Ali Siddiq sits on stage, mic in hand, in front of a theater full of people, looking at the ground. He starts repeating the same six numbers a few times: 679346. “This is a number I know better than my phone number; I know better than my social security number. … I remember the day that I thought that I forgot it. I was happy—and, then, I remembered.”
This is how he begins Pins & Needles, the final installment in The Domino Effect, a four-part, one-man show that can currently be found on Siddiq’s YouTube channel. This quartet of specials has Siddiq tracing his evolution from young drug dealer (or, as he calls it, “street pharmaceutical rep”) to convicted felon (his inmate identification being those aforementioned numbers) to stand-up comedian.
The first part, released in 2022 and recorded in Houston—Siddiq grew up in the Bayou City’s Hillcroft area and now lives in the suburbs of Pearland—has accumulated over 13 million views. The final installment, recorded in Washington, D.C., and released in June, has gotten 2 million.
