Sitting down to interview Ahmed and Owen was a lot more lax than I was used to. Most of my interviews start out formal and ease up by the end. These two best friends had already eased up, Ahmed eating a dinner of a sandwich and apple, and Owen, with his feet reclining, focused on his phone. Trying to seem un phased by it all and having introductions already out of the way, I awkwardly stumbled into my questions.

PK: Uhm, my first question is, what brought you all the way out to North Dakota?

AA: “CAA.”

OB: “When we get a gig, we just do it. We’re animals, we’re soldiers.”

AA: “We have the same agency, different agents, but they work cohesively; they sell comics to colleges and people want to buy certain acts and for some reason they wanted the both of us, which is rare.”

OB: “We wanted to see some bison.”

PK: I have yet to see some myself…

OB: I want to be in a place where if my dog runs away, I can see it run for three hours.”

The two briefly laugh about the joke and its source. I sit there not knowing what to do and wait for the opportunity to jump in. It’s an interesting dynamic they have, one I would assume Tina Fey and Amy Poehler have. They are independent comics, but fall into a dupe just through conversation. I probably would have let Ahmed and Owen just continue conversing, if I didn’t have a mission.

I begin to cover the basic questions you’d find answered on Wikipedia. It’s like the first rule of Journalism, journalists must be thorough to the core in their findings (these are not the rules of journalism, nor am I an actual journalist. Or does this make me one?).

PK: Where are you guys originally from?

AA: “Originally right outside of Cairo, Egypt, but raised in California, Riverside.”

OB: “I’m from upstate New York, north of Syracuse, near Canada.”

PK: I don’t how this will work, but are you guys stand up comedy or is this just, you’re going to wing it and just talk?

OB: “No we’re standup comics. Our spoken word careers didn’t really take off. So we’re in jokes, joke form now.”

AA: “I was a runner up in American Idol, but it didn’t work out.”

PK: Really? (I genuinely believed him and almost wanted to know more)

AA: “Nah he’s being sarcastic.”

OB: “I’m joking, I can’t sing at all. He’s a hell of a musician.”

PK: How long have you guys done standup?

OB: “Thirteen years.”

AA: “Seven-eighteen, actually nineteen technically.

OB: “That’s a long time.”

AA: “I know…and I’m still struggling!

OB: “You gotta keep pushing that boulder!”

Self-deprecation with a mix of moral support – the definition of a comedic friendship.

Thank goodness there isn’t a well-written form for the sound of laughter, or there would be a lot of lines of me just laughing at everything.

Formal introductions as such allow me, as the interviewer, to show total interest in the interviewee and it also allows the interviewee to guide me as to who they are and what we’ll talk about. Ice breakers like those are generally hated among camp goers, team builders and college students. No one wants to meet on such (usually) irrelevant and non-committal terms. But I do. It really shows your investment and depth.

From humble beginnings to Sullivan and Son, the interview will continue on!