Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show is a big break for all the comics featured. Just booking 30 gigs is a big deal, but having it distributed nationally as a movie will cement their careers. Ahmed Ahmed credits his longtime friend Vaughn for the opportunity.
Ahmed Ahmed Goes on Tour with Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show
"Vince came up with the idea," said Ahmed. "It was kind of last minute idea of going on a tour and a month later we were on this bus. The experience was great being able to perform in front of really large crowds. We weren’t expecting it to be a movie to be honest with you. We were just going show by show. We really weren’t looking at the outcome of the tour. We were just like ‘let’s try to be funny every night.’ And then we finished the tour and it was like, ‘That was great. I would do it again.’"
The idea that it was a movie was secondary back then. "They had cameras on the bus and they shot the whole thing and it was cut into this film and they showed it to us and the next thing I know, it’s a movie. It was really a blessing to be part of the whole experience."
Going back to their struggling actor days, Vaughn and Ahmed always had similar sensibilities. "We just always had this great friendship and just always supported each other. I think we are cut from the same cloth. We all have not similar upbringings but our parents instilled in us respect and they worked hard and Vince is really close to his family as am I and so is Peter [Billingsley]. So I think family values has a lot to do with it and us being supportive of each other. I think we also have certain visions we were going for that we also supported. Peter has become a really successful producer aside from his acting and stuff. Obviously Vince has done extremely well for himself. For me as a comedian, it’s always been a dream of mine to achieve a certain level of success as a comedian."
Being friends with such creative types only fuels the comedian's process more. "There’s that support, and coming down to the comedy clubs and stuff, watching me night after night, try to work out a joke or whatever, and a year later turn a corner and find a new angle or story and just having him there in the trenches with me was always really a great feeling to have a friend like that comes down and supports you. We always reach out and support each other in our art and our friendship."
Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show opens to theaters on February 8th.
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