BGBS 056: Tamer Kattan | Comedian | Listening Is the Cost of Being Heard

Tamer Kattan is an internationally touring stand-up comedian who performed for U.N. Troops in Afghanistan, for protestors at the American University in Cairo (during the Egyptian revolution) and for the really dangerous crowds at The Edinburgh Fringe in Scotland. He’s won many comedy accolades over the years, has TV & radio credits on the BBC, SkyTV, Fox, HULU, Netflix, Amazon, and truTV, and was even featured on Seth Rogen’s Hilarity for charity event with Todd Glass and Hannibal Bures. Tamer is currently the co-host of Nice2MarryU on Youtube and you’ll learn in this episode that before it all, he began his career in advertising and worked with past guest Shawn Parr from Bulldog Drummond as a brand strategist.

Tamer is an Egyptian-born American with a Muslim dad and a Jewish mom. Always bearing many identities, Tamer has considered himself a “hyphenate” and finds solace in being neither part this nor part that, but a complete thing in the middle—although it wasn’t always that way. Growing up in Southern California, Tamer needed to address how people treated him for being different, and comedy was his tool to do so.

He finds the connection between comedy and branding is human nature, which can only be tapped through aggressive listening and captivating storytelling. That same humanity and emotional intelligence are what motivated Tamer to write his resume on a foam butt, pop it in a donut box, and rocket launch his advertising career until he found his way back to his roots in comedy. Above all, Tamer teaches us the power of making other’s feel heard, which bears the question, how will you listen more aggressively today?

Quotes

[10:59 ] I’m not American. I’m not Egyptian. I’m this thing in the middle, and being an Egyptian American is very much another thing. It’s a thing into its own. I’m not half of this or half of that, I’m a complete thing, and it happens to consist of two halves.

[14:51 ] It’s not like I wanted to be funny, it was just a thing that happened. Inevitably it ended up becoming a tool against bullies, but I didn’t realize it until this kid came up to me—it was a bully that bullied me every day—and finally, one day, I had enough and I started making fun of him because he had pretty big ears. Apparently, he was sensitive because he said, “Hey, if you stop making fun of me, I’ll stop beating you up.” And that’s why I went, “Oh, wow. Comedy is powerful. It can be powerful.”

[49:36 ] I think being a good listener makes you a better storyteller. And I love being able to listen aggressively until I hear things and see things that other people don’t see. Like in my comedy, the thing that brings me the most joy is not when people laugh, it’s when people say “Oh my god, that’s so true.” That’s my favorite.

[54:07 ] I think that’s what it means to be a human being. We’re parts of multiple tribes and multiple groups. And I think if you break the ridiculous stereotypes, people become people again.

Resources

LinkedIn: Tamer Kattan

Instagram: @tamerkat

Twitter: Tamer Kattan

Youtube: Tamer Kattan – Nice2MarryU

Website: tamerkattan.com

Podcast Transcript

Tamer Kattan 0:02


I wrote a resume through a typical template. And I looked at it I’m like, This is absurd. I just have skate shop and surf shop experience. Why am I even setting this to an ad agency? So I said, Well, if I can’t show my creativity through the experience that I’ve had, maybe I can shoot show it, and how I express that experience.

So because it was around Halloween, I went into this Halloween shop and they had those foam butts that you could tie around your waist and make it look like you have a naked butt. And I wrote my resume across the butt cheeks. And I wrote Cal Poly senior willing to work as a software internship. And then I went to a donut store and bought a pink box for $1 it was such a ripoff. And then I put it in the box and I mailed it to Shai a day. And three days later, they called me and asked me and I heard that the HR lady kept the butt on her wall for like a year.

Marc Gutman 1:00


Podcasting from Boulder, Colorado, this is the Baby Got Backstory Podcast, where we dive into the story behind the story of today’s most inspiring storytellers, creators and entrepreneurs. I like big backstories and I cannot lie. I am your host, Marc Gutman, Marc Gutman, and on today’s episode of Baby got backstory on how an Egyptian American immigrant climbed to the top of the advertising agency world only to quit 40 become a successful stand up comedian. Today we are talking with Tamer Kattan.

Before we get into my conversation with Tamer, If you like and enjoy the show, please take a minute or two to rate and review us over at Apple podcasts or Spotify and apple and Spotify use these ratings as part of the algorithm that determines ratings on their charts. Better yet, please recommend the show to at least one friend you think will like it, and maybe one enemy will like it too. And cross the aisle in a bipartisan effort to bring all podcast listeners together via the Baby Got Back story podcast.

Today’s guest is Tamer Kattan. Tamer is an internationally touring stand up comedian, who performed for UN troops in Afghanistan for protesters at the American University in Cairo during the Egyptian revolution. And for the really dangerous crowds at the Edinburgh Fringe in Scotland, where he received three four star reviews from international press. He was most recently featured on Seth Rogan’s hilarity for charity event with pod glass and Hannibal Burress won the World Series of comedy, comedy knockout on true TV, best of fest at big pine Comedy Festival, and three weeks later won the Portland Comedy Festival. He is the co host of Nice 2 Marry You YouTube, and has TV and radio credits on the BBC and sky TV in the UK as well as in the US on Fox, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, and Tru TV.

He’s also worked as a strategist at some of the world’s biggest and best advertising agencies in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. And what you’re going to hear today is there’s probably not a whole lot that Tamer really can’t do or isn’t good at. And I was connected to Tamer via a previous guest on the show, Shawn Parr of Bulldog Drummond, and no disrespect to Shawn, but I wasn’t clear on why he thought I should talk with Tamer. Well, Shawn’s a smart guy, and Tamer, Well, I’m going to save that for today’s show. What I will say is I’m crushing hard on Tamer. He’s smart. He’s worked at the coolest agencies on the biggest brands in the world. He left it all behind to pursue what really made him happy. Stand up comedy. Tamer drops all sorts of insight and wisdom in this episode, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Oh, it makes sure to listen for the your dog is sticky story. I loved it. I’m excited to introduce you to Tamer Kattan. And this is his story.

I am here with Tamer Kattan. Tamer actually happens to be in Spain and I’m in Colorado and even though we’ve been doing this for decades, at this point talking over the internet, I’m still amazed that this works in real time and that we can do this it’s like still blows my mind, but that’s true. Tambor, welcome. Welcome to the Baby Got Backstory Podcast. It’s, it’s great to have you.

Tamer Kattan 4:45


Thanks for having me, Marc. It’s nice to be chatting with you. It’s nice to see an American face.

Marc Gutman 4:51


Sometimes, right. It’s been a tough week here in America, so maybe, maybe not so much. But at tamp. Tamer is an internationally touring stand up comedian. He’s perfect. For him at the UN, with before troops in Afghanistan, for protesters at the American University in Cairo during the Egyptian revolution, we’d love to hear about that. And that’s not how we know each other. You know, I’m a big fan of comedy.

I love comedy, but I was actually introduced to Tamer through a, another brand professional. Shawn Parr over at Bulldog Drummond. And interesting enough, Tamer got his start as a brand strategist. And so, Tamed, I’d love to get into that a little bit. But like, more than that, I want to know, you know, when you were young was little Tamer, were you like, was it like almost like the two you know, the two little angel devil on the shoulder was like one of brand strategists and one a stand up comedian or like, would you want to be when you were a kid? Like, like, like, did you do you think you’d end up here?

Tamer Kattan 5:53


Oh, man. Bipolar would be easy. I mean, I’ve been I’ve been divided for a long time. And I have a Muslim dad, a Jewish mom. So like, the whole I like, I’ve always just been a mixed up kid, I had people telling me I wasn’t a real American, I wasn’t really Egyptian. I wasn’t a real Jew, I wasn’t a real Muslim. So like, I’ve always kind of been a hyphenate as a type. As a person. I’ve always been comfortable being a hyphenate. And for me, quite honestly, like when I look at, I’ve always tried to sort of anticipate the direction of things. And I think even when I first got into advertising, I didn’t get into it, because I loved commercials. I got into it, because I love storytelling.

And I see the big umbrella is storytelling, and I see brand strategy and, and comedy, both fitting under that larger umbrella. So for me, it wasn’t that different. You know, it’s like being a wrestler that becomes a UFC fighter. It sounds like two different things, but they’re kind of related.

Marc