For one night and one night only, Egyptian comedian Mohammed Magdi hits the Beijing stage at The Bookworm on Sunday, March 10. Winner of the Bangkok International Comedy Festival in 2017, the stand-up artist has also been featured on Comedy Central. We caught up with the well-groomed joker (major hair envy, are we right?) to talk about his achievements and what viewers can expect from his upcoming show.
That's: Was comedy always your go-to outlet growing up? What first got you into performing stand-up?
MM: Not really. I just grew up watching a lot of it. I loved David Letterman – I would stay up late at home in Egypt watching him, but I never thought of doing it myself. Maybe that's because I never lived in a place that had a stand-up scene. When I first moved to Shanghai, someone mentioned a comedy club so I went to check out their open mic and signed up.
What was your first show like? Your best show?
My first show was an open mic – that's pretty much how any comic starts. I filled the room with my friends and I killed it. It was so good. But then I came back again (without my friends) and died. I kept dying for a long time until I started to figure it out.
My best show – and I’m not saying that because I’m coming back to Beijing – was last summer when I headlined at Salud with Comedy Club China. It was an absolute blast – the show was packed. I did a ton of crowd work and the audience was digging it. There was a couple making out in the middle of the room, so I called them out and the dude got mad. It had everything.
By now, you’ve toured all over Asia, won the Bangkok International Comedy Festival in 2017 and were even featured on Comedy Central. What’s that success been like for you?
Well, when I was young, everyone always told me that one of the main signs of achieving success is having money – so according to everyone I met growing up, I’m actually a huge failure.
What has been your greatest achievement? What do you hope to still accomplish?
Getting to work with people who if I was told 10 years ago that I'd be sharing the stage with I would never believe it. I got the chance to open for Gad Elmaleh last December in front of about 1,000 people, and I’ll be opening for Jim Gaffigan in Shanghai next week. Working with such big names is an achievement and a privilege to me. It's like you've been practicing football with your friends on the street for ages and then suddenly you’re asked to play alongside Mohamed Salah. It’s weird! I hope to accomplish more of that and work with people I look up to like Dave Chappelle and Bill Burr.
Have you ever had an unexpected response from the audience (or no response at all)? What do you do in those moments?
One of the most unexpected heckles I got from an audience member was caught on video. The person said something uncool and interrupted my set so I went off at her. You can check it out here. Luckily, it turned out pretty well. That should answer your question about what I do in those moments...
As a comedian, do you ever find that people expect you to constantly be on and entertaining them? How do you deal with that?
Yup, and it’s probably something a lot of comics have to deal with. When they do that, I simply direct them to the ticketing link of my next show.
What can Beijing fans expect from your show?
There was an infamous run-in with the law that happened after my last show in Beijing and it got picked up by the media, so I’ll be sharing my side of that story. Besides that, there has been a ton of new stuff that I added since the last show, like working with Mamahuhu playing the Laowai Tea Scammer and the Gad Elmaleh show (which was bizarre as the audience didn't know he had an opener and didn’t know the show was in English). So, yeah, there will be quite a few interesting stories.
Do you have any grooming advice for aspiring beard-growers out there?
If your girl says that she doesn’t like your beard, leave. (Spoiler alert: I’m single.)
Anything you’d like to add?
Please come to the show, and let me know where I can find a good shisha place! Last time I was in town I went to some rooftop spot and I was not impressed. If I like the shisha, I’ll even pay for the whole night (with your ticket money). Also, find me on Instagram: @theothermohammed. Also, come to the show.
Sun Mar 10, 8pm; RMB120 (advance), RMB150 (door); The Bookworm, see event listing.
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