What does comedian, actor and social commentator Felonious Munk want Des Moines to know before his show at Teehee’s Comedy Club on Feb. 3?
“My comedy is designed to make you giggle first, but also to make you think,” he said.
“I don’t consider myself to be a super smart comedian, but I do think I offer a different perspective.”
Early on in his career, Munk (real name Arif Shahid) decided he was going to be a comedian who talks about the important things. Someone who takes a stance. He points to Nina Simone as inspiration — “An artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times,” she famously said — as well as Richard Pryor, George Carlin and Dick Gregory.
“As much as I could appreciate Jerry Lewis falling down, I understood that was a very limited way of doing comedy,” Munk said. “I think that artists do have a responsibility to say what’s true to them. I don’t think that means every comedian needs to talk about current events or topical things.”
Part of staying true to yourself is knowing your comfort zone and not straying too far from it, he said. Munk’s perspective is that of a husband and father of two — an “old guy” navigating gentle parenting and homeschooling a 7-year-old in the Chicago area. He’s also a former “tough guy” who sold drugs on the street and spent time in prison. It was after his release, and several miserable years in the car business, that Munk found his new direction in life.
“A friend of mine said, ‘You’ve always been funny. You should come do this open mic with me.’ And I said, ‘That sounds like the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. I hate it when people laugh at me,’” Munk recalled. “I went and watched him … The next week, I went on stage and did the open mic, and it was one of those experiences where immediately you knew that was your thing.”
That was back in December 2010. Over the course of 13 years, Munk’s comedy career has taken him all over the industry. He became a regular correspondent on traditional news in New York and Chicago; he was a comedy correspondent on The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore; he began acting in 2019, and started writing in 2020, including for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner — all while continuing to do stand-up comedy.
“It’s a combination of trying to get the next gig and then trying to figure out what you really want your career to look like,” Munk said. “You’re trying to make money, but long-term you’re trying to figure out who you are, what you’re trying to say and what you’re trying to do. For me, that looks like turning down some stuff every now and then.”
When it comes to performing, Munk likes his hands in the final edit. He wants to have control over what he looks like in a show — something he would not get from reality TV. Constantly in the back of his head are his 19-year-old and 7-year-old kids. Munk always asks, “What will I not be ashamed of if my kids grow up to see it?” His digital footprint of viral YouTube and TikTok clips is carefully crafted with that in mind.
Though the road was rocky, Munk is grateful for the journey to where he is today.
“I step back from it to think about going from sleeping in the cell with 20 other men and cleaning floors for 20 cents an hour, to being on a network TV show for two seasons and making way more money in a three-month period than I have ever made in my entire life.”
Some of Munk’s highlights include working alongside Academy Award nominee Michael Shannon and Margaret Avery, who was in the original The Color Purple movie.
“I’ve done a bunch of really cool things already, but those things were all as a supporting person, and I think 2024 and 2025 are going to be really different for me,” Munk said. “I hope that Des Moines comes out and sees me before I start charging them $60 a ticket, because this is probably the cheapest they’re ever going to see me.”
Munk is scheduled for two shows at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 3 at Teehee’s Comedy Club. Advanced tickets for this 21+ event start at $20 and are available now.
