Nour Hadidi Refuses to Give a Toronto Poutine Recommendation

Despite living in these frankly precedented times, we are fully existing in the future. And a futuristic lifestyle calls for a modern approach to our traditional “Follow Friday” column. We at Vulture have pivoted from our Luddite ways, opting for a more interactive digital angle on what was once mere text on a web page. We want you to get to know our favorite up-and-coming comics, writers, and generally funny social-media presences face-to-face (or at least screen-to-screen). So we hope you enjoy our new and improved Instagram Live–based version of “Follow Friday.”

This week, I sat down for my first (I think?) international interview with the hilarious Nour Hadidi (JFL, Open Michelle, making me deeply jealous by having poutine at her ready disposal) for a chat about breakups, M3GAN, and our dear mutual friend Sarah Hagi. She offered some handy alternatives to the incredibly loaded question “How are you doing?”, explained how the community and support she finds amongst other comics with marginalized identities inspired her to start an open mic for women and nonbinary people, and got specific about how they just don’t make fun and silly movies like they used to. She also bravely told the story of having to come out to her parents, though not in the typical manner: “So they wanted me to be a doctor, and I convinced myself for the longest time that I wanted to be one. But I’m scared of needles and blood. So in the 12th grade, I literally had to come out to my family and be like, ‘I don’t want to be a doctor.’ Like, it was so hard to say. But it’s been 15, 26 years, so it’s fine now.”

You can find Nour on Twitter and Instagram at @NourHadidi.