Ali Siddiq

Ali Siddiq (born October 17, 1973) is an American stand-up comedian, writer, public speaker and radio personality based in Houston, Texas. He released his debut comedy album in 2010 and his debut television special in 2016. Siddiq was the winner of Comedy Central's Up Next stand-up comedy competition in 2013 and was a finalist on NBC's competition show Bring the Funny in 2019. He was the co-host of R&B afternoon radio show Uncle Funky Larry Jones & Ali Siddiq on KMJQ (Majic 102.1) in Greater Houston from January 2021 to January 2024.

Early life
Siddiq was born in Houston, Texas, and grew up in its Third Ward. He attended Jane Long and Paul Revere Middle School. After his parents' separation, Siddiq and his siblings were raised by their mother, living for a time in the projects. He and his siblings also went on to live with other family members. At age 10, Siddiq was almost run over by a car, which resulted in his mother and aunt getting into a fight with the driver after she refused to apologize.

Siddiq began selling drugs at around age 14 and was arrested just four days after he turned age 19 for cocaine trafficking. He was convicted of "delivery of a controlled substance" and served six years of a 15-year sentence in the Ruben M. Torres Unit in Hondo, Texas. He was released from prison on October 21, 1997. Following his release, he worked at a department store and at a sunglasses shop. It was during his incarceration, while telling jokes to fellow inmates to lighten the mood, that he discovered his ability to make people laugh. While in prison, he worked in the prison laundromat, and his workmates were his captive audience. He describes Rodney Dangerfield as an early influence to do stand-up, adding that "he made me see that the comedy game doesn’t have to be a selfish thing." He described watching Def Comedy Jam as giving him "the drive to start" doing stand-up comedy.

1998–2009
Siddiq first performed stand-up comedy at the Just Joking Comedy Club in Houston in December 1997. His first appearance was during the club's Apollo Night which tended to attract a college crowd. Siddiq recalls that he was booed his first time on stage because he was wearing a suit. He waited two weeks to perform again in jeans and a T-shirt this time. By February 1998, Siddiq was hired to be the co-host of the Apollo Night show. He resumed wearing suits after he first met Rickey Smiley at the Arena Theatre who recommended he do so to impress audiences. The first comedian Siddiq went on tour with was Lavell Crawford.

Siddiq's stand-up comedy tends to be in the storytelling style, versus the more common setup/punch-line style. Siddiq's sets involve stories from his personal life, as well his observations on current events, sociopolitics and race.

He performed on BET's ComicView on seasons between 2000 and 2003, and he performed again on ComicView: One Mic Stand on May 13, 2009. After his first taping of the program in 1999 he became convinced that stand-up comedy would be his career in life. According to interviews in 2014 and 2018, respectively, Siddiq stated he had recorded seven and nine albums, the first of which was titled Necessary Therapy, but was not satisfied enough with any of them to release them.

Siddiq performed on the series finale of HBO's Def Comedy Jam on the 10th episode of the eighth season which aired on March 8, 2008. Rob Stapleton had earlier told him "Get out of the chitlin' circuit, and get in a mainstream room. Don't worry about how much they pay," according to Siddiq. After Siddiq received a call from the Improv to host, a position which doesn't pay much, he accepted the offer and hosted six shows for DL Hughley who next asked him to join him on tour. When Hughley went on to be the host of Def Comedy Jam he was offered four spots by the network, one of which was filled by Siddiq. He also peformed on Off the Chain on Bounce TV and on Bill Bellamy's Who's Got Jokes? on TV One.

2010–2014
In 2010, Siddiq independently released his debut comedy album Talking Loud Saying Something, first as a digital album on May 22, before releasing it on CD in December. It began his gradual turn towards the storytelling style of comedy that he became famous for roughly five years later: "I changed on my first album, which I thought was a lot more in-depth than someone would have known if they had just listened to the album." Siddiq noted that "The way I sounded and the way I delivered, I was like 'this is going to be the blueprint of my transition.'"

Siddiq hosted and performed as the opening act on Bill Bellamy's Ladies Night Out Tour on February 22, 2013 on Showtime. He released his second comedy album Freedom of Speech on August 5, and released his third album Enjoy Your Life on August 15.

On November 18, 2013, Siddiq was voted the winner of Comedy Central's Up Next stand-up comedy competition. Over 300 comedians nationwide had performed at "Preliminary" local showcases in September, with 40 comedians qualifying to the "Semi-finals" held at four locations across the country in Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and Fort Lauderdale in October. Siddiq performed at Houston Improv before qualifying to perform at Chicago Improv. He was one of nine comedians that qualified to perform at the "Finals" at New York Comedy Festival's Comics to Watch showcase on November 6.

In 2014, Siddiq performed as the opening act on the second and final annual Centric Comedy All-Stars 2014 which aired on March 15 on Centric.

2015–2019
In 2015, he performed on the Comedy Central television series This Is Not Happening on the second episode of the first season which aired on January 26. The video clip of him recounting his experience during a prison riot where he learned the meaning of the phrase "Mexican got on boots!" went viral on YouTube. Siddiq appeared on AXS TV's Gotham Comedy Live which aired on September 17.

In 2016, Siddiq performed a half-hour-long special on Comedy Central series The Half Hour on the seventh episode of the fifth season which aired on September 16. He appeared on panel game show @midnight with Chris Hardwick on December 8 on the channel.

In 2017, he began production on his one-hour special It's Bigger Than These Bars, which was filmed at the Bell County Jail in Belton, Texas. Released on Comedy Central on February 23, 2018, Siddiq can be seen performing in front of a group of inmates interspersed with scenes of him sitting down with smaller groups of incarcerated men and women in their cells, as well as with prison administrators.

In 2018, Siddiq appeared on Desus & Mero which aired on February 21 on Viceland, and on The Opposition with Jordan Klepper which aired on February 22 on Comedy Central.

In 2019, he appeared on the Comedy Central series This Week at the Comedy Cellar which aired on August 2, and was a guest on TV One's late night talk show The DL Hughley Show which aired on September 5. He released his comedy album The Prison Manual on September 20. He was a finalist on NBC's comedy competition series Bring the Funny. Siddiq appeared in the feature film The Workout Room which released on October 8.

2020–present
In 2020, Siddiq headlined the 11th episode of the second season of Laff Mobb's Laff Tracks which aired on January 17 on TruTV.

In January 2021, Siddiq joined as co-host on the Funky Larry Jones afternoon drive show on KMJQ (Majic 102.1) with the program being renamed Uncle Funky Larry Jones & Ali Siddiq and carrying the tagline "The Funky & Funny". The radio show concluded on January 26, 2024, after Jones was given notice a day in advance of its cancellation after being on the air since 2014.

In 2022, Siddiq performed an hour-long special on Epix series Unprotected Sets on the fourth episode of the third season which aired on February 25. He appeared on HBO series Pause with Sam Jay on the second episode of the third season which aired on June 3, and guest-starred on Showtime series Flatbush Misdemeanors on the second episode of the second season which aired on June 26.

Siddiq performed on the second episode of DL Hughley's Speakeasy, a three-part stand-up comedy series, which released on Hitkor in early 2023. He appeared on Vice News and The Marshall Project's documentary series Inside Story on its seventh episode, "The Rise of Life-Without-Parole Sentences", which was released on March 16. Siddiq appeared in the feature film This Christmas Chance which released on December 10.

In 2024, he released his special The Domino Effect 3 on March 10 on Moment.co, before uploading it on May 12 on YouTube. He released his special The Domino Effect 4 on April 18 on Moment.co before releasing it on YouTube on June 16, 2024.

Philanthropy
Since 2009 Siddiq has hosted the annual Jive Turkeys Comedy Show to raise money for the Houston Food Bank. The show is performed each November close to Thanksgiving.

In 2017 he organized and performed at a benefit for Houstonians affected by Hurricane Harvey. In 2018 Siddiq also performed at an annual benefit held by Saba Homes, an orphanage organization created to help orphans of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake in Pakistan.

Siddiq has also volunteered for Harris County's Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program.