Part I: The Man Behind The Curtain

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IN Depth with "The PIT'S" Ali Farahnakian

It's not often you get to peak behind the curtain of a successful theater. 

Per my Facebook correspondence with the owner of The People's Improv Theater, Ali Farahnakian, I was about to do just that. I’d check out a show and afterwards we’d sit down for an interview. 

I arrived a half-hour early for a Wednesday evening performance. A staff meeting was underway in the lobby area, which gave me a chance to spend some time in the East Wing of the theater; also known as the stairwell. But, this was no ordinary stairwell. It was decorated! 

As I snapped photos, I realized in this magical place, the walls DID talk. And they spoke in proverbs and comforting messages. “The path has brought me here for a reason.” Was it true? Would I find my destiny at the top of these steps? I only caught a glimpse of the inner chambers, but I could've sworn I saw a beer bar?  And, just between you and me, I always felt in my spirit that my destiny would include a beer bar. 

There was something else. I had spent many years looking for a place to call home, both literally and figuratively and right in front of my feet was a clue that my journey might be at an end; a rug in the shape of home plate with the word, “Home” on it. Sometimes the Universe speaks in whispers, some times in rugs. 

The sounds of rustling feet coming from beyond the great door meant the meeting was over and it was time. Ironically - I ascended the steps to the PIT. I was off to see the Wizard. 

Ali greeted me warmly and I quickly realized this was a man that knew how to multi-task. He showed me around the theater, introduced me to the group of former students he’d be performing with in just a few minutes and informed me a building inspector was on the premises to determine if the PIT could keep it’s doors open at it’s current location. All the while, Ali never broke a sweat as audience members and staff happily milled about. In fact, contentment seemed to spring from just about everyone. 

Were people at The PIT always happy? Certainly, the beer bar helped. But, was there something more at the root of this - condition? 

The first show came and went and seemed to be well received by the audience. I caught a glimpse of the building inspector, a trendy looking woman, shooting laser beams out of some gadget, measuring things. Let the record show, her laser shooter, though impressive, still paled in comparison to my Olympus WS-311M voice recorder. 

Ali and I adjourned to the office. He took a seat  at a communal desk and I placed my Olympus WS-311M close enough to Ali to pick up sound, but far enough away from the gi-normous tea he was drinking, to avoid catastrophe. 

I asked my first question and the Wiz spoke... 

IN: SO, WHAT'S THE ORIGIN OF "THE PIT'S" NAME?

ALI: When we were coming up with a name, I wanted to have improv in the title and I wanted to have theater in the title. I went to school at UNC – Chapel Hill and they had a place called "The Pit” where people would gather to read something called the Daily Tarheel and they would say that everybody in a 24-hour period would walk through, “The Pit”. I was a fan of the acronym and it just fell into place (the unintentional pun was lost on us both). 

To some degree a name becomes what it is. You know when you have the People’s Improv Theater it definitely becomes something where the people take more ownership of it; that it belongs to the people to some degree. And the fact that there is theater in the title means we are still trying to do theater. We do comedy. And sometimes it’s funny, but it can also be serious and moving. You know, and also in a world where there are search words and Google, you want to have in there somewhere that we do improv. 

I thought about calling it the First City, on account of the Second City, but thought that would be a short-lived inside joke. 

IN: WHAT'S THE ORIGIN OF YOUR NAME?

ALI: Well, my full name is Ali Reza Farahnakian. And all of them were given to me by other people. Farahnakian was a name in Iran, at a time when you had to choose your last name because people didn’t have last names. So, Farahnakian was chosen by my great, great grandfather. It means “always happy”. And Ali Reza was a name given to me by my parents when I was born. So I guess they are all a piece of the puzzle. 

If a name “becomes what it is,” was “Mr. Ali  Reza ‘Always Happy’” destined for a career in comedy? Was his  profession a gift bestowed on him by his great, great, grandfather? Deep thoughts I decided not to pursue, instead I asked a more thought provoking question… 

IN: HAVE YOU EVER GOOGLED YOURSELF? 

ALI: (Considering) No. 

IN: WELL, I GOOGLED YOU. THERE'S A DR. ALI FARAHNAKIAN; ANY RELATION? 

ALI: He’s my father. He still lives in NC. He’s retired. Still does some part time work because he worked at a small country hospital that needed his help, so he goes in once a week to help out. Initially, I wanted to go into the field of medicine because of my father and because of St. Elsewhere and MASH.  So I tried to pursue that at UNC and realized the reality of becoming a doctor was more difficult than the idea of becoming a doctor. And then I began doing things I enjoyed. 

A knock at the door. 

ALI: Yeah? 

GUY #1: Sorry, I didn’t know… 

ALI: That’s alright. 

GUY #1: I just need to grab my jacket.

IN: SO, WHAT WAS YOUR MAJOR?

Knock. 

ALI: Yes, come in. 

GUY #2: Sorry. 

ALI: That’s alright. 

Guy #2 places something in the closet and leaves. 

ALI: Started as a major in English and Biology. And then I began to study Psychology and English. At UNC, or anywhere you go to college, 8 classes is a degree. So, at a certain point I decided to study what I enjoy? 

At UNC I was a member of a fraternity called "Chi Psi". So, to me that was my comedy club in a way. Cause you go from room to room and hang out with guys during study breaks and do bits. And they were, looking back, a group of smart and funny guys.  I still keep in contact with a lot of them. In a lot of ways, that was my training ground. 

I was about to graduate from college in '89 and I had, what I can look back on as, an epiphany.  Watching the show (Saturday Night Live), home for Christmas, not knowing what I was going to do with my life and then realizing I want to be on this show at some point.  I went back to college after that Christmas and I told some friends about the epiphany and they were like, "oh yeah you absolutely should do that." And one of them told me about Second City, so I called. I used the Google of the time – 411. I called Second City and found out about their program and they had a former SNL writer teaching there called, Michael McCarthy. So, I was like, "I’ll go to Chicago and I’ll do that." 

But, in the interim I thought, "why not just write a letter?" So, I wrote a letter to Lorne (Lorne Michaels, SNL, Executive Producer) saying the show had meant a lot to me, what did I need to do to be a part of the show? And, I guess it meant enough to him that he had someone call me. They said,  “He got the letter and was impressed by it. Why don’t you send two sketches?” That’s how it began – the journey.  And 9 years later, I became a “former SNL writer”.  

It (the letter) wasn’t humorous, it was very truthful. It wasn’t very long, maybe a few paragraphs, but I remember just speaking from the heart. And I do believe what comes from the heart goes to the heart. It was just like, "here’s why the show means something to me." 

Essentially, it was saying, I had watched the show from the first episode and I enjoyed the show and it always brought a lot of comfort to my life. I might be living in a small town in NC, but I connected with the show and there were people in the show who kinda looked like me. Belushi - darker hair, darker person, at that time it was like, “oh, it’s possible.” And the fact these people were playing make believe and doing these sketches, I connected with it; I got it. 

I felt like once I got past the thought that I needed to be a doctor, or I needed to do this, that or the other and realized I rather be a doctor on TV; I realized that was the disconnect. It’s not that I wanted to be a doctor, but I wanted to be a doctor on TV. 

IN: WHAT ARE SOME HIGHLIGHTS OF YOUR PROFESSIONAL LIFE?

ALI: I feel like I’ve had the good fortune to be around during a lot of golden ages in comedy; to be in  Chicago in the '90s at Improv Olympic, then in the mid '90s at Second City then to get to SNL by their 25^th anniversary in '99 and now to be a part of creating this theater that will be 7 years old this year. And to be in Chapel Hill from '85-'90 was also for me a golden age because those men I still keep in contact with; I go to their weddings, congratulate them when they have children and write letters when they pass on. So, I feel I’m very fortunate. I’ve had a blessed life the four decades I’ve been here on this Earth. The goal is to keep doing what we are doing and spreading the word. I don’t know how we got here in 7 years and to be where we are in the world of improv comedy… But, I think it’s saying “yes, and” to every idea that comes along until the idea can no longer maintain the weight of the premise that has been put on top of it.

Click here to read Part II of IN’s interview with Ali...

Written By: Israel Savage, Photos By: Life Art

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