How Egyptian-American Comedian Ahmed Ahmd Stands Up to Stereotypes

Born into a family where humour was a love language and form of self-expression, Egyptian-American comedian Ahmed Ahmed has taken his life story to the international stage.

Having immigrated to the US with his family at the age of 19, Ahmed initially pursued a career in acting. After struggling with terrorist typecasts at the height of post-9/11 anti-Arab sentiment in Hollywood, Ahmed channelled his frustration into comedy, eventually finding the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour in 2005 - the first standup comedy special to exclusively feature Middle Eastern comedians in the US.

The Axis of Evil Comedy Tour later went on to perform in Dubai, Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Palestine, Syria, and Yemen with over 20,000 people in attendance. In 2012, Ahmed made his directorial debut with the award-winning documentary ‘Just Like Us’ which followed the story of stand-up comedians touring the Middle East and premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Having made his debut in Egypt this month, we caught up with Ahmed Ahmed after his show to talk about Hollywood, comedy, Jimmy Fallon and the famous sense of humour that all Egyptians seem to share.