- Are you guys ready for your headliner?

(spectator laughs) (audience cheering) Everybody, give it up.

It's a sold-out show.

Are you ready for (beep) headliner?

(audience cheering) (audience applauding) All right, set the mood now for Sohrab Forouzesh.

- Thank you, brother.

Hello.

How are you guys?

(audience cheering) (audience applauding) I sat down in one of those chairs outside and I needed someone to help me out of it, 'cause that's how chubby I've gotten.

I bite off more than I can chew.

I broke a chair at a barbecue a couple days ago.

Let me tell you.

If you're fat and you break a chair at a barbecue, you're done sitting for the night.

That's it.

(audience laughs) You can't break two chairs.

That's a spree.

You gotta be real careful.

Like a skinny person breaks a chair, people are like, "Oh look, a faulty chair."

Right?

(audience laughs) "Someone should email the manufacturer."

I break a chair, people are like, "Where are my children?

Are they safe?

Were they near the blast radius?"

(audience laughs) You can't eat after you break a chair.

You look guilty as (beep).

(audience laughs) (Sohrab laughs) Like doing heroin at an AA meeting, it's impossible.

(audience laughing) (mic feedback blares) (audience applauding) (people chattering) (shot glass clinks) (gentle music) - [Interviewer] Why did you wanna do comedy?

- I don't know.

I think I enjoy making people laugh, and I'm good at it, so you might as well do what you're good at.

I was a kid with no dad, like, you know, just my mom and my sister, no friends, you know, kind of learning how to be normal.

Standup helped a lot.

Like that was something that has given me an escape, and that started super young.

I have to sell tickets for the show, now there's, like, a lot of pressure.

My goal isn't even to sell out, my goal is, like, 60 tickets.

We're gonna go out, we're gonna embark, we'll put out some flyers.

We'll do it in Old Town, which is just the worst place in America.

It should be burned to the ground.

(upbeat rock music) (flyers thudding) Hi, come to my show on Sunday.

No problem.

It's for my show on Sunday.

Hi guys, come to my show on Sunday.

Oh, none of y'all?

- Won't be here.

- Good, all right, I don't believe you.

(Sohrab laughs) Here, come to my show on Sunday.

Ah, it didn't work.

It's going too fast.

Hi guys.

Doing a show on Sunday.

- Awesome.

- Here, I have two flyers left, yeah.

- Fantastic.

- You from Chicago?

- I haven't lived here since like 2012.

- Where are you usually from?

- So yeah.

Umm... Iran and then Michigan.

- Oh, nice.

- Yeah.

- What part of Michigan?

- Hi, come to my show on Sunday.

- Ah, hell yeah.

- You seriously?

That's the most instant- - Yeah, I love Zanies.

- Come on Sunday, 7:00.

We went through these.

(Sohrab grunting) Don't use that.

Get a shot of this.

(upbeat rock music) - I think I booked him maybe about six or seven weeks ahead of his date.

He's like, "Hey Brian, is there any way for me to check how many tickets have been sold?

Just wondering.

So I know who to keep harassing.

LOL."

I said, "No problem, Sohrab.

So far, we're at three."

And he said, "That's a start."

(chuckles) And he goes, "Hey Brian, sorry to be neurotic.

Just wanted to check in again about tickets."

I said, "No worries.

We're still at three."

He says, "Hey Brian, any movement?"

Had a few people hit me up and I said, "Reservations are up to five."

He says, "What's sold out?

175?"

I said, "140.

Almost there."

He said, "Hey Brian, any movement?"

And I said, "Seven, baby."

And then he said, "Embarrassing myself is a big fear of mine."

And I said, "Don't worry, I got you."

And then he said, "Sounds great.

Are we still at 10?"

And I said, "Now we're at 16."

For him to ask me how many tickets, for me, it's literally a 30-second lookup.

So I tried to get back to him as soon as I could and a... you know, make him feel a... at ease with everything that was going on.

(gentle music) Zanies has always been a mainstay, it's established a reputation as the Chicago club.

Our walls are just filled with comedians that have been here over the years.

Jim Gaffigan, Bill Burr, Sam Morril.

Yeah, there's pictures of Dave Chappelle on the wall.

Eddie Murphy, Kevin Hart, Jay Leno.

And to be able to put that on your resume – headlines Zanies in Chicago – it really means something.

(gentle music) (birds squawking) - I forgot we had matching Garfield shirts on.

We're gonna look ridiculous.

Do you wanna get in the water?

- Not right now.

- What if I push you in the water?

-Um.

- Hold on.

Let me stretch for a second.

(Sohrab sighs) You gotta stretch.

Our plantar fasciitis.

Do you guys have insoles?

Is that how you fight- - [Ashley] You're deflecting.

- Yeah, I deflect.

Yeah I prob...

I don't like talking about my emotions or personal life.

With her, I do.

I probably do it with her more than anybody else.

So you have that going for you.

- Yes.

- Yes.

It's less than I would like, but that's okay.

- I just try to keep things light.

- That's true.

I mean people like him around because, it's fun.

- Yeah, all right.

- You know?

- This is getting weird.

- It's not weird.

You know he has a complex about that though.

He feels like he thinks that people only want him around because he is funny.

And he will assume that that's why people like his company, instead of him just being a lovable person and being genuine, and sweet.

He's actually really humble.

- Hmm.

- And...

I don't know.

He always does the right thing.

- I'm gonna jump in the water if we keep doing this.

(Ashley laughs) (birds squawking) - I don't know.

We had a hard year, and it's like- - We had a really hard year.

- We tried to- - We had a hard two years.

- Putting two years, and it's hard to, with that perspective.

- We had a hard two and a half years because trying to move to LA and then we were apart, and then your father passed, and then we've just now started to get our (beep) together.

- [Ashley] Like within the past, like, few weeks.

- Be happy and stuff.

Yeah.

(gentle music) (engine humming) (gentle music) - I think we're just in a new chapter.

So, what are we gonna work on together?

What are our goals together as a couple?

We both love Chicago so much.

Like, it's like part of us.

I feel like Chicago is like the incubator for comedy, and then it kind of almost seems to end there.

Most people who have really done something with it leave.

And it can be really hard with comedy because we don't know where that'll take him, you know, whether it's going to be New York or LA or...

It's really hard to land somewhere.

- [Sohrab] I don't know, man.

I've been trying out new stuff at shows and it's been not going well.

Bill Gevirtz (beep) buried me last night.

- [Friend 1] Dude, you're about to bomb in front of everybody.

- I've only done mediocre.

(friend 2 laughs) I'm telling you.

- [Friend 2] Oh, (beep).

- Yeah.

- That's exciting.

- I've only sold 30 tickets so far.

- [Friend 2] When is it?

- Sunday.

- [Friend 2] Okay, I'll try to make it.

- Please, please bring some friends.

- You ready for the headliner?

(audience cheering) He's a regular all over Chicago.

You guys are in for a real treat.

So, clap right now for Sohrab Forouzesh.

- Yes, hello.

Yes, hello.

How are we?

Hello, Comedy Bar.

(audience applauding) How is everybody?

This is a good room.

- [Spectator] Yahoo!

- We got the two Trump kids on the (beep) stage right?

Hell yeah.

(audience laughs) Eric and Junior, how you guys doing?

(audience laughs) These are good lights.

Ah!

No, I'm just kidding.

That'd be weird if they... Sir.

(audience laughs) Have you ever done cocaine?

(audience laughs) You have?

Oh, he was like, "Oh, yeah."

(Sohrab laughs) (audience laughs) He's from the South, of course you've done, you lived through the '80s.

You know about cocaine.

(audience laughs) You wanna do some right now?

He said yes.

Shut it down.

(audience laughs) Shut it the (beep) down.

Me and him are going to the bathroom.

We're gonna talk about our small business ideas.

We're gonna get these two idiots to fund it.

(audience laughs) They have Bitcoin, they don't care.

(audience laughs) (tongue clicks) I should have done more crowd work.

I don't know why I bailed.

I could have gotten away with probably like five minutes, four, three minutes more crowd work.

(engine humming) I think there's something to be gained from being hard on yourself.

- Yeah, absolutely.

I get weirded out when a comic won't admit it.

- Yeah.

- (laughs) If they're like, "Oh, yo, I crushed."

I'm like, "What?"

- That's why me and Dan are friends, is that's always been like something me and him kind of both agree on.

- [Dan] I'm so hard on myself.

- Yeah.

(engine humming) Is like, I think it just got like, I don't know.

- Feels toxic.

- It's toxic.

But I just, I...

It's surely toxic.

- [Dan] Yeah, the comedy's toxic.

(Sohrab and Dan laugh) - I'm essentially a gambling addict.

I chase that rush, that dopamine rush of murdering and, like, being high from it, so that when it doesn't go according to plan, when you only get a little bit of that dopamine, you leave being like, "I feel sick."

I feel like something didn't happen.

And I need... And I have no other way to get that dopamine the rest of tonight.

If we were to write a one-sentence short story about what happened tonight, it would be, "Sohrab was not the funniest person in the room."

(gentle music) (water babbling) - Oh wow, look at this view.

I don't know where the whole comedy thing came up.

It was kind of gradual because I think him and my mom would watch a lot of comedy shows together.

Because of my mom's sense of humor, I think they bonded over that.

And then I just remember, maybe it was like eight, nine, they had, like, a talent show, and Sohrab went on stage and literally, like, rapid fire, like, Jerry Seinfeld jokes at a talent show.

And, like, all the parents were, like, dying and none of the students understood, like, what, what was going on, because you know, like, Sohrab was just, like, telling adult jokes, and then he would always wanna try his jokes on my friends.

I'm like, "Stop, stop."

(chuckles) It was so embarrassing.

Like, if he got a laugh out of someone, it just made his day.

You know?

So, it was interesting watching him just, like, pour into this little corner of the... of his brain where he was just like, "That's it.

That's the one I wanna pursue.

Comedy is it.

I wanna make people laugh."

And my mom really struggled with it (chuckles).

She'll be like, "I didn't come to this country to raise a clown."

You know?

(laughs) She might probably still be struggling with it to this day.

(gentle music) - [Server] All right, some food for y'all.

There's a lamb shank and some sabzi.

- [Friend] Thank you.

- [Server] And then this is the plate of beef koobideh.

- Oh, boy.

- [Server] Chicken koobideh mixed rice.

- Thank you.

- Pardon.

- [Friend] Man, this is stacked.

- First, try the yogurt drink.

(friend laughs) - Okay.

- That's the ticket.

So as this Persian tradition, after we eat this, we have to have a terrible argument (friend laughs) about something very petty.

- [Friend] (laughs) Financial matter.

- Financial matter, yeah, and then we won't talk for several years.

(group laughs) (gentle music) - I have some grievances.

- You have some grievances.

You have grievances?

- Yeah, more or less.

(Sohrab laughs) - People want this, like, quick fix of, like, "He's an immigrant, but he's telling jokes?"

Like, I don't... (sighs) I kind of, sometimes, I wish I had the anonymity of just like, like, a white kid from the suburbs who's just funny and, like, doesn't have a story.

Like, sometimes I wish I could just be my material.

But it's not that, people want, like, a elevator pitch of who you are.

Having an identity has been deglamorized.

(people chattering) (gentle music) Lately, I feel a little disconnected from my Persian culture.

I'm...

I just...

I don't have anyone to speak Farsi with.

I'd love to reconnect, but I don't know how.

My mom, we haven't talked in a while.

It was like a family gathering, I just said something that pissed her off.

I made a comment about her unwillingness to be vaccinated.

She didn't like it.

And I apologized, but it was the whole Persian...

It's like a whole process.

Like, there's like timeframes to it.

I just wasn't playing the game.

(engine revving) (crickets chirping) (Mina chuckling) - [Ashley] There's serving - Yeah.

- tongs and stuff.

- [Mina] Oh, maybe we can go to Flavortown.

- Oh, if you wanna do the Guy Fieri version.

(friend laughs) - [Ashley] Flavortown?

- [Friend] Let's go to Flavortown.

(Mina laughs) (Sohrab groans) - [Friend] Let's together.

- Brother.

- You got something on your shoulder now because you had- - I can eat it off my shoulder, brother.

(Mina laughing) Ooh, that's good.

(Mina laughs) What time is it?

- 8:36.

- Look at my oven.

- Oh, it's 8:36?

(beep) can't cancel on the show anymore.

- I forgot you have to go to the show.

- [Mina] Oh, you gotta go.

- I can leave in like 15 minutes.

- [Mina] Yeah.

- [Sohrab] Yeah.

- I think the show tomorrow, he has a lot of peers and a lot of people that are really close to him coming.

And so I always think that that adds a little extra pressure because he really wants to- - [Mina] This is literally brainwashing.

- You know, nail it.

He gets kind of in his head and it's just kind of working through his- - Will you stop talking (beep) over there?

- [Ashley] Okay, well, I'm being asked.

(Sohrab laughs) - All right, all right.

(cat meowing) Chill out, chill out, chill.

- And I don't know, I just kind of leave him alone in that process.

And I use to... Now I know how to recognize it.

Sometimes I would think he was upset or did I do something, but it's really just his creative process.

- Oh my God, oh my God.

He loves it.

All right.

(engine humming) (Sohrab puffs) (Sohrab huffs) Yeah, it'll be a good night.

It'll...

I'll try to have some fun with them.

Probably go up there.

I'll say, "Suburb folk, suburb people, hello."

That's what I'll say.

(vehicles swooshing) - [Staff] Hi, Sohrab.

- [Sohrab] What's up?

Thank you for having me.

- [Staff] Yeah.

- [Sohrab] Just the one table?

- Yeah.

- Oh, nice.

- [Speaker] Sir, I'm like, "I've never seen you do one of those things."

(audience laughs) - Think I'd look like a (beep) if I left?

I'm just (beep).

(friend laughs) - [Host] Welcome to your private show.

Are you excited?

- [Spectator] Yay, whoo-hoo!

- [Host] Oh, you guys are the best.

What's going on?

Where are you all from?

How do we all know each other?

How old are your kids?

- [Guest] My daughter is- - Oh my God.

Don't do all the crowd work.

- She's doing it all right now.

- Don't do all the (beep) crowd work.

What are we supposed to do?

- I know, she's just gonna get everything out from the crowd.

- [Host] They should be.

You're ready for a better show?

- [Guest] Finally.

(host chuckles) - Where is your daughter?

- Get up and leave the island if you wanted to, but inevitably he would be ranked, but... you know?

(audience cheering) - It's Sohrab Forouzesh.

- Oh my God.

Hello.

Yeah, thank you.

Thank you so much.

How are we?

Hello.

- [Spectator] Hello.

- Hello.

- Hello.

- What are we brewing in here?

Broken dreams.

That's cool.

(hand tapping) That's a thick, that's a thick bitch behind me.

Sweet.

Family, guy on his own, date.

How you guys doing?

I'm happy to be in the storage space of this bar (laughs).

What made you decide to just come in here?

- [Spectator 1] I genuinely had no idea there was a comedy show.

- My career is going great.

Wonderful.

(audience applauding) (audience laughs) What a fun thing for you...

I genuinely had no idea.

All right.

This is a big deal for you guys.

You guys are gonna go to... We're gonna make it home by 10:00 PM.

We're gonna watch an episode of "Blue Bloods," it'll be fun.

(audience laughs) Are you guys on a date?

- [Spectator 2] No.

We're engaged.

- Whoo!

(audience applauding) - [Sohrab] All right.

- Congratulations.

- That counts as a date.

Is anyone else weirded out by the fact that they said they're not on a date?

(audience laughs) You're engaged.

What is this a business meeting?

What is happening?

Tuck in your shirt like this guy if it's a business meeting.

(audience laughing) All right, you guys are great.

Thank you very much.

(audience cheering) Oh my God.

I got wire... Oh my God.

Thank you.

Give it up, everyone.

- Hello.

(audience cheering) (host speaking indistinctly) That wasn't...

It wasn't that bad, I guess.

- You did good.

It's great.

Dude, I thought it was great.

- Huh?

- It was fun.

- Oh, it could have been better, but it was good.

(audience applauding) (gentle music) - I appreciate what the eight guys in the audience did.

(Sohrab laughs) Bring it in, man.

Bring it in, buddy.

Lot of fun, man.

- If you're in Chicago, come to Zanies, I'm headlining.

- At Zanies?

- Yeah.

(gentle music) (engine humming) (button clicks) (fuel dispenser beeps) (pump lever clicking) (gentle music) (fuel dispenser beeps) (pump lever clicking) (engine humming) (gentle music) (gentle music continues) (birds chirping) (people chattering) Hey, show's sold out?

What?

You're (beep) with me.

- Holy (beep).

(Sohrab laughs) Holy (beep).

It is actually sold out.

Yeah, dude, congrats.

That's awesome.

- That's wild.

- This is awesome, man.

- [Host] What's up, Zanies?

Make some (beep) noise.

How you guys doing?

Come on.

(audience applauding) (audience cheering) You can do better than that.

It's sold out.

Make some (beep) noise, would you?

(audience cheering) That's what I'm talking about.

He's one of the best out there, Sohrab Forouzesh.

- Thank you so much.

Hello.

(audience cheering) (audience applauding) (lip smacks) How are we?

Hello.

(audience cheering) (audience applauding) I was hoping we'd have some more fatties in here.

I don't see a lot of fatties.

- [Spectator] Whoo!

- All right, cool.

Let's hang out later.

(audience laughs) You know what happens when two fat people become friends?

We take our shirts off and we rub our stomachs together, and we exchange memories.

It's some crazy "Star Trek" (beep) you skinny people don't know about.

(audience laughs) I don't like going to doctors.

Doctors are kind of the meanest people in my life right now.

They are.

If you're big and you go to a doctor, they just love calling you obese, they love... and they'll throw morbid in front of it, which is just a bummer.

(Sohrab laughs) (audience laughs) Like, keep the morbid out.

We don't need to throw... Why are we talking about death?

Just call me fat and let's get on with our lives.

They'll be like, "You're morbidly obese."

I'm like, "No, I'm not.

Look at this."

(Sohrab snorts) (audience laughs) Look at this.

See this (beep)?

(audience laughs) I don't think an obese person...

I've seen TLC.

I don't think they can do that.

Look at this.

Yeah.

I'll drop my keys on the ground right now and pick 'em up.

I'm not morbidly obese.

I can do this six more times, sit down for 10 minutes, and then do it four to five more times.

(audience laughs) I know a lot about white people.

I know a lot about you guys.

I'm an expert.

I date a white woman.

I snatched one up.

I got one.

(audience laughs) I did, I got one.

I snatched one up.

I impressed her with my many wares, my silks, and my spices.

I got her.

(audience laughs) That's what they like.

I don't know.

Read a history book.

That's the kind of (beep) they go after.

You guys also love Trader Joe's.

That's something else I've learned.

Yeah, you're nodding yes.

Look at you.

You are Trader Joe.

(audience laughs) I could kidnap you at gunpoint, slap you around, throw you in the back of a van, take you to Trader Joe's.

You would drop the charges.

You know that about yourself.

(audience laughs) You'd be like, "What a weird Uber ride.

He hit me.

I don't think he should have hit me."

(audience laughs) I just want people...

I just want people to be better at racism.

Does that make sense?

That's all I want.

I just feel like, you guys are dropping the ball.

You're not as good as you used to be.

Don't call me a terrorist.

That's very lazy.

It's very inaccurate.

I'd be a terrible terrorist.

First of all, I'm fat.

I don't see any fat terrorism on CNN.

(audience laughs) I don't know why.

They live a very healthy lifestyle.

These terrorists are always on the move.

(audience laughs) Eating granola bars.

I don't know what it is.

Terrorism is just CrossFit.

It's a lot of running and jumping, and climbing (beep) monkey bars.

I've seen the videos.

(audience laughs) Also, I can't keep a secret.

That's a very important part of terrorism.

Keeping your (beep) mouth shut.

I can't do that.

I'm a gossip.

You get a couple drinks in me, I will tell you anything you want to know.

(audience laughs) I'd be a terrible terrorist.

If I was a terrorist, I would've messed everything up, September 8th.

I would've ruined the whole thing.

Just drunk at a strip club.

Like, "Yeah, we're here for work."

(audience laughs) "We got some big plans."

(audience laughs) "Where's your ATM?"

(audience laughs) Those guys went to a strip club.

I'm not trying to bring the mood down, but the FBI found that (beep) out.

Those terrorist sons of bitches who did what they did on September 11th, on September 10th, they found the time to go to a strip club.

Isn't that crazy?

That's crazy because if those strippers would've just danced a little harder, (audience laughs) just a little.

If they had the "A" team in there, we could've saved a lot of lives.

Those dudes would've been patriots.

They would've been like, "I like this country.

This rules."

(audience laughs) Let's call the whole thing off.

(audience laughs) (Sohrab laughs) (audience applauding) Have a good night.

Thank you so much.

(audience cheering) (bright music) (audience cheering continues) (bright music continues) - [Host] Sohrab Forouzesh, thank you so much.

(audience cheering) (bright music) You have a good night.

Thank you for coming.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Another hand for your headliner, Sohrab Forouzesh, folks.

(audience cheering) Thanks for coming, and Sohrab Forouzesh, thank you.

(bright music)