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Speaking of new friends, the first time I saw your name linked with Taylor Swift’s was when she attended one of your comedy shows. What’s that been like for you?
She’s so cool and so funny. We met organically through Emma [Stone], and then kind of hit it off and hung out a bit…. I’m not used to that, and I couldn’t have anticipated it or even thought that [it would end up as a headline]. But then I think the funny thing, too, is even stuff at the Globes, there’s this really funny thing of seeing how things that feel incredibly friendly and small and kind of intimate then suddenly are headlines. She’s really smart, and it’s kind of wild how genuine and normal, I guess is the word to say, [she is] for someone who’s a global star.
And I think, too, the piece of this that has been really exciting, even kind of going out to all these awards things, even meeting someone like Taylor…when you’re making art, you kind of hope that people connect with it, and there is this extra layer when your fellow artists connect with it, because it’s this thing where it’s like, Wow, the fact that we like each other’s art is incredibly bonding.
You’ve been sharing your voice and your perspective through your work, but you’ve also been using your platform to shine light on things like the Israel-Hamas war. What has that been like for you?
We’re constantly surrounded by failures of the human existence—we’re surrounded by successes, and then we’re surrounded by these massive failures and injustices. This moment that we’re in right now, when we see what’s happening in Palestine, what’s happening in Gaza—the third season of my show [Ramy] took me there, the creation of the show Mo took me there, my stand-up. Even if you look back at things I’ve posted, I spoke about a very formative stand-up comedy experience for me that happened in 2014 or 2015, when I first got to go and perform stand-up in Palestine. So I think what’s really interesting is, there’s nothing topical about this for me…. When you look at what’s on the conscious mind of artists, it tends to be what’s subconsciously boiling underneath what society’s currently looking at. And so you kind of get these pieces of work that almost look like they’re timely, but they’re not because they’re timeless, because it’s been there the whole time. So the fact that we have already done so much art that directly deals with Palestine, and now Palestine is in the headlines, isn’t really an accident because the headlines are always late and the art is always early. The good art is always early. The bad art is responsive to the headlines.
In continuing the work of wanting to point to the human condition, looking at not just representation of Muslims—which I never really claim—it is more like I’m interested in the things that emotionally touch me, and it’s often Muslims; it’s often and has already been Palestine, and I think now the headlines kind of catch up to that, and it makes me feel like, Okay, we’re going to need everyone in order to solve the many injustices happening around the world. It’s not just government, it’s also artists, anyone who can just kind of learn. And so to be part of that, it feels like the bare minimum that I could do.
You’ve posted about supporting the humanitarian aid organization Anera, donating the proceeds of your stand-up tour to them. Can you talk a little about what they’re doing?
They’re an organization that’s been around for a really long time, helping refugees and helping in these critical situations. They have really strong Relationships. They’re probably one of only two or three organizations that actually have people in Gaza and then people right outside, trying to deal with what is an incredibly limited, fu–ed-up pipeline…. They’re positioned to help people get their necessities, and then they will be crucial in whatever rebuilding looks like.
Poor Things is now playing in theaters, seasons one through three of Ramy are available on Hulu, and season one of Mo is available on Netflix.
Listen to Vanity Fair’s Little Gold Men podcast now.
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