WEBVTT - Aasif Mandvi 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.520 Talk singing. Yeah, I'm great at that. You talking rhythm, 0:00:03.600 --> 0:00:06.160 You just talk like in a twenty months ago. I 0:00:06.200 --> 0:00:09.119 am free like a breeze. Flee like a bode in 0:00:09.119 --> 0:00:11.840 the woodland. Flee like a gypsy. Please, like a chick. 0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:14.240 I am other touch. It's it's just that kind of 0:00:14.440 --> 0:00:17.160 you know. So anyway, Trevor Nunn was directing Oklahoma and 0:00:17.200 --> 0:00:23.920 Broadway was the National Theater. Your Shakespeare starts. Yes, I'm 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:32.919 great at that. Yeah, there you go, so you're great. Hi. 0:00:33.159 --> 0:00:38.920 I'm Assip Monvi and I am I'm an actor and writer, father, 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:51.120 a son. What I am not is calpan. Hello and 0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:56.400 welcome everybody. That's right. This is a brand new episode 0:00:56.520 --> 0:00:59.360 of Off the Beat, and I am your host, Brian 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:03.160 bamb Gartner, today's guest. Well, he has been a staple 0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:07.520 of nightly television for close to a decade, and he 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:10.560 was once almost arrested in a two headed fish costume. 0:01:10.680 --> 0:01:15.440 I am talking, of course, about film, TV and daily 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:19.720 show icon Asif Monvy. Now, Assif and I have a 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:22.480 lot in common. We both wrote a book, we both 0:01:22.680 --> 0:01:27.520 love the theater, and we both might start breaking into song. 0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:32.480 So I loved every minute of diving into Ass's past 0:01:32.880 --> 0:01:35.679 and his start as an actor. He was a child 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:39.839 born in India who moved to England and then to Florida. 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:44.120 So Asif calls himself a human to Ducan, and it 0:01:44.200 --> 0:01:47.160 was fascinating for me to hear how his childhood as 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:51.600 an immigrant became later rich material for his career. We 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:55.360 even hear a few insider secrets about what's really going 0:01:55.400 --> 0:02:00.360 on at Walt Disney World. Intrigued, I am, you're gonna 0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:08.800 want to miss this one, Ausif monv everyone Bubble and squeak. 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:15.959 I love it. Bubble and squeak on Bubble and squeaker, 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:31.639 cookie every moment, lift over from the nut before. Hello, 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:35.079 how are you? How are you? I'm doing well? How 0:02:35.080 --> 0:02:38.520 are you good? I don't think we've ever met before. 0:02:38.919 --> 0:02:41.320 I don't think we've ever met either, which is weird 0:02:41.360 --> 0:02:45.560 because I find you so funny and delightful and we 0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:48.200 have well, I know, I'm just kissing your ass right now, 0:02:48.240 --> 0:02:51.440 but yeah, I understand that a lot of people kiss mask. 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:55.960 Oh no, that's great. I likewise, I you know, I 0:02:56.000 --> 0:02:58.919 feel like when they didn't realize it was you when 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:02.679 they originally told me about this podcast, and then I 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:05.440 and then I googled it and then I was like, 0:03:05.480 --> 0:03:08.440 oh wait, that's so great, you know, like it's so 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:10.720 weird in this business, Like you think that we would 0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:13.360 run into each other at some point, but you know, yes, 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:16.440 I know, I'm sure I saw you like across the 0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:18.520 Emmys three or four times, but no one was nice 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:21.320 enough to introduce us. I'm guessing. Well, and we've worked 0:03:21.360 --> 0:03:24.000 with so many of the same people too. Yeah, that's true. 0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:25.960 So this is fun. You've been doing that. You're doing 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:29.360 this podcast. I'm doing this podcast. I'm talking to people 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:33.359 that I like about their life and about the sort 0:03:33.400 --> 0:03:37.280 of unexpected moments that take our careers or your career 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:41.080 on different trajectories. I think it's fascinating in this business. 0:03:41.120 --> 0:03:43.880 How well, I mean, we'll talk about you. For first 0:03:43.920 --> 0:03:47.400 of all, you you born in India and then you 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:52.440 moved to England very early and then eventually to the 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:56.120 United States. How is that for you to uh grow 0:03:56.200 --> 0:03:59.320 up kind of in so many different places. Well, it's 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:03.760 you know, often have described myself as a human to 0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:06.800 duck it, which is so you know what to ducan is, 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:13.320 it's like a duck stuff and the duck right, So 0:04:13.560 --> 0:04:15.840 I've often described myself that way, because I feel like 0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:20.719 there's like an Indian baby with an English schoolboy wrapped 0:04:20.720 --> 0:04:23.960 in an American adult. That's kind of what I feel 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:26.640 like sometimes, you know, Like, so I was born in India, 0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:29.039 and of course that was you know, I don't have 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:32.000 any really memory of that, but you know, grew up 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:35.680 in an Indian southday, you know, Indian family with that 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:40.440 cultural peace and that heritage and that thing. And then 0:04:41.000 --> 0:04:44.520 grew up as in the North of England sort of 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:49.360 like this little English public school kid. So my childhood 0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:51.960 and all of my formative years and like all the 0:04:52.000 --> 0:04:56.640 TV shows I watched between like five and sixteen, we're 0:04:56.640 --> 0:05:00.760 all like English shows. And I was a little British boy. 0:05:00.880 --> 0:05:04.040 And then came to America and of all places, moved 0:05:04.040 --> 0:05:08.640 to Tampa, Florida, which is as America as you can get, really, 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:12.760 you know, so it is I've been to Tampa. I 0:05:12.760 --> 0:05:15.520 know exactly what you mean. Yes, So it's like I 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:18.800 come from like the north of England, like a coal mining, 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:25.120 textile wool factory, dirty sort of the sguise gray all 0:05:25.160 --> 0:05:29.040 the time, even in summer town, and moved from there 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:33.880 to Florida, which is just like it's not even like Miami. 0:05:34.160 --> 0:05:37.480 It's like, you know, it doesn't even have like a 0:05:38.960 --> 0:05:42.560 Florida culture of its you know, like whatever that is. 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:45.760 But it's Tampa. I've never even heard of it before. 0:05:45.800 --> 0:05:48.479 You know, But before Tampa, why the why a cold 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:52.080 mining English town? Was this your parents dream or work 0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:56.800 or what? My dad was a coal miner? He was, okay, no, 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:02.719 it wasn't. He wasn't. My dad's dream was to go 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:06.839 to have a coal mine. And no, it was he 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:09.200 wanted to. It was like a little Indian boy. He 0:06:09.320 --> 0:06:16.880 was like one day I was work in the coal mine. 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:23.719 That's a great little short film. I can sell that 0:06:23.800 --> 0:06:27.600 idea to Netflix. Like, okay, there you go. He's an 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:30.800 Indian kid, grew up in Bombay. But his dream used 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:39.400 to be a coal miner. No, my dad got a 0:06:39.600 --> 0:06:43.359 job at Bradford University of all places, because he was 0:06:43.440 --> 0:06:46.360 a color chemist at the time, which was a thing 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:49.760 at the time. This was in the late sixties, and 0:06:50.040 --> 0:06:52.839 so you know, it was like moving to England, battle life, 0:06:52.960 --> 0:06:55.880 you know, all that stuff. I don't think my parents realized. 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:58.279 They didn't do much recent Like there was no Google. 0:06:58.400 --> 0:07:02.719 They didn't like Google Bradford then and and go what's 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:06.040 what's the what's the weather like there? You know, so 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:10.720 they show up in this like cold, wintry northern English 0:07:10.760 --> 0:07:14.680 town and uh, and that's where I was I raised. 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:18.360 But also it happens that Bradford also has a very 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:21.760 large and I think even today has a very large 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:26.200 Indian Pakistani population for some reason. So it's one of 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:28.560 those cities. It's it's a city that has a lot 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:32.240 of there was a precedent to it. Okay, it wasn't 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:34.520 quite as random as it seems to me. Yeah, yeah, no, 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:36.440 it it wasn't so randy. It was like there was 0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:38.720 there was a lot of people who look like us 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:43.560 in Bradford, and also Bradford subsequently suffered some of the 0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:46.320 worst racial riots and stuff in the history of the 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:50.640 country later years later. You know, um, yeah, it's it's 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:53.440 an interesting, interesting place. It was a it was a 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:56.720 kind of a lightning rod for a lot of political 0:07:57.200 --> 0:08:00.840 immigrant sort of stuff, you know, that got stowed up 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:05.120 by the various political parties in the UK. Interesting. Do 0:08:05.120 --> 0:08:07.400 you do you feel like some of your work later 0:08:07.440 --> 0:08:09.720 on where you were were examining some of them, what 0:08:09.800 --> 0:08:11.800 did that come from there? Do you think or was 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:14.080 that more of the United States. No, I think that 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:20.360 was more here. I mean, I definitely experienced racism in England, 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:24.280 you know, very early on, Like there was definitely an 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:29.280 anti immigrant sort of thing in the politics of the 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:32.800 nineties seventies in England, with like the National Front and 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:36.800 Enoch Powell and all these people who were very much you're, 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:40.120 sort of anti immigrant people. So there was definitely that, 0:08:40.400 --> 0:08:43.160 and my dad, I think dealt with that because he 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:45.920 had a little corner shop look into like a bodega 0:08:45.960 --> 0:08:49.000 here in New York. But it was interesting because it 0:08:49.040 --> 0:08:51.360 was all sort of like you know, today you think 0:08:51.400 --> 0:08:53.680 about that stuff and you go like that's horrible, but 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:55.920 back then it was like it was sort of thought 0:08:56.000 --> 0:08:58.520 of it was just the price you paid for being 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:01.280 an immigrant, you know, you just you just sort of 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:03.400 took it as like that's all in a day's work. 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:07.480 So so there was that sense of other nests that 0:09:07.559 --> 0:09:10.520 I always felt that then probably was in all the 0:09:10.559 --> 0:09:13.679 work I did in some ways, but then most noticeably 0:09:13.720 --> 0:09:15.640 in the Daily Show, I think it was like I 0:09:15.679 --> 0:09:18.280 got to really kind of address that in some ways 0:09:18.360 --> 0:09:21.040 or like deal with it even those years later, and 0:09:21.080 --> 0:09:23.839 it was much more about post nine eleven in America 0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:25.840 and all the racial ship that was going on in 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:29.000 this country at that point. But the probably on some 0:09:29.160 --> 0:09:31.640 level of America post nine eleven when I was started 0:09:31.640 --> 0:09:34.360 on the Daily Show, resembled a little bit of There 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:37.960 was some memory of like the sort of racial stuff 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:41.240 that I dealt with as a kid in Bradford, just 0:09:41.320 --> 0:09:45.360 getting chased home from the bus stop, you know, just 0:09:45.400 --> 0:09:50.000 for being brown, right, right? Was that a reason when 0:09:50.040 --> 0:09:52.880 you were sixteen that you moved to Tampa looking for 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:55.360 something else? I mean I read that your dad said 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:57.840 it was because there was brunch in the United States. 0:09:57.920 --> 0:10:01.280 That's what I heard. So that is part well, part 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:04.400 of it is that my dad discovered brunch and was like, 0:10:04.520 --> 0:10:07.440 this is the greatest thing ever, and actually wrote about 0:10:07.440 --> 0:10:09.080 it in my book, and it was like it was 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:11.640 such a funny thing because I remember him talking about brunch. 0:10:12.360 --> 0:10:14.520 This was the eighties and there was no brunch in 0:10:14.559 --> 0:10:16.640 the UK, like we didn't have there was no such 0:10:16.679 --> 0:10:20.000 thing as brunch, and he misunderstood it. I think he 0:10:20.120 --> 0:10:23.440 thought what it was was another meal. So I think 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:26.280 he thought, like you have breakfast, like in England, you 0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:28.280 have breakfast, you have lunch, and then you have dinner. 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:31.800 Whereas in America you have breakfast, then you have brunch, 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:36.360 then you have bunch, thank you. So he was like, 0:10:36.840 --> 0:10:39.600 you get a whole extra meal over there, Like did 0:10:39.640 --> 0:10:41.920 he feel cheated in the end when he realized that 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:43.920 he was actually taking two and one and it was 0:10:44.040 --> 0:10:47.480 left meal now right right right? I think later in life, 0:10:47.679 --> 0:10:50.000 later after red, I think he was kind of like, okay, 0:10:50.080 --> 0:10:52.520 but he still did like the idea that it was 0:10:52.520 --> 0:10:55.280 seven all you can eat, like it was that back 0:10:55.320 --> 0:10:56.840 in the eighties. So that was what it was. You know, 0:10:56.880 --> 0:10:58.600 you go to you go to I help and he's 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:01.280 just playing the buffet is like, you know. I think 0:11:01.320 --> 0:11:03.079 there was that, And then I think it was also 0:11:03.200 --> 0:11:06.000 just that we were living in in sort of in 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:09.760 England at the time that cheers England, you know statute, 0:11:10.000 --> 0:11:12.439 and and there was it was a recession the economy. 0:11:13.000 --> 0:11:15.600 My dad was a small business owner. It wasn't doing 0:11:15.640 --> 0:11:19.280 that well and he always wanted to get out of England. 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:22.720 At some point, his original dream was to move to Canada. 0:11:23.000 --> 0:11:25.360 I don't know why. I've never actually asked him about it, 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:27.600 Like he was just like, we live in Canada one day, 0:11:28.200 --> 0:11:32.480 so random one day. We won't always be living here. 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:37.080 One day, We're going to live in Canada. Canada, Well 0:11:37.200 --> 0:11:40.839 it was just another really cold place. Yeah. I don't 0:11:40.880 --> 0:11:43.719 think he realized that. I don't think Yeah, yeah, I 0:11:43.760 --> 0:11:45.520 don't think he realized that. I think he was just 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:47.120 I think he had a friend who lived in Canada 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:49.600 and liked it, so he was like, we'll live there. 0:11:49.760 --> 0:11:51.920 But then he found a friend who lived in Tampa, Florida, 0:11:52.200 --> 0:11:54.960 and this friend was like, Tampa was even better than Canada. 0:11:55.040 --> 0:11:57.680 It's like it's sunnier. And this was in the eighties 0:11:57.760 --> 0:12:01.320 of Florida was like a place that you wanted to live, 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:05.080 not like now, you know, like it was like back then, 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:09.719 it was like it was the fastest growing state in 0:12:09.760 --> 0:12:12.080 the Union. There were businesses exploit it was. It was 0:12:12.160 --> 0:12:16.960 just like this really developing place, you know. And so, uh, 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:19.720 the idea was, you can you can make a fortune 0:12:19.760 --> 0:12:23.480 in Florida, you know. So yes, thank you everyone from 0:12:23.520 --> 0:12:25.840 Florida just tuned out, by the way, but thank you 0:12:25.880 --> 0:12:31.800 for that. I'm from Florida, and I and I have 0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:35.440 a complicated relationship, like like, Florida is where I spent 0:12:35.679 --> 0:12:38.880 many of my formative years, so I love it, and 0:12:38.920 --> 0:12:42.120 I also, uh, have a healthy critique of the place. 0:12:43.840 --> 0:12:47.079 Was it was it more racially diverse than Bradford or 0:12:47.440 --> 0:12:50.920 or did you know well it was. The joke I 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:53.720 made about it was that, like, this was a difference 0:12:53.760 --> 0:12:55.760 between being an immigrant in England and being an immigrant 0:12:55.760 --> 0:12:58.720 in America at that time, and that was that in England, 0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:02.080 the idea was that no matter how hard you tried, 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:05.600 you would never be English. That was the sort of 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:07.360 the message that was sent to you. And I think 0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:10.160 it's probably even so true today, which is that you 0:13:10.200 --> 0:13:13.360 can speak like us, dressed like us, talk like us, 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:17.240 eat our food, eat fish and chips every day, you can, 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:21.040 you can do all that, and you'll never really be 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:24.480 English because being English is something. And then I think 0:13:24.559 --> 0:13:27.320 is a legacy of colonialism and and sort of like 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:31.400 that whole relationship that England has with the subcontinent, which 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:35.280 is very specific in America. On the other hand, I 0:13:35.320 --> 0:13:37.679 got here in the eighties and went to high school, 0:13:37.840 --> 0:13:40.800 and I felt like most people didn't couldn't tell you 0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:44.400 what India was on a map. Like it was like 0:13:44.480 --> 0:13:48.480 this idea of like where are you from Mexico? No, India, 0:13:48.640 --> 0:13:51.600 what where's that? You know? Is it near Mexico. No, 0:13:51.760 --> 0:13:59.080 it's not near Mexico. So anything like it was like 0:13:59.120 --> 0:14:01.840 that sense of like, well, don't worry about that. Wherever 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:05.080 you're from, I'm sure it's fine. But now you're in 0:14:05.120 --> 0:14:08.080 the greatest country in the world. You're in America, and 0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:11.280 so just pledge allegiance to the flag and forget all 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:14.560 that stuff. You know, you've got, sorry, five thousand years 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:19.480 of history, forget that. Now you're an American. And that 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:23.040 was the attitude here, right, like, just pledge allegiance and 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:27.600 just get on board with the with the American way now. 0:14:27.640 --> 0:14:29.480 And so then that was it, and it was like 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:33.720 nobody really cared. But the racial divide in this country 0:14:33.720 --> 0:14:37.240 when I got here was between blacks and whites, and 0:14:37.400 --> 0:14:39.600 it was very clear. I remember going to high school, 0:14:39.720 --> 0:14:42.400 like the first week of high school and realizing that 0:14:42.440 --> 0:14:44.480 all the black students sat on one side of the 0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:47.040 cafeteria and all the white students sat on the other 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:49.680 side of the cafeteria. And that was just the way 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:53.280 they decided. Nobody was forcing them to do that. That 0:14:53.360 --> 0:14:56.600 was just how it went down. This was like self 0:14:56.680 --> 0:14:59.760 imposed segregation that was happening. It was kind of an 0:14:59.760 --> 0:15:01.560 interest sting thing and I was like, it was like, 0:15:01.600 --> 0:15:04.320 I was like, oh, and I also fit in with 0:15:04.360 --> 0:15:06.680 like the drama kids. Like I basically I found my 0:15:06.760 --> 0:15:11.760 tribe in the drama kids who were mostly white because 0:15:12.440 --> 0:15:15.440 only only white parents were going to be like, you 0:15:15.440 --> 0:15:20.280 want to drama. Okay, that's fine, even Indian parras drama. No, no, 0:15:21.040 --> 0:15:24.480 you know, but I managed. I managed to get away 0:15:24.520 --> 0:15:26.240 with it. And when did that start for you? Your 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:28.520 interest in theater? When did that start for you? Oh? 0:15:28.680 --> 0:15:32.200 Very young. I actually was in the school play when 0:15:32.200 --> 0:15:34.320 I was like eight years old or something, and then 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:37.240 I fell in love with it and realized like, oh, 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:41.000 this is gonna be It was very acting and theater 0:15:41.360 --> 0:15:45.360 and performing. Once I discovered it at a very young age, 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:47.960 it was like that was it. Like I never looked back, 0:15:48.040 --> 0:15:50.320 like I basically was like, I'm gonna I want to 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:52.600 do this. And I didn't know obviously, Like I had 0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:54.920 no idea if I was going to be successful at 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:57.920 it or anything or make it a career. It didn't 0:15:57.960 --> 0:16:00.120 seem like a realistic thing to be able to do 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:02.240 that as a career. But I just knew that I 0:16:02.320 --> 0:16:06.080 loved it. And I have to say my parents were 0:16:06.280 --> 0:16:09.160 smart enough because honestly, I couldn't do anything else. I 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:12.440 was terrible at every other subject in school except English 0:16:12.440 --> 0:16:16.160 and and theater. It was like my parents were smart 0:16:16.240 --> 0:16:20.160 enough to not discourage it, but also to not encourage it, 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:22.560 you know, they were kind of just like neutral about it. 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:25.440 My mother so in my in my school in England, 0:16:25.680 --> 0:16:28.400 we didn't have theater. We had art, but she knew 0:16:28.440 --> 0:16:30.200 that I loved theater because I would go to an 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:33.960 after school kind of kids theater thing on Wednesday nights 0:16:33.960 --> 0:16:35.680 when I was in England, and I started going there 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:38.760 and it was just like the first time I felt. 0:16:39.280 --> 0:16:40.560 I mean, I don't know how it was for you, 0:16:40.640 --> 0:16:42.480 but like it was just like I was like, oh, 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:45.680 this is awesome, Like I love doing this, you know 0:16:45.680 --> 0:16:47.720 what I love. And it was funny because I actually 0:16:48.080 --> 0:16:51.400 so it was. I saw the movie bug z Malone. 0:16:51.960 --> 0:16:56.120 That movie so not not the one with Warren Baby, 0:16:56.600 --> 0:16:58.680 Oh not that one. No, then, no, No, I'm talking 0:16:58.680 --> 0:17:01.280 about a movie called bug Z Alone, which was with 0:17:01.360 --> 0:17:05.480 a very young Scott Bayo and a very young Jodie Foster. 0:17:05.760 --> 0:17:07.600 Now I don't know that you don't know this movie. 0:17:08.359 --> 0:17:10.520 I don't know this movie. Check check it out. It's 0:17:10.520 --> 0:17:14.719 a tree. It's basically a gangster movie, but it's all kids, 0:17:15.200 --> 0:17:18.399 and it's done totally straight. But the kids come in 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:21.440 with guns and instead of shooting bullets, the shooting pies. 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:26.920 But it's done completely straight, like it's not like campy 0:17:27.080 --> 0:17:29.600 or send out or anything. It's like a straight up 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:32.520 gangster movie. But everybody in the movie is like fourteen 0:17:32.600 --> 0:17:35.879 years old. And I just remember it was on TV 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:38.720 Christmas Eve when I was like about the same age 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:42.520 as as the characters in the movie, and I watched 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:46.960 it and I just thought that is the greatest thing, 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:50.200 Like like wait a minute, they get to do this 0:17:50.400 --> 0:17:53.000 and like that's what they do and they were the 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:54.280 same age as me, and I was like, why am 0:17:54.320 --> 0:17:58.000 I not doing that? Like it's so fun. And that 0:17:58.119 --> 0:18:00.320 was like, weirdly when I decided, like I want to 0:18:00.320 --> 0:18:01.760 do that. I just want to I want to be 0:18:01.800 --> 0:18:03.840 in a movie where I get to, like, you shoot 0:18:03.880 --> 0:18:06.680 pies and people's faces and just pretend to be a gangster. 0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:09.879 And and that's when I sort of got involved with 0:18:09.920 --> 0:18:14.080 this after school theater program and uh, and then it 0:18:14.200 --> 0:18:35.679 just all picked off from there. For people. You went 0:18:35.720 --> 0:18:38.720 to the University of South Florida studying theater. Then by 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:41.560 then are you thinking because before you said you weren't 0:18:41.600 --> 0:18:44.240 sure about doing it as a career, But by then 0:18:44.320 --> 0:18:46.680 were you settled that this is what you wanted to do? 0:18:47.160 --> 0:18:49.480 Well again, So I went to the University of South 0:18:49.520 --> 0:18:55.919 Florida because I had shitty grades. Here's like what happened 0:18:55.960 --> 0:18:57.640 was we came to Florida and there was a big 0:18:57.680 --> 0:19:00.320 transition period for me because I was sixty. Even when 0:19:00.320 --> 0:19:02.040 we got to Florida, it was like I was a 0:19:02.080 --> 0:19:04.520 junior in high school and I was adapting to this 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:08.720 new world and this new country and life and everything 0:19:08.840 --> 0:19:11.760 was different, and I think my academics just sort of 0:19:11.800 --> 0:19:14.920 like fell off. And the only saving grace I had 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:19.199 was theater class was drama class, and so I like 0:19:19.400 --> 0:19:23.240 lived for fifth period every day, which was drama class, 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:25.720 and that's where I like got to like just you know, 0:19:25.760 --> 0:19:28.760 do what I did. So my grades were terrible, but 0:19:28.840 --> 0:19:31.119 because I sucked on my SA t s and I 0:19:31.240 --> 0:19:34.960 ended up getting a theater scholarship to the University of 0:19:35.000 --> 0:19:38.400 South Florida. So the only way they would accept me 0:19:39.119 --> 0:19:42.960 was if I was a theater major, and they gave 0:19:43.000 --> 0:19:45.680 me what's called a freshman incentive scholarship, so they would 0:19:45.680 --> 0:19:48.000 pay for my entire freshman year. But I had to 0:19:48.040 --> 0:19:51.879 be a theater major. And my parents had just moved 0:19:51.880 --> 0:19:54.720 to this new country. They were struggling. They were trying 0:19:54.760 --> 0:19:57.520 to figure out, like, you know, how to survive in 0:19:57.520 --> 0:20:01.280 this new place. And so I had this. They basically said, look, look, 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:04.879 I didn't get into USF, but I got in. You 0:20:04.920 --> 0:20:07.480 don't have to pay my tutition, and they'll pay my 0:20:07.520 --> 0:20:11.560 tuition if I am a theater major. And so sometimes 0:20:11.600 --> 0:20:15.080 it's just like destiny just fucking leads you down the 0:20:15.080 --> 0:20:17.440 path that you're supposed to go on. And this is 0:20:17.480 --> 0:20:20.840 just one of those moments where my parents were like, Okay, 0:20:21.080 --> 0:20:24.239 they weren't happy about it, but they were also like 0:20:24.760 --> 0:20:26.720 if they're going to pay for it, then great. And 0:20:26.720 --> 0:20:29.000 I was like, they're going to pay for it. So 0:20:29.040 --> 0:20:32.639 I became a theater major and then just stayed at 0:20:32.640 --> 0:20:34.800 theater major and that was you know, and I just 0:20:34.840 --> 0:20:38.160 went that went through the program there, you know, yeah, 0:20:38.240 --> 0:20:40.080 and that's what I learned. You know, I did all 0:20:40.240 --> 0:20:45.359 my checkov and Ibsen did you begin writing then as well? 0:20:45.720 --> 0:20:47.680 I actually started writing when I was really young. I 0:20:47.680 --> 0:20:50.800 actually was always writing stuff. I was also always writing, 0:20:50.800 --> 0:20:53.239 like I wrote a short play when I was like 0:20:53.359 --> 0:20:55.520 thirteen years old, and then I would write poetry. It 0:20:55.560 --> 0:20:57.160 was one of those I was that kid who would 0:20:57.160 --> 0:21:00.040 write poetry, talk about an artsie FARSI kid like I 0:21:00.160 --> 0:21:02.240 literally like, I would write, write poetry and then people 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:04.760 will come over, like my friends. My parents would have 0:21:04.760 --> 0:21:07.960 dinner parties and or have their friends over, and then 0:21:08.320 --> 0:21:10.399 their friends kids will come over. There was like a 0:21:10.400 --> 0:21:13.359 big South Asian community at Bradford, so they the kids 0:21:13.400 --> 0:21:15.639 of my parents friends would just become my friends by 0:21:15.680 --> 0:21:18.399 virtue of the fact that we all our parents were friends. Right. 0:21:18.480 --> 0:21:20.479 It's the opposite of what happens now, which is like 0:21:20.840 --> 0:21:23.120 you become friends with people because your kids are friends. 0:21:23.520 --> 0:21:26.400 Like the opposite. You know, these kids will be like, hey, 0:21:26.480 --> 0:21:28.560 you want to go kick a ball around or something that, 0:21:29.200 --> 0:21:31.720 and I'd be like, no, but let me read you 0:21:31.760 --> 0:21:34.560 some of my poems and and I would like. They'd 0:21:34.560 --> 0:21:36.000 be like, why don't you and so and so go 0:21:36.080 --> 0:21:37.840 and play it together. And they want us to go 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:40.240 to the backyard or whatever and just play. And I'd 0:21:40.240 --> 0:21:42.360 be like, come in my room and I pull out 0:21:42.400 --> 0:21:44.720 like my tray of poems that had written from under 0:21:44.760 --> 0:21:47.520 the bed and just like and I just remember like 0:21:47.640 --> 0:21:51.520 some poor kids sitting there, like some poor girl who 0:21:51.600 --> 0:21:54.240 was like like my age, who was the daughter of 0:21:54.320 --> 0:21:56.400 some friends and my parents, and just having to sit 0:21:56.400 --> 0:21:59.680 there and listen to me like read my poems to her, 0:21:59.800 --> 0:22:04.760 you know, like not I like a completely dorky thing. 0:22:05.200 --> 0:22:07.080 Like I was like, I was like, what do you think? 0:22:07.160 --> 0:22:10.439 And then they'd be like I don't. I don't have 0:22:10.480 --> 0:22:12.919 any thoughts about it at all. Like so anyway, so 0:22:13.040 --> 0:22:16.360 I was, I was always writing, and then I think 0:22:16.359 --> 0:22:19.159 when I got to college and stuff that I was 0:22:19.200 --> 0:22:21.879 writing a little bit more and sort of yeah, writing 0:22:21.960 --> 0:22:24.240 was always I was always doing it. I was always 0:22:24.280 --> 0:22:28.160 sort of writing something. Right, So you're doing Absen and 0:22:28.280 --> 0:22:31.800 Shakespeare and check off in college and then you go 0:22:31.920 --> 0:22:35.000 work for Disney. Right, you're a performer at Disney. Is 0:22:35.040 --> 0:22:38.240 that your first job? Yeah? Yeah? Were you like Mickey? 0:22:38.320 --> 0:22:44.679 Were you like Mickey Mouse? I'll have you know, Brian 0:22:44.960 --> 0:22:52.200 that Mickey Mouse is a girl. So really it's always 0:22:52.200 --> 0:22:55.760 a girl because Mickey Mouse is very short, Mickey. They 0:22:55.760 --> 0:23:00.240 don't usually find boys not short, so it's often a 0:23:00.359 --> 0:23:03.720 young girl. Mickey and Mini are both often the young 0:23:03.760 --> 0:23:08.080 girls because we actually shared a trailer, like, so I 0:23:08.119 --> 0:23:10.399 was in I was when I got the job at Disney. 0:23:10.400 --> 0:23:12.200 It was at the MGM Studios, and I was actually 0:23:12.240 --> 0:23:15.800 with all these like comedy improv people and then and 0:23:15.880 --> 0:23:18.320 we would do like comedy improv stuff and it was 0:23:18.359 --> 0:23:20.280 actually kind of great. It was like a really great 0:23:20.320 --> 0:23:22.800 It was like because I left school to go do 0:23:22.840 --> 0:23:25.600 that job. I I I didn't graduate and I left 0:23:25.840 --> 0:23:27.760 because at the time, we were not we were still 0:23:27.840 --> 0:23:29.920 not citizens of the United States. So I was still 0:23:29.960 --> 0:23:32.960 paying out of state tuition. And my parents because now 0:23:33.040 --> 0:23:35.240 I was like three or four years in my parents 0:23:35.960 --> 0:23:38.240 were working, but they weren't making we weren't doing that well. 0:23:38.280 --> 0:23:40.359 We were very very lower middle class like sort of 0:23:40.400 --> 0:23:43.520 you know, and so I was paying for like I 0:23:43.560 --> 0:23:45.240 was taking like one class of semester. So it was 0:23:45.280 --> 0:23:47.240 taking me a long time to get from school. And 0:23:47.280 --> 0:23:50.720 then I get this job where Disney MGM Studios is 0:23:50.760 --> 0:23:55.880 opening up in Orlando and they're hiring actor, comedians, performers, 0:23:55.920 --> 0:23:58.119 not like Mickey's and Minis and goofies. They were like 0:23:58.320 --> 0:24:01.320 looking for like comedy people because they wanted to do this, 0:24:01.440 --> 0:24:04.000 like they wanted to have a comedy troup. And so 0:24:04.760 --> 0:24:06.879 me and all of my friends we all went an audition. 0:24:06.960 --> 0:24:09.399 We all drove to Orlando and we auditioned, and I 0:24:09.440 --> 0:24:13.159 remember I auditioned with this Eric Pogosian piece that I 0:24:13.200 --> 0:24:16.280 had been working on in my scene study class, and 0:24:16.359 --> 0:24:18.560 it was just this piece that I had from his 0:24:19.000 --> 0:24:24.120 show Drinking in America. And I did this Burgosian monologue 0:24:24.640 --> 0:24:29.640 and got this job at Disney MGM Studios. And at 0:24:29.640 --> 0:24:31.639 the time, they were paying me more money than I 0:24:31.640 --> 0:24:34.159 had ever seen. You know, I was making four hundred 0:24:34.160 --> 0:24:37.920 and fifty dollars a week and they were gonna get 0:24:37.960 --> 0:24:39.600 me my They were like, I was gonna have my 0:24:39.600 --> 0:24:42.040 own apartment and they put me up, you know, the 0:24:42.040 --> 0:24:44.959 whole thing. So I was like, I'm going I'm going 0:24:45.000 --> 0:24:47.120 to do this. I'm gonna go leave school and drop 0:24:47.160 --> 0:24:49.720 out of school and go make some money. And then 0:24:49.760 --> 0:24:50.959 at the idea was I was going to come back 0:24:51.000 --> 0:24:53.399 and finish my degree, but I never did. I I 0:24:53.440 --> 0:24:56.000 went to Orlando and started working. So it was like 0:24:56.040 --> 0:24:59.760 an improv comedy troup. And the people they hired from 0:24:59.800 --> 0:25:02.359 all over the country, so you know, there were people 0:25:02.400 --> 0:25:06.879 from like Dudley Riggs and and UCB and in fact, 0:25:07.280 --> 0:25:10.080 mc collins, who later went on to become a cast 0:25:10.200 --> 0:25:13.920 member of Mad TV. Her and I were both in 0:25:14.000 --> 0:25:18.520 the original comedy cast at Disney MGM Studios. That's amazing. 0:25:18.720 --> 0:25:20.840 I was in Minneapolis doing theater for a while, so 0:25:21.000 --> 0:25:25.360 I was never at Dudley Riggs, but newm collins, who yeah, 0:25:25.680 --> 0:25:29.000 from from Minneapolis and oh yeah, yeah yeah, So she 0:25:29.280 --> 0:25:34.159 came from there, and what a genius improviser she is 0:25:34.440 --> 0:25:37.639 and was and continues to be. But I was it 0:25:37.800 --> 0:25:40.840 was like a great training ground for me. Like it 0:25:41.040 --> 0:25:42.960 was just it was kind of like what The Daily 0:25:43.000 --> 0:25:45.480 Show was much many years later, which is like I 0:25:45.600 --> 0:25:48.600 just got to work with these incredibly funny people, you know, 0:25:48.840 --> 0:25:51.200 and and we were all kind of in our early 0:25:51.320 --> 0:25:55.639 twenties and our careers were all just starting, and you know, 0:25:55.720 --> 0:25:57.880 it was it was Mo and then there was Peter 0:25:58.000 --> 0:26:00.639 and Paul Vote. Peter Paul Vote I think also was 0:26:00.640 --> 0:26:03.399 a cast member on that TV later. There was just 0:26:03.480 --> 0:26:06.480 all these great people and I got to work there 0:26:06.560 --> 0:26:09.560 with them and we would basically just do improv and 0:26:09.800 --> 0:26:13.560 play these characters at the Disney MGM Studios, and I 0:26:13.680 --> 0:26:16.440 just learned so much. I just learned so much about 0:26:16.520 --> 0:26:19.800 comedy and and improvisation and timing and all. All of 0:26:20.320 --> 0:26:22.679 it was almost like my grad school because I never 0:26:22.720 --> 0:26:24.680 went to grad school, and I dropped out of Underground 0:26:24.720 --> 0:26:27.040 and then I went here and Disney and just and 0:26:27.080 --> 0:26:28.399 I worked there, and I worked there, and then I 0:26:28.440 --> 0:26:31.040 worked to Universal Studios down the road. So I was 0:26:31.080 --> 0:26:33.520 in Orlando for like a couple of years, just doing 0:26:33.640 --> 0:26:37.040 like the theme park thing and just doing you know, 0:26:37.760 --> 0:26:39.600 I worked with I don't know, if you're familiar with 0:26:39.720 --> 0:26:44.280 Sack Theater. They're like a improv comedy troupe and they 0:26:44.320 --> 0:26:47.080 would do a lot of the Renaissance fairs, and so 0:26:47.160 --> 0:26:50.280 a lot of people who worked at MGM also came 0:26:50.359 --> 0:26:53.879 from the renfair circuit. So I was doing like Renaissance 0:26:53.960 --> 0:26:57.440 fairs and all that stuff and so deep in that 0:26:57.560 --> 0:27:00.399 world for a little while. So it was right, it was, 0:27:00.520 --> 0:27:03.800 but it was a great training ground for just doing 0:27:03.880 --> 0:27:07.000 funny stuff. You know, When did you decide to move 0:27:07.040 --> 0:27:09.159 to New York? You were there a couple of years there, 0:27:09.200 --> 0:27:11.360 a couple of years. I started dating a girl down 0:27:11.440 --> 0:27:14.040 in Orlando, and she wanted to move to New York. 0:27:15.000 --> 0:27:17.520 And I was done with my contract. I was done 0:27:17.600 --> 0:27:20.360 with my contract at Universal, and I was like, yeah, 0:27:20.600 --> 0:27:21.960 that's you know. I was like, what am I gonna do? 0:27:22.040 --> 0:27:24.440 I kind of done. I got my equity card. I 0:27:24.560 --> 0:27:26.879 kind of was like, maybe it's time to like go 0:27:27.240 --> 0:27:29.359 drive my luck in New York City and you do 0:27:29.880 --> 0:27:34.600 a number of shows fairly quickly. Brig a Dune disgraced. Well, 0:27:34.680 --> 0:27:37.679 that was that was later. That was all later. When 0:27:37.800 --> 0:27:40.359 when I first got to New York. Okay, so this 0:27:40.560 --> 0:27:44.200 was what year was that? And the first show that 0:27:44.320 --> 0:27:46.760 I get it was like a week after I got 0:27:46.800 --> 0:27:52.480 to New York was a show called Saddam Oh No. 0:27:53.600 --> 0:27:56.800 And it was a car. It was a comedy about 0:27:56.880 --> 0:28:00.919 Saddam was saying. A comedy. Yeah, it was this weird 0:28:01.359 --> 0:28:05.600 comedy about Saddam was saying. And it was in Baltimore, Maryland. 0:28:06.080 --> 0:28:08.440 So I get to New York. I have an audition 0:28:08.840 --> 0:28:14.200 for this regional theater gig in Baltimore. Right in New York. 0:28:14.240 --> 0:28:15.880 I auditioned for it and it was like a four 0:28:16.000 --> 0:28:20.320 character play and I played in Iraqi, an Iraqi soldier 0:28:20.600 --> 0:28:28.119 who's also a stand up comic and it was so 0:28:29.440 --> 0:28:32.240 this was the first show that I got in New York. 0:28:32.320 --> 0:28:34.480 And then I go to Baltimore for like four weeks 0:28:35.119 --> 0:28:38.840 and we do this play Saddam, a comedy in two acts, 0:28:39.200 --> 0:28:45.400 and it was like, so we're doing this show and 0:28:45.520 --> 0:28:48.920 the same guy that owns the cabaret space also owns 0:28:49.000 --> 0:28:52.720 the nightclub next door, so in the middle of the show, 0:28:53.440 --> 0:28:56.240 he would open up the nightclub. So we'd be like 0:28:56.720 --> 0:29:00.200 in the middle of this play with like cabaret ondien 0:29:00.360 --> 0:29:02.840 people drinking what I didn't have it, and then suddenly 0:29:03.360 --> 0:29:08.480 like the wall would just be like to poop boop boop, 0:29:08.680 --> 0:29:11.280 and we were like, dude, you can't do that, Like 0:29:11.400 --> 0:29:14.280 we were being drowned out by this noise coming from 0:29:14.320 --> 0:29:17.040 the club next door. And he was like, no, man, 0:29:17.120 --> 0:29:19.680 because because he owned both spaces and he didn't want 0:29:19.680 --> 0:29:21.920 to like lose any money, so he was just like, 0:29:22.080 --> 0:29:25.920 I'll just opened the club. That was my It was. 0:29:26.040 --> 0:29:27.880 It was crazy. It was like and they were competing 0:29:27.920 --> 0:29:31.040 against this like dance music coming through the walls. And 0:29:31.200 --> 0:29:34.360 so that was my first gig. So you were really 0:29:34.440 --> 0:29:37.240 living that New York theater actor life, like you're doing 0:29:37.320 --> 0:29:40.240 regional theaters and yeah, I was doing the regional theater gig. 0:29:40.280 --> 0:29:43.360 I was doing Shakespeare. I did the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival. 0:29:43.840 --> 0:29:46.560 I did like you know, Saddam the comedy in two 0:29:46.640 --> 0:29:50.040 acts in Baltimore. I did, yeah, And I was doing 0:29:50.120 --> 0:29:52.640 like off off Broadway stuff, you know. I was really 0:29:52.880 --> 0:29:55.040 I was getting up like five o'clock in the morning 0:29:55.120 --> 0:29:57.080 and standing. It used to be back in those days. 0:29:57.480 --> 0:29:59.920 You get up and you'd go to actor's Equity and 0:30:00.040 --> 0:30:02.960 you stand in line outside after exequity at like six 0:30:03.000 --> 0:30:05.200 o'clock in the morning with your bagel and a cup 0:30:05.280 --> 0:30:07.640 of coffee, and you get an appointment to just have 0:30:07.840 --> 0:30:11.920 an audition for some assistant of some casting director, just 0:30:12.040 --> 0:30:15.440 to get seen for like for pipping in like in 0:30:15.520 --> 0:30:18.440 Oklahoma or something you know, like and so that was it, 0:30:18.600 --> 0:30:21.520 and then you know, you do these open calls, and 0:30:21.640 --> 0:30:23.840 so that's the life I was living for a long time. 0:30:24.080 --> 0:30:26.160 I was just like trying to just get like a 0:30:26.280 --> 0:30:29.040 gig here, a gig there, like maybe get a commercial. 0:30:29.760 --> 0:30:31.720 I was doing extra work for a while. I was 0:30:31.800 --> 0:30:34.920 an extra on a bunch of movies, and so like 0:30:35.000 --> 0:30:36.760 I was just I was making I was literally getting 0:30:36.800 --> 0:30:39.920 my like my SAG insurance just done, but doing extra 0:30:40.000 --> 0:30:42.520 work for like a couple of years. You know. I 0:30:42.600 --> 0:30:45.920 saw I saw brigadoone Oklahoma on your resume. Do you sing? 0:30:46.440 --> 0:30:49.160 So I don't sing. I mean, okay, let me, let 0:30:49.200 --> 0:30:53.480 me paraphrase that I sing well enough to like be 0:30:53.640 --> 0:30:57.160 an actor who can sing. But I'm not like a singer, 0:30:57.320 --> 0:31:00.280 Like I don't like have like a Broadway singing voice. 0:31:00.760 --> 0:31:03.400 So Oklahoma came much later. Oklahoma came in two thousand 0:31:03.480 --> 0:31:05.760 and two, and by then I've already done my one 0:31:05.800 --> 0:31:07.680 man show and all this stuff like that. That was, 0:31:07.800 --> 0:31:09.920 you know, like my big break, right. I did my 0:31:09.960 --> 0:31:12.480 one man's show and stuff, and and then I got Oklahoma, 0:31:12.840 --> 0:31:14.800 and it was the weirdest thing. Because I had done 0:31:15.280 --> 0:31:17.440 my one man show, I've gotten a lot of attention 0:31:17.560 --> 0:31:20.360 for it. I did this movie with this smile merchant 0:31:20.400 --> 0:31:24.480 with merchant Ivory called The Mystic Massure, and I was thinking, like, okay, 0:31:24.520 --> 0:31:27.040 now my career is I'm gonna do movies. That's what 0:31:27.040 --> 0:31:29.000 I'm gonna do, because this is gonna be it now. 0:31:29.400 --> 0:31:31.320 And so I went out to l A and the 0:31:31.360 --> 0:31:33.760 phone's not ringing. The phone is not ringing. Nobody saw 0:31:34.440 --> 0:31:36.600 Mystic Massour. It was like a movie that no, it's 0:31:36.600 --> 0:31:39.160 just basically nobody saw it, like nobody cared, you know, 0:31:39.280 --> 0:31:41.920 like you know, and so I'm sitting in l A 0:31:42.480 --> 0:31:44.080 and I'm thinking like all right, and then the phone 0:31:44.160 --> 0:31:46.920 rings and my agents are like, you have an audition 0:31:47.480 --> 0:31:51.440 for Oklahoma on Broadway. And I was like what and 0:31:51.520 --> 0:31:53.240 they were like, yeah, they want you to read for 0:31:54.000 --> 0:31:58.719 the Peddler. And it's a non singing comedy role. Right, 0:31:59.040 --> 0:32:01.120 there's a song, but it's like a pattern song. It's like, 0:32:02.480 --> 0:32:04.360 you know, you can talk, you sing, it talks sing. 0:32:04.480 --> 0:32:08.320 That's that's my that's my forte. That's your fourte Yeah 0:32:08.800 --> 0:32:12.320 talk singing. Yeah, I'm great at that. You talk in rhythm. 0:32:12.400 --> 0:32:14.840 You just talk like in a twenty minutes ago. I 0:32:15.000 --> 0:32:18.400 am free, like a breeze, free like about in the woodland, 0:32:18.760 --> 0:32:21.080 flee like a gypsy, flee like a child. I am 0:32:21.120 --> 0:32:22.880 on the touch. It's not it's just that kind of 0:32:23.240 --> 0:32:25.960 you know. So anyway, Trevor Nunn was directing Oklahoma and 0:32:26.000 --> 0:32:32.680 Broadway was the National Theater. Your Shakespeare starts. Yes, I'm 0:32:32.720 --> 0:32:36.560 great at that. Yeah, there you go. So you're great. Yeah, 0:32:36.840 --> 0:32:38.520 so that wash. So they were like, you know, they 0:32:38.600 --> 0:32:40.800 want to read you and they want you to do 0:32:41.000 --> 0:32:44.200 like a song. So I sent in a tape from 0:32:44.280 --> 0:32:46.880 New York, I mean from l A and then they said, oh, 0:32:46.960 --> 0:32:48.600 you have a you have a call back, and they 0:32:48.600 --> 0:32:50.160 want to see you. So then I came back to 0:32:50.240 --> 0:32:54.360 New York and read for Trevor Nunn, who couldn't have 0:32:54.400 --> 0:32:56.840 been nicer and and it was just great and and 0:32:57.000 --> 0:33:00.080 and they were bringing the production that had done the 0:33:00.160 --> 0:33:03.640 National Theater was with Hugh Jackman as as Curly and 0:33:03.760 --> 0:33:06.320 Sula Hensley, who went went on to win The bath 0:33:06.400 --> 0:33:08.400 Tub and then the Tony in New York. So then 0:33:08.440 --> 0:33:12.719 the production in New York was with Patrick Wilson as Curly, 0:33:13.080 --> 0:33:15.640 and they had sort of lost some of their British 0:33:15.720 --> 0:33:18.400 cast and so they need to recast it with Americans. 0:33:18.920 --> 0:33:21.240 So I auditioned for the peddler and I got the 0:33:21.360 --> 0:33:23.400 part and I was just it was just it was 0:33:23.480 --> 0:33:25.400 like I was funny, so like they were like great. 0:33:25.760 --> 0:33:27.360 I think the problem was that the guy in England 0:33:27.680 --> 0:33:30.160 was not very funny and they wanted it to be funnier. 0:33:30.280 --> 0:33:32.000 So they were like, okay, we didn't we don't care 0:33:32.040 --> 0:33:33.959 if you can stick. And I remember going in from 0:33:34.000 --> 0:33:37.120 my audition with Susan Stroman, of all people, she was 0:33:37.240 --> 0:33:40.280 the choreographer, and I was like, oh my god. I 0:33:40.400 --> 0:33:41.960 was like listen I'm not a dancer, and I told 0:33:41.960 --> 0:33:43.800 my agents I'm not a dancer and I'm not. I 0:33:43.880 --> 0:33:46.680 don't It was a Michael Jackson in personator in high school. 0:33:46.720 --> 0:33:48.200 But that's about it, you know what I mean, Like 0:33:48.800 --> 0:33:51.160 not this Oklahoma dancing. I don't do that, Like my 0:33:51.240 --> 0:33:54.320 body doesn't move that way. And so they were like, 0:33:54.360 --> 0:33:55.920 don't worry about it, and so like I go, await 0:33:56.000 --> 0:33:58.480 and I just could ship the bed in the dance 0:33:58.520 --> 0:34:02.560 audition and I that's it. That's never happening. And then 0:34:03.080 --> 0:34:04.520 they called me and they were like and they don't 0:34:04.520 --> 0:34:06.320 actually care if you can't dance. They just want you 0:34:06.360 --> 0:34:09.040 to be funny. And so I was like, well that's good, 0:34:09.120 --> 0:34:10.840 you know. So it was great and I so I 0:34:11.000 --> 0:34:14.480 ended up doing that for a year. It was the 0:34:14.680 --> 0:34:18.120 greatest time. You know, I can honestly say like it was. 0:34:18.560 --> 0:34:22.680 I've been fortunate to have a very diverse career, you know, 0:34:22.920 --> 0:34:25.040 like I've gotten to do a lot of things that 0:34:25.440 --> 0:34:28.200 you wouldn't expect, you know, but I never wanted to. 0:34:28.239 --> 0:34:31.080 I never expected to be in a musical. No less 0:34:31.160 --> 0:34:33.960 two because then years later City Center was doing Brig 0:34:34.080 --> 0:34:37.400 a Dude and Patrick Wilson was starting in it again 0:34:37.560 --> 0:34:41.080 and he said, oh, there's this comic sidekick character who's 0:34:41.160 --> 0:34:43.640 like a great part. There's no singing, it's just gotta 0:34:43.680 --> 0:34:45.680 be funny. And they're like, why don't we get awesome? 0:34:47.360 --> 0:34:49.239 You know, by then, like people knew who I was, 0:34:49.600 --> 0:34:51.680 so they got me to do that. Now I'm gonna 0:34:51.680 --> 0:34:54.840 be honest. I'm gonna be totally honest. Oh here we go. 0:34:55.200 --> 0:34:58.160 I'm not a big musical guy, as I displayed. I 0:34:58.239 --> 0:35:01.560 don't sing that well. I saw you in Oklahoma. I 0:35:01.680 --> 0:35:05.920 don't remember much. But Schuler, who I don't really know, 0:35:06.239 --> 0:35:08.239 so I'm not going to pretend. But he went to 0:35:08.280 --> 0:35:10.880 my high school. He did. He was he was older 0:35:10.920 --> 0:35:12.520 than me. Yeah, he was older than me. So I 0:35:12.520 --> 0:35:15.399 didn't even know him in high school. But yes, I saw. 0:35:15.640 --> 0:35:18.600 I saw the production with Patrick and with you. I 0:35:18.640 --> 0:35:20.360 didn't know you at the time, but I knew Schuler, 0:35:20.800 --> 0:35:23.239 and yeah, wow, I was there. I was one of 0:35:23.280 --> 0:35:25.919 those you were one of the billion audience members. Yeah, yeah, 0:35:26.280 --> 0:35:29.480 I just remember we had a rehearsal once and Trevor, 0:35:29.600 --> 0:35:31.279 you know, we were in the Gerchewin Theater, which is 0:35:31.320 --> 0:35:36.880 that ginormous theater right there on fifty Street and it's concrete, right, 0:35:37.360 --> 0:35:41.920 So it's one of the few concrete theaters in Broadway houses. 0:35:41.960 --> 0:35:44.120 Like it's not like the Broadway houses for those of 0:35:44.200 --> 0:35:48.000 you don't know, like they're acoustically beautifully built, so the 0:35:48.080 --> 0:35:51.560 sound bounces, but the gershwind is not is like a 0:35:51.960 --> 0:35:55.200 sound black hole, you know, it's just like and so 0:35:55.440 --> 0:35:58.320 it's just like concrete which just absorbed the sound. So 0:35:58.440 --> 0:36:01.560 you really got to project. And it's also the biggest 0:36:01.600 --> 0:36:04.280 Broadway with you on probably it's like two thousand seeds 0:36:04.360 --> 0:36:06.960 or something, so you really got to hit that back wall, 0:36:07.120 --> 0:36:09.160 you know, you got and everyone's miked and you know 0:36:09.239 --> 0:36:11.759 in those musicals and stuff. So right, I remember Trevor 0:36:11.840 --> 0:36:13.520 giving a note to the cast. He was like it 0:36:13.680 --> 0:36:15.800 was like after like I think a first stress rehearsal 0:36:15.880 --> 0:36:18.439 or something, and he was he was like, he said, 0:36:19.000 --> 0:36:21.160 you know, in his in his very proper English, and 0:36:21.160 --> 0:36:23.799 it's like, now, everybody really just needs to just hit 0:36:23.920 --> 0:36:27.080 that back wall. I know your miked, but really it's 0:36:27.120 --> 0:36:29.960 a it's a very large theater. You just really just 0:36:30.080 --> 0:36:32.520 have to get all the way to the back of 0:36:32.640 --> 0:36:35.920 the house and everybody, every last seed should hear clearly, 0:36:36.080 --> 0:36:40.000 crystal clear. So everyone make sure you hit that back wall, 0:36:40.480 --> 0:36:49.200 except you as if you're fine, you can bring it 0:36:49.280 --> 0:36:53.239 down a bit. Actually, that sounds like every director that 0:36:53.360 --> 0:36:55.719 I ever had as well, You and I would have competed. 0:36:55.800 --> 0:37:01.800 I think I would have red like it was so 0:37:02.080 --> 0:37:04.440 much like it was just like I was like, oh, yeah, okay, 0:37:04.880 --> 0:37:08.480 you might be overacting a little bit, but it was 0:37:08.600 --> 0:37:11.000 so much fun. It was so much fun to do that. 0:37:11.400 --> 0:37:13.520 And then getting to work with Patrick again years later, 0:37:13.680 --> 0:37:16.520 and also Kelly O'Hara went never worked with. But but yeah, 0:37:16.560 --> 0:37:18.920 it's weird. I'm not a musical theater guy either, you know, 0:37:19.040 --> 0:37:22.759 full disclosure, I don't even really go to musicals, not much. 0:37:23.200 --> 0:37:26.400 But I have to say being in a musical was 0:37:26.560 --> 0:37:30.920 just a blast. It was just the greatest thing to do. 0:37:31.400 --> 0:37:34.440 I'll share with you. I was doing theater in Minneapolis, 0:37:35.000 --> 0:37:37.239 you know, summer was usually there wasn't a lot going on, 0:37:37.440 --> 0:37:42.440 and I got offered a an opera in Northern Michigan 0:37:42.800 --> 0:37:44.759 and I was like, I don't sing, I can't do 0:37:44.880 --> 0:37:46.480 and they were like, no, no, no. I think it 0:37:46.600 --> 0:37:50.759 was The Fleet r Mouse And there's like a fifteen 0:37:50.920 --> 0:37:56.360 minute or something just set piece a drunk jailer that 0:37:56.480 --> 0:38:00.440 comes in does is like stick for fifteen minutes and 0:38:00.480 --> 0:38:02.600 then get you know, falls asleep in the cell or whatever, 0:38:02.719 --> 0:38:05.120 and then everybody keeps singing again. But there's like fifteen 0:38:05.120 --> 0:38:08.719 minutes of just one character acting on the stage. And 0:38:08.840 --> 0:38:10.440 I did that, and I'll tell you it was the 0:38:10.520 --> 0:38:12.719 most fun job because I could show up like in 0:38:12.800 --> 0:38:16.520 the middle of act two, going through my little thing 0:38:16.800 --> 0:38:19.279 and then move along. Yeah. It was Yeah, it was 0:38:19.360 --> 0:38:21.160 a good time. It was just like a lot of 0:38:22.040 --> 0:38:43.160 a lot of fun. So during this time in New York, 0:38:43.400 --> 0:38:46.759 I saw your resume and I was like, oh, yeah, no, 0:38:47.040 --> 0:38:49.920 he was doing the New York thing Law and Orders 0:38:51.400 --> 0:38:56.919 multiple times, right, doing all those shows in New York. 0:38:57.040 --> 0:39:02.799 So through theater through I assumed commercials, but also film roles, 0:39:02.840 --> 0:39:05.160 and as you said, you know early on doing extra work. 0:39:05.480 --> 0:39:07.879 You know, you were making a living as an actor. Yeah. 0:39:08.280 --> 0:39:11.800 Mostly the good thing was it was steadily I was 0:39:11.920 --> 0:39:14.439 getting like better parts, and you know, I was also 0:39:14.800 --> 0:39:17.480 supplementing my income with kat Waiter ring. But I was 0:39:17.560 --> 0:39:21.120 getting enough, like I would get a commercial every now 0:39:21.200 --> 0:39:24.040 and then, or I get like a small theater gig. 0:39:24.800 --> 0:39:27.719 Later I started getting small parts in movies, and it 0:39:27.840 --> 0:39:30.759 was just sort of like my resume was slowly just 0:39:30.880 --> 0:39:33.919 starting to build. And I think it's what kept me going. 0:39:34.160 --> 0:39:36.480 I think if I had stalled out or felt like 0:39:36.520 --> 0:39:38.759 I wasn't getting anywhere, you know, I don't know what 0:39:38.800 --> 0:39:40.319 I would have done. I might I might have ended 0:39:40.400 --> 0:39:42.560 up going back to Tampa or whatever, you know, like, 0:39:43.400 --> 0:39:46.759 but it was enough to keep me. Like I was 0:39:46.840 --> 0:39:49.560 like and honestly like, I was living in this place 0:39:49.719 --> 0:39:53.759 in Long Island City, Queens, where I had like one room, 0:39:54.120 --> 0:39:56.880 and I was sharing this apartment with the South American 0:39:56.920 --> 0:40:00.200 grad students. And I was basically had one room and 0:40:00.239 --> 0:40:03.200 I shared the bathroom and the kitchen with these grad students. 0:40:03.520 --> 0:40:06.440 And it was in this building that was like right 0:40:06.520 --> 0:40:09.840 there in Longon City, and I was paying three hundred 0:40:09.880 --> 0:40:13.600 dollars a month in rent for that one room. And 0:40:13.760 --> 0:40:15.799 had it not been for the fact that my rent 0:40:16.000 --> 0:40:19.440 was it was very and even three hundred bucks a month. 0:40:19.520 --> 0:40:21.840 Sometimes I was like I can't you know. It was 0:40:21.960 --> 0:40:24.719 that scene with Will Ferrell and the little girl. You know, 0:40:24.800 --> 0:40:27.560 it was like I was like, I can't afford the rent, 0:40:27.680 --> 0:40:29.120 you like, you have to pay that, right, you know. 0:40:29.640 --> 0:40:31.880 But I managed to survive, you know, I managed to 0:40:32.080 --> 0:40:35.520 somehow just keep stepping up the ladder a little bit, 0:40:35.680 --> 0:40:38.440 a little bit, and then I started getting bigger opportunities, 0:40:39.000 --> 0:40:41.319 and then and then bigger things started to come my way, 0:40:41.360 --> 0:40:44.000 you know. I think the first sort of real thing 0:40:44.120 --> 0:40:48.120 that I got was in nine four, which was a 0:40:48.160 --> 0:40:50.360 couple of years after years, so after I came to 0:40:50.440 --> 0:40:53.719 New York, I was an understudy at Lincoln Center in 0:40:53.840 --> 0:40:56.800 the place Suburbia by Eric Pagoshan, who was like my 0:40:56.960 --> 0:41:00.200 idol from way back when, and so Begosian had writen 0:41:00.239 --> 0:41:02.960 this play called Suburbia and it was with Steve Zon 0:41:03.320 --> 0:41:07.640 and Martha Plimpton and zach or If and Tim Guinea 0:41:07.920 --> 0:41:10.680 and all these like New York theater actor. Steve Zon 0:41:10.719 --> 0:41:13.520 at the time was like the guy Josh Hamilton's you know, 0:41:13.680 --> 0:41:16.240 they were like all breaking out into movies and stuff. 0:41:16.239 --> 0:41:19.480 Steve's on had just done reality Bites with Ben Stiller 0:41:19.600 --> 0:41:22.200 and Ethan Hawk, and it was kind of a cool 0:41:23.040 --> 0:41:26.640 little gig and I got. I didn't even get in 0:41:26.760 --> 0:41:29.239 the show. I was. I was the understudy in the show. 0:41:29.800 --> 0:41:32.280 But you know, it was better than I did anything 0:41:32.320 --> 0:41:33.600 else that, you know, So it was like it was 0:41:33.680 --> 0:41:36.200 like suddenly I was getting like stuff where I was 0:41:36.239 --> 0:41:38.480 starting to like move up the ladder. And then the 0:41:38.560 --> 0:41:41.359 year later, I got like an off Broadway gig, an 0:41:41.400 --> 0:41:44.440 off Broadway play called Depth Defying Acts where I was 0:41:44.480 --> 0:41:47.600 actually in the show. It was a three one acts 0:41:47.680 --> 0:41:51.520 written by Elaine May, David Mammitt, and Woody Allen, and uh, 0:41:52.200 --> 0:41:55.160 I was in this play with Linda Lavitt, and it 0:41:55.320 --> 0:41:58.000 was like me and Lynda Lavitt on stage together for 0:41:58.160 --> 0:42:00.400 like ten minutes in the middle of this little one 0:42:00.440 --> 0:42:03.759 act where I played her her the delivery guy who 0:42:03.880 --> 0:42:07.960 was coming to her apartment where she's trying to commit suicide. 0:42:08.040 --> 0:42:09.759 And so it was like a funny little play by 0:42:09.800 --> 0:42:13.239 Elaine May that ran for a year or so and 0:42:13.400 --> 0:42:15.399 I was on I was doing that, and so it's 0:42:15.480 --> 0:42:18.080 just like starting to like sort of build stuff and 0:42:18.280 --> 0:42:22.279 get more and more. Yeah, you mentioned before you were 0:42:22.320 --> 0:42:25.799 on The Daily Show for almost a decade. Why did 0:42:25.880 --> 0:42:28.200 you decide to audition for that show or how did 0:42:28.239 --> 0:42:30.759 that come about? I I ended up on The Daily 0:42:30.800 --> 0:42:33.400 Show in a very unusual way, which is not the 0:42:33.600 --> 0:42:36.800 usual trajectory for people on the Daily Show, because I 0:42:36.920 --> 0:42:40.200 wasn't doing stand up. I had done stand up, but 0:42:40.640 --> 0:42:42.359 it wasn't my world and I had done a one 0:42:42.400 --> 0:42:44.080 man show and all this stuff, but I was an 0:42:44.120 --> 0:42:47.920 actor doing like theater and they just had written this 0:42:48.160 --> 0:42:51.960 piece and they needed a Middle East correspondent and they 0:42:52.000 --> 0:42:54.680 didn't have one, and it was written. I remember it 0:42:54.760 --> 0:42:56.960 was like Tim Carvel wrote this piece, and you know, 0:42:57.000 --> 0:43:00.040 Tim Carvel was now head writer for John Oliver and 0:43:00.120 --> 0:43:02.840 it was all about the Iraq War. And this was 0:43:02.920 --> 0:43:06.000 two thousand six, and it was after nine eleven. It 0:43:06.120 --> 0:43:10.080 was it was really a beautifully written piece of satire 0:43:10.320 --> 0:43:12.440 and comedy. It was just I think it's still one 0:43:12.480 --> 0:43:14.960 of my all time favorite pieces that I ever did 0:43:15.040 --> 0:43:17.759 on the show. But they were looking and so they 0:43:17.880 --> 0:43:20.399 called my agent. They were like, and I remember that day. 0:43:20.960 --> 0:43:24.920 It was August nine, two thousand six, and you know, 0:43:24.960 --> 0:43:29.800 there are those days in your life where your life changes, 0:43:30.800 --> 0:43:34.359 you know, not not always, but this was a day 0:43:34.760 --> 0:43:37.960 when my life changed. And I woke up in that 0:43:38.080 --> 0:43:41.280 morning and I was writing a letter to my ex girlfriend. 0:43:41.680 --> 0:43:43.960 It was one of those dear John, like I'm sorry, 0:43:44.320 --> 0:43:46.120 Like you know, I just found out she gotten engaged, 0:43:46.360 --> 0:43:49.120 and I was like still holding onto some idea that 0:43:49.160 --> 0:43:50.919 we were going to get back together. So I write 0:43:50.960 --> 0:43:54.160 this letter and I'm writing it Longhand and I'm sitting 0:43:54.400 --> 0:43:56.360 and the phone rings. Now my manager was like, the 0:43:56.440 --> 0:43:59.720 Daily Show wants to see you for an audition today, 0:44:00.239 --> 0:44:03.080 and I remember just being like, yeah, I'm kind of 0:44:03.160 --> 0:44:07.400 sad today. How about tomorrow? And I was like, I 0:44:07.440 --> 0:44:09.440 don't feel very I don't feel great today. I'm kind 0:44:09.480 --> 0:44:12.360 of really in a miserable place. And they're like tomorrow, 0:44:12.760 --> 0:44:14.480 I don't think so it looks like if they don't, 0:44:14.480 --> 0:44:17.480 they're gonna find someone today or not. That's it. And 0:44:17.560 --> 0:44:19.920 I was this close to not going because I thought 0:44:20.280 --> 0:44:24.480 it was gonna be like some stupid thing where, you know, 0:44:24.600 --> 0:44:27.080 like I've done these on letters, on Letterman and other 0:44:27.120 --> 0:44:29.239 places where I go down and I pretend to then 0:44:29.320 --> 0:44:31.759 do the voice of some terrorists or something, or on 0:44:31.840 --> 0:44:34.360 a flying carpet or something, you know, like some weird 0:44:34.800 --> 0:44:36.279 thing where they put a turban on me or some 0:44:36.400 --> 0:44:38.560 ship and then they pay you a couple of hundred 0:44:38.560 --> 0:44:40.759 bucks and you go home. You know. I thought it's 0:44:40.840 --> 0:44:42.800 sucking bullshit, like I don't want to, and so I 0:44:42.880 --> 0:44:45.040 said to my manager, I was like, what's it for. 0:44:45.320 --> 0:44:47.400 They were like, it's actually for a correspondent. Because I 0:44:47.400 --> 0:44:50.200 originally I said no, and then they call back and 0:44:50.239 --> 0:44:52.120 they're like, you know, it's for a correspondent, so just 0:44:52.600 --> 0:44:54.640 just that fire if that changes your mind. And I 0:44:54.680 --> 0:44:56.320 didn't know it was like a full time gig or 0:44:56.320 --> 0:44:59.000 anything like that. So I was like, fucking I'll go. 0:44:59.440 --> 0:45:01.760 So I said, what time they've seen people for four o'clock. 0:45:01.840 --> 0:45:03.399 I was like, I'll be there at three forty five 0:45:04.200 --> 0:45:06.040 and and and the time I lived on the Eppleworst 0:45:06.040 --> 0:45:08.600 Side and the Daily Show taped like twenty blocks down 0:45:08.640 --> 0:45:10.360 from where I lived. So I just literally just walked 0:45:10.760 --> 0:45:14.080 down to the Daily Show and I walk in. There's 0:45:14.160 --> 0:45:17.239 Jon Stewart and he's got his you know, his khaki's 0:45:17.480 --> 0:45:20.960 is now his Cornu roys, and his his sweatshirt baseball cap. 0:45:21.360 --> 0:45:23.120 And I watched the show, you know, so I was like, 0:45:23.200 --> 0:45:26.440 oh cool Jon Stewart, you know, and uh oh. And 0:45:26.520 --> 0:45:28.400 at first I remember first they gave me the sides 0:45:28.840 --> 0:45:31.080 and there was all this stuff, and I was like, 0:45:31.360 --> 0:45:32.880 I was like, oh my god, I gotta memorize all 0:45:32.920 --> 0:45:34.480 this right now. And I was like sitting there trying 0:45:34.480 --> 0:45:35.880 to memorize it. And then they came out they were 0:45:35.880 --> 0:45:37.480 like no, no, no, it's on the teleprop jet. And 0:45:37.560 --> 0:45:39.400 I was like such a theater snob. I was like 0:45:39.520 --> 0:45:42.360 teleprop jet, like, this is fucking bullshit. Like so I 0:45:42.440 --> 0:45:46.120 literally was just like, alright, fine, funck it whatever. So 0:45:46.239 --> 0:45:48.759 I just go in there, and honestly, it was one 0:45:48.760 --> 0:45:51.160 of those moments where I really was like I'm not 0:45:51.280 --> 0:45:53.520 going to get this, and I was like if I 0:45:53.600 --> 0:45:56.200 don't get it, who cares? If I do get it, great, 0:45:56.480 --> 0:45:58.399 you know, And it was one of those moments where 0:45:58.400 --> 0:45:59.920 I just didn't care. So I literally just went in 0:46:00.120 --> 0:46:02.160 and I read the teal prompter and I did the 0:46:02.239 --> 0:46:04.719 bit with John, and John was super nice and he 0:46:04.840 --> 0:46:06.160 was like, you know, and I remember him saying to 0:46:06.200 --> 0:46:07.880 me like, have you ever performed in front of a 0:46:07.920 --> 0:46:10.279 live audience before? Because you know, the Daily Show tapes 0:46:10.320 --> 0:46:12.120 in front of a live audience, so he was like, 0:46:12.600 --> 0:46:14.080 you ever performed in front of a live audience? And 0:46:14.080 --> 0:46:16.560 I remember just looking at him being like, dude, I've 0:46:16.600 --> 0:46:22.279 been on Broadway and he was and he was like, 0:46:22.440 --> 0:46:27.520 oh okay. He was like. I was like, he's like, 0:46:27.600 --> 0:46:31.080 let's see you Mr Broadways. And then I did it 0:46:31.160 --> 0:46:35.719 and I literally just did my best Stephen Colbert impression, 0:46:35.800 --> 0:46:37.320 like that's all I knew how to do. Like, I 0:46:37.400 --> 0:46:39.520 was like, I watched the show. I kind of would 0:46:39.520 --> 0:46:42.120 watch Stephen Colbert, watched the Corral all these guys, you know, 0:46:42.600 --> 0:46:44.600 and helms and everyone and then and I was like, 0:46:44.640 --> 0:46:46.200 all right, I'll just do that. I'll just do what 0:46:46.280 --> 0:46:49.120 they did. So I just did it. And then John 0:46:49.239 --> 0:46:51.279 was like after the thing, he looked at me and 0:46:51.320 --> 0:46:54.840 he stood up and he was like, dude, congratulations, welcome 0:46:54.840 --> 0:46:57.839 to the Daily Show. He just said it right away. Yeah, 0:46:58.239 --> 0:47:00.399 he just like said, welcome to the Daily Show. You're 0:47:00.400 --> 0:47:02.800 gonna be on tonight. And now, to be fair, it 0:47:02.880 --> 0:47:05.640 was a one off gig, right, it wasn't a contract, 0:47:06.040 --> 0:47:07.560 so it was like a one off game. And he 0:47:07.680 --> 0:47:09.200 was like, you're gonna be on the show tonight. And 0:47:09.280 --> 0:47:10.799 I was like all right. He was at you busy. 0:47:10.840 --> 0:47:14.279 I was like, no, of course not. And so that 0:47:14.600 --> 0:47:17.759 night I'm on the Daily Show. I'm taping at like 0:47:17.920 --> 0:47:20.840 five o'clock. I go off for rehearsal and they, you know, 0:47:20.960 --> 0:47:22.319 I don't know if you've ever been to the show, 0:47:22.440 --> 0:47:25.840 but like basically before they do the taping, there's a 0:47:26.480 --> 0:47:28.880 rehearsal with the producers and stuff and the writers. So 0:47:28.920 --> 0:47:30.680 the writers and producers sitting out there, and I see 0:47:30.719 --> 0:47:33.680 this guy sitting in the audience with a baseball cap on, 0:47:33.840 --> 0:47:35.759 and I'm looking at him and I'm staring and I'm like, 0:47:35.800 --> 0:47:39.839 I know that guy. And it's Bruce Springsteen and yeah, 0:47:40.160 --> 0:47:43.560 and so Springsteen he's a big fan of the show, 0:47:44.080 --> 0:47:47.320 Love John John, you know, like Hugh Springsteen fan. So 0:47:47.440 --> 0:47:49.640 he just came by to see the taping and he 0:47:49.760 --> 0:47:51.719 just brought his son, and so the two of them 0:47:51.719 --> 0:47:53.440 were just sitting in the rehearsal because they led him 0:47:53.440 --> 0:47:54.840 in early so he wouldn't have to deal with the 0:47:54.880 --> 0:47:57.560 crowds and stuff. So like he's sitting in the audience 0:47:58.040 --> 0:48:00.319 and I'm like, are you freaking kidding me right now? 0:48:00.400 --> 0:48:02.360 And then they go backstage and I'm like and I 0:48:02.440 --> 0:48:06.000 remember talking to the crew and I was like, guys, 0:48:06.400 --> 0:48:08.560 do you know the Bruce Springsteens out there? And they 0:48:08.560 --> 0:48:11.000 were like, yeah, yeah, we know, we you know. And 0:48:11.320 --> 0:48:14.120 I was like, is that like a normal thing here, 0:48:14.280 --> 0:48:17.400 Like you just have like mega stars to show up 0:48:17.440 --> 0:48:20.759 and sit in the rehears and sitting roar And they 0:48:20.800 --> 0:48:23.120 were like no, they were like a couple of weeks ago. 0:48:23.320 --> 0:48:25.800 J k Rowling was here, but nobody knows what she 0:48:25.880 --> 0:48:31.520 looks like so she was totally fine, and so that 0:48:31.760 --> 0:48:34.960 night I taped. I taped the show. Then we get done. 0:48:35.160 --> 0:48:37.520 It was a great piece. It was like a phenomenal 0:48:37.920 --> 0:48:39.440 I can take no credit for it except for the 0:48:39.520 --> 0:48:42.680 fact that I performed it and did it and sold it, 0:48:42.760 --> 0:48:45.120 and John, I think, was really happy with it. I 0:48:45.200 --> 0:48:48.320 went backstage after the show. John's like, stick around and 0:48:48.360 --> 0:48:49.719 want you to come into the They have a post 0:48:49.800 --> 0:48:52.239 mortem room where they go over the show afterwards. John 0:48:52.360 --> 0:48:53.880 was like, come back. I wanted you know happen. So 0:48:53.920 --> 0:48:55.719 I'm going to post mortem room. All the writers and 0:48:55.760 --> 0:48:58.320 everybody's sitting around like discussing how the show went. And 0:48:58.360 --> 0:49:01.400 as I'm walking out, spring scene is in the hallway 0:49:01.920 --> 0:49:05.239 waiting to say hi to John and he sees me 0:49:05.920 --> 0:49:08.239 and he puts out his hand. He's like, hey, he 0:49:08.320 --> 0:49:09.960 did a really good job. I heard it was your 0:49:10.000 --> 0:49:12.800 first time, and I was like, yeah, it was my 0:49:13.120 --> 0:49:17.040 first time. It was so weird, and that was the day. 0:49:17.200 --> 0:49:20.120 That was the day because then everybody was just calling 0:49:20.160 --> 0:49:22.160 me like the funk. It was just a guy that 0:49:22.200 --> 0:49:24.239 looked like you on the Daily Show, and I'm like, 0:49:24.440 --> 0:49:26.319 that was me. It was like because I didn't even 0:49:26.320 --> 0:49:28.680 have a chance to tell anyone. I didn't tell my parents. 0:49:28.760 --> 0:49:30.799 I didn't tell anyone. And then there was an article 0:49:30.880 --> 0:49:33.040 the next day in the l A Times because I 0:49:33.160 --> 0:49:36.719 was the first non white correspondent on the show. And 0:49:36.800 --> 0:49:39.319 I remember this article was like the Daily Show has 0:49:39.400 --> 0:49:42.560 this brown guy on there, Like what the fuck is 0:49:42.640 --> 0:49:46.560 going on? Like you know, they've gone diverse. And then 0:49:46.719 --> 0:49:49.440 John just really liked me, and he was like, you 0:49:49.480 --> 0:49:51.080 know what, I'm just gonna call you back if we 0:49:51.160 --> 0:49:53.560 need you again. And then they just kept calling me back, 0:49:53.800 --> 0:49:55.520 and every couple of weeks I go down and do 0:49:55.640 --> 0:49:57.880 a taping. I'll just get paid whatever for the day 0:49:57.960 --> 0:50:00.520 or whatever. And then after about four months of that, 0:50:01.200 --> 0:50:03.839 John offered me a contract on the show, and then 0:50:03.880 --> 0:50:05.960 I and then the rest of history, as they say, 0:50:06.080 --> 0:50:08.200 like it was just like and that really did at 0:50:08.280 --> 0:50:11.520 that moment, like there was definitely a switch where my 0:50:11.680 --> 0:50:14.560 career went from one point to another, you know, maybe 0:50:14.880 --> 0:50:16.719 like for you probably on the office or something, you 0:50:16.760 --> 0:50:18.560 know what I mean, Like like it was just suddenly 0:50:18.640 --> 0:50:21.920 like boom. And the weird thing was that because on 0:50:22.000 --> 0:50:26.040 the Daily Show they used my real name. People would 0:50:26.239 --> 0:50:28.840 call me by my real name, and I just remember 0:50:29.000 --> 0:50:32.560 like realizing like, oh, the impact that this show is 0:50:32.680 --> 0:50:35.799 having in terms of like it's zeitgeist. Because I've been 0:50:35.840 --> 0:50:38.120 on stuff I've done, like you said, Law and Order 0:50:38.200 --> 0:50:40.360 and all the TV show done, movies have done something, 0:50:40.800 --> 0:50:42.799 but I've never been on anything that had the level 0:50:42.880 --> 0:50:46.480 of like cultural penetration then the Daily Show had. And 0:50:46.600 --> 0:50:50.000 I remember going to a play and Danny DeVito was 0:50:50.120 --> 0:50:53.680 standing outside the theater waiting with his family or whatever, 0:50:54.040 --> 0:50:56.759 and I'm walking into the theater and Danny DeVito turned 0:50:56.760 --> 0:50:58.960 around and looked at me and went awesome, how are 0:50:59.000 --> 0:51:01.880 you doing? Put out his hand. That was like a 0:51:02.000 --> 0:51:04.000 moment where I was like, oh, wow, what the fuss 0:51:04.120 --> 0:51:06.680 going on? Like this is like that, you know, I 0:51:06.719 --> 0:51:09.600 mean like that's when I suddenly was like, oh, there 0:51:09.640 --> 0:51:13.640 are people in Hollywood watching this show that can change 0:51:13.719 --> 0:51:16.840 the course of where my career goes. Well, what's interesting 0:51:16.960 --> 0:51:19.479 is that you didn't just stick in the Daily Show, Lane, 0:51:19.800 --> 0:51:22.080 I mean the number of projects that you have done 0:51:22.160 --> 0:51:27.480 and the diversity of projects have been amazing. Drama creating 0:51:27.640 --> 0:51:30.279 your own work After the Daily Show, you had the 0:51:30.360 --> 0:51:34.480 Funnier Die sitcom Hall in the Family. Yeah, and it's 0:51:34.480 --> 0:51:38.239 been amazing to see you take the platform that you 0:51:38.280 --> 0:51:40.759 were given by the Daily Show and have done, you know, 0:51:41.239 --> 0:51:44.200 such a diversity of projects. I think that at the 0:51:44.320 --> 0:51:46.720 end of the day, I think I am an actor 0:51:47.360 --> 0:51:50.799 and always had done a lot of dramatic work prior 0:51:50.880 --> 0:51:52.399 to the Davision. I think what happened with the Daily 0:51:52.440 --> 0:51:54.239 Show was that it was such a you know, like 0:51:54.360 --> 0:51:56.960 I said, like a zeitgeist, think that people suddenly thought 0:51:57.040 --> 0:51:59.279 of me as a comedian. They were like, Oh, You're 0:51:59.680 --> 0:52:02.440 the Ly Show comedian guy, when the reality is like, 0:52:02.560 --> 0:52:04.600 I've done a lot of dramatic work prior to it, 0:52:04.800 --> 0:52:07.239 and and when I did the Daily Show. Actually, while 0:52:07.239 --> 0:52:09.400 I was on The Daily Show, I did Disgrace at 0:52:09.440 --> 0:52:12.240 Lincoln Center, which was the I adopted as poets surprise 0:52:12.320 --> 0:52:14.759 winning play and I played the lead role in that. 0:52:14.920 --> 0:52:17.800 It was an incredibly dramatic thing. And I got to 0:52:17.880 --> 0:52:20.000 do some movies and stuff and and you know stuff, 0:52:20.000 --> 0:52:23.480 And I always felt like my career has always been 0:52:23.560 --> 0:52:25.759 one where I've gotten to go back and forth and 0:52:25.880 --> 0:52:28.360 the writing. You know, I wrote a movie and I 0:52:28.719 --> 0:52:33.040 produced and starting it and k and wrote a book. Yeah. 0:52:33.080 --> 0:52:35.360 I think I think going all the way back to 0:52:35.560 --> 0:52:39.239 early in my career, there was never a specific lane 0:52:39.440 --> 0:52:42.120 for me, you know, like I never felt like I 0:52:42.239 --> 0:52:45.440 had a lane and because I didn't have that, because 0:52:45.520 --> 0:52:48.480 there wasn't a space when I first started out, you know, 0:52:48.600 --> 0:52:50.600 like I went to l A, I remember, and just 0:52:50.719 --> 0:52:52.840 sat in my apartment and people were like, there's no 0:52:52.960 --> 0:52:56.360 parts for you. And as a brown actor, the only 0:52:56.560 --> 0:52:58.680 way for me to work. And that's when I wrote. 0:52:58.719 --> 0:53:00.480 When I wrote Sticking His Restaurant, which is my one 0:53:00.520 --> 0:53:03.160 man show, like it was out of necessity of like 0:53:03.400 --> 0:53:05.759 writing characters that I So it was always that thing 0:53:05.840 --> 0:53:07.719 of like I just always had to be kind of 0:53:07.880 --> 0:53:10.879 entrepreneurial about the whole thing. So so I think it's 0:53:10.880 --> 0:53:12.560 just you think it's part of that d n A 0:53:12.760 --> 0:53:15.880 of just like always going Okay, what can I create? 0:53:16.040 --> 0:53:17.759 And and you know that continues to this day where 0:53:17.800 --> 0:53:20.560 I feel like I'm always thinking about like, Okay, what 0:53:20.680 --> 0:53:22.600 can I create? What can I write? Can I do? 0:53:22.880 --> 0:53:26.680 And you know, and yeah, well Sechina's Restaurant, by the way, 0:53:26.920 --> 0:53:30.239 you're one man show, one an obie. Yeah, and got 0:53:30.360 --> 0:53:32.719 you a lot of attention for that, as I said, 0:53:32.800 --> 0:53:36.000 Halal and the family as well, and your book No 0:53:36.320 --> 0:53:39.480 lands Man, that book gave you by the way I 0:53:39.520 --> 0:53:42.080 wrote a book. Welcome to dunder Mifflin was my book. 0:53:42.160 --> 0:53:46.200 Yours talked about your your acting career, your experience on 0:53:46.280 --> 0:53:48.960 The Daily Show, and your life as an immigrant, and 0:53:49.160 --> 0:53:52.480 as we talked earlier, a lot of the material about 0:53:52.560 --> 0:53:55.920 the post nine eleven days, but also your life in 0:53:55.960 --> 0:53:58.359 England as well and where you came from. Right yeah, 0:53:58.400 --> 0:54:00.320 I mean the book was sort of while I was 0:54:00.360 --> 0:54:04.040 on the Daily Show and had that platform, a publisher 0:54:04.080 --> 0:54:05.640 approached me and said, you even thought about writing a 0:54:05.680 --> 0:54:07.719 book at that point, I hadn't, and I thought, well, 0:54:07.760 --> 0:54:09.040 it would be kind of a fun thing to do. 0:54:09.080 --> 0:54:11.279 I've written a one man show, and so I thought 0:54:11.600 --> 0:54:14.200 I could write a bunch of short stories. Little did 0:54:14.239 --> 0:54:17.360 I know it's not as easy as you think. It was, 0:54:17.520 --> 0:54:20.239 like you know, I mean, you know, so it's it's 0:54:20.320 --> 0:54:23.880 like you think, oh, yeah, yeah, I got ten short 0:54:23.960 --> 0:54:27.480 stories in me for sure, Right that Bangata and a 0:54:27.560 --> 0:54:30.000 couple of months got to like two years later, and 0:54:30.080 --> 0:54:32.319 I'm like, I get writer's block, and I'm sitting there 0:54:32.680 --> 0:54:35.520 and my my publishers calling me up, going like I 0:54:35.880 --> 0:54:40.080 really should get something so right, like, you know, but 0:54:40.200 --> 0:54:44.120 I had an amazing editor and it was definitely a 0:54:44.239 --> 0:54:46.879 lot of work. But I'm so proud of it because 0:54:46.880 --> 0:54:49.080 it was like it was really you know, it was 0:54:49.160 --> 0:54:51.200 a book that I didn't even know was in me. 0:54:51.600 --> 0:54:55.160 But once I started excavating, I realized, like, oh, this 0:54:55.520 --> 0:54:57.680 this dizzy stories. And I want to tell you know, 0:54:58.120 --> 0:55:02.640 that's great. Well, and your career keeps growing and expanding 0:55:02.680 --> 0:55:06.120 in new directions. Now Evil just got picked up, right 0:55:06.160 --> 0:55:09.200 for a third season. Yeah, Paramount Plus. We're on Paramount 0:55:09.200 --> 0:55:12.320 Plus now, Yeah, third season coming out. We're in the 0:55:12.360 --> 0:55:15.480 middle of shooting it right now. Yeah, and that's what 0:55:15.680 --> 0:55:18.000 we're almost done with the third season and and so 0:55:18.320 --> 0:55:20.600 it comes out in June. I have to say unfortunate. 0:55:20.920 --> 0:55:23.360 I mean, when you get to work with like really 0:55:23.560 --> 0:55:27.799 great creatives, you know, you know this like it makes 0:55:27.880 --> 0:55:30.719 everything just better, you know, like you just because you 0:55:30.800 --> 0:55:32.840 feel like you're in good hands and you feel like 0:55:33.360 --> 0:55:35.480 you're being taken care of and and and the writing 0:55:35.600 --> 0:55:37.120 is good, you know. And I felt that way when 0:55:37.120 --> 0:55:38.719 I was in The Daily Show working with John I 0:55:38.800 --> 0:55:42.000 felt and now working with Robert and Michelle King, you know, 0:55:42.080 --> 0:55:44.480 who are just at the top of their game, and 0:55:45.239 --> 0:55:47.160 you know, and and and it's just such a treat 0:55:47.280 --> 0:55:51.360 to get to work with them and learn from the 0:55:51.440 --> 0:55:53.840 way they work, and then also just work with the 0:55:53.880 --> 0:55:56.960 actors on the show, you know, Katcha and Mike and 0:55:57.440 --> 0:56:01.000 Christine and Michael Emerson who's delay to work with them. 0:56:01.080 --> 0:56:03.520 So it's just all everybody on the show just feels 0:56:03.560 --> 0:56:05.560 like we're just having a good time. Even though we're 0:56:05.600 --> 0:56:09.640 making this very dark, sort of weird show, it's so 0:56:09.960 --> 0:56:13.320 fun and so it's like it's like weirdly absurd and 0:56:13.440 --> 0:56:17.160 also dark and horror and comedy. It's kind of an 0:56:17.200 --> 0:56:19.560 amalgam of all of that, which I love, and that's 0:56:19.600 --> 0:56:21.879 what the Kings do. So well, it's been it's been great, 0:56:21.880 --> 0:56:24.040 and they've given me a nice um, given me some 0:56:24.239 --> 0:56:26.800 nice fun stuff to do, so it's been great. And 0:56:26.880 --> 0:56:29.400 then I'm also producing What I Lie to You with 0:56:29.640 --> 0:56:32.400 the Kings, which is also coming out on the c W, 0:56:32.680 --> 0:56:36.040 which is the panel show Yeah, which will have you 0:56:36.160 --> 0:56:38.720 on at some point. It's basically we're doing the American 0:56:38.840 --> 0:56:41.440 version of the British panel show What I Lie to You. 0:56:41.560 --> 0:56:43.960 It's been on for fourteen years that we're doing it. 0:56:44.120 --> 0:56:47.600 It's basically just celebrities coming on and telling wacky stories 0:56:48.080 --> 0:56:50.160 and other celebrities trying to figure out if they're telling 0:56:50.200 --> 0:56:52.400 the truth, we're telling a lie and it's just hilarious 0:56:53.000 --> 0:56:55.400 and super fun and actually I don't know. Do you 0:56:55.440 --> 0:56:57.680 know Matt Walsh? Do you know Matt? Of course, yeah, 0:56:57.800 --> 0:57:01.160 of course, Yeah. So Matt is one of our team captains, 0:57:01.840 --> 0:57:05.080 with Sabrina Jalis as the other team captain, and we 0:57:05.200 --> 0:57:09.360 just had the best time. And that comes up April 0:57:09.480 --> 0:57:13.160 ninth next week. Congratulations. I will definitely check that out. 0:57:13.239 --> 0:57:16.720 Ye awesome. We hadn't met before, but you are an 0:57:16.760 --> 0:57:21.840 amazing storyteller, as funny as I expected, and deep and interesting. 0:57:22.080 --> 0:57:24.480 I appreciate you coming on so much and talking to me. 0:57:24.920 --> 0:57:27.280 Thank you so much for having me. It's been a 0:57:27.520 --> 0:57:32.160 pleasure spending however long we spent together. Yeah, that was 0:57:32.200 --> 0:57:34.400 really fun. Thank you so much. This has been great 0:57:46.640 --> 0:57:51.000 as although we had never met until today, I feel 0:57:51.040 --> 0:57:53.560 like I've known you for years and maybe that was 0:57:53.640 --> 0:57:56.760 because I saw you in Oklahoma, but either way, it 0:57:56.960 --> 0:58:00.600 was an honor. Thank you so much for stopping and 0:58:00.880 --> 0:58:04.240 talking to me, and thanks to you for tuning in. 0:58:04.680 --> 0:58:07.680 Don't forget to like and subscribe wherever you get your 0:58:07.720 --> 0:58:11.000 podcasts and give us a follow over. On Instagram at 0:58:11.440 --> 0:58:13.840 Off the Beat. I can't wait to see you back 0:58:14.240 --> 0:58:26.000 right here next week. Have a good one. Everybody. Off 0:58:26.080 --> 0:58:29.200 the Beat is hosted an executive produced by me Brian 0:58:29.280 --> 0:58:34.920 Baumgartner alongside our executive producer Langley. Our producers are Diego Tapia, 0:58:35.160 --> 0:58:39.320 Liz Hayes, Emily Carr, and Hannah Harris. Our talent producer 0:58:39.600 --> 0:58:43.600 is Ryan Papa Zachary. Our theme song Bubble and Squeak 0:58:43.880 --> 0:58:47.880 performed by my great friend Creed Breton, and the episode 0:58:47.960 --> 0:59:01.720 was mixed by Seth Olandski m