PK: Is this where you expected yourself to get?

OB: “It’s farther than I expected, I just wanted health insurance, so everything’s a plus at this point for me. I set my bar for myself so low, I mean, just having people make eye contact with me is all I really need.”

Self-deprecating humor folks. It’s a craft one must finesse, and Owen’s got it down, let me tell you.

AA: “I’m from a really small poor village outside of Cairo, Egypt and that’s where my family’s from. It’s kind of like the American dream, the quintessential story, an immigrant family moves to America and does good. I got really lucky. I mean I worked hard, we all worked hard. I think living in Hollywood and following your dream as an actor, especially comedian because there’s no real rules as a comic-”

OB: ”It’s like Hunger Games shit. We’re District 12”

AA: “Everybody’s looking out for themselves, but it’s for me a dream come true. I get to do stand up comedy, I get to work on a TV show with some of my best friends- I couldn’t be more grateful. I can’t ask for anything else.”

PK: When did you guys realize that you were more than family fun – funny to other people? When did that hit you?

AA: “Funny you should ask.”

OB: “I haven’t realized it yet.”

AA: “I think I’m still realizing it. Sometimes when you think you have it all figured out, something happens in your career and it knocks you back down to square one. So it’s always a constant work in progress and I like the humility of it. We don’t take it too serious to where we can’t have fun with it. But we’re always learning and growing.”

The interview with Ahmed and Owen was one of dual nature. My first priority was to get information and quotes to write a 500 word article on them and their comedy show later that night.

The second priority was more personal. I wanted to have a first hand account of a life I look to with longing. I’m still testing the waters of the future (even though I’ve declared myself a Chemical Engineer) and what better way to test the field by asking two of it participants?

Interviewing those two made me a little scared of the District 12-like nature of the comic world, and made me realize that maybe I’ve got a long way to go before I can step foot there. But it also gave me hope. Even as adults, they can be unsure of themselves, but they’re still open to learning, growing and are ever so appreciative of the rare chances they get. If I can’t be professionally funny, I would still love to have that kind of humility.

The next piece in the series will address the obvious – college! What was college like for the two comics and what has college done for them since?