EPISODE 9: SAM HONIG

Interview by Anna Williams
Photograph by Nadiv Hossain

January 20, 2020

I would say my greatest strength is that I’m always willing to help other people. I think I do that because of my greatest weakness, which is that sometimes I struggle to find value within myself. If I’m making someone else happy, that inherently give me value. I’ve had self-esteem issues and I still have self-esteem issues. People weren’t nice in college sometimes and it impacted me. In fraternity meetings, I knew that if I spoke up, I would either get kicked out or talked down to. I was bullied. Those people were worried about their social status or stupid things, like mixing with the “cool sorority.” 
 
Once I saw something on Reddit that said, “I hate when people say you’re not acting like yourself because acting like yourself was really you in a mask.” In college, I was changing who I was; I thought I was a chameleon. I had different groups of friends and I was a different person in each friend group. I was being a person who I’m not. I was expecting myself to become a person who I wasn’t and that was hard. I was putting a lot of pressure on myself. 
 
Until I came here and because of my college experience, I thought I was introverted. I realize now that I’m not. I was trained to be introverted and almost trained to not use my voice by certain people in college. I don’t get why someone will actively say something mean to put someone else down to make themself seem cooler. It wasn’t until I got here that I realized that that controlled me. Here, people don’t care about social status. (People are here for a reason and that reason is to become a doctor.) As long as you’re nice and friendly to other people, that’s all that matters. People will value you for that.
 
When I stopped being a different person in different groups of friends, I liked myself way more. Now, I’m just the same person throughout and I think that’s let me be happier. People should respect you for who you are, warts and all. Otherwise, you have to change who you are. 
 
I think I’m more funny than I used to be because I’ve accepted more things about myself (and I’ve found my sense of humor). There’s a stat in baseball called slugging percentage, which is how likely you are to get more bases. The best slugging percentage would be a 4.000, which would mean you’re only hitting home runs. An average slugging percentage for baseball players would be maybe 0.400. When they’re hitting, they’re hitting well and they’re getting more than just a single. I used to joke that my batting average was 0.100, but I slug 0.900. I’m not always funny, but when I am, I knock it out of the park. I now think I’m a solid 0.300 hitter. 
 
I love my humor. I have a very surrealist sense of humor. I think weird things are funny. Andy Kaufman was a comedian in the 70s who was the inventor of absurdist comedy. He had this record player and he’d play this old-timey song called “Mighty Man.” Andy Kaufman would just stand there as the record played and his whole bit was that he only sang the parts where Mighty Man sings something. In the record, Mighty Man sings the line, “here I come to save the day,” like twice. The rest of the time, Andy Kaufman was just standing there. It’s a two minute bit and he did two things in it. I respect that kind of humor where you’re saying these absurd and surreal things. That I vibe with. 
 
Sophomore year of college, my fraternity had a space themed party. (I was in AEPi so the party was AEPollo.) People were changing their profile pictures to photos with their friends cropped into space. Someone had taken a photo of Neil deGrasse Tyson making waffles and he made it look like Tyson was pouring the batter over the moon. I believe I took it a step further, truly into the surreal. I took my face and blended it into the background, then a friend’s face, and then I put that same friend’s face on Tyson’s tricep. Before I posted it, there was this guy who said, “No one’s going to find that funny.” It really upset me at first, but I ended up posting it. He was the second or third comment and said, “I apologize. This is hilarious.” That was me being me. Ridiculous, weird things are funny to me; that’s my humor. That’s me in a nutshell. I still laugh at it four years later. People say you shouldn’t laugh at your own jokes, but if you think it’s funny, you should laugh at your own joke.

Initially, I thought I was trying too hard with the surreal absurdist stuff. I think that kind of alienated people. Then I realized that if people don’t get it, if they don’t vibe with it, and they disrespect me for it, why do I want to be friends with them anyway? People should respect you for who you are, warts and all.

What are your 5 Most Recently Played Artists on Spotify? 
The Beatles, Bronze Radio Return, Hozier, George Ezra, Panic! at the Disco 

If you could have any superpower, which one would you choose?
Teleportation because I hate long travel times

Pick something or someone from NYMC to give a shout-out to!
Everyone who matters, and especially Axl and Albert

If someone wants to talk to you, they should lead with: 
A “hello” or a “what’s up” is pretty good haha, followed by their favorite movies of all time