The Muslim and The Redneck

So 43 years old, and I decide it is time to start trying to be a comedian. To be honest, I have always been a comedian. Growing up, laughing was sometimes, the only option for dealing with life. As Dad would often say. “If you ain’t laughing, you’ll be crying.”

But now, it is time to try to be a comedian, for reals. So I start searching the local comedy scene and discover the CoCo Comedy Club here in Cork City. After attending the club several times, Cornelius, the guy running the club, gave me an open mic slot. Five minutes. It does not seem like much. Until it is your first time standing behind the Mic. But from that first moment, I knew I had found a new love. And now I was wondering why had I waited so long for this.

In my head, I crushed it that first night. But the truth was, it was rough, dog rough, as rough as wiping your back side with a corn cob. But I was on my way. A passion of comedy was lit inside of my soul.

From then on, I might still be working making kitchens, but in my head I was working on writing new comedy. Every chance I got I was heading into the CoCo Club and performing. Learning the ropes. At first the thrill of performing was just a fire. Every night I performed, I was trying to bring new material. A rookie mistake. But finally I started working on a set. Several sets. And before you know it I was looking for other clubs to perform in.

Luckily for me, the performance side of comedy has come fairly easy. Figure at 43, I am just to damn old to get nervous. Besides, with what I had done been through in the military years, what was a crowd going to do to scare me.

So, two and a half years later. I am still busting away at being a comedian. I have had opportunities to perform all over the island of Ireland. And I love it. The crowds are great fun. Nutty as a bag of squirrels, but usually up for a good time.

Now I have had plenty of times where I have died on stage. Those seem to be the nights you learn the most. Also those are the nights that you telling your comedian buddies about and have a good laugh at each others sufferings. Most nights it goes well, and you have a good time and the crowd does too. But then there are those nights where you are on fire. Where you are slaying the crowd and you realise mid set that you could say just about anything right now and you know the crowd is coming with you for the laugh. These days I feel I live for those nights.

At the stage in comedy, I make some money, on some nights. But the reality is that I am still an amateur comedian. With dreams of taking this to the next level. And in my head I approach like a professional. I am deadly serious about being funny. I constantly record my sets and review my performances to see where I can improve. It is a passion. My biggest regret these days is that I am not some where like New York or London where I could be performing every night. Well when this pandemic goes by anyways.

Thing is about Comedy. You can practice all you want. But at the end of the day it is the live performances that really develops your comedy skills. So that is where I am at. Working away at developing my skills and wondering why I didn’t start this craic years ago.

Anyways, hopefully I will run into you soon at a local comedy show. And hopefully I will have you laughing.

I am just over halfway through a week long online immersion with Jerry Corley.

I have seen his ads on social media for a while although the prospect of going all the way to California seemed daunting for a Muslim in the Trump Era.

Frustrated with not able to perform standup due to the lockdown I was intrigued by the opportunity tell jokes every night once again with some expert criticism behind it. Jerry’s bumph boasts of 30 years of comedy experience including writing for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

I was hoping this course could stimulate me into writing a bit more and improve my existing stand up content.

This course was not inexpensive… But for my 500 ish dollars I got quite a lot of solid training. Every day there are 4 to 5 hours of lectures, writing, performance and feedback. Jerry talks about the psychology of comedy and elucidates comedy mechanics including incongruity, clichés and reversals and rule of 3 type stuff.

While you can learn about a lot of this stuff from books, what makes this course special is the intensive writing group writing sessions and Jerry’s critiques. I can’t think of a nicer and more approachable stand up comedy coach.  I have been doing standup for 7 years and Jerry blew my mind with some excellent punching up of my existing material and suggestions of ongoing writing. He is extremely generous with his time and often overshoots by an hour. He invites us all to send material to him by e mail or even call him with any questions. Today he just did a critique of 10 of my newly written jokes, explaining in very lucid terms how I tend to overwrite the jokes. He is a very positive, encouraging and competent teacher.

I have been enjoying the Zoom format and other course delegates have been terrific in giving each other notes.

I have written about a hundred one liner jokes since I have started the course 4 days ago and I have been publishing them on Facebook and twitter and they seem fairly well received. I am looking forward to the final day tomorrow although will be sad to be leaving the group.

Hopefully after tomorrow, as well as making lots of new friends, I will continue my writing habits and keep publishing my new jokes on social media.

But for goodness sake ask my permission first.

My name is Mustafa Saed and I have been a standup comic and improv guy for the last 7 years or so, looking desperately for my big break so my family will respect me again.

Stand up comedy is my side hustle, with my grown up job being a GP Locum, having studied medicine to stop my parents from disowning me. I sometimes like to combine my worlds by teaching improv and comedy workshops to other doctors. This has appeased my parents into thinking I am a medical specialist

I first met Dakota Mick at the finals of the comedy competition Show me the Funny 2019 in Galway. I hope you brushed over the subtle brag. I had already befriended him on Facebook and enjoyed his provocative posts on politics which led to many a constructive chat on how Dakota Mick didn’t have a clue about anything.

Dakota stood out in the competition, with his distinctive rural American accent. He was also very funny and the audience enjoyed his easy going style. While I write, rewrite and rehearse, Dakota Mick sounded like he was talking to the audience and he got big laughs. All the other comics were also laughing and applauding, while I secretly wanting him to fail. Leave me alone. Its competition.

Over the next year we bumped into each other on Irish comedy ‘road’ and ran jokes past each other, talked smack about other comics and complained not being booked for more paid gigs. We toyed about with idea of a double act and came up with the name “The Muslim and the Redneck” although the graft and travel involved in being a grafting beginning comic (few are taken seriously before the 10 year mark) meant that it was difficult to collaborate and get the project really moving,

Come February of 2020 the Coronavirus Pandemic caused a devastating loss of life, a crippling economic downturn and cataclysmic closing of bars and comedy clubs all over the world. With a burning desire to gain the approval of others we decided to put all our efforts into the project.

This blog is a diary of how two middle-aged technophobes bumble their way through social media to try and promote and produce sketches and a comedy show at a time their co-morbid conditions are forcing them to stay at work.