Dearborn's 'Ed and Moe Show' Hopes for Second Season

With more than half a million views on YouTube, the “Arab-style” spoof of MTV Cribs marked the beginning of one of the area's most popular comedic web series: The Ed and Moe Show.

Now, the creators and stars are through the first season and looking forward to a second.

The characters of Ed and Moe are played by 28-year-old Ali “Bulldog” Abdallah and 31-year-old Sean McGettigan. The show’s production company is called Eatsnax and is directed and produced by Mike Eshaq and Sean’s brother, Mike McGettigan.

The Eatsnax channel on YouTube has more than 6,200 subscribers, while the Ed and Moe Show Facebook page is almost at 9,000 followers.

But it all started with an idea from Eshaq.

“Mike Eshaq put the Ed and Moe Show together, and that’s when he brought us in,” Abdallah said. “He kind of gave us the breakdown in what were going to do, how we were going to do it and what it was going to be called.”

Over the past two years, nine episodes of The Ed and Moe Show aired on YouTube, each with a foundation of Arab typecasts. The main plot is about how two best friends who no longer work for corporate America plan to become successful businessmen.

All episodes take place in Dearborn.

But in real life, the actors are nothing like their characters. McGettigan, who plays Ed Bailey, works at a movie theater in Hamtramck, is a bartender, and is going to be part of a musical showing at Ferndale's Go! Comedy Improv Theater, based on the movie RoboCop. Ed, by contrast, is a white male whose actions reflect the stereotypes of the younger Arab generation.

“I’m much different than my character,” McGettigan said. “I’m not much of a metrosexual. That’s kind of how I was in junior high trying to fit in, but I’ve kind of drifted from that.”

Abdallah sells real estate with Re/Max Team 2000 and speaks English fluently. His character, Moe Makki, is recognized as an Arab-American with broken English and far-fetched aspirations.

What is accurate is the location. Both McGettigan and Abdallah grew up in Dearborn; McGettigan attended , while Abdallah graduated from .

“I was a cake eater, but cut me open and I bleed the blue and gold,” Abdallah said. “Even though I didn’t go to Fordson, I was there in spirit.”

The Ed and Moe Show wrapped up its first season two weeks ago with the “No Mexicans in my Car” episode. It has already reached over 10,500 views. According to Abdallah and McGettigan, talks about a second season depend on demand.

“If you read some of the comments on Facebook, a lot of people are demanding a season two,” Abdallah said. “But people don’t realize that an episode can take several weeks (to create).”

McGettigan went on to say that the show’s biggest struggle is that there’s not much word of mouth going on throughout the community.

“I feel our biggest problem right now is a lot of people don’t like to share,” Abdallah added.

Though the actors love what they do, they admit that there’s not much money in making people laugh. But whether a season two is in the works, the duo said they won’t stop creating new ideas and material for the show.

“We’re kind of on hiatus right now and we’re waiting for a little bit more demand for another season," McGettigan said. "If that happens, we’ll flow with it."

An ultimate goal for The Ed and Moe Show is to make a movie, according to Abdallah. The actors also said they would love to see the show make it on the small screen, but also agree that the Internet is the new TV.

The webisodes have gained Ed and Moe recognition nationally in places like New Jersey, Washington, D.C., Chicago and Toronto.

“I never imagined in my wildest dreams that I’d be places and people would be asking to take pictures and autographs,” Abdallah said. “It’s a lot of fun and proof that our work is really good. It’s almost like not believable for them … and it’s like, ‘Yeah, it’s me.'”

But another barrier the duo has faced is that what some may find humorous, others call offensive. The Ed and Moe show has received some backlash from YouTube commenters who deem the show inappropriate and degrading to the Arab culture.

The actors respond to that by stating it should be taken lightly.

“You have to be able to take a joke,” McGettigan said. “We’re laughing at ourselves and the people that we know … there’s nothing malicious behind it.”

“It’s not an Arab-based show; it’s not a Muslim-based show,” Abdallah added. “It’s just two characters–one who’s white Irish and one who’s Lebanese Muslim.”

But despite some opposition, both men promise the show will stay alive as long as there is demand.

“For those that haven’t seen it, watch it,” Abdallah said. “We just urge people to share it and put it on their Facebook page, and blast it through emails.”

Updates of the Ed and Moe Show can be found on EdandMoeshow.com and on their Facebook page.