"I have no need for a bell-bottom, double-breasted yellow suit at this point." - Ali Siddiq

Welcome Ali Siddiq

We’re joined on the Starline by a comedian who turned down Netflix, bet on himself, and just won the first NAACP Image Award ever given to an independently released special. His special My Father is streaming now. We welcome Ali Siddiq.

Ali, let’s go Beyond the Mic You've put out more than fifteen specials, and My Father only came out this year. Why did that one take this long to be ready to make, when it's a story you've been carrying your whole career?

Custom Fit Tour is your first real run through arenas. How do the different size rooms feel on the road compared to the Houston stages you learned on?

Three Webbys and that NAACP Image Award. Which one actually caught you off guard?

The Rockin' 8:

Ali Siddiq’s Custom Fit Tour is on the road and Ali joins us for the Rockin’ 8, 8 random questions, just trust your first instinct. There is no Pressure.

1. The tour's called Custom Fit. Who or what actually got measured for that name, the show, the audience, or you?

2. You grew up in Third Ward. Is there one block or corner in that stretch that still means something every time you drive past it?

3. Between boxing and Muay Thai at the gym and running Tom Bass Park, sometimes three miles, sometimes the full six and a half, what decides which kind of exercise you need on a given day?

4. You've hosted Jive Turkeys every November since 2009, raising money for the Houston Food Bank, longer than most of your specials have existed. What keeps that one on the calendar every year when everything else about your career has changed around it?

5. What's one skill from live radio you still use on stage or in the writers' room that people wouldn't expect came from your history?

6. Speaking of hustling, with your daughter a chef, what's the one thing you like cooking yourself?

7. What's one house rule that applies to all your kids, no exceptions, no matter their age?

8. Fans yell out for classic bits like "Mexicans Got on Boots," but you actively refuse to lean on crutches. How do you know when a joke has truly reached its "Sell By" date?

Sneaking in a Couple More:

You'll give us fifteen minutes today. Somewhere else this week you probably said no to twenty. What actually decides which room or person gets your time?

A lot of comics chase the network pilot pipeline as the holy grail. What made you decide that the stage and the independent route were the only acceptable compromises for your art?

With the heavy, dramatic, and real-life emotional weight your stories carry, how do you personally measure whether a show was a success for you on stage?

One Big Question:

What would you want your grand kids to think of the growth and resiliency that you have found in your life?

The Wrap:

He loves cooking for himself, demands his kids to wash their face and brush their teeth and wants you to see the Custom Fit Tour today. Ali Siddiq, thanks for taking the time to talk with us today.

And that my friends is Beyond the Mic.