Aron Kader is Funny

Football

2010-09-07T17:01:00.000-07:00

With the NFL season starting and todays weather I am compelled to say that we should officially stop saying "no white shoes after Labor day," and start saying "no more white shoes after football season starts."

--AK

Upcoming shows

2010-09-01T14:12:00.000-07:00

If you have any friends in Sacramento, Portland or Seattle be sure to tell them to attend my upcoming shows this month. Its on a tour called Arabs Gone Wild, and I'll be performing with two of my best friends Dean Obeidallah and Maysoon Zayad.

Check the website for details below. --AK

http://www.arabsgonewild.com/

Upcoming shows

2010-08-12T12:38:00.000-07:00

Im not happy that summer is almost over and that Labor day is approaching. I like wearing white shoes. I AM excited that I will be doing a bunch of shows starting in September all the way through Oct. Here is the flyer for the show in Seattle. Hope it doesnt rain.
Go Sonics!! errr I mean Seahawks...

--AK

No place like home

2010-07-27T12:16:00.000-07:00

I was home in Vienna VA visiting my parents, which is a suburb of Washington DC where I grew up, but I am happy to be home in Los Angeles where I have lived for more then 15 years.
There's nothing like being on Hollywood Blvd where all the "lookalikes," and homeless hang out and at times get arrested for street performing without a license/ drug dealing. If I only knew what Spiderman's spidey-senses were telling him in this situation.

--ak

Back in Los Angeles

2010-07-27T12:09:00.000-07:00

Im back in Los Angeles after a long trip, its good to be home and out of the humidity of the east coast. Im not positive about this but I think I caught a disease on the #3 train in Brooklyn in my eye. Its all bloodshot and I didn't smoke weed. This picture is not my eye, and my eye is much better now, however this is the closest picture I could find to describe my condition.

-ak

In NYC

2010-07-19T13:25:00.000-07:00

Arrived in NYC this week from Montreal. I feel like the two cities are very different in that one is in America and the other is is France. Plus the crowds are different.

-ak

In NYC

2010-07-19T13:20:00.000-07:00

Montreal....

2010-07-11T15:30:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Montreal today from Toronto. So far the Canadians have been customarily friendly and hospitable as I expected. Even though this is a commonwealth country and they speak French I have not felt judged or looked down upon. That could be because my respect for Celine Dion, Shania Twain, and Brian Adams is so transparent. I have secretly always wanted to be a Canadian recording artist. If everything goes well here and my agents do there job I will be well on my way to fulfilling my dreams. If that doesn't happen I will pursue my back-up plan, Governor General of Canada.

--ak

Sports

2010-06-21T19:32:00.000-07:00

Its been crazy in the world of sports lately. Since the closing ceremonies of the winter olympics I have been nearly addicted to all sports. First it was NHL hockey, then NBA playoffs, baseball of course, which all led to the anticipated World Cup. Outside of sports I have not much to talk about unless it relates to global political social and domestic issues. -ak

Prince of Persia for Gaza?

2010-06-08T13:57:00.000-07:00

With all that's happened in Gaza lately you can't help but blame the Persians. Its all there fault that the Israelis are so defensive. If they would stop arming Hammas and making peaceful nuclear energy, and acknowledge Israels right to exist maybe we could get somewhere. My only hope is that the Prince of Persia can use the sands or the dagger of time to bring us together.
The Sands have the power to infect and turn all forms of life into dangerous monsters, while the Dagger of Time has the power to slow down, stop and even reverse time. It totally sounds like the peace process.

-ak

Sex In the City/ Prince of Persia

2010-05-28T14:09:00.000-07:00

First of all, I don't want to see either movie but if I had to it would be Prince of Persia. I don't care that the Prince is a white guy since Iranians think they are white anyway. Iran means Aryan (as in white supremacist/Aryan nation) in Farsi, and the Caucus mountains are where Indo-Europeans came from so I can get over it.
But Sex in The City may require more energy to justify. I never liked the show to began with, but it was at some point accepted as a smart funny show that has now de-volved into a materialistic whore fest. (The whore part I'm okay with actually.) But when you set the movie in the middle-east don't wonder why they think Americans are all materialistic whores. Muslims worry about there daughters living in this country and maybe they should. Its not s surprise that both movies may be completely flawed and everyone will point that out until the subject dies, but I wanted to speak my peace.

-ak

Amman Jordan

2009-12-17T15:26:00.000-08:00

Just got back from the 2nd annual Amman Stand-Up Comedy Festival, in where else? Amman Jordan....
It was a magical year again for seven sold out nights of comedy. Two of the nights were done completely in Arabic, I didn't perform in those nights since my Arabic sounds completely like English.

But it shows the increase in Arabic speaking comedy since last year only had one show, this year two shows and all with minimal security. The shows had monster headliners Maysoon Zayed, and the legendary Nabil Sawalha. Anyone who knows the 8circles of Amman knows Nabil right?! Of course you do.

I was proud to attend the event sponsored by the city of Amman, a vision of the municipality led by the Mayor, the main man Mr. Mayor. Maani.
Anyone who knows the 8circles of Amman knows Mayor Maani right? Then you would also know that he loves that big sculpture that sits on the 7th circle. I mean what is that thing?! Can anyone help me with this? Looks like an giant children's book exploded! You can see it in this link below
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/7444842

In India

2009-09-13T03:33:00.000-07:00

Yeah that's right,..India! Was doing shows in Bangalore, or as I like to call it "Bangalulu", and Bombay (Mumbai) doing some comeddy shows. And I've made a decision while I was here that I am going to call the city "Bombay" until enough Indians tell me not to. Why? Because it seems people here are still calling it Bombay with no plans of calling it anything else. Just trying to fit in.
The shows were great and I didn't get a bad stomach or anything, thank you Gnesha, Chrishna, Vishnu, Jesus, or whichever god took care of me here,...namaste.
I did witness some Brits,Americans, and others here walking around trying to find there spirituality, opening there chakras,centering there chi, and acting like general douche bags.
I saw a bollywood movie called "Love Aaj Kal," (which means "Love today and tomorrow" or "love these days") It was starring my new favorite actor Saef Ali Khan. I do prefer the Saef Ali Khan with the beard and the turban,..the Seek he played from the movie. He made me want to be a Seek so now I'm at the gym and working on a beard myself. It was a great movie with great dancing and music, I am nominating it for whatever award here is equal to the Oscars.

Fresh air in L.A. ??

2009-03-10T23:29:00.000-07:00

I've been back a week from Dubai and was happy to feel some cold air in my face when I got home to L.A.
I heard while I was there visiting Dubai that the air quality is usually bad and there isn't much oxygen to breath. It gets humid there by that gulf water and I think my body needed fresh cold air after breathing the sandy thin air along the Persian/Arabian gulf.
Well who would've thought that coming back to Los Angeles would be such a breath of fresh air.
That said, I am still looking forward to the summer and visiting family in Virginia, Utah, Washington state, and Palestine. Although I am looking more forward to being in the western U.S. near some mountains where I can pretend to go fishing and be a boy scout. The Arab Bedouins are great boy scouts, they know everything like how to tie a knot, how to start a fire, how to slaughter a lamb without offending Allah,...etc,..

The Inaguration of President Obama Was 3 Times Better Than Polk's

2009-01-20T18:54:00.000-08:00

I was asked a couple months back if I would like to perform at a party in D.C. on 12/19/09, the eve of Obama's swearing in ceremony and inauguration. I accepted immediately even though it didn't pay, it offered a flight, a hotel room and a chance to witness history. I declined to take the hotel room opting instead to stay with my parents who live in Virginia, where I grew up.

Many people know that Washington DC, besides being our nation's capitol and a small city, usually ranks at the top of the list as one of America's murder capitals. They have achieved the title many times over the years like a competitive football franchise that always makes the playoffs, like the Steelers. (I always felt that the math used to average something using the "per-capita" system throws the numbers up making things look worse then it is.) There is no way around the fact that DC is a crime riddled place that could have its own TV drama based around it, which is why this event was that much more amazing.

Nobody I spoke to has ever seen this town, nor any other town this crowded and happy. If a feeling was ever visible to the eye it was this event. I've never been to Times Square on New Years, but I still cannot imagine it being as happy. New Yorkers are eventually going to snap out of a happy moment and remember how to say, "get'da'fuck'oud'a'here."

I read about some other inaugurations and there were some good ones and some bad ones throughout history. As they rank them I would say this was the best, and much better then James Polk's. I mean that one sounded like a fuck'n bore,...seriously.

I'm still pinching myself that its happened.

The Party's Over

2009-02-15T02:59:00.000-08:00

There were 4 Saturday nights, 5 headliners, 11 open mic nights, and a Friday amateur show with 12 comics that fell on "Friday the 13th." The amateurs delivered their first time out putting on a great show for a big audience of around 150 people that were laughing and supporting there endeavor. The closing night was on Valentines day, I don't know if the cosmos planned this for us but we all felt something special was happening and I was just proud to see that the group did so well.

The group of twelve on the thirteenth promoted and drew a crowd and made the weeks spent working with them come together in a way that made us all feel worthy of the time we spent laboring the way it did. I was sick for three days this week and didn't attend two of the workshops but that didn't stop the group from meeting and helping each other punch up their acts and brush up for there showcase. I got sick Monday night and was in bed for the next 3 days. It wasn't until Friday that I felt good enough to show up and MC their show where these comics got an incredible response with big laughs from the large audience. For most, it was the biggest audience they have ever stood in front of, an achievement for all.

Last night was closing night and the last Saturday show of the Comedy Cafe. I was the only comic on the bill and I worried that it would be difficult since I'd have be the opener, middler, and headline all by myself. Luckily the amateurs were strong enough that I could grab two of them to do some stage time to warm up the crowd before I went on to do my hour.

The first was Abs Ali (Abdullah), a local Emirate about 18 years old who was really good. He did some jokes that only he could do about Emirate hair styles, Arab dads cussing in traffic, plus a few other general complaints about the world that were funny. He did 7 minutes then brought up an Indian comedian named Nitin Mitrani. This guy has the ability to do at least 30 minutes solid and I was impressed. He did his thing for only 17 minutes then brought me on and I was happy that I was able to sustain my energy for just over an hour. It wasn't my best of all time, I improvised a bit and messed around, but I was happy that I was able to close with a bit about relationships proper for Valentines Day where the last words out of my mouth were "I love you."

We'll do it again soon inshallah,.......

---ak

Dubai

2009-02-04T16:11:00.001-08:00

Still here in Dubai with exactly 14 days to go before heading home to L.A. Sometimes a long trip can go by really fast and I would say this is one of those, unless these last 14 days begin to drag out.

I've been running an open mic, 3 nights a week on Mondays-Wednesdays and its turned more into a workshop sort of thing then a real open mic. The participants are really anxious to perform and begin writing a lot, but its hard to know what will happen if they go in front of an audience. One thing is true about comedians and the crowd that gathers at an open mic, we are all a bunch of lost souls limping around the world looking for an outlet. Here in Dubai there are around 7 regular people that attend every night trying to piece together an act on stage that will reflect their personalities, or at least the best part of it. They have a long ways to go from showing their best. I would say it's a lot of work to do what I'm doing. I've become their teacher, coach and comedy mentor. They look at me after every joke to see if I'm laughing, I just keep taking notes so I can at least remember what to say. It's fun to help them but I hope they will have other opportunities after I split town or this will just be a singular experience for them and that makes me feel bad and adds more pressure to get them to work faster.

A few phrases they say in Arabic fit this one...
"Allah Maak," and "Allah Waalam"(God be with you, and Only God knows)
Or as we say in America, God speed and peace out.

--ak

Dubai Shopping Festival Comedy Shows

2009-01-31T16:18:00.000-08:00

I just hosted the second Saturday night headliner show here in Dubai at the temporary set up called "The Comedy Cafe." It was a sold out show which topped last week's opening weekend where we drew in around 150. Last night we had more then 200 people and had to turn away 50.

I'm the house MC for 4 weeks, the first week had Dean Obeidallah and this last show had Sugar Sammy headlining. Sugar is a Montreal based comic who's real name isn't Sugar as far as I know. All I know about him after working with him twice is that he's Indian, Canadian, funny and we had a good time.

I'm looking most forward to next week the most because its the only show that has 3 comics, the way a show should be. We will have a couple buddies of mine from L.A. coming out that I love, Mike Batayeh and Peter the Persian. I have worked with both a lot but don't know Peter's actual name, pretty sure its not "the Persian."

I'm sure it will sell out again,...inshallah,.....

--ak

I'm in Dubai

2009-01-24T12:29:00.000-08:00

I've never seen a city like Dubai, it looks like a future city with mix of Boca Raton, Fl. It's like Vegas if the theme was Miami. I'll show some pictures soon.

I'm here for 4 weekends until Feb.18th, hosting a comedy club on the beach. I hope I can come back to Los Angeles for some time at home, one of these days. I think I'm more comfortable in a hotel room then I am at home? I like it home but there are lots of distractions, I've got a dart board, golf clubs, front porch, back patio, etc...

I'm gonna miss the Super Bowl but I'll watch it out here on delay or 3am.

Beirut vs. Detroit

2008-10-14T14:47:00.000-07:00

Why is it that the car industry has destroyed Detroit beyond anything that Hezbollah could do to Beirut?????

It's All Politics

2008-09-09T18:02:00.000-07:00

I recently returned home to Los Angeles from a long trip in the middle-east and realized that its not so different then L.A.

First of all nobody speaks English, just like here. Everyone is overly religious and people have no clue what to do about illegal immigrants. The only difference is that most of them here are Mexican but over there they are Iraqis.

I found that people also use the local starbuck'iss to get online and pretend to be working. (And yes they have high speed internet.) People like movies, watch TV, listen to music and don't like traffic.

I have to return to the region in November and I'm very upset that they don't like American football. I hope I don't miss the Super Bowl.

Amman Jordan Comedy Festival

2008-11-25T17:24:00.000-08:00

I've been in Amman Jordan the past 3 weeks teaching a workshop in stand-up comedy with the youngsters at the SAE institute (School of Audio Engineering.) Its going really well and 4 or 5 of the guys are really funny.

This workshop leads into Dec. 2nd which is the beginning of the first ever comedy festival in the entire middle east. I will be performing on the 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 6th with many international comics including the Axis of Evil guys and Russel Peters.

The tickets have been sold out for a couple weeks so its an exciting time for comedy in the region. If the festival goes as planned, we will return every year to keep it going and developing talent from the region.

See you there,.....inshallah.....

----ak

What I'm Most Thankful For

2008-09-18T19:08:00.000-07:00

I'd like to thank my grandfather for immigrating to the U.S. and my father for not marrying a cousin.

The Latest News in My World

2008-12-28T23:26:00.000-08:00

I would watch the Israeli's wage war in Gaza if it were televised but it seems to be buried in the news coverage somewhat.