My guest, Dave Merheje, and I discuss:
- Dave Merheje, a successful comedian and co-star of the hit show ‘Ramy’ on Hulu, joins us today.
- We take a trip down memory lane and discuss his journey from doing open mics together in Windsor, Canada to his current success.
- Dave shares his insights on the comedy industry and what it takes to make it in the business.
- We explore the themes and inspirations behind his work on ‘Ramy’, as well as his other projects.
- Dave also opens up about some of the challenges he has faced along the way, and how he overcame them.
You’re going to love my conversation with Dave Merheje:
- Website: https://www.davemerheje.com/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/DaveMerheje
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davemerheje/
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Looking to sound like you know what's going on in the world social strategy, comedy and other funny stuff? Well join the club and settle in for the Jeff Dwoskin show. It's not the podcast we deserve. But the podcast we all need with your host, Jeff Dwoskin.
Jeff Dwoskin 0:18
All right. Thanks, Reese for that amazing introduction that always gets made. Go and welcome to Episode 10, the 10th episode of the Jeff Dwoskin show. So excited to have you back again. We've got a great show for you today. Dave Merheje is here. He's one of the CO stars of romney on Hulu. We're going to talk to him in a little bit. It's gonna be great. Dave and I used to do open mic comedy together, way back when in Canada, we'd go out there and we do our thing. We'll talk a little bit about that later as well. It's gonna be good job. So it was good to catch up with Dave Merheje and hear about all his success, so much success.
Speaking of success, a quick word from our sponsor, the people that make this all possible this week sponsored dental floss, dental floss. Yeah, you tell people you use us, but you don't. But that's okay. But maybe try us every now and then dental floss, we're here when you need us. Or when the dentist says hey, you know, the best way to stop that bleeding is to use dental floss dental floss available at your local convenience store.
So last week, I talked about the ability to tweet from Twitter that they added that right from the little tweet box. Sometimes you need a little bit more than that are you like a different tool, I just wanted to kind of suggest a few that I use buffer, Hootsuite TweetDeck, which is actually part of Twitter tweetdeck.twitter.com gives you a different interface. So those are those are great things to use. for very specific things you want to schedule buffer is great. If you need something down to the minute, I need this to go at 1259. And I need to know that it's gonna go at 1259 Hootsuite is not good for that. Hootsuite, like I need this to go at one. Maybe Hootsuite is gonna send it at one to one to one or two. They're not as specific. So it's very time sensitive buffer or TweetDeck seemed to be right on the nose. And to the minute, Hootsuite doesn't offer them in it, they only offer on the O or the five. So different things. I use them all, but different times for different different things depending on the need. Google it, check it out, learn how to use them all worth your time.
So many years ago, when I was starting comedy, you do open mic. And open mic is where you go and you're all new and you're trying material you get like three minutes, five minutes, seven minutes. And as you get better, you get more time from the club. And it's it's a whole experience. It's a whole community of comedians and a lot of times just comedians playing to comedians. And when you're lucky you get an audience and you can actually test your comedy in front of an audience. So one of the places that we all used to go in the Detroit area was a place called Yaki oxen that's in Windsor, Canada would cross the border. And they always had a crowd. It was Sunday nights, and they always had a crowd. And that's where I met Dave Merheje. And so we became friends and we would do comedy together.
Can't count how many times we've done comedy together, but like for years, and as time went by, Dave Merheje moved on, and he found his dream to be an actor and full time comedian. And this conversation is his story.
All right, we're here with Dave Merheje one of Canada's predominate comedians, how are you, Dave? How are you, man? How are you?
Dave Merheje 4:05
Thank you for having me.
Jeff Dwoskin 4:07
Great to have you. Dave and I, we used to do open mics together and your jokes and a variety of other places and Windsor and Detroit area. You've since gone on to many amazing thing.
Dave Merheje 4:20
Congratulations, you bring back memories. Big time. I remember you'd have to you have to cross the border, to come to Yuk Yuks in Windsor, Canada.
Jeff Dwoskin 4:29
Yeah, we cross the border and they'd have these packed houses and we we had a blast. Those were really great times. Really great times we were all just had no idea what we were doing and just
Dave Merheje 4:43
just just just
Jeff Dwoskin 4:44
getting by and just doing, doing what the we wanted to do. But you always had a pretty definitive voice. So you always, you're always a good storyteller on stage, talking about your family and such. Yes.
Dave Merheje 4:58
I appreciate that. Man. You Man, you know, not saying it just because you said I've always had had me but had us laughing like the group that we that we would hang out. It's just so so funny, man.
Jeff Dwoskin 5:12
Yeah, it's great time. So you from the open mic view. You've been a full time comedian now for quite a long time. When did you make the move from Windsor to Toronto to go full time?
Dave Merheje 5:23
I'd say, Man, because, you know, I didn't have a green card at the time. So I was just kind of doing open mics, I guess. And then, because I couldn't get paid in the US. So I think I left around 2006 I want to stay or seven around that time. I moved to Toronto from Windsor, Canada,
Jeff Dwoskin 5:42
from Canada. So you you were you won just for laughs In 2011, the homegrown comic competition talk about that.
Dave Merheje 5:50
See, it's not a competition anymore. But at that time, it was they would gather they would select like the best newer comics they felt from all over Canada that year. And then we would compete at this at the just for laughs festival. So in 2011 I competed and I won that year. And it was, for me it meant so much to because it kind of pushed me It gave me a foot in the door in the Canadian industry. So I started to get into other festivals. So it was kind of broke me in so forever. I'll be grateful for that award and the festival.
Jeff Dwoskin 6:24
You were part of NBC Santa for diversity tour.
Dave Merheje 6:27
They had come top Canada to audition came to Toronto. I think that was the only city they had come to in Canada. And me my boy actually Kevin solo, funny comedian. We were like, We both I think I might have to I was like, yo, you got to come with me. And he was like, Bro, I don't I think he he's like Serbian. I yeah, he's Serbian. He was like, I don't know if I could. I think he was like, that's not an ethnicity. It isn't ethnicity. It's not like he was like, I'm like, he was kind of like, hesitant to go and then I think he might have made up some Serbian jokes. I had them in this. And that moment or that day, and we went down there and we audition. I made it through the that the day auditions to come at night. He didn't. And I don't think he made it through the second round. And I think he got a parking ticket. And I remember I ripped off that my second audition during the day. And I don't not help me, you know, get I'm pretty sure that helped me get up cuz you got like three minutes, get there at night. So I get there at night. And then I find out I don't know, when I found out like months or weeks after that I got picked to go to LA and do the showcase. It was a showcase. And I did that around December. So from there, I did that showcase. And then they invited a five of us or seven of us I can't really remember to audition at NACA, you know, the college auditions. So it was like, to me I you know, I don't think, you know, I've never been a part of the NBC diversity thing. So that was very, very exciting. We got flown out there. I was allowed to bring a guest and I brought Kevin with me who auditioned with me. And it was just a great time, man. We got to see friends got to do the showcase, stay in a hotel, rented a car. It was great. I met some some people that I'm you know, I still talk to you know, I met Tom Bell I met Lou the Lucas brothers get was and then they picked me that Canadian two Canadian guys. Two Canadian people actually did you the mares was the other Canadian that was that was picked as well.
Jeff Dwoskin 8:29
That's amazing. So you've done a lot. So you're you've been a regular contributor on MTV live.
Dave Merheje 8:36
And tv live was a thing that they did in Canada. It's not on there anymore. But it was on the air for a while. And Darren Jones was was one of the lead hosts. And I think he had left the show and they were auditioning newer people. And I had made it through all the auditions to join. It was like a cast. And that I had such a great experience with I think it was, I think it was a year a little under a year I had to do it. And it was the first time I was on TV, like extensively in Canada. And it was a very popular show in Canada. So you know, I got to do sketch on TV. I got to be a part of the live broadcast. And it was amazing man. They were they were they would bring on musical guests. I got to see Kendrick Lamar, I think around when he put out section at the mixtape section 8.0 and it was surreal for me because I was like a fan and I got to see him like, you know, he was he was doing the, the rehearsals and then remember the sound guy was uh, you want to come see Kendrick do the rehearsals? I was like, I was like, yeah, so it was like, a lot of those moments and memories. You know, I hold dearly.
Jeff Dwoskin 9:38
It's amazing. So you know, I do want to mention your you're one of the CO stars of the Hulu show Raimi and I want to get to that in a second. I want to first kind of talk about like talking about the jump like what it took to leave Windsor and go to Toronto and just kind of go ahead first and just follow your dream which had been so successful and
Dave Merheje 9:58
well I wasn't gonna Leave, you know, I wasn't going to go to Toronto I had I knew a comic who was headlining Yuk Yuks, a comedy chain and he was like, I think he was like, you got to come to Toronto. I was gonna I didn't, I knew nothing about the customs and borders and immigration, I thought I could just move to New York or LA, like I was gonna work in Michigan, and then move to those places. Then I realized I was like, oh, man, you need any paperwork. I don't know why I didn't think so. And then I decided, you know, with the advice of the comedian, who was, who was like a headliner for that for that company. I moved to Toronto and a friend of mine was in a band and a band and his whole band, they all move to Toronto. So I was going to visit Toronto, and I would, I would stay with them. So then I eventually just moved to Toronto. That leap was wild to me because I grew up in Windsor and my left my family and my friends. And, and I'm thankful for because, you know, I was able to get on stage so many times to craft my hack. So how did
Jeff Dwoskin 10:56
you eventually that led to you one of the CO stars of the show, rainy, rainy, is that who won the Golden Globe last year? Yeah, bell belt. He beat out Bill Hader and Paul Rudd. All right, law pro Michael Michael Douglas and Michael Douglas. It's quite a trio to be a he's, he's great. How did you and he Connect? How did you end up as part of that show?
Dave Merheje 11:24
I met him 10 years ago, actually, at the Arab Comedy Festival in New York. I think he was doing sketch and I think, you know, he remembers his conversation. I was like, I was telling him I wanted to act. And he was saying he was going to do stand up. I believe that was our that was our discussion, or one of the things we talked about. And then you know, I, you know, staying in touch, I moved to LA around 2015 2016. He's out here, we connected again. And then we just became closer. And then he he had, you know, his pilot, a pilot got picked up. And then I auditioned us, like, do you want to know, do you want to audition we were chatting about I was like, Yeah, for sure. And I did, and I was able to land a role on the pilot. And from there, I got picked up. So it's so dope though, because, like, you know, we're friends. And, you know, it's so fun to be on set and so fun to be a part of this process.
Jeff Dwoskin 12:16
With the show, Ramy is all about
Dave Merheje 12:19
Rami uses show. It's a you know, he's a first generation Muslim. And it's really about, you know, the first season is about his journey, you know, through through his faith and then living in like, you know, North America, like, you know, and fitting in there. And it's about relationships that he has with women, his family and his friends and faith to like, you get to see faith in a positive. Like, you know, it's not, you know, like, I think he's, he might have said this, I'm paraphrasing, like, you know, he talks about how like, religion is usually a punch line. Do you know I'm saying like, and this in this instance, it's not, so it was pretty and also I'm like a Christian, Lebanese, so I Islam. I learned a lot from even being on the show and acting in it and about Islam. So it was like, it was dope for me personally.
Jeff Dwoskin 13:13
It's a great show. I watched I started watching it to prep for this you play it right. Ron is
Dave Merheje 13:21
Doctor friend or his friend who's a doctor.
Jeff Dwoskin 13:25
Yeah, so it's it's funny because the scenes of you guys are always giving them
Dave Merheje 13:31
love faith abiding citizen.
Jeff Dwoskin 13:34
It's great. I mean, I love it. It's it's funny because like, you're not an AIDS, I'm Jewish to shows that romney is Muslim. And it's, I want what we have as Jews have Ms. maizel. Right. Have you seen, right, but it's more of a surreal show. Where I haven't
Dave Merheje 13:50
seen it. Yeah, I gotta get into it, though.
Jeff Dwoskin 13:53
It's more surreal. I mean, it's I feel like romney show is it's, it's pretty real. And it's, it's really great. And it's funny, like, as I watch it, it's like, just how things are just the same, you know, just like his uncle was a little racist. And it's like, it was got that it's like, you know, it's like, it's just, it's just funny when you watch it. When I when I watch Ms. maizel as a Jew, I go, oh, there's no way someone who wasn't Jewish would find that funny or even understand that joke. Do you when you watch your show? Do you? Do you go like, oh, you're not Muslim? Or you wouldn't you wouldn't you wouldn't get that you may appreciate on a certain level. But there's like, there's like, if you didn't grow up in that, in that religion, you know that you just don't get it. I tell I've done I watch nasal like there's just certain subtleties that you miss. Just because you didn't it would only speak to that niche person watching it. Does that make sense?
Dave Merheje 14:52
it you know, it's interesting because there are some parts Yeah, but then I'll meet people or people to message me and be like, You know, they're not even a part of that religion or that they're not even Arab. And they're like, Oh, you know, I understand the aspects of the mom or I have an uncle. That's pretty, that's racist like this, or so. There are a lot of stuff that even though you're not part of the religion or Arab that people get, and I was even some sometimes I'm even like, Oh, that's really dope. I didn't, I didn't, you know, like, I grew up in a Christian family. But I could relate. There are some things obviously, that, you know, I don't fully get sometimes, but for the most part, I can relate to it. And I find like, other people from other ethnicities and religions, from just them, you know, having discussions about the show that they find a way to connect.
Jeff Dwoskin 15:42
Yeah, I agree. I mean, it's interesting when you watch that, and it's a completely different religion, like for me to watch that it's by YouTube, but there's just so many similarities. You're like us, we're also like, we have all the same beats and patterns in our lives. You know,
Dave Merheje 15:57
it's like, when you're when you're like, I feel like as a Christian, it's like, I'm not always like, following the faith. You know, what I mean? There's that kind of like, conflicting part, you know, that I deal with in my religion. So so when you see that, it's, it's like, you can still connect GNR I mean, like, I'm not necessarily I'm not that religious, but I can still connect to some of the struggles in wanting to connect.
Jeff Dwoskin 16:22
Absolutely. It's a great, it's really well done. And he did. He definitely deserved it. I know. You've been you submitted your been submitted for Best Supporting Actor. So good luck to that. That'd be super cool. And then Season Two just came out this past May. So there's two seasons available for anyone listening? definitely watch it. It's a great show. Dave's awesome in it as well. Thank you. So you also have a comedy album? Yes. Good friend, bad grammar. When did you record it a year or two ago?
Dave Merheje 16:53
Ah, man, I think we recorded that actually, in 2017. I want to say 16 or 1717. Sorry for my memory on this. But we were trying to sell it to like streaming services. And then we we were we didn't have luck on that. And so we just put it out. And then we you know, we, we, we it's on Amazon Prime in the US in the UK. But we put it out and I which I was super still super excited about and it was one of the greatest things I done personally for me, the whole team around it. And we filmed we filmed it because we video filmed it. I don't know I said video filmed but we recorded it all. We also put it on audio. But we did it in Toronto, which was was awesome for me because I kind of I came up there. So I got to see people from like, five years ago who would see me at different venues come like people from all different. I guess I don't you know what not walks of life. But like parts of my, my come up, showed up to the show. So we did two shows a roughly around like 80 people for each show. And it was amazing man, I still still it was such an amazing night. And then we were able to submit for the junos which is like the Canadian version of the Grammys. And it was able to win a Juno which which I was super thrilled about that our work got to be recognized. That's amazing.
Jeff Dwoskin 18:17
And if it wasn't, if we didn't add enough accolades to your list, more than most have also part of Netflix is comedians of the world special, which was great. So that so how did that come to be?
Dave Merheje 18:33
That was I got a call from my manager in Canada. You think you're being shortly like submitted and I think it's shortlisted for this, the Netflix are doing this committees of the world. And I was like, oh man, that's wild, especially, you know, for Canadians to be to be a part of that. And then they picked for Canadian comics to do a half hour line. They pick comics from all over the world. And they filmed it in Montreal at the just for laughs festival in 2018 at club soda, and I was able to my brother, one of my brothers flew out I was able to bring him to the festival he got to see there. He got to come for the weekend. And for me that was just on top of being a part of it just amazing to have my brother there to watch an experience with me.
Jeff Dwoskin 19:16
So many so many great things you've done since open mics yuxin Windsor, so proud of you, bro. It's a girl. So great. So tell everyone how can they How can they find you
Dave Merheje 19:28
on social media and stuff like that? Um, it's just the handle is Dave Merheje and that's on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Julie post things on their website is Dave Merheje .com but if you're on Instagram, which I think everyone is on there posting in and just hanging out I guess internet wise hanging out.
Jeff Dwoskin 19:51
Alright, well Hey Dave, it was really great catching up with you so much. So much happiness for all your success and appreciate you spending some time with me, Alright well check out Dave, great guy worked his butt off, got everything. He deserved all the success. So I wish him much more in the future as well. I think it's just a starting point for him.
And in keeping with the theme of Dave show Rami and faith that we talked about with hashtag Roundup, I found a hashtag hashtag because of my faith from heavenly hashtags. This one is in Dez, jokey joke as the ones in the past because sometimes, you just got to speak the truth. Because of my faith, I can face the dark days because of my faith in humanity. I believe we can do better because of my faith. I believe in gretta things to come because of my faith. I'm not afraid to take a leap. But that be the overall lesson of this episode. take a leap, follow your dream, and all the good things will happen.
Thanks for joining me. I'm Jeff Dwoskin. Like Subscribe, find us tell your friends. I hope you enjoyed this episode, and we'll see you on the flip side.
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Announcer 0:00
Looking to sound like you know what's going on in the world social strategy, comedy and other funny stuff? Well join the club and settle in for the Jeff Dwoskin show. It's not the podcast we deserve. But the podcast we all need with your host, Jeff Dwoskin.
Jeff Dwoskin 0:18
All right. Thanks, Reese for that amazing introduction that always gets made. Go and welcome to Episode 10, the 10th episode of the Jeff Dwoskin show. So excited to have you back again. We've got a great show for you today. Dave Merheje is here. He's one of the CO stars of romney on Hulu. We're going to talk to him in a little bit. It's gonna be great. Dave and I used to do open mic comedy together, way back when in Canada, we'd go out there and we do our thing. We'll talk a little bit about that later as well. It's gonna be good job. So it was good to catch up with Dave Merheje and hear about all his success, so much success.
Speaking of success, a quick word from our sponsor, the people that make this all possible this week sponsored dental floss, dental floss. Yeah, you tell people you use us, but you don't. But that's okay. But maybe try us every now and then dental floss, we're here when you need us. Or when the dentist says hey, you know, the best way to stop that bleeding is to use dental floss dental floss available at your local convenience store.
So last week, I talked about the ability to tweet from Twitter that they added that right from the little tweet box. Sometimes you need a little bit more than that are you like a different tool, I just wanted to kind of suggest a few that I use buffer, Hootsuite TweetDeck, which is actually part of Twitter tweetdeck.twitter.com gives you a different interface. So those are those are great things to use. for very specific things you want to schedule buffer is great. If you need something down to the minute, I need this to go at 1259. And I need to know that it's gonna go at 1259 Hootsuite is not good for that. Hootsuite, like I need this to go at one. Maybe Hootsuite is gonna send it at one to one to one or two. They're not as specific. So it's very time sensitive buffer or TweetDeck seemed to be right on the nose. And to the minute, Hootsuite doesn't offer them in it, they only offer on the O or the five. So different things. I use them all, but different times for different different things depending on the need. Google it, check it out, learn how to use them all worth your time.
So many years ago, when I was starting comedy, you do open mic. And open mic is where you go and you're all new and you're trying material you get like three minutes, five minutes, seven minutes. And as you get better, you get more time from the club. And it's it's a whole experience. It's a whole community of comedians and a lot of times just comedians playing to comedians. And when you're lucky you get an audience and you can actually test your comedy in front of an audience. So one of the places that we all used to go in the Detroit area was a place called Yaki oxen that's in Windsor, Canada would cross the border. And they always had a crowd. It was Sunday nights, and they always had a crowd. And that's where I met Dave Merheje. And so we became friends and we would do comedy together.
Can't count how many times we've done comedy together, but like for years, and as time went by, Dave Merheje moved on, and he found his dream to be an actor and full time comedian. And this conversation is his story.
All right, we're here with Dave Merheje one of Canada's predominate comedians, how are you, Dave? How are you, man? How are you?
Dave Merheje 4:05
Thank you for having me.
Jeff Dwoskin 4:07
Great to have you. Dave and I, we used to do open mics together and your jokes and a variety of other places and Windsor and Detroit area. You've since gone on to many amazing thing.
Dave Merheje 4:20
Congratulations, you bring back memories. Big time. I remember you'd have to you have to cross the border, to come to Yuk Yuks in Windsor, Canada.
Jeff Dwoskin 4:29
Yeah, we cross the border and they'd have these packed houses and we we had a blast. Those were really great times. Really great times we were all just had no idea what we were doing and just
Dave Merheje 4:43
just just just
Jeff Dwoskin 4:44
getting by and just doing, doing what the we wanted to do. But you always had a pretty definitive voice. So you always, you're always a good storyteller on stage, talking about your family and such. Yes.
Dave Merheje 4:58
I appreciate that. Man. You Man, you know, not saying it just because you said I've always had had me but had us laughing like the group that we that we would hang out. It's just so so funny, man.
Jeff Dwoskin 5:12
Yeah, it's great time. So you from the open mic view. You've been a full time comedian now for quite a long time. When did you make the move from Windsor to Toronto to go full time?
Dave Merheje 5:23
I'd say, Man, because, you know, I didn't have a green card at the time. So I was just kind of doing open mics, I guess. And then, because I couldn't get paid in the US. So I think I left around 2006 I want to stay or seven around that time. I moved to Toronto from Windsor, Canada,
Jeff Dwoskin 5:42
from Canada. So you you were you won just for laughs In 2011, the homegrown comic competition talk about that.
Dave Merheje 5:50
See, it's not a competition anymore. But at that time, it was they would gather they would select like the best newer comics they felt from all over Canada that year. And then we would compete at this at the just for laughs festival. So in 2011 I competed and I won that year. And it was, for me it meant so much to because it kind of pushed me It gave me a foot in the door in the Canadian industry. So I started to get into other festivals. So it was kind of broke me in so forever. I'll be grateful for that award and the festival.
Jeff Dwoskin 6:24
You were part of NBC Santa for diversity tour.
Dave Merheje 6:27
They had come top Canada to audition came to Toronto. I think that was the only city they had come to in Canada. And me my boy actually Kevin solo, funny comedian. We were like, We both I think I might have to I was like, yo, you got to come with me. And he was like, Bro, I don't I think he he's like Serbian. I yeah, he's Serbian. He was like, I don't know if I could. I think he was like, that's not an ethnicity. It isn't ethnicity. It's not like he was like, I'm like, he was kind of like, hesitant to go and then I think he might have made up some Serbian jokes. I had them in this. And that moment or that day, and we went down there and we audition. I made it through the that the day auditions to come at night. He didn't. And I don't think he made it through the second round. And I think he got a parking ticket. And I remember I ripped off that my second audition during the day. And I don't not help me, you know, get I'm pretty sure that helped me get up cuz you got like three minutes, get there at night. So I get there at night. And then I find out I don't know, when I found out like months or weeks after that I got picked to go to LA and do the showcase. It was a showcase. And I did that around December. So from there, I did that showcase. And then they invited a five of us or seven of us I can't really remember to audition at NACA, you know, the college auditions. So it was like, to me I you know, I don't think, you know, I've never been a part of the NBC diversity thing. So that was very, very exciting. We got flown out there. I was allowed to bring a guest and I brought Kevin with me who auditioned with me. And it was just a great time, man. We got to see friends got to do the showcase, stay in a hotel, rented a car. It was great. I met some some people that I'm you know, I still talk to you know, I met Tom Bell I met Lou the Lucas brothers get was and then they picked me that Canadian two Canadian guys. Two Canadian people actually did you the mares was the other Canadian that was that was picked as well.
Jeff Dwoskin 8:29
That's amazing. So you've done a lot. So you're you've been a regular contributor on MTV live.
Dave Merheje 8:36
And tv live was a thing that they did in Canada. It's not on there anymore. But it was on the air for a while. And Darren Jones was was one of the lead hosts. And I think he had left the show and they were auditioning newer people. And I had made it through all the auditions to join. It was like a cast. And that I had such a great experience with I think it was, I think it was a year a little under a year I had to do it. And it was the first time I was on TV, like extensively in Canada. And it was a very popular show in Canada. So you know, I got to do sketch on TV. I got to be a part of the live broadcast. And it was amazing man. They were they were they would bring on musical guests. I got to see Kendrick Lamar, I think around when he put out section at the mixtape section 8.0 and it was surreal for me because I was like a fan and I got to see him like, you know, he was he was doing the, the rehearsals and then remember the sound guy was uh, you want to come see Kendrick do the rehearsals? I was like, I was like, yeah, so it was like, a lot of those moments and memories. You know, I hold dearly.
Jeff Dwoskin 9:38
It's amazing. So you know, I do want to mention your you're one of the CO stars of the Hulu show Raimi and I want to get to that in a second. I want to first kind of talk about like talking about the jump like what it took to leave Windsor and go to Toronto and just kind of go ahead first and just follow your dream which had been so successful and
Dave Merheje 9:58
well I wasn't gonna Leave, you know, I wasn't going to go to Toronto I had I knew a comic who was headlining Yuk Yuks, a comedy chain and he was like, I think he was like, you got to come to Toronto. I was gonna I didn't, I knew nothing about the customs and borders and immigration, I thought I could just move to New York or LA, like I was gonna work in Michigan, and then move to those places. Then I realized I was like, oh, man, you need any paperwork. I don't know why I didn't think so. And then I decided, you know, with the advice of the comedian, who was, who was like a headliner for that for that company. I moved to Toronto and a friend of mine was in a band and a band and his whole band, they all move to Toronto. So I was going to visit Toronto, and I would, I would stay with them. So then I eventually just moved to Toronto. That leap was wild to me because I grew up in Windsor and my left my family and my friends. And, and I'm thankful for because, you know, I was able to get on stage so many times to craft my hack. So how did
Jeff Dwoskin 10:56
you eventually that led to you one of the CO stars of the show, rainy, rainy, is that who won the Golden Globe last year? Yeah, bell belt. He beat out Bill Hader and Paul Rudd. All right, law pro Michael Michael Douglas and Michael Douglas. It's quite a trio to be a he's, he's great. How did you and he Connect? How did you end up as part of that show?
Dave Merheje 11:24
I met him 10 years ago, actually, at the Arab Comedy Festival in New York. I think he was doing sketch and I think, you know, he remembers his conversation. I was like, I was telling him I wanted to act. And he was saying he was going to do stand up. I believe that was our that was our discussion, or one of the things we talked about. And then you know, I, you know, staying in touch, I moved to LA around 2015 2016. He's out here, we connected again. And then we just became closer. And then he he had, you know, his pilot, a pilot got picked up. And then I auditioned us, like, do you want to know, do you want to audition we were chatting about I was like, Yeah, for sure. And I did, and I was able to land a role on the pilot. And from there, I got picked up. So it's so dope though, because, like, you know, we're friends. And, you know, it's so fun to be on set and so fun to be a part of this process.
Jeff Dwoskin 12:16
With the show, Ramy is all about
Dave Merheje 12:19
Rami uses show. It's a you know, he's a first generation Muslim. And it's really about, you know, the first season is about his journey, you know, through through his faith and then living in like, you know, North America, like, you know, and fitting in there. And it's about relationships that he has with women, his family and his friends and faith to like, you get to see faith in a positive. Like, you know, it's not, you know, like, I think he's, he might have said this, I'm paraphrasing, like, you know, he talks about how like, religion is usually a punch line. Do you know I'm saying like, and this in this instance, it's not, so it was pretty and also I'm like a Christian, Lebanese, so I Islam. I learned a lot from even being on the show and acting in it and about Islam. So it was like, it was dope for me personally.
Jeff Dwoskin 13:13
It's a great show. I watched I started watching it to prep for this you play it right. Ron is
Dave Merheje 13:21
Doctor friend or his friend who's a doctor.
Jeff Dwoskin 13:25
Yeah, so it's it's funny because the scenes of you guys are always giving them
Dave Merheje 13:31
love faith abiding citizen.
Jeff Dwoskin 13:34
It's great. I mean, I love it. It's it's funny because like, you're not an AIDS, I'm Jewish to shows that romney is Muslim. And it's, I want what we have as Jews have Ms. maizel. Right. Have you seen, right, but it's more of a surreal show. Where I haven't
Dave Merheje 13:50
seen it. Yeah, I gotta get into it, though.
Jeff Dwoskin 13:53
It's more surreal. I mean, it's I feel like romney show is it's, it's pretty real. And it's, it's really great. And it's funny, like, as I watch it, it's like, just how things are just the same, you know, just like his uncle was a little racist. And it's like, it was got that it's like, you know, it's like, it's just, it's just funny when you watch it. When I when I watch Ms. maizel as a Jew, I go, oh, there's no way someone who wasn't Jewish would find that funny or even understand that joke. Do you when you watch your show? Do you? Do you go like, oh, you're not Muslim? Or you wouldn't you wouldn't you wouldn't get that you may appreciate on a certain level. But there's like, there's like, if you didn't grow up in that, in that religion, you know that you just don't get it. I tell I've done I watch nasal like there's just certain subtleties that you miss. Just because you didn't it would only speak to that niche person watching it. Does that make sense?
Dave Merheje 14:52
it you know, it's interesting because there are some parts Yeah, but then I'll meet people or people to message me and be like, You know, they're not even a part of that religion or that they're not even Arab. And they're like, Oh, you know, I understand the aspects of the mom or I have an uncle. That's pretty, that's racist like this, or so. There are a lot of stuff that even though you're not part of the religion or Arab that people get, and I was even some sometimes I'm even like, Oh, that's really dope. I didn't, I didn't, you know, like, I grew up in a Christian family. But I could relate. There are some things obviously, that, you know, I don't fully get sometimes, but for the most part, I can relate to it. And I find like, other people from other ethnicities and religions, from just them, you know, having discussions about the show that they find a way to connect.
Jeff Dwoskin 15:42
Yeah, I agree. I mean, it's interesting when you watch that, and it's a completely different religion, like for me to watch that it's by YouTube, but there's just so many similarities. You're like us, we're also like, we have all the same beats and patterns in our lives. You know,
Dave Merheje 15:57
it's like, when you're when you're like, I feel like as a Christian, it's like, I'm not always like, following the faith. You know, what I mean? There's that kind of like, conflicting part, you know, that I deal with in my religion. So so when you see that, it's, it's like, you can still connect GNR I mean, like, I'm not necessarily I'm not that religious, but I can still connect to some of the struggles in wanting to connect.
Jeff Dwoskin 16:22
Absolutely. It's a great, it's really well done. And he did. He definitely deserved it. I know. You've been you submitted your been submitted for Best Supporting Actor. So good luck to that. That'd be super cool. And then Season Two just came out this past May. So there's two seasons available for anyone listening? definitely watch it. It's a great show. Dave's awesome in it as well. Thank you. So you also have a comedy album? Yes. Good friend, bad grammar. When did you record it a year or two ago?
Dave Merheje 16:53
Ah, man, I think we recorded that actually, in 2017. I want to say 16 or 1717. Sorry for my memory on this. But we were trying to sell it to like streaming services. And then we we were we didn't have luck on that. And so we just put it out. And then we you know, we, we, we it's on Amazon Prime in the US in the UK. But we put it out and I which I was super still super excited about and it was one of the greatest things I done personally for me, the whole team around it. And we filmed we filmed it because we video filmed it. I don't know I said video filmed but we recorded it all. We also put it on audio. But we did it in Toronto, which was was awesome for me because I kind of I came up there. So I got to see people from like, five years ago who would see me at different venues come like people from all different. I guess I don't you know what not walks of life. But like parts of my, my come up, showed up to the show. So we did two shows a roughly around like 80 people for each show. And it was amazing man, I still still it was such an amazing night. And then we were able to submit for the junos which is like the Canadian version of the Grammys. And it was able to win a Juno which which I was super thrilled about that our work got to be recognized. That's amazing.
Jeff Dwoskin 18:17
And if it wasn't, if we didn't add enough accolades to your list, more than most have also part of Netflix is comedians of the world special, which was great. So that so how did that come to be?
Dave Merheje 18:33
That was I got a call from my manager in Canada. You think you're being shortly like submitted and I think it's shortlisted for this, the Netflix are doing this committees of the world. And I was like, oh man, that's wild, especially, you know, for Canadians to be to be a part of that. And then they picked for Canadian comics to do a half hour line. They pick comics from all over the world. And they filmed it in Montreal at the just for laughs festival in 2018 at club soda, and I was able to my brother, one of my brothers flew out I was able to bring him to the festival he got to see there. He got to come for the weekend. And for me that was just on top of being a part of it just amazing to have my brother there to watch an experience with me.
Jeff Dwoskin 19:16
So many so many great things you've done since open mics yuxin Windsor, so proud of you, bro. It's a girl. So great. So tell everyone how can they How can they find you
Dave Merheje 19:28
on social media and stuff like that? Um, it's just the handle is Dave Merheje and that's on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Julie post things on their website is Dave Merheje .com but if you're on Instagram, which I think everyone is on there posting in and just hanging out I guess internet wise hanging out.
Jeff Dwoskin 19:51
Alright, well Hey Dave, it was really great catching up with you so much. So much happiness for all your success and appreciate you spending some time with me, Alright well check out Dave, great guy worked his butt off, got everything. He deserved all the success. So I wish him much more in the future as well. I think it's just a starting point for him.
And in keeping with the theme of Dave show Rami and faith that we talked about with hashtag Roundup, I found a hashtag hashtag because of my faith from heavenly hashtags. This one is in Dez, jokey joke as the ones in the past because sometimes, you just got to speak the truth. Because of my faith, I can face the dark days because of my faith in humanity. I believe we can do better because of my faith. I believe in gretta things to come because of my faith. I'm not afraid to take a leap. But that be the overall lesson of this episode. take a leap, follow your dream, and all the good things will happen.
Thanks for joining me. I'm Jeff Dwoskin. Like Subscribe, find us tell your friends. I hope you enjoyed this episode, and we'll see you on the flip side.
Announcer 21:11
Thanks so much for listening to this episode of the Jeff Dwoskin show with your host Jeff Dwoskin. Now go repeat everything you've heard and sound like a genius. catch us online at the Jeff Dwoskin show.com or follow us on Twitter at Jeff Dwoskin show and we'll see you next time.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
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