Paul Elia Brings the Laughs from Los Angeles
Paul Elia brought his Lowkey Comedy Show back to Detroit in April.
By Cal Abbo
Paul Elia burst onto the stage with a bright smile and an air of star quality. He looked out at the intimate and tightly-packed room at Detroit House of Comedy. This was his dream: to bring a successful show to his hometown, draw a sizable crowd, and return favor to the Chaldean community that raised him.
Elia encountered dozens of Chaldeans at his show, which he loves. One group of his fans sitting up front were immigrants from Alqosh – a relatively small Chaldean town about 30 miles north of Mosul. He’s brought the project which he co-founded, Lowkey Comedy Show, to Detroit, and attracted his own community in the process.
“I was overwhelmed by the Chaldean support. It felt like Chaldeans didn’t want to support until you get to a certain level,” Elia said. “But there was a group of Chaldeans that have followed me since the beginning.”
Elia hasn’t always embraced his identity to the extent that he does now. He recounted with nostalgia how his father first told him how their family name is actually pronounced. “Your superpower is being honest and being who you are,” Elia said. “As an artist, when you can be you, that’s when you really start doing your best work. And it started for me when I learned to say my name right.”
Born in San Diego, Elia and his family moved to Southfield when he was around 8 years old. “I grew up in a low-income area in Southfield,” he said. “It was mostly Black and Chaldean. I’d get into fights and get beat up all the time.”
Elia said throughout his time in Southfield, he would start and end lots of fights. But he would almost always lose. “My bully was some girl named Dana,” he said, laughing. “She beat me up a lot – I think she’s in jail now.”
That was how his sense of humor really started to develop. Elia realized he couldn’t be a fighter, but there had to be something he could do instead of letting people like Dana pick on him all the time. In the end, he found that the answer was to cope with comedy – his particular solution was to entertain his bullies by doing impressions.
The bullies would ask Elia to do an impression, and he would crack everyone up. “Then I became cool because I was funny,” he said. “It was really easy being someone who wasn’t me. I thought to myself, ‘Wow, people really like it when I’m someone else.’”
While he was growing up, Elia’s family had a store on 15 Mile Road and Gratiot Avenue in Clinton Township named Vino’s One Stop Market. He would help out at the store when he could, but quickly realized that the market life wasn’t for him. It wasn’t until he was a few classes away from an undergraduate degree at Wayne State University, however, that he decided to pursue his dreams.
“You can’t win if you don’t play,” Elia insisted.
He had tons of doubts. His parents, in all honesty, wanted him to be a lawyer like his brother; but in the end, they were supportive of his dreams. “My mom specifically saw how much I loved acting and entertainment, and she let me go to LA,” he added.
Elia’s first small part was in a TV show called Detroit 1-8-7. The show included stars like Michael Imperioli and James McDaniel. There, he met one of his mentors, Lisa Wiegand, who would end up giving him a shot in Los Angeles. “She let me stay in her house for free,” Elia said. “If it wasn’t for Lisa, I don’t think I could have made it.”
His journey to Los Angeles began with small successes. “When I came to California, immediately I was cast in a play. Right after that, I got a part in this Lifetime movie,” he said. “Then I got a part in a short film.”
His efforts didn’t pay much, but that’s the brutal reality for budding artists in Los Angeles looking for work. The play paid him $10 per show. From the Lifetime movie, he made $300. And the short film paid him exactly $0. However, this work led him to an important contact in Brian Medavoy.
Medavoy and his firm took Elia on as a client. This was important because of Medavoy’s reputation as a producer and agent in Hollywood. At various points in his career, Medavoy had managed some of America’s top talents, including Goldie Hawn, Bon Jovi, Mariah Carey, Jimmy Fallon, Patrick Swayze, Jason Bateman, Ryan Reynolds, and Tobey Maguire.
Unfortunately, even Medavoy couldn’t help Elia when he was just starting out. After that initial burst, Elia experienced extreme difficulty finding his next gig and moving up in the world. It was a slow roll from there, with long days serving as a valet attendant and showing up to open mics after his shifts to get his name out there.
Over time, something clicked, and Elia slowly began to find success. He found his way onto some ABC and CBS shows, eventually earning a regular spot on “Conan.” Elia has demonstrated his acting skills in several hit TV shows, including Marvel’s Agents of Shield, Lady Dynamite, and Major Crimes. He’s also had significant commercial campaigns for large brands like Snickers and Honda. He’s been featured on Netflix specials as well.
But Elia’s dream was to start his own touring comedy show, which he has now done successfully, thanks to his co-founder Matt Rife. Lowkey Comedy has featured top-tier talents like Bill Burr, Iliza Shlesinger, Ali Wong, and Ramy Youssef.
Elia’s Chaldean identity is an active part of his background and a dynamic part of his bit. He often incorporates elements of his Chaldean heritage into his performances, especially when he’s in Detroit, drawing on his experiences growing up in a Chaldean family and culture. This ability to blend personal experience and cultural heritage into his comedy allows Elia to connect with his audience on a deep and meaningful level.
Elia’s success has a broader significance for the Chaldean community. As a Chaldean person in the public eye and the entertainment industry, Elia serves as a role model for young Chaldeans who aspire to careers in the arts. His achievements show the potential for Chaldean-Americans to succeed in fields that are often dominated by individuals from more mainstream cultural backgrounds, and his story is an inspiration for anyone with dreams as big as this country is wide.