Mohanad Elshieky

I have recently learned that Osama Bin Laden was a Pisces

Hello and welcome to this week’s What’s Left? I’m very glad you’re here. Every Wednesday, I’ll email you a fun and dare I say it, good/interesting, chat with someone from somewhere on the left. If you have any suggestions for who I should talk to next, please let me know in the comments or notes on Substack. I would love to hear from you.

Last week’s episode of BBC Radio 4’s The Naked Week involved me doing a last-minute response to the workplace sexual harassment allegations against British celebrity chef, Gregg Wallace. On my way to the recording, I prepared by watching my old boss Samantha Bee’s rant after the Weinstein story broke in 2017. It’s still very funny and angry and passionate. Too bad nothing has changed and I’m being asked to do the same thing seven years later! You can catch my own angry and passionate response on BBC sounds. We were also interviewed in the Guardian last weekend, doing the unenviable task of trying to talk seriously about comedy.

Now then, speaking of Full Frontal and Sam Bee, it’s time to meet another of the show’s alumni, Mohanad…

Mohanad Elshieky is a stand-up comedian and writer who was born in Libya and is currently based in New York. He has appeared on Conan, Late night with Stephen Colbert and Comedy Central, but none of this is as important as the fact that he has not one, not two, but five cats. We spoke in November, fresh after Trump’s gross electoral success.

Hi Mohanad, thank you so much for this! How are you?

Hi, I’m not bad, given everything.

It seems like your career's going well, even if your country isn't?

I feel like my career does well when everything else is going to shit. I guess I can never have it both ways.

It's like that old Sex in the City quote.

Which one?

It’s something like, ‘You can have the perfect guy, the perfect apartment or the perfect job, but you can't have all three.”

Well, we definitely don't have the perfect guy, that is for sure.

Ha ha. So imagine a version of the political spectrum with zero being totally centrist and at 100 it's the most extreme left. Where would you put yourself?

I would say I'm at like 75. I think 100 is not that it's not achievable. I do work within this system, so I can't lie to myself. I am not in a financial position where I can be on a high horse all the time. Hopefully, someday, I’ll get there.

That’s my dream for you too. So let's take it back a bit. When did you first know that you were left-wing?

I think it was when I first moved to the States, about ten years ago. Growing up in Libya, you don't know really what right and left is. You just know what you believe in and what you think. But then after I moved… If you’re someone like me who has gone through the immigration system in the US, that will turn you left so hard.

But you wouldn’t necessarily know that from the way immigrants in America vote these days. Isn’t that now considered an outdated assumption of the Democrats?

That's a good point, I feel like it depends on your morals beforehand. There are two ways people come out of the immigration process. You either go through it and you're like, ‘By god, I do not want anyone else to go through this, this sucks, this is a bad system.’ Or, you think, ‘I have been through this and I want all other immigrants to also suffer the way I suffered’. Personally, I don't think everyone needs to suffer. I'm more than happy for people to not have to go through what I went through. That's fine with me.

Have you ever been attacked for your political views?

Yes, on social media, you get messages from people who are angry at you for your views. But then there are also people back home in Libya who see me as very liberal and some would go as far as to be like, ‘Oh, he's an agent of the American state’.

Wait, what?

Yeah, there are a lot of people who believe that you come here and then they somehow recruit you to influence the minds back home and make them more left-leaning.

Honestly, that sounds like a cool job! If it was paid.

I know! I'm like, ‘My god, you really think I'm making more than 100k a year or something? I don't even know what a 401k is’ [I didn’t either — it’s an American employer-sponsored pension. Sounds sweet.]

Just because of the date we're talking, do you have any hot takes on the outcome of the election?

Because I travel to a lot of small towns to perform comedy, I maybe have a better grasp on what the American public is actually like. Regular people outside of big cities are still very on the right. I think because both of us worked in late-night TV and actually follow politics, we think all the crazy things Trump says are breaking news. But most people don’t follow that, they don’t really care.

My hot take is that the Democrats can only win again if they get someone who is a good storyteller and speaker. People don’t care about policy. The ones who win are always the ones who are campaigning about change. Obama came after Bush and the Iraq war and told stories about change which gave people hope. Trump is a bad person, but he did the same thing. The stories he tells are insane, obviously, but they are about change. He knows that people are angry and he's like, ‘I am different’. And this is what people want. So when Kamala Harris comes out and says, ‘I am just exactly like Biden’, how is that good?

My boyfriend and I started re-watching Veep when Harris became the candidate. And there's this bit where Selena runs for president while she's already the VP and her slogan is, ‘CONTINUITY WITH CHANGE’. And we were like, ‘Uh oh, that's exactly what the Democrats are doing right now.’

I know it's so bleak. When Kamala Harris said, ‘I have a gun and I'm not afraid to use it!’ I'm like, ‘Buddy, what are you talking about? Who are you talking to?’

So could you name one politician who you admire?

No.

Ha ha.

No, and I don't think that's a bad thing. I don't think people should admire any politician. Things are bad when we admire people for just doing their job and what they promised. I think that instead of admiring politicians, we should continue to really shit on those who don't do the work. At the end of the day, I literally pay you some money from my check every time I get paid. So do your work, bud.

That’s such an interesting perspective. Okay, these are sillier questions. Have you ever to your knowledge, dated or slept with a conservative?

No, I have not.

Clean slate, good for you. Do you have any secret conservative beliefs?

Here’s one — I actually agree with conservatives when they make fun of people on the left for apologizing for being white. Obviously, they are saying that for racist reasons, whereas in my case, I am sick of white people saying that and then not doing anything else.

I lived in Portland, Oregon for a while and that is truly one of the places where people love apologizing to you for being white.

How would they do that?

I remember I had a job in retail when Trump was elected and people had become emboldened to be racist. Whenever a customer would say something a bit racist to me, some white person would come up after and say, ‘Oh man, white people suck, Am I right?’ And I’d just think, ‘Okay, what do you want me to do with that now?’

They’re asking for something from you.

Exactly. I would rather if they’d said something to the customer and called them out instead of just acknowledging that this is a bad situation.

Do you know what I think it might be? I wonder if it’s that white people have all this nice privilege which we want to keep, but at the same time, we don’t want to be hated for that. So the customers are refusing to help you while seeking your approval.

And I can relate to that as a man. It’s like me saying, ‘Oh yeah, men suck.’ If that’s all I am doing, then it doesn't fucking matter.

Right, and then it makes the woman have to say, ‘You’re so nice, thank you for saying that.’

Exactly, I literally remember telling people, ‘Can you just be fucking normal? I just want you to be fucking normal for a second here and don't make it about you.’

Mohanad, what's a marginalized community that you belong to and have just made up?

Pisces. As a people, we Pisces are always in our mind palaces, living in imaginary scenarios. I think we're marginalized because people are always like, ‘No, that is not realistic. Come back to reality and be more practical.’ And we’re like, ‘No, reality sucks and I want to live outside of it.’ People should leave us alone and let us be us.

At the same time, I have recently learned that Osama Bin Laden was a Pisces.

Ok, that’s not ideal, but roughly one-twelfth of the world is, so some pretty bad people are going to be Pisces.

I know, but I did not want Osama Bin Laden specifically to be a Pisces. We really would do anything for attention.

9/11 levels of attention?

I mean I would personally never go to that extent, but I did think, ‘Wow, that is the ultimate Pisces.’ He really thought he could just fly two planes into two buildings and that it would change everything.

I guess it changed everything, but not in the way he wanted?

Exactly. He lived in a world where he really thought Americans would be better people and see what they were doing to the rest of the world, or whatever fucked up idea he had. And these are the big resolutions I dream of. Every time I work on a project, I'm always expecting some kind of worldly resolution. I’m working on a comedy special and I’m sure that it’s going to be the next big thing and change the landscape.

I’m not a Pisces myself, but I do think that all people in the arts need a bit of unrealistic confidence. Sometimes, it does pay off.

It just has to be controlled.

And not involve planes.

Exactly, leave planes alone. The lesson here is to stick to comedy specials.

Would you describe yourself as optimistic about the future?

I think my view of the future is that everything is gonna eventually be okay.

Really? That’s lovely!

Yeah, that is like a hardcore belief that, even if in the short term it isn’t, I think long term everything will be fine.

What about the climate?

I don’t think it’s going to be good for us in the short term. But the earth and the universe are much stronger than we are. If we get to a point where we fuck with nature too much, it's going to fuck us up and then come back from that even if we don't. So maybe the younger generations will have it better in that way.

Do you have any recommendations for lefties? Some podcasts or books or something?

This isn’t a podcast or book and it’s very specific to me, but people on the left need to understand that not everyone who is against US politics and American imperialism is a good person.

I lived in Libya and we had Gaddafi as president and he was publicly anti the US and so a lot of leftists think that means he was a good person, some type of a revolutionary. And I always have to explain that he was against the US because he wanted the power they had, to be an evil king.

And then these same people will tell me that I am the first Libyan they've ever met. I'm like, ‘Maybe you should ask more Libyans because me and my dad and my cousins will all disagree with you.’

Wait. So left-wing Americans will come up to you, a Libyan, and say, ‘One, I think Gaddafi was a good guy and two, you're the first Libyan I've ever met’?

100%. The amount of times that happens is fucking insane.

I’m equal parts amused and totally horrified. Also, I love that my question to you was whether you have any reading or podcast recommendations and your response was, ‘Can you not come up to me and say that you love Colonel Gaddafi?’

I just want people to stop believing in like fucking heroes and role models. There's no such thing. There are always people on the left who will find someone to cling to and be like, ‘This is the perfect person and everything they said is is good’. I'm like, ‘Sometimes it's okay to use brains. That is why brain is there.’

Do you think that people like you and me are a bit to blame because that’s a Hollywood narrative, isn’t it?

No, it’s the other way around. People love those narratives so much that we are pushed to keep creating them, for money or to further our careers. Which sucks.

That makes more sense. Ok, I've got my last question for you, do you have any action that you'd recommend for anyone who wants to get off the couch and do something?

I really, truly believe in the power of community and local politics. It doesn’t always have to be big, just start small. I feel like people who have good intentions and want to help usually want to go big. But then they feel overwhelmed and tired and see nothing changing, so they recoil back to doing nothing. Start with local politics, look for a volunteering opportunity in your neighbourhood, in your building or street or whatever, and then see where it goes from there. At the end of the day, it's still doing something.

That's such a beautiful answer, thank you, Mohanad!

I hope you enjoyed our conversation, I really cannot recommend Mohanad’s comedy enough. Find him on Instagram and Tiktok before checking out his podcast and go see him live! And please consider sharing this chat with anyone who you think might enjoy it.

For a little more Amy, I’m currently supporting Andrew Hunter Murray in The Naked Week on Radio 4. Also, did you know that I have a dumb comedy podcast? Because I do! My friend Samantha Martin (I collect Samanthas) and I play two terrible men explaining feminism in FeMANism Podcast. That should hopefully tide you over until we meet next Wednesday!