Houston comedian Ali Siddiq’s “Custom Fit Tour,” coming to the Orpheum this Thursday and Friday, focuses on the ebbs and flows of relationships in our lives. By way of prefacing the show, he notes that not every friend will be with you forever and that’s okay (especially if they have ill intentions). “Sometimes you’ve got to alter your friends and sometimes you have to be altered too, in order to be a blessing to somebody or for somebody to be a blessing to you,” he says. As with clothing, it takes work to create an outfit customized to you. Something that fits just right requires tailoring and alterations.
Ali often works with more meaningful themes than your typical comedian. In April he released From Inside, a non-comedic documentary featuring bare-bones conversations with inmates at a county jail, in which Ali opens up about his own time in prison in the early ’90s. The work aims to break the cycle of incarceration through confrontation, accountability, and education on recidivism in America, Ali says. “I think there are a lot of ill thoughts out there and a lot of people being irresponsible about what they say, and those things can become damaging,” he adds. “I try to have a little more responsibility about the things that I put out there and the product that I produce.”
YouTube has become a successful platform for Ali, who has racked up millions of views alongside his live shows. My Two Sons in particular is an independently produced show that begins with a vivid and energetic story about an argument with a “29-year-old male.” When it’s revealed that the confrontational male in question is his son, who has refused to take out the trash, the audience quickly warms up to Ali’s humor. Today, the special has reached 15 million views, and in February he was awarded the 2026 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Variety (Series or Special). This was the first time an independently produced and released YouTube special has been nominated and even won a major award. Ali wants to pave the way for future independent comedians and prove that you can obtain success without the industry backing you.
Only last month, Ali also won three Webby Awards for his standup special Rugged. It begins with a microphone stand, a bar stool, and a chair, as Ali turns the mundane problems of life and even onstage equipment into fodder for hilarious skits. He describes himself as the opposite of a handyman, and the evidence from his stories is pretty compelling. Speaking of a feud with his landscaper, he transforms the chair into a mower and the bar stool into a car’s steering wheel. As the routine unfolds, egos are bruised, contractors are hired, and a concussion may or may not have occurred. Throughout, his signature storytelling style will have you hanging on to every word.
Ali performs without a script, and every performance is unique to the town he’s touring in. Ali says, “People ask me a lot of times what I’m going to be talking about.” His inspiration for his work comes from simply living. As he puts it, “It depends on what’s going on that week.”
Reflecting on his 29 years in the business, he talks about how natural performing has become for him, saying that, just as seasoned bakers can bake without recipes, he uses his years of expertise to improvise skits.
Ali will be releasing three new hour-long specials this year, including My Father, premiering on his YouTube channel this Father’s Day, in which he explores his complicated relationship with his dad and the ups and downs that came with it before he died.
After his U.S. tour takes him to New Jersey, he’ll begin the international leg in Berlin, Norway, Copenhagen, and elsewhere before making his way back to the U.S. for the final show in Chicago on November 14th. Meanwhile, given his escalating popularity, Ali’s Memphis shows may well sell out.
Ali Siddiq preforms his standup special “Custom Fit” at The Orpheum Theatre on Thursday, June 18th at 7 p.m. and on Friday, June 19th at 7 and 9 p.m.
