. I don't know what Jeremy Jeremy Lynn's up to.
I think he's still trying to ball, but it's tough, man. There's no way he's making the league anymore.
There's no way.

Speaker 3 People are too good. No, the league has gotten way too different, bro.
Like, everyone's so super athletic. Like, look at the Thunder, bro.
Now, like, the entire team can switch on any other defender.

Speaker 3 It's, it's wild. Yeah, I think right now it's if you can't shoot, drive, and play defense.
No, you're screwed. You need everything these people.
You need everything from centers to point guards. Yeah.

Speaker 3 I read somewhere.

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Speaker 3 Well, I was watching a podcast, I think it was actually with Katie and LeBron, where Katie was talking about if you're a 6'2 NBA player, you probably are not going to be in the league anymore.

Speaker 3 I saw that podcast this morning. Okay, so you remember he was talking about that, and it was kind of like I felt like he was throwing shade at Bronny James a little bit with like

Speaker 3 because Bronny James is 6'2. He's like, Yeah, if you're 6'2 and you can't shoot and defend your ass off, then you're probably gonna be a role player.

Speaker 3 And like LeBron's there, I'm like, He's talking about your son, bro. He's talking about your son.
Yeah, well, let's be honest, Bronny made the league because of LeBron. Yeah, 100%.

Speaker 3 Don't get me wrong, he did make the league because of his dad, but he was the 55th pick in the NBA draft. And that pick is usually like, that's five picks before the end of the draft.

Speaker 3 Now, in a realistic situation, he would have have been signed to a two-way contract being undrafted, but because your dad's LeBron James, you're going to do it.

Speaker 3 But both, if you want to talk about nepotism in the NBA, what was it? Danny Ainge's son just got hired to be like the VP of the Jazz?

Speaker 3 Like, what is Danny Ainge's son had knowing about basketball for him to be VP of basketball for the jazz? Yeah. So, yeah, I'm not a fan of the complaints because nepotism happens everywhere.

Speaker 3 It happens everywhere. So that'd be just like complaining about your own business that you work for.
Right? Like, to me, listen, I'm a Laker fan. I love the Lakers to death.
And I'm a Kobe guy.

Speaker 3 With LeBron, I'm happy. Like, let let him have his kid.
It's fine. But now I want him off my team.
I'm done. I want the Lakers to focus on Luca.
I want LeBron to go do whatever he wants to do.

Speaker 3 That's my take on it. You just got Ayton.
We did get DeAndre Ayton. I'm happy about it.
But he has a work ethic problem.

Speaker 3 Like, people on the trailblazers all talked about how he wasn't really working that hard. Do you know there's a story about DeAndre Ayton?

Speaker 3 Last year, he missed a game because he said that there was too much ice on his driveway. Really? And he was out because he's like, I can't drive.

Speaker 3 I'm like, that's the most bitch thing I've heard my entire life. You can't drive across your driveway to get to the game because it's too icy.

Speaker 3 So I'm a little bit worried about what he's going to bring to the team. He's going to be better than Jackson Hayes for sure.
Like, Jackson Hayes has no offensive game at all.

Speaker 3 It was just more of like a somewhat good defender and rebounder. But at least DeAndre will be able to pick and roll with Luca.
That's going to be important for him with the team. And he brings

Speaker 3 more to the table than I think any center the Lakers have had since.

Speaker 3 Well, I don't know if you consider Anthony Davis a center or not. Dwight Howard, maybe.
Dwight Howard, right? Pack in 2012, not with 2020. In 2020, he was a really good defender.
It was necessary.

Speaker 3 And the Lakers just lack size, bro. It's a whole thing.
That's why they lost this year. They had everything else other than size.

Speaker 3 Yeah, they had they honestly if they had a good center like Anthony Davis they probably wouldn't have gone far but coach 22 because you had to get Luca firm exactly and it all makes sense though I mean think about it Anthony Davis is 31 Luca's 26 you're gonna do that trade 10 times out of 10 but you did lose some size and you sacrificed that year so i'm just interested in seeing what's gonna happen with the lakers next is like lebron's on this expiring contract you're focused on luca the team can only get so good because they're capped with the second second apron and all that new CBA bullshit.

Speaker 3 So now they added DeAndre Ayton. There's not much they can do else.
There's rumors they're looking at Andrew Wiggins.

Speaker 3 I'm not sure if that's the upgrade they need because they definitely need a really good like wing defender because they lost Dorian Finney Smith to the Rockets.

Speaker 3 Rui is a fantastic offensive player, but his defense is like pretty mid.

Speaker 3 So I don't know what they're going to do to add that

Speaker 3 athletic score to the team. We'll see.
The West is so stacked, man. Too stacked, bro.
I think Braun should have stayed in the East.

Speaker 3 You know, honestly, yeah, because he can make it to the finals and lose every single year. So, I mean, yeah, if he was on the Cavs, he probably would have made three more finals.
1,000%.

Speaker 3 And honestly, with this team that he has now, he probably could have won a couple finals. Yeah.
Right? But honestly, with his contract, he can't get traded now. He has $53 million.

Speaker 3 All the different teams that people have been talking about, like, let's say the Dallas, they're going to be hard caps, second apron. Cleveland, hard cap, second apron.

Speaker 3 The Warriors would have to trade Jimmy Belt. They're not going to do that that soon.

Speaker 3 Knicks won't do that as well. So also the Knicks hired Mike Brown.
You see that? Yeah. What do you think about that?

Speaker 3 Well, they didn't have many options.

Speaker 3 Every coach was turning down ratings with them.

Speaker 3 They asked for every single coach to get interviewed, bro. It was wild.

Speaker 3 They got a bad reputation. They do have a bad reputation.
There was no reason for them to fire Tom Thibodeau, although you fire if you can replace, but they had no plan.

Speaker 3 They fired him with no plan as the issue. That was the issue.
I wonder what their reason was, too.

Speaker 3 I think because they thought that they reached the peak with him.

Speaker 3 You know, I mean, Tom is notorious for running like a seven-man rotation and running his starters into the ground, which I think is evident.

Speaker 3 I think the reason why they didn't beat the Pacers, they didn't have the depth. Yeah.
Right. And they couldn't keep up with that depth.

Speaker 3 And when you have your starters playing like 40 minutes a game, they're not going to keep up in seven games. So they end up losing, you know?

Speaker 3 And that first game they lost when they're up by 15 with like four minutes left. That's bad coaching.
That's all coaching. That shot will haunt me.
Yeah. Are you a Knicks fan?

Speaker 3 Well, I grew up in Jersey, so kind of. I used to like the Nets when they were in Jersey.
Okay. But then they went to Brooklyn.
So you just gave up on that. Gave up on the Nets.

Speaker 3 Knicks, I just, I think they're cool. Yeah, they're fun, but it's the New York Knicks, bro.
The fans are crazy. You see the sidewalk talk at NYC? The games are wild.
They do. Yeah.

Speaker 3 Nets are a hard team to root for, especially if they move. Nah, I can't root for them, dude.

Speaker 3 I'm surprised that you don't root for the Nets because I grew up an Oakland Raider fan, and now they moved to Vegas, obviously. I'm still a Raider fan.
Oh, you are?

Speaker 3 I'm a Raider fan still, because I mean, it's the Raiders. I grew up watching them, so I'm going to stick with them.
And also, I grew up going to the Oakland Coliseum. What a shit fucking stadium.

Speaker 3 That stadium is horrible. I don't know.
You haven't been to it? I haven't been. It's the worst stadium that you'll ever step foot on planet Earth.
Horrible. It's not bad.

Speaker 3 Horrible.

Speaker 3 And I'm really happy they moved to vegas because i mean allegiant is next level can't beat allegiance you can't beat oakland couldn't afford a stadium like that bro oakland can't afford to have a police officer let alone have a nice stadium that's worth two billion dollars you guys are losing the a's too they are losing the a's they're in sacramento now they're playing already they're playing two years in sacramento before they build a stadium in vegas oh yeah oakland man they're getting that they that's a poorly ran city bro they did not now it sounded like donald trump is a poorly ran city it's not good uh yeah they couldn't keep any of the sports scene they lost the warriors san francisco lost the raiders of vegas and now lost the ace of vegas damn they got nothing Is that where you grew up?

Speaker 3 I grew up in the Bay Area.

Speaker 3 So

Speaker 3 I was born in San Francisco in the mission and then grew up in South City. But I went to school in the East Bay.
I went to Berkeley. And so I spent a lot of time in the East Bay.

Speaker 3 And I went to business school in Berkeley as well. And so the East Bay has a really special place in my heart.

Speaker 3 And Oakland has a lot of heart and a lot of soul to it, which is why I think attracted me to the Raiders in the beginning with compared to the Niners.

Speaker 3 But the city is going through it. It's a tough place to be right now.
Damn, I haven't been there yet. Yeah, there's parts of it that are really nice and parts of it that need some work.

Speaker 3 A lot of good food, a lot of good history and culture. I mean, like, so much of the Bay Area rap scene is out of Oakland from E40.

Speaker 3 You name it, bro. Like, it's actually E40 is from Vallejo from what I think.
But it's fun, bro. You should go.
Yeah, I'll try it out. Is that where you got into comedy around that time?

Speaker 3 Well, I got into comedy, bro.

Speaker 3 I can't tell you the exact date I got into comedy. Comedy is one of those things that I've always just wanted to entertain and be funny.

Speaker 3 Like, I always say I could pinpoint when I remember I enjoyed entertaining was when guests would come over.

Speaker 3 There's a thing with like Arab families when guests come over, like your parents decide like specific roles for you.

Speaker 3 Either you're the one that's going to serve food, you're the one that's going to sit there and entertain them, or you're the one that we're going to show off to the rest of the family, right?

Speaker 3 And my role was to entertain a guest. I'd be like seven years old, I'd be sitting there, and I'd be sitting there like just entertaining the guests with stories, dancing, you name it.

Speaker 3 And so I think from a very small age, I realized like, wow, I really like, I love seeing seeing people laugh and so i i have like pictures on my phone when i'm in the third grade at talent shows i didn't know how to write a set so i would memorize other comedian sets right like gabriel iglace one of my favorite comedians legend right i used to memorize like a five minute set from his and when it was talent show time at school i would perform his set wow right and my friends would all laugh they're third graders they don't know the difference they just don't i didn't know how to write a set so i would i would perform them so i learned honestly the stage presence of a comedian right i would memorize gabriel glasi's set i memorized like a five minute thing from Russell Peters.

Speaker 3 And I kept on doing that at talent shows. And I would sprinkle in my own jokes, you know, when I started learning and learning.

Speaker 3 And that developed into like a love for like just like being in front of a crowd through public speaking. And so then I started doing different ways of public speaking.

Speaker 3 Like in college at Cal, I was the MC for the football and basketball team. Right.
So I'd be there, 60,000 people leading cheers and all these different things.

Speaker 3 And so that taught me, bro, like I lost any fear of any crowd. Like if I'm out in front of 60,000 people in the middle of like pre-game coin toss, I'm out there leading a cheer,

Speaker 3 I can make a room of 100 people laugh. Yeah.
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Speaker 3 And I was doing funny stuff on the side. It wasn't until business school where I realized like now it's time to like, I had a little bit of like a fear of doing like actual stand-up.

Speaker 3 And in business school, I decided like, no, no, now's the time to actually get into it. I had developed a little bit of a following on social media.
So I started doing open mics on campus.

Speaker 3 And after I did some more open mics, I started doing open mics in San Francisco.

Speaker 3 And then eventually, honestly, I just gained the confidence for myself to be like, I think I could do like a 30, 40 minute set. So I was in Dubai at the time.
And I was there for two months for work.

Speaker 3 I was in consulting. And I decided to write write a 30-minute set about my time in Dubai, the last two months.
And so I put on my first show, free tickets, by the way.

Speaker 3 Literally posted, no one needs to buy tickets. I went to this place that had a nice little lounge area.
I was like, listen, you keep bar and food.

Speaker 3 Just like, I needed a space to perform. And it was a small place, like 120.
I posted on my story,

Speaker 3 but we got like 160 people to come. And we had to turn away, like maybe like 50 to 60 people at the door.
Wow. And I prefer my first set.
I'll never forget when I got up there.

Speaker 3 It felt like I was supposed to be there. It's like one of those, like, I don't know how it feels like for you behind like, you know, podcasting, like, like, it felt like home.
Yeah, I knew quick.

Speaker 3 Yeah. And so the moment I got there, I was like, this is where I'm supposed to be.

Speaker 3 And then since then, I just ran with it. So I started, like, I started, like, what is it? I put on my own show in different cities across the states.
I eventually got the,

Speaker 3 I got noticed by an agency in LA that does booking for comedy. And then they booked me my first tour last summer.
And we did like maybe 30 shows with them. And we were like,

Speaker 3 man, we hit so many different cities across the states. And eventually I got noticed by WME.
W me hit me up and like, dude, we love what you're doing. And I switched over to them.

Speaker 3 And now we're fully into comedy now, doing touring. Like, I was just in like Virginia Beach on Sunday, which is pretty, but ghetto, just like Drake said.

Speaker 3 And we were in Buffalo and Hoboken, and we're going to Tampa and Orlando next week. So it's great, man.
Now we're just kind of in the thick of it, bro.

Speaker 3 I'm only a year and a half into doing pure stand-up comedy. Yeah.
And it's interesting, but I love it. It's so fun.
Insane, man.

Speaker 3 Because when I had Nikki Glazer on, she said it took 10 years for most comedians that she's friends with to take off. It It does.

Speaker 3 So, bro, every traditional comedian and more of the from the older generation, they're 100% right. That's what it used to take.
But now with social media, things are a bit different, right?

Speaker 3 Now, the reason why, and part of the reason why, and I could be wrong on this one, but this is what from what I've analyzed, is that when a comedian does 10 years of stand-up, right, they start off, you're only doing like 10, 5, 10, 15 minutes.

Speaker 3 And you're doing that four to five times a week, and it's a fucking grind. You know, you're doing five to 10 minutes, five to ten minutes.

Speaker 3 And so, in order for you to develop that, that like I guess the stage presence, the knowledge of how to move, and transition, and crowd work, and being able to pick up different things and be able to change a joke and understand that joke can be better if I just maybe pause for three seconds longer or change the emphasis on that word.

Speaker 3 It will take you like 10 years to get to that point. But in my situation, I've been passionate about stand-up comedy since I was a kid.

Speaker 3 Like, I used to memorize the sets, I used to pay attention to this stuff.

Speaker 3 So, for me, when it came time to transition from doing like social media content into stand-up, combined with my public speaking experience being MC for like Cal,

Speaker 3 I was, I felt ready, you know, and so I reverse-engineered the situation where now I'm doing like 40-45 minutes on my own shows, and I have 45 minutes at each show compared to someone doing five minutes, five minutes, five minutes.

Speaker 3 I have 45 minutes at each show where I'm able to analyze and get better.

Speaker 3 I film all my shows, I sit there, watch with me and my friends, a couple of my other comic friends I befriended, and we get better and take feedback.

Speaker 3 And honestly, comedy is a rep game, it's all about repetition, right? So if I'm doing like right now,

Speaker 3 this year so far, we've done like maybe 35 shows. I've done an hour, right?

Speaker 3 That's 35 hours that I've done so far over 35 shows. Now, if you do some, take someone who's doing 10 minutes, 10 minutes, 10 minutes, how long do you think it's going to take them to do 35 hours?

Speaker 3 Six times as long, right? Six times as long. So I'm doing that in a much more condensed time.
And that's honestly, it came with the privilege of social media.

Speaker 3 Social media allowed me to get an audience.

Speaker 3 But there's a difference. There are people that can do social media, right? And then they're like, oh, I want to do stand-up.
And they can sell out 400, 300 seats. Amazing for them.

Speaker 3 But can they actually be a good stand-up comedian? There's a difference.

Speaker 3 I believe in myself and I know myself. And honestly, I've proven myself to be a good stand-up comedian, right?

Speaker 3 Other people, it doesn't translate that well. And then I'm a unique case.
I'm passionate about stand-up comedy. I've been doing it since I was a kid.
I have public speaking experience.

Speaker 3 You know, I, I, I study this shit like it's like a freaking AP test, you know?

Speaker 3 So that's why I'd say distinguish myself. But Nikki Glazer is correct.
It does take time. It takes around 10 years for someone who follows a traditional path to stand up.

Speaker 3 But, man, the world's changing, bro. Things are the way we consume entertainment, the way we do entertainment is changing every single day.
Wow.

Speaker 3 I love how calculated you are because most people come to your show. They're just like, oh, this kid's on stage, like just spitballing.
Yeah, no, it's not like that at all. But I have a full script.

Speaker 3 You can ask my cousins, all my friends, bro. Like, I have a script that I go through.
I watch the set after. I analyze every single joke that I do.
I write down.

Speaker 3 I don't sit there and just like spitball. There's a lot of effort and like thought that goes into it.
So you plan out every joke? Yeah, what now is because I do it so often.

Speaker 3 I don't like, I used to write out every single joke before every show. So it'd be like a page of like seven pages of like an hour worth of notes, right?

Speaker 3 Now, because

Speaker 3 I it's gotten gotten so used to it, I will write the bullet points of what jokes to thing, and I'll write the punchlines

Speaker 3 and I'll do edits on where I think I could do, like change the punchline and whatnot. And I'll go back and watch it.

Speaker 3 So now I go on my phone and I'll have like seven notes of, oh, I'm going to do the joke when I pooped in the swimming pool when I was a kid. I'm going to do the joke about explaining P.

Speaker 3 Diddy to my mom. And like, there's these different things that I'll do.
And I'll go back and like, you know, get the feedback and optimize it on that. I very much apply it like it's a formula.

Speaker 3 It's not just, it's an art. But if I'm kind of using like kind of mathematical formulas to get better with it.
Yeah. That's so cool.

Speaker 3 I love what you said about the pause, too, because that's something I struggle with. I get so excited when I'm storytelling.
I don't pause. Yeah, bro.
Bro,

Speaker 3 you can overestimate honestly or underestimate how important a pause could be in a joke. And not even pause.
I can look at like pause in a joke and I'll look to the left in a way of like sus.

Speaker 3 And that look to the left will add laughter to it. Right.
You know? Or if you like, there's a joke I talk about where I'm on a Southwest flight and a guy decided to sit on a middle seat next to me.

Speaker 3 There's open seats everywhere. And he takes his ass and sits on the middle seat next to me.

Speaker 3 One thing I learned when I was like performing the joke, one time I decided to say I see him coming up, I go, I used to say this motherfucker. But then I changed it.

Speaker 3 I was like, what if I add a little bit more color to it? So I go, this motherfucker. And that small change in character of the voice took the joke from here to here.
Wow. Because

Speaker 3 people can sense the irritation faster than just saying, this motherfucker. I'm like, this motherfucker.
So wordplay is huge. Wordplay is huge, bro.

Speaker 3 Comedy, especially stand-up comedy, is such a detailed-oriented game. Such a detail-oriented game.

Speaker 3 a pause, an emphasis, a de-emphasis, elongation, shortening something can take something from one level to the next level, but it takes repetition to be able to find it out.

Speaker 3 And there's stories of comedians that they say

Speaker 3 they've been doing a joke for four or five years. It's set.

Speaker 3 We all have jokes as comedians that you know, if you had to do a 10-minute spot, you can go up there and do that 10-minute spot of jokes you have like that are tried and true.

Speaker 3 You could be doing that joke for four to five years. And on the fifth year, something in your mind pops up to change the end of that joke, and bah, it smacks better than the last five years.
Wow.

Speaker 3 Yeah. It's interesting how it works, man.
That's why it's a beautiful art. It's such a beautiful art.
Yes, you're just constantly improving. Yeah, you have to be extremely aware of it.

Speaker 3 You can get lazy and just be fine with it. But I think I tend to try to hold myself accountable in my head about not being too complacent with it.
And I'm still so young to the game, bro.

Speaker 3 I've been doing this.

Speaker 3 My first official comedy club that I did was the Irvine Improv last year, June 19th.

Speaker 3 Right? Before that, I was doing restaurants and lounges because I had to take a bet on myself.

Speaker 3 I had to like comedy clubs wouldn't give me a stage because I had no ticket sale history, which is exactly the smart thing to do from a business perspective, right?

Speaker 3 So I'll go to these restaurant and lounges that like were Middle Eastern restaurants and lounges.

Speaker 3 I'd be like, hey, listen, I know you guys usually bring singers, but I have a following on social media. I have a show that I've written.
I would love to use your stage, right?

Speaker 3 And we can do a good, I would literally tell them, like, I'm not looking to make money. I'm looking to just have your stage.
So we'd do a profit split that would benefit them.

Speaker 3 And they're like, yeah, fuck it. If, If, you know, if you don't sell enough tickets, like whatever, we still leave in the positive.
Every single time I would do it, we would not sell out.

Speaker 3 They wouldn't be prepared for the people that would come. So they would end up losing money by not being able to get food and drinks to people's tables.
Wow.

Speaker 3 And I built a ticket sale history eventually to the first agency noticed, right? And when a first agency noticed, then they could at least sell me to a comedy club.

Speaker 3 So we did that from like from June 2023. I did like a show a month in restaurant lines across major cities in America.
And then it was around

Speaker 3 like March 2024 is when I got noticed by the agency. And we booked the Irvine Improv for June 2024, 19.

Speaker 3 And I sold it out on my first go on a Wednesday, which is a, I'm very proud of that accomplishment. Nice.
And that just let a flood of opportunities to come in with regards to comedy clubs.

Speaker 3 Now, I strictly only perform at comedy clubs. Obviously, if there's a charity event or a gala or a school event, you do those.

Speaker 3 But it was a journey. I had to take a massive bet on myself.
And there was a lot of help from my family, my friends.

Speaker 3 Like Like my cousins would, bro, my cousins would come to the show and they would run the door.

Speaker 3 Like they would run the door in tickets.

Speaker 3 They were like my bouncers. Like my first show, my brother was a bouncer.
The next show, my cousins were about like checking tickets and stuff like that. Cause

Speaker 3 I remember one show I had to hire some Uses to run security because I had a threat from someone. Really? Yeah, I had a threat from someone.

Speaker 3 He was just like this weird guy that was like, I'm going to come and cause mayhem. Fuck this guy.
He thinks he's funny, all this shit. So we had Uses.
Guy didn't show up.

Speaker 3 But yeah, I had my friends running door.

Speaker 3 Like my friends would all tell you about how they used to run door for me and all this stuff because uh i was you know i was just trying to figure it out and mind you i was still working full-time i was full-time consultant while i was doing comedy wow that's such a different lifestyle right oh yeah 100

Speaker 3 uh but i was uh i was pushing the limits in my my my job i they i was doing the bare minimum to not get fired yeah And the company itself was really, really poorly structured.

Speaker 3 It was an Indian tech consulting company.

Speaker 3 They didn't know what the fuck they were doing. Indian tech consulting company.
I don't think I'm not under an NDA or anything with the company company anymore. I'm gone.
They gave me the money.

Speaker 3 I got my bonuses, whatever, but they were fucking really poorly organized. Also, like, it was just a shit show?

Speaker 3 Bro, like, I, my first three months of work, I didn't have any work because, like, it was a rotational, it was a post-MBA rotational program. You do it, right?

Speaker 3 And they put you in four different rotations through four months. When I joined my first rotation, mind you, my experience was in.
comms, telecoms, media and entertainment, right?

Speaker 3 And that's when I got my MBA focus in.

Speaker 3 They put me on their whole rotation on oil and gas. I told them, why did you put me in oil and gas? He's like, oh, no, no, sir.
It's because, you know, oil and gas.

Speaker 3 I was like, did you put me in oil and gas? Because I'm the only Arab in this rotation. And they had no answer.

Speaker 3 I truly believe to this day they put me on oil and gas because I was Arab and I can speak Arabic. That was literally the reason why they put me into it.
Wow.

Speaker 3 So the first three months, I'm like, bro, my manager would have a meeting with me every three weeks. He's like, oh, I'm so sorry.
I'm busy.

Speaker 3 You could do this. And I would do ChatGPT.
This is when Chat GPT first started. They're doing market research for oil and

Speaker 3 the Middle East and how we can apply it to like India and whatever. Chat GPT gave it to him.
He's like, wow, this is fantastic. I'm like, yeah,

Speaker 3 I know what to do.

Speaker 3 And so in that dead time that I had, I would work on my content and I would work on stand-up comedy.

Speaker 3 And I remember I realized I needed to go to Dubai because there was a lot of things going on with like content creation in Dubai. I forced them to put me on an international rotation in Dubai.

Speaker 3 All expenses paid trip. And I got to Dubai.
And the job, mind you,

Speaker 3 the rotation they put me on was gene coding.

Speaker 3 I don't know shit about gene coding, but they wanted to create a sales plan for how they can get into the gene coding system into the Middle East, which there is, by the way.

Speaker 3 They're doing like, I think the OW is doing a whole like gene collection thing of their entire population and the Emirates over there. So there is a market for it.

Speaker 3 So I go, I do my Chat DBT market research and I go push out content there and I build an audience in the Middle East through Dubai.

Speaker 3 And then eventually it got to the point where I was on the bench in consulting. There's a term that's called on the bench where you're not on a billable client or project.

Speaker 3 I was on a bill, I was on the bench for four months. I didn't know about it because my manager was like, Oh, no, no, don't worry, I'll get you a job.
I'll get you a job.

Speaker 3 I get a notification from my email saying I have two weeks to find a billable client or I'm fired.

Speaker 3 Right?

Speaker 3 I go call my manager. He's like, I didn't know about it.
I talked to HR. Like, oh, no, your manager knew about it.
He was just lazy. And so I got them, they extended a month and a half.

Speaker 3 And in that month and a half, I made like a whole like life decision. I was like, I think I'm going to go into stand-up comedy full-time.
That was March 2024. And then I decided to quit.

Speaker 3 But I got some severance from them. I threatened to sue and all this other stuff.
Nice. Because the way they handled it was extremely poor.
And then I quit March 5th, 2024.

Speaker 3 So now it's been almost a month and four, a year and four months since I quit my job. Crazy.
So you started mainly in Dubai with the comedy stuff.

Speaker 3 The first stand-up show I did was in Dubai. Yeah, it was in Dubai.
And that's because those two months I really pushed myself big to create a little bit of an audience.

Speaker 3 I had an audience, I think when I got into business school, I had like maybe 150,000 followers on TikTok and maybe like 10,000 on Instagram.

Speaker 3 By the time I left business school, I had like 300,000 on TikTok and almost like 100,000 on Instagram. Wow.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 Like I was, I was doing my business school stuff, but then I was pushing out the content. And then in those two years since I left, I made a pact to myself.

Speaker 3 I said, by the end of this rotation program, I want to be able to make the decision. Can I get into comedy full-time or do I stick with consulting? And lo and behold, the decision came upon me.

Speaker 3 Were you studying any specific comedians? Were you watching their sets and taking notes? Yeah, bro. Dave Chappelle is someone I've watched for ages, bro.

Speaker 3 Just the way he storytells and the way he not only can storytell, but there's, he can send a message through his storytelling.

Speaker 3 He can make you think about societal issues, you know, through his storytelling.

Speaker 3 Like he had the whole issue with what was going on with the transgender stuff and when that, like, people wanted to cancel him from it.

Speaker 3 But if you looked at the message he was trying to say, it was incredibly smart.

Speaker 3 The message he was trying to say is that America tends to care more about transgender life sometimes more than black lives. Right? Because

Speaker 3 he had a whole joke about the baby and stuff like that. So if you only watched a two-minute clip of it, you would say, oh my God, this guy is so homophobic, transphobic.

Speaker 3 But then if you watch the entire 10 minute set you're like oh i get the point he's trying to make so i really appreciate how he's making these like nuanced storytelling to kind of make you think about things that are going on society whether you agree with it or disagree with it the structure of it is extremely extremely polished and smart right and another guy i paid attention to a lot was uh gabriel glaces and robin williams because they're so personality driven that they usually allow their personality and small little quirks to come out that I really relate to because I'm all about my personality, right?

Speaker 3 I'm trying to just, if you come to my show, you're seeing Nasser. You're not seeing like a character I'm putting on.
You're not seeing anything. It's just me and my quirks and stuff.

Speaker 3 So the way Robin Williams and Gabriel Glaciers use like sounds and this and that. And they're just like, honestly, their life comes out through words.
Really, really, really

Speaker 3 inspiring. So those three, and then the last one is Kevin Hart.
And the reason why Kevin Hart is because I look at him as an entertaining comedian, right?

Speaker 3 He entertains you with his little movements and

Speaker 3 all this stuff. So I've looked at all these people and I've taken elements of them into my like stand-up to become who I am now.
And by the way, it's still a living and breathing process.

Speaker 3 I still have like, I'm still figuring myself out. I'm from the comedian I was June 2024 and now is a lot different in terms of like how polished and how I'm getting into it, you know? Yeah.

Speaker 3 But that's the beauty of the job is that it's living and breathing. And you're impacted by like, you know, your experiences and what's happening in the world and all this stuff.

Speaker 3 Like, for example, the last year and a half, bro, Trump's been, every comedian is talking about Trump. How can he not? Yeah.
And so that's what I really enjoy about it.

Speaker 3 Yeah, it's so easy to do a Trump voice and just make sure. Right.
Everyone just, everyone wants to do a Trump voice. So easy, bro.
It's like the easiest thing to do.

Speaker 3 It's getting a little bit outdumb, but I mean, the guy just cracks me up that he always, always, every day I think is done. And then the next day he says something funny.
Every day.

Speaker 3 You get a lot of hecklers at your shows?

Speaker 3 Not too often, by the way. You know what's so funny? I get...
Some Arab aunties and uncles who have never been to a comedy show before who don't know the decorum of a comedy show.

Speaker 3 Like when you go to the comedy show, you know you can't yell out loud unless the community asks for it.

Speaker 3 But like some Arab aunties and uncles will literally come to the show and feel like it's a one-on-one conversation with me.

Speaker 3 So I'll make a joke and they're like, oh yeah, Nassau, that happened to me too. I'm like, no, no, no, this is not your time to speak.
This is not like an open conversation.

Speaker 3 There was one mom, she was sitting front row. And I was making a joke about how like my mom would take me to Ross as a form of daycare when I was younger.

Speaker 3 And she literally goes, oh, I used to do that with my kid too. Speaking of, my kid is here.
And when I took him him to Roswental, I was like, oh, no, this is not your storytelling moment.

Speaker 3 Like, you're not. But because they feel like I try to create a very relaxed and welcoming environment at my shows, they feel like, oh, I can just talk to you and do it.
But that's not how it goes.

Speaker 3 You're there to listen to me. And if I open the door for you to engage the conversation, then in Arabic, we say,

Speaker 3 come in. But they don't understand that because they haven't been to a comedy show before.
So that's where I get some hecklers. Sometimes people can get drunk and

Speaker 3 they talk a lot.

Speaker 3 But I enjoy the challenge that the pressure that brings brings when handling someone that's a little bit off the ever bring them on stage oh i do bring them on stage yeah one of my things that i do is at the end of every show uh i teach people how to dance to arabic music especially non-arabs because it's the funniest thing i've ever seen these people try to shake their shoulders in rhythm like most of these white people have not done anything rhythmatic with music other than macarena bro i just found that out at my wedding dance lessons yesterday okay are you getting married yeah oh shit congratulations but i cannot dance yeah it's okay so we have to bring you to one of my shows and teach us

Speaker 3 although you're not gonna have arabic music at your wedding like you need to know how to like just match the beat to the rhythm and your shoulder bounce into the rhythm.

Speaker 3 So it's really funny seeing like a white guy who doesn't even know how to clap on rhythm attempt to dance to Arabic music. It's a fun way to end the show.

Speaker 3 It ends in a high note and it's like it's crowd work, you know? I'm allowing their movements to dictate my joke.

Speaker 3 So I enjoy that a lot. I love that.
So you got a big Arab audience. Yeah, I'd say a majority of my audience is Arab now.
I mean, I started off doing like more Arab comedy stuff.

Speaker 3 And the goal is to expand in the bigger markets. And that just takes time.
Like the more comedy shows you go to,

Speaker 3 the more people are like will be able exposed to your comedy and the more like showcases you do which i want to start doing more showcases like at you know inshallah like the hollywood improv and the live factories and stuff like that you'll get exposed to more audiences but um i i think uh i've not you know some people say no no you have to be able to relate to all audiences i'm like bro i'm very proud of who i am my culture my my background i have a lot to say about my experiences now you can come to my show and you're hearing stories about my life.

Speaker 3 And yes, the setting may be a Middle Eastern setting, but there's still my experience as nasa so you'll be able to understand it it's not where it's like all arab you don't it's it's more of like this is just a setting happens to be a middle eastern family or middle eastern situation but for example like me pooping in the pool you don't have to be arab to laugh at that it's just me being six years old pooping in the pool right yeah so it just takes time again i've been doing it for a year and a half like nikki glazer has been doing it for 10 years and now she got like she put in so much work and she earned where she's at right now with how big she is yeah and that's usually the story for most communities you know i think for her even more i think it's like 20, but she said around 10 years, it started taking off.

Speaker 3 Yeah, it takes a lot of time. But again, social media is changing the game, bro.
If you're not, I tell every comedian, if you're not using social media,

Speaker 3 you're being stupid. You're missing out on the world's greatest and free advertising platform.
Like, why not take advantage of that?

Speaker 3 Yeah, I know some comedians are against it because they take your phones when you get to the show. Yeah, they do.
They do take your phones.

Speaker 3 I remember when I went to, I think it was Chappelle, actually. Yeah, Chappelle took it.
Kevin Hart took it. I mean, for them, I get it because their jokes probably get stolen and shit.

Speaker 3 Yeah, that's a big issue as well. Jokes can get stolen.

Speaker 3 But I look at it in a sense, I'm like, you can clip or you can post your jokes on social media, but also you show me how you write through sketches on social media, right?

Speaker 3 Eventually, a lot of communities want to be able to write stuff and star on their own shows and movies, and they want to produce their own shows. It's all about writing at the end of the day.

Speaker 3 If I make a sketch, I'm writing a sketch and posting it on social media. And by the way, the consumption rate on phones is about this.
If it hasn't surpassed TV, it's going to surpass it.

Speaker 3 It definitely people watch content on their phone more than they do on TV yeah so now instead of like here's how I look at it my page on social media is a TV channel right

Speaker 3 you're gonna get a variety of content I mean on Monday you might get me you know doing a shower review with my own comedic twist on Tuesday you're gonna get me doing a sketch about like a certain character developed on Thursday I might have a talking head video where something in politics happened I can make a funny remark about it so I look at it as a TV channel right you're gonna get a variety of different shows every single day just like a tv channel would and that's what my that's what my page is so why would you not use that opportunity to showcase your talents right and at the end of the day the reason why i say for comedians to get on social social media we all want what a comedian want is you want to sell out shows you want to sell tickets social media helps you get butts in the seats right but doesn't make you a better comedian

Speaker 3 you still have to be working on the craft but we also need to make a living so why would the fuck would you not have more butts in the seats post on social media make more money so more people can see your comedy.

Speaker 3 And also you can get better as a comedian. So you have more feedback.
Yeah. But some people are a bit too traditional.
You know, old school. No, I'm not.

Speaker 3 I'm obviously I'm Gen Z or I think I'm Gen Z 96. I don't know what Gen Z.
You're Gen Z, yeah. Okay, I think I'm the oldest person in the Gen Z.
96 at the cost. I'm 97.
I'm on the edge, too.

Speaker 3 Okay, yeah. So

Speaker 3 I'm like, yeah, it's a tool I'm going to use. But other comedians will disagree with me.
And that's fine. We can disagree.
Yeah, I think you need both. I mean, look at Matt Reif, Theo Vaughn.
Yep.

Speaker 3 a lot of them use podcasts drusky yeah drew ski yeah druski's crushing it oh my god he's selling crazy selling out arenas now yeah he's doing the whole uh could have been record stuff and he has other stuff that he did in atlanta shout out to him yeah andrew schultz andrew schultz again started on social media as well yep so you see what i mean like these these comedians who are fucking selling out shows left and right massive massive massive social media it's changed I think comedy in terms of the podcast space is either number one or number two.

Speaker 3 Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised it's number one, obviously. Yeah, it's really up there.
It makes sense.

Speaker 3 Why would you not want to hear your comedian talk for an hour for free, like once a week, once or twice a week? Theo Vaughan's podcast kills me, bro. He's almost every episode.
Yeah, he kills me.

Speaker 3 His, and when he went on Joe Rogan, I think it was after the election, bro, that guy cracked me the fuck up. His interview with Trump.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 Bro, the thing is, it's like, you don't know where he's going. You think you know where he's going.
And then he hits you with the most random, funny, obscure fact or joke out of left field.

Speaker 3 And it's hilarious to watch, man. He's so funny.
Yeah, he's one of one, man. Shout out to him.
Where are your more memorable places to perform? You've probably done a lot of cities at this point.

Speaker 3 Yeah, I've done a lot of cities, bro. I've been everywhere from like Birmingham, Alabama.
We did Virginia Beach, Tulsa, Tacoma, Spokane, Indiana, St. Louis.
Surprisingly, the crowd in St.

Speaker 3 Louis was really good. Really? Crowd in St.
Louis was spectacular. I always say New York's the easy crowd of performing because he's so diverse.
It's fun, energetic.

Speaker 3 Houston is actually a very underrated comedy city. Every time I perform in Houston, the crowds crowds are very, very electric and engaging.

Speaker 3 And what other city is good? Miami's fun.

Speaker 3 Indiana actually was a very fun show, too. And Nashville as well.

Speaker 3 But I would say, like, St. Louis has always been the most surprising city.
And I do have to say that San Francisco, I think, is top underrated comedy scene.

Speaker 3 Like, Dave Chappelle performs there all the time at the punchline at SF. And he says he loves it because it's just like you don't have the pretentiousness of LA, but then you get diversity.

Speaker 3 Everyone there is just like ready to laugh. So San Francisco is a very, very, very good city to perform in.

Speaker 3 Everyone there is probably so stressed from making so much money. Right.
Cost to live there. Oh, yeah.
It's my God. It's so expensive to live in SF.

Speaker 3 We were literally talking about this with my sister-in-law, my cousin, about how expensive it is in SF.

Speaker 3 But I grew up in SF and seeing the city change from being like this nice, beautiful, humble city to being like the center of AI transformation and VC and tech is wild. Yeah.
City's lost its soul.

Speaker 3 It's such a different city now from where it was 20 years ago. I bet.
Have you been?

Speaker 3 Recently, I went once but um where'd you stay i think downtown or some i don't remember it was so expensive everywhere we ate it was like 100 bucks so trust me if i want to get lunch and but it's it's i live in the suburbs now of sf and my family uh if i want to get lunch it's like 20 minimum minimum if i want lunch yeah sf yeah i wouldn't believe every what everyone says about sf everyone's saying sf is dead it's always trash no it's only a small area of sf just like every city has a bad area sf is still a beautiful city it's just expensive yeah it's expensive yeah vegas you get a a lot of land out here for your dollar.

Speaker 3 Yeah, you do. I like Vegas a lot.
My brother lives here now. I visit quite often.
I'm like, I see, I see what people are talking about. There's always something to do, man.
There is.

Speaker 3 We were just talking about the concerts before this. Yeah.
UFC. There's so much to do.
There's so much stuff to do. And I was talking to my cousin too.
Is that like the food scene is amazing here?

Speaker 3 They brought all the best restaurants in the world here.

Speaker 3 And it might obviously might not be as good as the OG city that's in, but still, the fact that you can go to like Carbone or Peter Luger or whatever, you name it. Yeah, we got Kote coming.
Yeah, both.

Speaker 3 That, by the way, if people ask me what my favorite favorite meal is ever, that is top. Kote? Kote is.
Damn. I haven't changed.
You know the funny story about Kote.

Speaker 3 One of the hardest, it's a very hard reservation to get in New York City. I was in New York the weekend the world shut down.
COVID. Right? COVID.
I was in Saudi Arabia, right?

Speaker 3 I had to leave early because every day

Speaker 3 every

Speaker 3 country was shutting down.

Speaker 3 And I remember I was in Saudi and my uncle told me, he's like, you need to leave. I was like, no, no, I'll stay.
He's like, you need to leave. I get on a flight in Saudi.

Speaker 3 I knew shit was fucked because half my flight was like army people. Damn.
I was like, oh, if the army people are leaving, then I need to leave too. So I landed on March,

Speaker 3 I believe, 11th is a Friday. And you get a sense that people were starting to leave the city that day.
It's starting to empty up.

Speaker 3 And we decided to say, guys, let's, it was me and my cousins were like, let's take a look at the reservations for all the top restaurants. Things were opening up.

Speaker 3 At the time, like Lure Fish Bar was really hard to get a reservation. We walked in.
And that Sunday, we're like, let's see Kote. Because Kote was the hot one.
It's still very popular.

Speaker 3 The entire day is open. Because why? Every day, shit's going down.
Numbers in the states are getting higher and higher, especially where in New York City.

Speaker 3 So on Sunday, we went and we had the most amazing fucking meal at Kote. Next day, New York City shuts down.
Next fucking day. So that weekend was honestly like, it was like empty New York.

Speaker 3 You had to enjoy everything while it was still open. And the next three months, I got stuck in New York for three months with my cousins.
Wild.

Speaker 3 Yeah, you had to have a card to eat at restaurants out there, right? Yeah.

Speaker 3 Yeah, bro.

Speaker 3 That was like after you got vaccines, bro. The first three months in New York, shit was wild, bro.

Speaker 3 Not a soul on the fucking street. Jeez, in New York? In New York, not a soul on the fucking street.
Ambulance 24-7. Oh, my God.
Because we lived near one of the hospitals. Ambulance 24-7.

Speaker 3 It was traumatizing. It was traumatizing, bro.
I was there for three months. My grandparents live in SF, and you couldn't get a test back in the early days.

Speaker 3 So my family was like, you're not coming home until you can get a test. And flights were like not available.
You couldn't fly, right? You couldn't fly.

Speaker 3 And eventually when I flew back, it was when, I don't know if you remember when the aisles the middle seats were empty you couldn't sit in the middle seat you remember that yeah yeah and you can only say aisle and window you got to wear a mask you have to wear a mask yeah you had to go wear a mask crazy times wild times where that was i remember trying to sleep without my mask on and she fucking woke me up i was like oh i thought you put it on bro i got destroyed at disneyland once because i was on it's a small world and i was like bro fuck this i'm about to be in it's a small world i'm already being tortured let me take my mask off right it was back when you had to wear a mask at disneyland bro i get on this fucking little boat and i i take my mask off They start it and they stop it.

Speaker 3 Oh my god. And the girl goes, yeah, the man in the back with the Mickey shirt.
Yeah, put your mask on. And the entire boat turns their head towards me and they're like, put your fucking mask on.

Speaker 3 We want to go on It's a Small World. And I put it on.
And I was like, this is the most embarrassing moment of my life. I'm getting fucking scrutinized on It's a Small World.
That is crazy.

Speaker 3 That's COVID for you. How brainwashed everyone was.
It was bad. I almost fell for it.
Did you get vaccinated? I almost got the V-word. Yeah.
Oh, you got a V-word. I almost did.
Oh, you almost did.

Speaker 3 I was probably a few days away from getting it. Oh, really? Well, I wanted to travel.
Yeah, well, I had to get it. Oh, for work? Not for work, for school.
Oh. And Berkeley is a very liberal

Speaker 3 for business school. If I wanted to go back to campus, I had to get the vaccine.
Damn. Yeah.
That's fucked. And also at the time, to be honest with you, I live with my grandparents.

Speaker 3 I wanted to make sure I could protect them, you know? Yeah. And so in order for their safety, I got the vaccine as well.
It was one of those risks where I was like, I'm young.

Speaker 3 If there's anything wrong with this vaccine, I'm willing to sacrifice it for my grandparents, you know? That makes sense. So that's another reason why I got it.

Speaker 3 But also because I wanted to go to school. I wanted to, I'm paying all this money to go to business school.
I might as well fucking get the vaccine. And they wouldn't let you back on campus.

Speaker 3 I didn't have any religious reasons, all this stuff. Like,

Speaker 3 there was nothing. So, business school worth it?

Speaker 3 You know, that's a great question. Business school, like, I'm a comedian now.

Speaker 3 I'm not a consultant. I'm not doing NBA things, but a lot of the lessons I learned in business school, I do apply to my career.
Like, I'm very much very business-focused.

Speaker 3 Like, when I was doing my shows, When I was looking at my expenses and my finances, I do all my, I can manage my finances. I can manage my expenses, taxes.

Speaker 3 I have a business now that I like it's a media company that I run through my comedy, all this stuff. I can do that.
I have the capability to maximize my profit.

Speaker 3 Like, I'm able to look at my expenses and realize, hmm, maybe I shouldn't do this. Maybe I can cut costs on this area.

Speaker 3 Maybe I can do this and that, which I think bodes well for me right now, especially because, like, a lot of comedians maybe don't know the business side as much. They probably have a manager or that.

Speaker 3 Like, I have my agent who advises me, but I know how to manage myself. Like, and my agent books the shows.
And now with WME, they book, they do a lot of different things um

Speaker 3 so it helps out a lot now

Speaker 3 you know was it worth the money it was a lot of money bro it was 120,000 uh

Speaker 3 yeah but uh I learned a lot and it also gave me a break I was working in corporate America after I graduated college at CBS you know CBS the news station the news station but it's a whole thing now it was CBS paramount viacom whatever I was doing uh integrated marketing for them and I think in those two years I was working for them like I always had this deep inkling I knew I went to get entertainment on a front-facing role, like acting or comedy or hosting.

Speaker 3 And I wasn't doing that. It was all back in.
I honestly, if there's ever a moment in my life like I flirted with that depression, it was when I was working at CBS.

Speaker 3 And it was like God sent COVID to change the world.

Speaker 3 And then I got an email from Berkeley saying, hey, if you want to go to business school at Haas, which is like a top 10 program in the world, you can apply without a resume, but without no, with, with.

Speaker 3 with no GMAT. You don't have to take the GMAT.

Speaker 3 Your resume, one recommendation, and one essay. I was like, fuck it.
So I applied, I got in, and I quit my job faster than you could say yes.

Speaker 3 And so those two years in business schools really allowed me to focus on what I wanted to do and dial in on my career. Like I doubled my following on all platforms in business school.

Speaker 3 And I got a job after that paid off.

Speaker 3 That company paid me fucking well. So it allowed me to surprise for an Indian company.
Right? Because they had this whole thing where we need to hire the best.

Speaker 3 like MBAs out of the country to make our company look better and like have smarter people. So they would hire, they'd throw all these big paychecks at like Haas and Harvard and Chicago and all these.

Speaker 3 And I was there, and all of us were like, What the fuck's going on? But we're getting paid. So a lot of us didn't really speak up.

Speaker 3 But it paid off for me because it gave me the time that I needed. And I think time is extremely valuable, right?

Speaker 3 A lot of people don't take time for granted, but it gave me space where I wasn't working at nine to five, where that other side of my brain is focused on creativity.

Speaker 3 And yeah, we push out the content and we're able to get to a place that we can at least like now grind to get to where we want to get to. That's cool, man.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 One last question for for you because my boy's a Kobe hater. Where do you rank Kobe? Wait, wait, who's a Kobe hater? Well, hater is a strong word.
He has him outside of his top 10. What the fuck?

Speaker 3 Yeah, so I want to hear where you have him. Okay, first of all, we need to discuss this.
All right.

Speaker 3 The moment Kobe passed away, may he rest in peace, people started disrespecting this man more than I've seen in my life. The guy passed away, and now they're like, oh, Kobe's outside my top 10.

Speaker 3 Is he even top 10? Is he even top 15? All his different things. I'm like, first of all, we need to respect the man and what he did.
Five NBA championships, okay? The guy,

Speaker 3 he should have won more MVPs, all his

Speaker 3 stuff.

Speaker 3 I put Kobe top five. I put him,

Speaker 3 and listen, I'm going to put him at two. Damn.
Kobe's two for me.

Speaker 3 And let me tell you why. I'm going to tell you, Jordan's number one for me.
I'm a Lakers fan. I respect LeBron.
LeBron probably has had the greatest career in NBA history. Okay.

Speaker 3 Numbers-wise, all these different things. But when you look at Kobe and you look at LeBron, there's a killer instinct that Kobe had that you only ever saw in Michael Jordan, right?

Speaker 3 There were moments when Kobe would fucking take over the game, not with his physicality. I'm talking pure skill, footwork, and shot making ability.

Speaker 3 Like LeBron's strength comes from his physicality, his ability to just be a bully, his ability to be just fucking smart on the court.

Speaker 3 But when it comes to those, that offensive capability, bro, Kobe was um there were people forget, bro, 2010 finals, 2009 finals, where Kobe would take the fucking game over.

Speaker 3 Like, no one can guard him, right? No one can guard him. Fade away fucking three-pointer, fade away mid-range, most impossible shot ever.
He would make it. Was he the most efficient?

Speaker 3 No, by any means, he was not. But in terms of what he brought to the game offensively and defensively, the guy was all NBA.
How many times? Nine times, ten times, right?

Speaker 3 Second best player in NBA for me, and the NBA history. And a disrespect towards Kobe needs to stop.
Everyone's talking about all this stuff. No, no, no.
What this guy did to the game, incredible.

Speaker 3 One of the most influential, I think, top him, Curry, Jordan, LeBron, top four influential players ever. And Kobe's number two for me.
You heard that, Michael Sartan?

Speaker 3 Michael, I don't know who you are, bro, but you're fucking wrong. You're fucking wrong.
Yeah, I might have to set up that debate next time.

Speaker 3 I'll take it to the grave, bro. I'll take it to the grave.

Speaker 3 Thanks for coming on, man. Thank you, man.
I appreciate you, John. You're upcoming debates and tours.
100%. We'd love to have you, bro.
We'll teach you how to dance Arab music.

Speaker 3 Take care.

Speaker 3 I hope you guys are enjoying the show. Please don't forget to like and subscribe.
It helps the show a lot with the algorithm. Thank you.

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