On this day in comedy on June 27, 1970 Comedian, Actor, Ahmed Ahmed was born in Helwan, Egypt.
When it’s said Ahmed was born in Egypt it sounds very exotic. Truth is he was one month old when his parents moved him to Riverside, California. Things didn’t get exotic until he moved himself to Hollywood when he was 19. That’s where he went to kick his stand-up and acting career into gear. He became a regular at the World Famous Comedy Store; getting much needed exposure and plenty of looks by industry.
Ahmed’s film credits include Virtuosity, Executive Decision, Swingers, Don’t Mess with the Zohan, The Onion Movie and Iron Man. He has guest-starred on Roseanne, JAG, Girlfriends, Tracey Takes On . . . and popped up The View and Punk’d. He was also a regular on Sullivan & Son. His other televised comedy appearances include I Am Ahmed Ahmed, Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days and 30 Night in the Heartland, Hey Hey It’s Saturday and Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn. On those he played himself, even though throughout his career Ahmed has played characters named Ahmed three times.
Ahmed Ahmed was seen in the PBS documentary, “STAND UP: Muslim American Comics Come of Age”. He also appeared on the front page of the Wall Street Journal and Newsweek. In 2004 Ahmed attended the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland and won the 1st Annual Richard Pryor Award for ethnic comedy. He’s known for the “Axis of Evil Comedy Tour” and the “One Arab, One Jew, One Stage Tour”, where he and Rabbi Bob Alper performed together right after 9/11 until 2004 in the name of unity and interfaith harmony.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
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