let me take you back to July of 2017
I’ve been in this waiting area for four
to five hours maybe the person sitting
next to me was my immigration lawyer for
the third time that day was like hey
you’re gonna call your name in a second
so be prepared I wasn’t listening and
she felt too relaxed she liked reading a
book and everything and I’m like I hope
that’s the Constitution he’s probably
gonna need that inside Bowser I was too
busy doing the casual East dropping
around just listening to what people are
saying because that’s what we do when
there’s no Wi-Fi and there was a lot of
people around me there was this family
for and they were speaking Spanish there
was this lady with a baby who was been
crying for the past two hours
and in front of me there was this couple
and I can tell that they were from Iraq
based on their dialect so the East
dropping there was super good I kept
waiting and I kept wondering like what
what brought these people here like what
were their stories what were their lies
before they ended up in this office
because I know my story but I have no
idea what their stories are were their
hopes and dreams whether they trying to
accomplish by being here and then out of
nowhere I’ve heard my name someone said
mohammed el sheikh he come inside
which i don’t know if you can see on the
screen that’s not my name but I was
close enough so yeah I’m not gonna
correct these people
she’s gonna go in so I and there was a
there was a room where there was a desk
there and the immigration officer was
sitting like right in front of me and
then she pulled my file and looked at me
and smiled and said so muhannad what
was I was born and raised in Libya
specifically in the city of Benghazi
that usually gets a standing ovation but
whatever my mom was a school principal
my dad was a businessman had four
siblings I was the oldest I spent every
summer by the beach with my family or I
took English courses or I just watch TV
until sunrise and the TV was mostly
sponsored by by the government so one
day we’d get a Disney Channel or MTV or
something and the next day they would
play that movie at George of the jungle
and the mummy back to back which is the
definition of state-sponsored terrorism
a lot of trauma there I also was in med
school I was in med school for four
years because my parents wanted me to be
a doctor and they told me that was my
dream so I had to do that and I hear
that they’re there because I can like
barely keep a conversation alive for
things were in Libya were pretty mundane
it was just like the it was super boring
like just like a casual dictatorship you
know like government they’re like old
people’s present for 42 years he just
went around the country just gave rails
he had a lot of supporters he would just
talk and talk and talk him just like
long-winded speeches and people like
liked it because he told
like it is and it was it was crazy and
it just divided the country tactic media
was very bad so I’m trying to say is I’m
so happy to be here in 2018 what that
doesn’t happen you know woo dodged a
bullet there
but then the revolution happened in
Libya the war started which was a civil
war happened after that and things
change there was a lot of bloodshed the
government went down and I became like
really politically active I started like
worked as an interpreter and I used to
work as an English teacher and I took
reports is the front lines and stuff and
I also had a radio show that I host here
twice a week and then I applied for a
program that was sponsored by the US
Department of State and I ended up
coming here to the US the program was
supposed to be for six weeks they would
get students from all around the Middle
East in North Africa to take classes
mostly in conflict resolution and like
have them like develop projects and
these type of things it was going really
well but during those six weeks a lot
I’m sorry getting death threats because
the type of 4k is due back home
I wasn’t felt like I wasn’t welcome back
anymore with stuff getting really
dangerous my friends would call me like
don’t come back it’s too dangerous for
you here and I had two options first
option was I would go back and face
whatever destiny I had or stay in a
country where I basically knew no one so
I don’t know if you can tell from
and I was like you know what Mahana this
is a new start forget about the war
forget about everything gonna start new
here fresh start never bring it up it’s
gonna be fine I enrolled in college you
got a scholarship in Portland State
University start taking classes
my story travels way ahead of me the man
the minute I mentioned my name like oh
yeah you are you that guy from Libya who
got stuck here can’t go back oh man
sorry about that
tell me more and that kept happening
every day every day that was the only
part people were interested in the world
the trauma the fact that I went to med
school that what movies i watch what
music and listen to it didn’t matter
anymore that was just one thing just a
war survivor and that’s what people want
to want to hear all the time just like a
movie that I had to retell just an
action movie that people enjoyed and it
sucked because I want to talk about
other thing that I want to talk about
the fact that I watched nine seasons of
the office in one month yeah very
impressive sad but impressive but people
wouldn’t let me do that and ever it just
followed me everywhere I went so I
started like isolating myself from
people I wouldn’t going hang out what
people would go to parties I wouldn’t go
to do anything because I just didn’t
want to have to tell my story all over
again
and I know I could have said no I don’t
want to tell it but people had good
intentions and they wanted to learn and
I had to tell the story not to be rude
and then I just kind of like
disassociated myself I’ll just stay home
just watch the office again and it
wasn’t until I took this public speaking
class in college
and as I gave four speeches and
everything my my college professor
approached me at the end of the semester
I was like hey Muhammad do you do
stand-up comedy I was like I’m a big fan
of stand-up comedy I love watching it
never done it
he was like you should try that it was
like no I’m not
he was like no no you have to do that I
don’t care what you were studying here
you should do stand-up comedy and I was
like okay I’ll give it a shot and I did
so doing stand-up comedy
so hitting open mikes before I knew it I
was like doing shows it was like
traveling around they’re like the best
thing I’ve ever done in my life because
for the first time ever I felt like I
own my own story like I would tell my
story on my own terms people would just
sit there and listen and that gave me
two things I liked if I get to talk to
people about whatever I want and also
validation from stranger which is
amazing and people say that stand-up
comedy is just like therapy and these
people are wrong
because if you need therapy go to
therapy don’t do stand-up people don’t
want to deal with that but I know it’s a
cliche but it changed my life it
completely changed it because I I had
people approach me after show like that
was pretty surprising I didn’t see that
coming and I’m like oh because why cuz
it was smart I’m funny but it’s true
because we have this one story about
immigrants it’s just this one story that
we keep hearing and repeating to
ourselves and just convince ourselves
that these people are not like us they
don’t have lives they don’t enjoy doing
stuff they just work there’s just like
money machines they’re just happy to be
you know what music they listen to do
you know what shows they like do you
know what they like to do in their free
time none of that because they never get
the chance to speak about that I was
privileged enough to have stand-up
comedy as a medium what I can talk about
these things I can dictate my own story
I put my own terms here most of these
people don’t have it they have no venue
to tell their stories the only medium is
the places they’re at their schools the
colleges the places they work in they’re
the friends that they make and people
wouldn’t wouldn’t really listen to that
people like keep asking them the same
things over and over why did you come to
this country how bad was it there where
you cut where he came from it’s never
how was your childhood like how was your
family like well the things are common
between you and me it’s never that an
advocate leave if I can leave you one
thing today is not was just with the
immigrants but with just people in
general that you meet try and not ask
but listen have these people tell you
have these people put their own terms on
the stuff that they want to tell you and
listen even if their stories had no
punchlines because mine have you them
super funny anyway thank you very much everyone
I’ve been in this waiting area for four
to five hours maybe the person sitting
next to me was my immigration lawyer for
the third time that day was like hey
you’re gonna call your name in a second
so be prepared I wasn’t listening and
she felt too relaxed she liked reading a
book and everything and I’m like I hope
that’s the Constitution he’s probably
gonna need that inside Bowser I was too
busy doing the casual East dropping
around just listening to what people are
saying because that’s what we do when
there’s no Wi-Fi and there was a lot of
people around me there was this family
for and they were speaking Spanish there
was this lady with a baby who was been
crying for the past two hours
and in front of me there was this couple
and I can tell that they were from Iraq
based on their dialect so the East
dropping there was super good I kept
waiting and I kept wondering like what
what brought these people here like what
were their stories what were their lies
before they ended up in this office
because I know my story but I have no
idea what their stories are were their
hopes and dreams whether they trying to
accomplish by being here and then out of
nowhere I’ve heard my name someone said
mohammed el sheikh he come inside
which i don’t know if you can see on the
screen that’s not my name but I was
close enough so yeah I’m not gonna
correct these people
she’s gonna go in so I and there was a
there was a room where there was a desk
there and the immigration officer was
sitting like right in front of me and
then she pulled my file and looked at me
and smiled and said so muhannad what
was I was born and raised in Libya
specifically in the city of Benghazi
that usually gets a standing ovation but
whatever my mom was a school principal
my dad was a businessman had four
siblings I was the oldest I spent every
summer by the beach with my family or I
took English courses or I just watch TV
until sunrise and the TV was mostly
sponsored by by the government so one
day we’d get a Disney Channel or MTV or
something and the next day they would
play that movie at George of the jungle
and the mummy back to back which is the
definition of state-sponsored terrorism
a lot of trauma there I also was in med
school I was in med school for four
years because my parents wanted me to be
a doctor and they told me that was my
dream so I had to do that and I hear
that they’re there because I can like
barely keep a conversation alive for
things were in Libya were pretty mundane
it was just like the it was super boring
like just like a casual dictatorship you
know like government they’re like old
people’s present for 42 years he just
went around the country just gave rails
he had a lot of supporters he would just
talk and talk and talk him just like
long-winded speeches and people like
liked it because he told
like it is and it was it was crazy and
it just divided the country tactic media
was very bad so I’m trying to say is I’m
so happy to be here in 2018 what that
doesn’t happen you know woo dodged a
bullet there
but then the revolution happened in
Libya the war started which was a civil
war happened after that and things
change there was a lot of bloodshed the
government went down and I became like
really politically active I started like
worked as an interpreter and I used to
work as an English teacher and I took
reports is the front lines and stuff and
I also had a radio show that I host here
twice a week and then I applied for a
program that was sponsored by the US
Department of State and I ended up
coming here to the US the program was
supposed to be for six weeks they would
get students from all around the Middle
East in North Africa to take classes
mostly in conflict resolution and like
have them like develop projects and
these type of things it was going really
well but during those six weeks a lot
I’m sorry getting death threats because
the type of 4k is due back home
I wasn’t felt like I wasn’t welcome back
anymore with stuff getting really
dangerous my friends would call me like
don’t come back it’s too dangerous for
you here and I had two options first
option was I would go back and face
whatever destiny I had or stay in a
country where I basically knew no one so
I don’t know if you can tell from
and I was like you know what Mahana this
is a new start forget about the war
forget about everything gonna start new
here fresh start never bring it up it’s
gonna be fine I enrolled in college you
got a scholarship in Portland State
University start taking classes
my story travels way ahead of me the man
the minute I mentioned my name like oh
yeah you are you that guy from Libya who
got stuck here can’t go back oh man
sorry about that
tell me more and that kept happening
every day every day that was the only
part people were interested in the world
the trauma the fact that I went to med
school that what movies i watch what
music and listen to it didn’t matter
anymore that was just one thing just a
war survivor and that’s what people want
to want to hear all the time just like a
movie that I had to retell just an
action movie that people enjoyed and it
sucked because I want to talk about
other thing that I want to talk about
the fact that I watched nine seasons of
the office in one month yeah very
impressive sad but impressive but people
wouldn’t let me do that and ever it just
followed me everywhere I went so I
started like isolating myself from
people I wouldn’t going hang out what
people would go to parties I wouldn’t go
to do anything because I just didn’t
want to have to tell my story all over
again
and I know I could have said no I don’t
want to tell it but people had good
intentions and they wanted to learn and
I had to tell the story not to be rude
and then I just kind of like
disassociated myself I’ll just stay home
just watch the office again and it
wasn’t until I took this public speaking
class in college
and as I gave four speeches and
everything my my college professor
approached me at the end of the semester
I was like hey Muhammad do you do
stand-up comedy I was like I’m a big fan
of stand-up comedy I love watching it
never done it
he was like you should try that it was
like no I’m not
he was like no no you have to do that I
don’t care what you were studying here
you should do stand-up comedy and I was
like okay I’ll give it a shot and I did
so doing stand-up comedy
so hitting open mikes before I knew it I
was like doing shows it was like
traveling around they’re like the best
thing I’ve ever done in my life because
for the first time ever I felt like I
own my own story like I would tell my
story on my own terms people would just
sit there and listen and that gave me
two things I liked if I get to talk to
people about whatever I want and also
validation from stranger which is
amazing and people say that stand-up
comedy is just like therapy and these
people are wrong
because if you need therapy go to
therapy don’t do stand-up people don’t
want to deal with that but I know it’s a
cliche but it changed my life it
completely changed it because I I had
people approach me after show like that
was pretty surprising I didn’t see that
coming and I’m like oh because why cuz
it was smart I’m funny but it’s true
because we have this one story about
immigrants it’s just this one story that
we keep hearing and repeating to
ourselves and just convince ourselves
that these people are not like us they
don’t have lives they don’t enjoy doing
stuff they just work there’s just like
money machines they’re just happy to be
you know what music they listen to do
you know what shows they like do you
know what they like to do in their free
time none of that because they never get
the chance to speak about that I was
privileged enough to have stand-up
comedy as a medium what I can talk about
these things I can dictate my own story
I put my own terms here most of these
people don’t have it they have no venue
to tell their stories the only medium is
the places they’re at their schools the
colleges the places they work in they’re
the friends that they make and people
wouldn’t wouldn’t really listen to that
people like keep asking them the same
things over and over why did you come to
this country how bad was it there where
you cut where he came from it’s never
how was your childhood like how was your
family like well the things are common
between you and me it’s never that an
advocate leave if I can leave you one
thing today is not was just with the
immigrants but with just people in
general that you meet try and not ask
but listen have these people tell you
have these people put their own terms on
the stuff that they want to tell you and
listen even if their stories had no
punchlines because mine have you them
super funny anyway thank you very much everyone
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