EP 254: Comedian Ali Siddiq Goes from Jail to Jokes

20 years ago comedian Ali Siddiq served six years in the Texas state penitentiary, and now he’s returning to the cellblock for his new Comedy Central standup special Ali Siddiq: It’s Bigger Than These Bars. On today’s podcast, Ali talks about the incident that landed behind bars, and why he says “mental prison” is far worse than physical prison. He discusses how he started his comedy career by telling funny stories to his fellow prisoners, how he convinced the Bell County Jail to let him back in for his new standup special, and some of the surprising changes he saw in both the inmates and their guards. He recalls starting out in showbusiness on the modern day equivalent of the “chitlin' circuit,” reveals why his favorite comics are all old white guys, and answers which is the tougher audience…comedy club-goers or hardened criminals.

Ali Siddiq: It’s Bigger Than These Bars premieres on Friday, February 23 at 11:00 p.m. Eastern on Comedy Central. Check out Ali's upcoming live dates at www.alisiddiq.com and follow him on Twitter at @Ali_Speaks. Today's podcast was sponsored by Google Cloud Platform, Grasshopper, SeatGeek, and Adiamor.com.