- Hi, hello, my name is Ali, shout-out LBJ School.

- Hey.

- Yeah.

But I just wanted to thank you for doing this, and for joining, and talking about everything that you're doing.

And for me, my question's about representation of Arabs, so I don't know if you can guess through my name, but, you know, oftentimes, you know, we didn't expect a lot of Arabs to have their representation in different mediums in the art, like, 20 years ago.

And so now we're seeing them getting work in the arts in different capacities.

So I wanted to ask you, what are your thoughts on that?

What do you think seeing people like Ramy Youssef and yourself grow and kind of being able to get work that's not, like, negative stereotypes?

- Yeah, I think it's, I'm for it.

I'm pro it.

- General, are you pro?

You're pro positive stereotypes.

That's a- - I guess I'd say I'm- - brave stance.

- pro Arabs working.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I mean, for a while it was like, I think it was just, like, we had, like, Indian guys.

That was, like, our representation, and people were like, "Those are you, huh?

That's close, and we were like, "Yeah, we'll take it."

But it's really, yeah, it's cool that we get to have this much of a niche representation.

It's cool, like, it's really cool to be like, "Oh," like, to talk about being like Lebanese specifically and then, like, the Christian Arabs.

It's like there's so many subsects that we now are finally giving time to get into, which is really cool.

And yeah, I think it's, like, helping, like, open that part of the world up to people in a way that's not, like, the news only, (laughs) you know, in a positive way.

- You admire Ramy Youssef specifically.

I've heard you talk about Ramy Youssef.

- Yeah, yeah, Ramy's good.

- But his career is kind of a good, if you're looking to something, right, he's made enormous success.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a cool way to, especially 'cause it's not feeding the content thing all the time.

It's like working on a project, put it out, work on a, you know, it's like, I like that idea of it, and that's kind of a, you know, that's getting, like, more few and far between, I think.

But, yeah, it's cool that we have the opportunity to start doing this, and I think also the demand, it's like people know that we want to hear those stories more and that that's important.

So, yeah, I hope it keeps going.

- Yeah, well, thank you so much.

- Also, Ramy Youssef's Mamdani on "Saturday Night Live" is very funny.

- I should watch, - You know, he's- - I'll check it out.

(audience laughing) - He is the person they bring in to play Mayor Mamdani.

- I was aware.

People did text me.

(laughs) They said, "Hey, it wasn't you.

It was Rami now."

- Right.

- So, good to know.

- [Interviewer] But you know, but it could have been.

It could have been.

- Oh, I thought that.

(laughs) (audience laughing) - Okay.

- Pretty good.

- Get downtown, see Emil Wakim tonight if you have an opportunity to, and keep an eye out for him in all the things he's doing.

Give him a big hand.

Thank you so much for being here.

- Thanks, guys.

- We'll see you soon.

All right.

(audience applauding)