Interview with Billy Housh, an Internationally Known Canadian Comedian Superstar

William Hooshmandi (aka Billy Housh) is a Canadian comedian that is internationally known for his YouTube videos. Most importantly, he is a man who represents the term comic genius, as he is the epitome of a naturally funny guy. Recently, I had the opportunity to talk with Billy about life, love and liberty. Here is what he had to tell me…


Sarah - Hey. How are you? Tell me a little about yourself and your background…

Billy Hooshmandi - I'm a Canadian born superstar just like Justin Bieber but with a massively hairy chest. I call them my gorilla tits.

Sarah - Behind every great comic genius, lies a true source of inspiration, as a result. I am curious to know, who or what influenced you to get involved in entertaining other people?

Billy Hooshmandi - I grew up watching sketch comedy. SCTV, Kids in the Hall, SNL and In Living Color were my favorite shows growing up. It just looked like they were having so much fun and I knew I wanted to be part of that. Oh, and my dad is pretty CRAZY!

Sarah - Dana Carvey, John Candy, Billy Connelly, Chris Farley, Andy Dick, Dave Chapelle, Mike Myers, Chris Rock, Phil Hartman, Adam Sandler, Robin Williams, etc. Tell me a little more about some of the comedians who have influenced you…

Billy Hooshmandi - My first experience of stand up comedy was listening to an old Bill Cosby cassette tape. I grew up watching the Cosby Show so hearing him candidly discussing his childhood and being able to relate was amazing. He also wasn't afraid of making goofy faces and sounds for the hell of it. JELLO PUDDIN POPZ!#@

Sarah - I know that out of those comedians, there are a select few that are incredibly funny because they are naturally funny. What makes your favorite comedian or comedians stand out?


Billy Hooshmandi - There are two types of comedians: ones that have to work hard at it and build traditionally structured jokes and those that are just naturally funny and are able to project their unique perspective of life on to an audience. Richard Pryor was awesome at that. He would just go up on stage and giv'er. He could just talk honestly about his life and people would laugh cause it was real. It also helps being a gifted storyteller.

Sarah - The thing I love most about entertainment on a comic wavelength is the fact that it makes me happy and creates a huge amount of dopamine, as a result. With comedy there are absolutely no limits. Laugher is truly the best medicine there is. Comedy also allows you to do so much and a lot goes a long way, as a result. Tell me a little about some of your acts that you like to do…

Billy Hooshmandi - My first love is live comedy. I enjoy performing stand up and doing live improv games. I also write sketch. If comedy is a drug than I deal all forms of ecstasy. I just wouldn't recommend plugging it up the butt.

Sarah - A lot of videos you create are in Farsi, however; you do a lot in English too.

Billy Hooshmandi - Yeah I started doing a lot of my videos with my dad and of course his first language is Farsi because he's a Persian sex god. Before YouTube had the subtitles feature, I noticed a lot of English speaking viewers would still enjoy the videos despite not understanding the dialogue. I guess comedy is universal and I can see how the language could give it some sort of foreign aesthetic, which later became popular with stuff like Borat and shit.

Sarah - When did you your father get involved with making videos with you?

Billy Hooshmandi - Well long ago I got my dad a digital camera for father's day and it turned out to have a pimpin' video recording feature so we started goofing around with it and posted a video of my dad saying one of his funny Iranian poems online. It turned out to be a viral hit and people started subscribing to my channel and demanding more. We had so much fun doing it we just didn't stop.

Sarah - You both seem to make a great team together.

Billy Hooshmandi - Well he helped conceive me. I dunno, a lot of people are surprised how well we get along with each other. I honestly thought everyone made sketch comedy with their dads and maybe I was the first one that posted it online. I guess I was wrong…

Sarah - Do you write, direct, as well as, produce all of the videos that you shoot?

Billy Hooshmandi - I sure do! I can also make awesome peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. If you catch me on the weekend I get all silly with eggs and mayo. My room is fairly tidy and I can do laundry. Are you asking me out?

Sarah - That is amazing. I am curious, when did you become a YouTube partner?

Billy Hooshmandi - Whoa, it had to be like three years ago now. No maybe two. I dunno I guess I could search my Gmail account for the email. I was really excited that day. Baba and I made a lot of sandwiches.

Sarah - It is quite obvious that celebrities are modern royalty and influence the vast majority of status quo society on several wavelengths, including when it comes to comedy and Youtube. Since you've become a Youtube partner, I am sure you can relate to this, as you are technically a celebrity. Tell me, what is it like being an Internet sensation?

Billy Hooshmandi - I can't go online without being bombarded by random messages. Basically, say goodbye to social networking sites if you become an e-celebrity. This totally should be an episode of iCarly.

Sarah - I absolutely love your videos on YouTube and I truly feel that you are capable of a lot of amazing things. Taking you through the entire video process, tell me what goes into creating a great video?

Billy Hooshmandi - It's an organic process with no added preservatives. I just make some shit up the night before or an hour before and film it. I always like to be in the moment so basically we smoke a lot of saffron.

Sarah - There is nothing better than knowing several tricks of the trade, especially with those things that are original. Tell me, what is one trick you know about the entertainment industry, that others, more than likely, do not know?

Billy Hooshmandi - When you have nothing to lose you are unstoppable.

Sarah - Out of the several comic "don'ts," what seems to be the biggest one that you have had the opportunity to come across or encounter?

Billy Hooshmandi - Don't insult your audience and never apologize for something you have done because someone out there might have loved it.

Sarah - Have you ever had a bad experience with creating a video? If so, tell me more… If not, what do you continue to do that prevents such an occurrence or what advice would you have for those looking to create a comedy related video?

Billy Hooshmandi - I advice people to take as much risks as they can and to follow your heart. All those Disney movies are right.

Sarah - For those individuals out there (and they do exist, as they read my content page) that are trying to achieve success in comedy. What advice to have for those people?

Billy Hooshmandi - Don't use too much teeth whitening cause the acid will give you a residing gum line and your stomach will burn like hell. You don't need white teeth to be funny.

Sarah - When it comes to comedy, you should be careful about the content you produce. As they say, once something is on the world wide web, it is pretty much on there forever unless it ends up deleted mysteriously somehow.

Billy Hooshmandi - Stay true to your heart and you wont regret anything and if you do regret something just blame the saffron.

Sarah - What kind of camera do you use when shooting your videos?

Billy Hooshmandi - My best stuff was shot using a regular Canon Powershot camera. Now I use a "pro consumer" HD camera. I'm a Canon guy. I'm most likely going to start shooting using a HD SLR that all the hipster kids seem to dig. Can't be a square, man. Honestly it doesn't matter as long as content is as good as your sound.

Sarah - One who loves entertainment, as well as, comedy in general will appreciate your videos. If you had to choose a favorite video that you made, which one would you choose? Why?

Billy Hooshmandi - My favorite video is Pashmak (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9ifoTm_6LY ) it was the first video that editing and pace really clicked for me. It was a simple video that also had a Hitchcock reference in it who is one of my favorite directors.

Sarah - I have to tell you, I love your projection in the videos you create.

Billy Hooshmandi - A lot of people love my hairy man body but not everyone can handle my monkey strength.

Sarah - You have to love the entertainment industry, as the demand continues to grow and as a result there are so many people trying to make it famous from their talents. You are definitely talented. Tell me about the latest video you are working on…
Billy Hooshmandi - Right now I'm in preproduction for the 50th episode of Pedar va Pesar so I am working on making it a special one. It's a big thank you to our fans.

Sarah - Out of the many videos you have had the opportunity to shoot, which one has managed to create the most controversy? Why did it create so much?

Billy Hooshmandi - Goat Head (
http://youtu.be/qZpVji0051w ) was one of the most controversial because people found it disturbing. I had submitted it to a film festival and it was rejected. The irony is I am now hosting that same film festival this year. I also made a video called Tea Time which was removed from Youtube for being obscene. I have no idea why…but you can view it on my Facebook fan page: http://www.facebook.com/billyhoush

Sarah - Is controversy necessarily a bad thing?

Billy Hooshmandi - Anything attention is good attention in my book. That's why girls wear hooker boots.

Sarah - What is a basic regime that you would recommend to others that you tend to follow most of the time, yourself?

Billy Hooshmandi - Work work work work and don't stop.

Sarah - It is so hard to believe that we are approaching 2012. One thing is certain, I am truly excited, as there is so much to look forward to. I am curious, what do you have in store for your fans?

Billy Hooshmandi - Not much since the world will end soon. Vol. 2 of the Street DVD series should be out before that though…

Sarah - Aside from being a current Youtube partner, do you have any projects you are currently working on? Tell me a little more about your involvement with BrockTV…

Billy Hooshmandi - I'm a senior producer at BrockTV which is my university's TV channel. I'm the funny guy there in charge of the funny but I have some surprise projects coming down the pipe. Hehe, pipe…

Sarah - That is so awesome!

Billy Hooshmandi - Yeah, hehe…pipe.

Sarah - Separating fact from fiction, of course you will have endure mixed opinions of many. How do you deal with critical people?

Billy Hooshmandi - I rail it in the shower.

Sarah - I think if you don't have at least five haters, you are not doing something right.

Billy Hooshmandi - I know all my haters are really secret lovers - they just don't know how to express their love 'cause they aren't used to being with a hairy monkey man. OO OO OOO

Sarah - Do you believe comedy is more entertainment or more for art? Why?

Billy Hooshmandi - I think it's both but good comedy is more of an art and bad comedy is more entertainment and both are good in context.

Sarah - For those people reading this interview for the first time, what would you like those individuals to know about you?

Billy Hooshmandi - I'm a Virgo.

Thank You!


http://www.youtube.com/user/billyhoush  

Comments

Anonymous said…
Billy is hilarious!
Neda Afshar said…
Billy is one of the funniest people around. He is naturally funny. He doesn't have to cut down others to be funny, that is what I love most about him. I am a fan.
Anonymous said…
This guy is funny!
Mahnaz Irani said…
Billy Housh is a comic genius. He and his dad make a great team. Billy is the reason why his dad is so funny though. He writes, directs, and edits all of these short films. His dad is a personality for sure but, Billy is actually the man behind it all.