Name: Mia Khalifa ATTACKS "The Industry"
Uploaded: 2025-10-02T13:00:25.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Mia Khalifa ATTACKS "The Industry"' from TAFS Clips on Comedy Buff. Published 2025-10-02. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Mia Khalifa ATTACKS "The Industry"' from TAFS Clips on Comedy Buff. Published 2025-10-02. Transcript available.

I think that like I've watched, I've like done a lot of research, watched a
bunch of
interviews with you, and it's kind of like you have kind of a thing that you're
asked
about constantly, but what's more interesting I think is before your kind of
viral success
and then after your viral success, it's very interesting, like you only worked
in the industry
for what, like a matter of weeks?
A couple months, yeah.
A couple months, yeah.
Yeah, three months.
What was, what was like, how much money did you make while you were doing it?
Like not very much money.
$11,000.
$11,000, right.
Was there a concept at the time that what, what the work you were doing was
like a success
or like?
No, no.
And there was no intention for anything to be successful.
That wasn't ever the intent.
It was, I mean, honestly, it was just extremely poor judgment and extremely
poor foresight.
Like I didn't think further ahead past where I was in that moment at 20, which
as I mentioned
earlier, when, when you've never had male attention in your entire life.
You just lost weight?
Yeah.
Really?
Yeah.
Oh, interesting.
And I had, and after I had lost the weight, I got, I got, no, I got, well, yes,
I was,
yes, I was in a relationship at the time, but no, I got, I got my breast augmentation.
And so everything came at once.
So it was like the movie, she's all that is like, you like took your glasses
off and
the, you're the weird art girl.
And then you've, you've taken the glasses off.
Exactly.
When she's coming down.
Oh, I love that movie.
With Freddie Prinze Jr.
Yeah.
What happened to him?
I think he's not problematic.
He's on, uh, Little St. James.
What?
No, I don't know.
Oh my God.
What happened to Freddie Prinze Jr.?
Isn't he married to, yeah.
Ghislaine Maxwell.
No, leave him out of this.
They're unproblematic.
Who's he married to?
Sarah Michelle Ghislaine.
Yes.
What?
Yeah.
He got Buffy?
No, he got his, no, they were both in, um, Scooby Doo.
Scooby Doo.
Oh my God.
He got Valma?
He got his Scooby tree.
No, he got Daphne.
Daphne.
Valma's like, oh brother.
Oh brother, where are my glasses?
Like, oh brother.
Okay.
I guess, um.
Okay.
That was Scooby.
Okay.
Anyway.
Um, I think that's, so none of the rabbis that were on set said like, this is
going to
be huge.
No one said that at all?
No, but I did tell them that, that they're, they're going to get me killed.
Why?
By who?
Oh, what do you mean?
Your family?
No, no, no.
Just by, in general, when it was, um, when, when I was told what I was going to
be wearing
and what I was going to be doing.
Oh, that thing.
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
The hijab.
Yeah.
I think it's like interesting.
It's like, I was thinking about how to handle it and like, you know, normal
Adam's like,
oh, I don't know what that is.
But like, I think, yeah, in a real sense, probably like every guy you've met
and a lot of
women you've met are like, uh, are familiar with it, you know?
And it's just like, um, you became a viral sensation.
But like, what I was wondering is like, to what extent, like, like whether or
not you
realize that this has like become incredibly famous.
So at that moment, I still thought that no one was ever going to find out about
this.
Right.
Um, but I think the way it happened was very just circumstantial.
It was very like, it was just lightning in a bottle because of everything that
was happening
in the world at the time.
Charlie Hebdo had just happened.
Me too had just really taken off.
There was a lot of social things going on that, that really were the reason why
I was a part
of that and why it kind of exploded the way it did.
You're from an immigrant family.
Like, so am I, right?
Like, uh, was one of your concerns that, um, that it would cause a rift in a
traditional
immigrant family?
Not necessarily.
Cause I did not think anyone would ever find out.
So everything happened very, very quickly.
And subsequently did it, did it cause tension in the family?
Yeah.
Yeah.
We were estranged for a long time after that.
Right.
I guess like you were telling me on the phone, like you got a job.
So like after getting out, like, uh, you left on your, your own terms.
Yeah.
It was only a matter of a couple.
Yeah.
After everything kind of happened like that, I, I mean, obviously, obviously,
yeah, I did.
That wasn't the intention and that is not what I wanted to do or be doing.
I basically just had my early twenties slutty face in front of everybody in the
world.
But you, you were telling me you got a job and then.
I did.
Yeah.
I was a bookkeeper at a construction firm.
And is that when it dawned on you?
Like, what was the moment where like it dawned on you that like, uh, every, the,
that the
world was like, uh, the, the, the, the, you were famous.
I felt like a burden at, at, at the office because any, any clients who would
come in,
anytime I would have to go onto a job site, anytime I would have to do anything
that involved
interacting with other people who didn't just work in the office with me, it
was, it was
a huge distraction, like not, not a distraction, but like, I, I realized that I
can never work
a normal job again.
What, what were the guys doing?
Were they like, yeah, they're busting in their pants.
Every guy walked in.
No, but there was like whispers and talks and you know what I mean?
And it, did it cause you to be paranoid or like, it caused, it caused you like.
Yeah.
There was a lot of instances where like, I just had interactions with people
that I realized,
wow, my life is not the same.
I can't go to the grocery store.
I can't go to the laundromat.
I can't do any of these things.
And, and like, how did you process that like stress that, that put you under?
I didn't process it for a really long time.
I didn't start therapy until like 2016, 2017.
And that's when I started processing it.
But until then I was just lashing out on anybody who would cross my boundaries,
even though
I didn't know what my boundaries were quite yet.
And it caused you to like lose trust in people and did it, did it affect your
sex life?
Yes, very much so.
I would imagine it would.
Very much so.
Yeah.
I, yeah.
And it's, and it still does.
You think so?
Yeah, absolutely.
I can't even like mentally get past somebody wanting to be with me for the
novelty or for
that reason.
So I'd much rather just be alone.
I've been in two long-term relationships since then.
And that's, that's it in the, in the last 10 years.
I remember there being a response in the Arab world.
Yeah.
Did you receive fatwas?
Is that right?
Yeah.
I mean, not, I don't know if it's an official one, but I'm not going to have,
what's an
official fatwa?
I think when the government does a press release and like officially announces
it.
And there's a seal, they get it.
Right.
I feel like they need to be notarized.
It worked out for, uh, for Rushdie, right?
He gets hot girls because of the fatwa.
Really?
Where are my hot girls?
He got them.
I got one.
He got, what's her name from, uh, from, uh, what's her name?
Top Chef.
Padma?
He got Padma, Lakshmi.
Wait, she?
I love her so much.
There's an episode of Curb where he's like, yeah, this guy's cleaning up
because of the
fatwa.
Oh my God.
Um, do you think that like-
When's it my turn?
And, and your fame is sustained.
That's what's interesting is that you went from virality to like proper fame,
right?
Around 2017, is that correct?
Around 2017 what?
Well, you re, you reopened your Instagram account.
2016, yeah.
2016.
What was the impetus behind that decision?
That was at the same time that I left the construction firm and decided to be
literally an influencer.
Yeah.
I, my, my goal was to reopen Instagram because ISIS sympathizers had hacked my
Instagram.
So Instagram shut it down.
ISIS did?
Yeah.
Really?
They were posting like propaganda.
So I, so Instagram immediately shut it down and I didn't have an Instagram for
like a
year and I worked a normal job and all of these things.
So yeah, I reopened Instagram, moved to Austin, Texas.
Oh, nice.
Comedy mothership.
Yeah, exactly.
And yeah, just tried to be an influencer.
Did you have like, um, like a, like kind of management or like?
No, I haven't had management until three years ago.
You can't trust these people.
No, it's not that.
It's just.
They're so annoying.
They're like, take pictures of yourself looking sexy and put it in GQ and every
comedian's
going to make fun of you, Adam.
Yeah, hold the mic this way.
They'll love that.
You just lay on the ground.
Just twirl the wire around your head.
Every comedian's going to just shit on you in every group chat.
No.
So wait, so, but you've been remarkably successful, right?
Thank you.
You've become kind of like a media personality and like a cultural figure,
right?
Do you, in a lot of your interviews, I've noticed that you talk, there are two
words
that are like, uh, kind of come up.
And one, you talk about shame and then, but you talk about regret, right?
Yeah.
Um, like, uh, can you, like, talk about shame, first of all, and like, what
your understanding
is-
Oh, I'll give this a soliloquy about shame.
Go off-
I can talk about shame all day.
Go off, queen.
Oh my god.
I'd love to hear this.
It's such, like, a visceral human emotion.
I think, I think it's, I think deep down behind every negative emotion, there's
a layer of
shame there.
And shame is a really, really difficult thing to get past because along with
shame comes
guilt and comes regret and comes all of these other emotions that are just,
they're, they're
very overwhelming and they feel suffocating and you feel very trapped when you're,
when
you're dealing with, with shame or trying to work through it.
And shame is something to be, to overcome, is that what you're saying?
Yeah, I believe so.
It's a negative emotion, right?
I, I think it can also be a positive one.
Like, if you have no shame, you probably are not a good person.
You should have a little bit of shame sometimes.
And what's the difference in your mind between shame and regret, I guess?
I can, I regret things that I'm not ashamed of.
Like, I regret speeding and getting a ticket.
Because you're being a bad citizen, right?
If you cut someone off in traffic.
No, I don't regret that.
You don't regret that?
No.
Everyone gets their turn getting cut off.
So you have no shame, you're saying?
Not, not in that instance.
I think that's shameful.
But if I were to be pulled over for not using a turn signal, I would have
regret, not shame.
Okay.
I mean, you've become an incredibly impressive and successful person.
So, how do you manage shame and regret in relation to your instant virality?
Therapy.
Therapy.
Therapy.
I've worked through that for years.
And I, I'm still working through it.
But the battle isn't as tough as it was seven years ago.
Now, it's just maintaining.
Yeah.
I don't know.
And reminding myself, like, I don't need to carry that guilt.
I made a mistake.
I was a kid.
Everybody makes mistakes.
Everything is fine.
I didn't kill anybody.
You didn't make your money mining blood diamonds.
I mean, I think, like, you probably, you didn't do anything.
I think you didn't do, you didn't do anything, any harm.
No.
In fact, you made some folks feel all right.
Oh, my God.
No.
Sorry.
I mean, like, honestly, it's not like a net negative on society, right?
Like, uh.
No, but there, there are, there are people who, like, I don't give a fuck what
the, what
the incels on the internet think.
Oh, yeah.
But I do give a fuck about what Fatima713, you know, thinks.
Because she's being called Mia Khalifa, but she's deeply religious.
And it makes her feel like she's being over-sexualized.
So, like, that, that gives me guilt and shame.
You're kind, you're, you're a good, you're still, you could be a good person.
You're not, like, you don't own a rubber.
You're, like, you still have a chance to be a good person.
No, you, I mean, you're, you don't own a rubber.
You're a rubber plantation in Africa, in the Congo.
No, I'm not mining for.
Right.
You didn't, like, take advantage of anyone.
Like, you, I don't know.