During our conversation, which has been condensed and edited, Amer talked about the reasons he agreed to the Saudi Arabia concert, his friendships with Jon Stewart and Jimmy Kimmel, and why he's not afraid of being cancelled.
What time is it now, where are you?
10 PM I was actually still editing before jumping in here because the special isn't finished yet. Now all that's left is the finishing touches and adjustments – coloring, ADR, whatever. I've been touring like crazy for a month – all year, actually – so I'll put on a show, then sit down and start editing until about 5. AM or 6 AMthen sleep, wake up, do a show.
Are you touring with your wife and child?
Yes, I took it everywhere. It was, like, a dream. I have a tour bus around Europe, double decker with a small office on top, with Wi-Fi, Apple TV and everything. Here's how I was able to do it: go upstairs, edit a special issue, go downstairs, go to bed with my son and wife, wake up in the next city, in another country, and do it all again. It was very, very special. I'll show you the photos. [He holds up his phone, showing off photos of his toddler.]
Aww. How old is he?
Twenty-one months.
Beautiful.
The whole family is together, man. This is the best thing I've ever done in my life, bro. There is nothing even close to this.
So the reason for our conversation is obviously your new special one. I want to get to this. But before we get there: your audience knows you from your previous specials and shows on Netflix. But maybe let's establish for people who are new to your history where you come from. If someone is cold, what do you want them to know about your life story?
This is very interesting, because the first special issue “Vagabond” was intended to fill this information gap. That was the whole point – like, so that I don't have this conversation anymore. This is so interesting – not this particular interview, but my whole existence has been like this. And it was perhaps naive on some level for me to think: I have a special explanation for where I come from – okay, that's enough..
I understand what you are saying. So you thought, “I'm tired of having to explain myself from scratch every time. Let me just put something out into the world that does it for me.”
Every time. People are like, “Oh, you were born in Kuwait? You're Kuwaiti.” I'm like, “No, I'm not Kuwaiti. It's different in the Middle East—that's where your ancestry comes from.” “Okay, where is your bloodline from?” “Well, I’m originally Palestinian.” – Okay, why aren't you there? “Well, that's a whole different story.” [Laughs.] “Where do you live now? Are you in Houston? Oh, so you're a Texan.” Yes, I'm a Texan. Of course I'm a Texan. Basically, I've been there my whole life. So, I'm a Texan. But then you go abroad and they're like, “Oh, you're American.” You come to America and they're like, “Oh, you're from overseas.” I want to say, “You know what? Fuck both of you.”
[Laughs.] Yeah. There's a great joke in “The Vagabond” about the logistics of it all – somehow slipping through the cracks in that way when you go to the airport and the guy at the counter asks, “Where's your Kuwaiti passport? Where's your American passport? Where is your Palestinian passport?
Yes, it's one bit. This is one bit. I'd say it's much more complicated. This means, you know, this guides my entire life as this person. Protecting US troops even before I became a US citizen, which was truly unprecedented. I will see this with my own eyes, having been a product of war and a displaced, displaced generation because of it. For these reasons, I thought it would be really helpful for me to do this – almost therapeutically or on a spiritual level – to be able to perform in front of American troops in particular and be myself. That's what stand-up is all about, right? Be yourself. And the opportunity to do this was truly unique for me – I don't think anyone else has ever done this, especially in the kind of danger that I was in. I mean, they canceled me once, right after 9/11. They said, “Don’t go, for your own safety.” But then I thought it was even more important to leave, and that's what I did, and that's when I realized that there were so many military bases in the world, and that there was a much bigger geopolitical game being played – bigger than all of us.
