Ali Siddiq Says Houston Still Runs Texas Comedy — Not Austin

Ali Siddiq Says Austin Isn’t the Comedy Powerhouse People Think It Is

Despite Austin’s comedy boom over the last five years, Ali Siddiq still ranks fourth in Texas stand-up—and he’s got strong opinions on where real comedy power lives.

According to Siddiq, Houston is the top comedy city in Texas. Dallas comes next. Then San Antonio. Austin? It's on the list, but not at the top.

Siddiq doesn’t knock Austin’s scene, but he’s not buying the hype. He calls Houston the true powerhouse. He respects the younger Austin comics and calls them “young cousins,” but says the recent wave of LA transplants hasn’t made Austin the capital of Texas comedy.

“If they think LA people coming to Austin makes Austin a powerhouse in comedy—I’ll be damned,” Siddiq says.

His stance is clear: real Texas stand-up is still built in Houston. And no amount of podcast studios or comedy clubs popping up in Austin is changing that—at least not yet.