Speaker 1: You're listening to Comedy Central.
Speaker 2: My guest tonight is a filmmaker and a screenwriter who
Speaker 2: directed and co wrote The Archies on Netflix. Please welcome
Speaker 2: Zoya Aktar.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 2: It's a lot of wooing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I know why you are.
Speaker 2: You are one of one of the top five, if
Speaker 2: not like the top director coming out of India right now,
Speaker 2: which is no small feat given how much incredible talent
Speaker 2: there is between Bollywood and the streaming platforms and independent cinema.
Speaker 2: I'm also biased and the soul cinema for us, I
Speaker 2: sort of. I mean, you're in America, so everybody views
Speaker 2: it as the whole subcontinence. But I think I'm biased
Speaker 2: because we've also been been friends for years. You pat
Speaker 2: me over to your home for dinner.
Speaker 3: Do you remember that night?
Speaker 4: Yes?
Speaker 2: I do, of course I do. Are we gonna Are
Speaker 2: we gonna share that night?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: What do you What do you remember about that night?
Speaker 5: I remember that my dog almost killed himself on my dog, Yes,
Speaker 5: attacked the bree from your plate.
Speaker 2: Yes, I did have play. Yeah, and then you had
Speaker 2: to light.
Speaker 5: And he choked, and then I was like, my dog's
Speaker 5: gonna die. My dog's gonna die. Boogie's gonna die and
Speaker 5: that cat and was staring at what's going on? And
Speaker 5: then my assistant flipped him around and he.
Speaker 2: But not before, not before he like inadvertently beat you right,
Speaker 2: and then you had to call your vet to be
Speaker 2: like do I need rabies in jaery?
Speaker 3: No, he was like freaking out because he was choking.
Speaker 3: I was trying to like, yeah, it was, it was.
Speaker 1: It was a chaotic my night.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean I feel like that goes hand in hand
Speaker 2: with going to Mumbai. It's like beautiful chaos that will
Speaker 2: follow you everywhere. The the Bollywood press has always been
Speaker 2: very kind to me. They're also like super dramatic, which
Speaker 2: I secretly yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. And there was one
Speaker 2: I remember we did this press drunken for something and
Speaker 2: they said, so some clicks. So I was like, okay,
Speaker 2: take some photos. And I remember like just going like
Speaker 2: this and there was a couch behind me and this
Speaker 2: guy goes, please do some pose. So I was like,
Speaker 2: what kind of pose you want me to do? It?
Speaker 3: Light out like this.
Speaker 2: And I'm like, bro, I can't because the picture will
Speaker 2: be everywhere. I'm like, I know, That's why I can't
Speaker 2: light out like that so like, do you have any
Speaker 2: really good Bollywood paparazzi stores?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean they they they are. They're actually really sweet,
Speaker 5: you know what I mean. They're not They're not that
Speaker 5: invasive in that sense. But they will say very random
Speaker 5: things like I'll get off a car and they'll be like, man,
Speaker 5: full end, give me full lent.
Speaker 3: I'm like, how could this is my lend? This is it?
Speaker 3: I can't give you anymore, so stuff like that. But
Speaker 3: they're like, I've actually been at an event where I
Speaker 3: felt down and.
Speaker 5: I was like, please don't put this out and they
Speaker 5: were like, we won't and they didn't.
Speaker 3: So yeah, they're very sweet, so tonight come out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, they are. They are very Ian. Look, anyone
Speaker 2: who refers to Nick Jonas as Judges is doing well.
Speaker 2: I think in our book a resume is diverse as yours.
Speaker 2: I'm curious what drew you to an adaptation of a
Speaker 2: comic like The Archiees.
Speaker 5: I mean, Netflix offered it to me, and I grew
Speaker 5: That's a good start.
Speaker 1: Pretty ball and response.
Speaker 3: By the way, that's great, you know, I grew up.
Speaker 5: I mean it's it's it's crazy that something so fundamentally
Speaker 5: American was also fundamentally a part of an urban Indian
Speaker 5: kid's childhood. And I grew up in the eighties and
Speaker 5: India wasn't liberalized at that time in global so there
Speaker 5: was we didn't have access to as what stuff that
Speaker 5: we do today, and Archie was one of the few
Speaker 5: things that everybody read and it was a portal to
Speaker 5: this country.
Speaker 3: So everybody it was like, and we were.
Speaker 5: Eight and ten and we just wanted this teenage life
Speaker 5: in this fictional place called Riverdhill.
Speaker 3: And everybody grew up thinking that's America.
Speaker 5: And then I mean, obviously then we grew up and
Speaker 5: realized that's not America. But when it came to me,
Speaker 5: it was also at a time when I thought that
Speaker 5: it would be nice to do something like a return
Speaker 5: to innocence, you know.
Speaker 3: And it was kind of beautiful that.
Speaker 5: It came to India because it was so special and
Speaker 5: they wanted the industry in India to make it for
Speaker 5: the world, and yeah, I just can't say no. It
Speaker 5: was also like something to go back to less is
Speaker 5: more time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, Well it's a beautiful film. I highly recommend it.
Speaker 2: One of my favorite scenes was between Dilton and Reggie.
Speaker 2: It's this very special scene about friendship at a time.
Speaker 2: I don't want to ruin the whole thing, but where
Speaker 2: you know, Dilton's character is sort of scared to come
Speaker 2: out to his friends, and the friendship with with Reggie's
Speaker 2: kind of codified. Yeah, I guess two questions for you
Speaker 2: on that, What made you want to write a seem
Speaker 2: like that? And then part of the reason I ask
Speaker 2: that is, you know, my partner Josh and I had
Speaker 2: been tracking the Indian Supremi decision. Obviously very disappointed by
Speaker 2: the marriage equality decision, but you know why and how
Speaker 2: do you infuse these inclusive stories in India right now?
Speaker 5: I mean stories are very important, and I mean India
Speaker 5: has a very very vibrant LGBT community and twenty eighteen
Speaker 5: homosexuality was decriminalized and there's been so much change and
Speaker 5: real positive change with that, and it's going to keep evolving.
Speaker 5: And part of that evolution is storytelling and filmmaking. And
Speaker 5: somewhere I feel it's not just like, oh, we're representing something,
Speaker 5: but you are. You're putting people into You're taking someone
Speaker 5: and putting them in someone else's shoes.
Speaker 3: You know, you're humanizing the other.
Speaker 5: You're just making people come closer like stories travel and
Speaker 5: stories stay longer, and I don't know, they just they
Speaker 5: move you and shift you. And I think I'm lucky
Speaker 5: to be part of that community that CANU like that
Speaker 5: can affect some kind of evolution or change and represent
Speaker 5: and be there.
Speaker 3: And you know, see how I feel.
Speaker 2: You're embarrassing, But also the fact that inclusivity is is
Speaker 2: obviously noticed and and people love it, especially when it's
Speaker 2: when it's such a great form of included in such
Speaker 2: a great form of storytelling. You're you worked with your
Speaker 2: dad and your brother in this movie. Both of them
Speaker 2: are multi hyphenates. Yes, I am terrified at the prospect
Speaker 2: of working with my parents on anything, mostly because when
Speaker 2: I did Van Wilder way back in the day with
Speaker 2: Ryan Reynolds, I showed my mom the script and she screamed,
Speaker 2: this is pornography because there was one nude scene in it,
Speaker 2: which wasn't me that time. But I'm curious, what what, uh,
Speaker 2: you know, what was it like working with your your daddy, brother.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's not this is like my fifth film
Speaker 3: that they're on.
Speaker 5: They work on my work in some capacity or the other,
Speaker 5: and it's uh, it's safe and also the most dangerous
Speaker 5: because I mean, it's an honest space, so you'll get
Speaker 5: the truth. But that's dangerous sometimes because that leads to
Speaker 5: fights at the dinner table.
Speaker 3: But they're both.
Speaker 5: Incredibly talented men, and I am supremely lucky to have
Speaker 5: that resource, as is my mother.
Speaker 3: She's a writer as well.
Speaker 5: So between the we all right, So it's it's pretty
Speaker 5: manic dinners manic.
Speaker 2: It sounds like you can't leave your work at home. No,
Speaker 2: last couple of questions I just asked, because I'm a
Speaker 2: huge Bollywood fan like you are. You've worked in all
Speaker 2: these different mediums, like top three favorite people that you
Speaker 2: would want to work.
Speaker 1: With again again?
Speaker 2: Wow, I guess for the first time.
Speaker 5: Okay again, let me just take again. I think I'm
Speaker 5: going to take the actors I've worked with.
Speaker 3: I think Roscha for sure, I'm dying to work with
Speaker 3: him again.
Speaker 5: Far hahn Oc there, I haven't worked with him, and
Speaker 5: run Beer saying yeah, I'll about three of them in
Speaker 5: a movie.
Speaker 2: I mean, could you do four? I mean I'm available, happening.
Speaker 2: Would you, By the way, this is now just strictly
Speaker 2: for my paycheck, would you do like a Bollywood adaptation
Speaker 2: of Harold.
Speaker 3: And Kamar, I'd love to, you would love to Let's.
Speaker 5: Make that happen.
Speaker 6: That would be really fun.
Speaker 3: This would be huge.
Speaker 2: I mean I meant it as a half choke, but
Speaker 2: if we're serious, we should talk backstage.
Speaker 3: That's how I'm gonna stop.
Speaker 1: All right, I'm down for this.
Speaker 2: My guest tonight is a comedian and actor. He just
Speaker 2: won an International Emmy for his Netflix stand up special Landing.
Speaker 2: Please welcome Veer the.
Speaker 4: Hey brother.
Speaker 6: Man.
Speaker 2: You clearly have some fancier congrats on the International Emmy.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Yeah, it is Uh, it is on sale
Speaker 1: if anyone interests. What was I like? Uh, it was surreal,
Speaker 1: you know, to with two things.
Speaker 4: Number one, it was just kind of nice to have
Speaker 4: that many people listen to an Indian story from across
Speaker 4: the world.
Speaker 1: So that was very nice. It was an honor. And
Speaker 1: then the first thought was, how the hell do I
Speaker 1: get this through JFK?
Speaker 6: Uh?
Speaker 1: Because it is very sharp and you can you can murder.
Speaker 4: Someone with an international enemy, which doesn't happen at.
Speaker 1: The after party.
Speaker 4: It's just uh, And I'm typically used to being like
Speaker 4: very nervous at JFK. Anyway, Sure, so I just and
Speaker 4: when you have that statue with like the late it's
Speaker 4: like I've metaphorically kidnapped a white lady. So so the
Speaker 4: guy was just like, what's in the bag And I
Speaker 4: was like, it's an international Emmy. And the guy at
Speaker 4: TSA was like, oh, word, and I was like, okay,
Speaker 4: precipitation because that's a word.
Speaker 1: I'm kidding. That didn't happened before the New York of
Speaker 1: fact checks me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a daily show, Nobod's gonna fact yeh.
Speaker 1: That's fine.
Speaker 2: Right. Yeah, So look, this win was special, I assume
Speaker 2: because based on your stand up specially you thought at
Speaker 2: a point that your career was over. You were called
Speaker 2: a terrorist, there were criminal charges that were filed against
Speaker 2: you for the twenty twenty one poem to India's that
Speaker 2: was like a gripping reflective account of political and social
Speaker 2: complexity in India. I have to be honest. When I
Speaker 2: saw both of those, both the poem and the special,
Speaker 2: my only reaction was this is a brother who loves
Speaker 2: his country and just wants to make it better through
Speaker 2: conversation and through art. But not everybody had that reaction.
Speaker 2: So talk me through sort of that process of what happened.
Speaker 4: Well, I mean, the central theme of the special I
Speaker 4: think is that that love is never yelled, love is felt,
Speaker 4: and that includes love for your country, where it's never
Speaker 4: sort of a loud proclamation, it's kind of a quiet demonstration.
Speaker 4: And I don't think there's a better demonstration of love
Speaker 4: than laughter.
Speaker 1: And I think that that.
Speaker 4: You know, you know, if you love someone, you want
Speaker 4: to make them laugh, and if they love you, they
Speaker 4: laugh back.
Speaker 1: And that goes for your country too.
Speaker 4: But I was at the center of this controversy, and
Speaker 4: I'm a small fish, so I'm not accustomed to that
Speaker 4: kind of limelight. And I think in America, for instance,
Speaker 4: if you're a big fish and you're in a controversy,
Speaker 4: there are options, right, so you can go on Oprah,
Speaker 4: but then you lose your bodyguards. You could blame it
Speaker 4: on antibiotics, which doesn't work in India because we know
Speaker 4: a lot about antibiotics anyway, But like a marxicillin doesn't
Speaker 4: cause courage, or you could if you know Jada Pinkett
Speaker 4: Smith's publicist, I guess she she is the Internet right now.
Speaker 4: I think she's both a wife and WiFi and I
Speaker 4: didn't have any of those options. So you kind of
Speaker 4: fall in love with your job all over again. I
Speaker 4: was like, Okay, I will never lie myself. I will
Speaker 4: never victimize myself or take feedback head down. And the
Speaker 4: first thing I do will write it will be I'll
Speaker 4: write a joke about it that hopefully makes both sides laugh.
Speaker 4: And four months later this is what I wrote. I
Speaker 4: wrote down saying I was on the BBC homepage and
Speaker 4: there was a big headline that said, comedian polarizes the nation.
Speaker 4: Do you know how badly you have to pick up before.
Speaker 1: The British say? I said, do you know how badly
Speaker 1: before the British say that? You divide it in there.
Speaker 4: But what happens then, the point I'm making is a
Speaker 4: bad day in your life turns into laughter. And I
Speaker 4: think happiness blooms when it's watched, and so you get
Speaker 4: to watch people be happy because of that, and then
Speaker 4: that turns into a gold statue someday and you kind
Speaker 4: of you're kind of reminded that comedy, this job on
Speaker 4: its best day, can sometimes be alchemy, and it's kind
Speaker 4: of nice.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's awesome, it's very well said. The whole British
Speaker 2: thing reminded me. You know, my grandparents were secular freedom fighters,
Speaker 2: and so those were the stories that we heard growing
Speaker 2: up as kids and that obviously influenced me later in life. Recently,
Speaker 2: Prime Minister Mode was hosted by President Biden and during
Speaker 2: that visit, a lot of artists in the South Asian
Speaker 2: American space. We're having conversations about our counterparts in India
Speaker 2: and free speech, free speech and comedy, artistic expression, and
Speaker 2: I'm curious how you've managed to kind of navigate that space. Well.
Speaker 4: Look, I mean on one day, our Prime Minister had
Speaker 4: dinner with Biden and the next day Trevor Noah had
Speaker 4: dinner with du Alipa and I wasn't invited to either
Speaker 4: of those events. So I do think if you get
Speaker 4: to travel the world as much as I do, you
Speaker 4: start to think of freedom of speech, which is the
Speaker 4: big conversation around.
Speaker 1: The world, less locally and more emotionally.
Speaker 4: And I think right now it's you know, whether you're
Speaker 4: in the Middle East, whether you're in India, whether you're
Speaker 4: in the West, the conversation is freedom of speech. And
Speaker 4: I think it's yes, curtailed by authorities at different levels
Speaker 4: in different places, but more curtailed by the people around you.
Speaker 4: You know, we live in this world where you see
Speaker 4: somebody as just a box and you could you try
Speaker 4: and control their speech as well for their ideas. And
Speaker 4: so sometimes we blame it on these larger things above us,
Speaker 4: but really we're submitting to something scary inside us. And
Speaker 4: if we can fight that primal urge to lash out
Speaker 4: at each other, I think then the world just gets
Speaker 4: better freedom of speech wise. Like, here's how I think
Speaker 4: freedom of speech works. It's like you and me are
Speaker 4: on a train together, right, and somewhere in the corner
Speaker 4: is a guy who has his dickout, right.
Speaker 6: Which guy?
Speaker 1: Just it's New York, so fIF the compartment. Yeah, but.
Speaker 4: You and I can't do anything about the guy with
Speaker 4: his dickout. I' s talking to.
Speaker 1: See if you see it too.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And I think that's what freedom of speech is.
Speaker 1: I just need to know that you also see the dick.
Speaker 2: I just I have to give you so much props
Speaker 2: for this, because this could have gone in two different directions.
Speaker 2: This could have this could have ended up with like
Speaker 2: the New York Times, Bombay Times, Times about all of
Speaker 2: them just writing about some serious political conversation. And instead
Speaker 2: it's like cal Penn and Verdas are on the train
Speaker 2: with a dude whose dick is out and that's that's it. Yeah,
Speaker 2: thank you, thank you really just elevating the shoe in it.
Speaker 4: So I forgive you flowers, though, Can I take a
Speaker 4: second to give you flowers if that's okay?
Speaker 1: Yes, okay.
Speaker 4: So the reason that many brown men like myself come
Speaker 4: to America to try and act is because we saw
Speaker 4: you be the first Indian brown man be edgy and
Speaker 4: cool and funny in American cinema.
Speaker 6: So yeah, thank you.
Speaker 4: So I would like to thank you for ruining so
Speaker 4: many lives because I came to college in America because
Speaker 4: I saw Van.
Speaker 1: Wild And then I went to.
Speaker 4: College in Gailsburg, Illinois, and I'm like, what is this
Speaker 4: college where people sleep with the Indian guys?
Speaker 1: Kalpen is a liar.
Speaker 4: And just by the way, I think you know this, Statistically,
Speaker 4: this is the sexiest accent in the world.
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 4: I'm just said, all right, at this given moment, more
Speaker 4: women are having sex with this accent than any other
Speaker 4: accident in the work.
Speaker 1: All right, So in your face, France. And also.
Speaker 4: You then do Harold and Kumar where you go and
Speaker 4: get cheeseburgers and at the night at the end of
Speaker 4: the night, you make up with your parents. Do you
Speaker 4: know what would happen if I told my parents I
Speaker 4: spent the whole night looking for beef. Harold would go
Speaker 4: to white Castle. Kumar would have an arranged marriage the
Speaker 4: next week.
Speaker 1: Flowers.
Speaker 2: Well, thanks brother, thank you. And I have to say that,
Speaker 2: you know, there were many very talented actors who came
Speaker 2: before me, who didn't have the same opportunities I did,
Speaker 2: who also went to drama school, who also worked their
Speaker 2: butts off, and so I appreciate those those accolades, and
Speaker 2: I share it with them, you know, before we let
Speaker 2: you go. I also I want to know about your tour.
Speaker 2: It's a thirty three country tour. It is a I
Speaker 2: want to know where you're going in the new tour.
Speaker 2: But then be like, are there bits that don't translate
Speaker 2: in some countries that people just don't find funny? Do
Speaker 2: you have to curate it for each audience?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 4: I think now it's kind of because of netflixes and
Speaker 4: amazons and youtubes, it's become more important to kind of
Speaker 4: be authentically Indian. Dave Chappelle gets to take you to Ohio.
Speaker 4: I don't know a damn thing about Ohio.
Speaker 1: But I go.
Speaker 4: On that journey with him. Why can't I take you
Speaker 4: to Mumbai? Why can't I take you to Delhi? And
Speaker 4: if you've never been, come over and at the end
Speaker 4: of the night, whether you're Indian or not, you'll be Indian,
Speaker 4: you know.
Speaker 1: So come to my show.
Speaker 4: I I'm going to be playing Carnegie Hall.
Speaker 1: I think I'll be the first Indian comic.
Speaker 4: To do it, all right, Yeah, congrats, And we're doing
Speaker 4: the Kennedy Center and the Chicago Theater and a bunch
Speaker 4: of theaters in January. I'm looking forward to it. It's large,
Speaker 4: you know.
Speaker 2: Congrats. Can't wait, can't to check out the tour. You're
Speaker 2: developing a comedy with my buddy Andy Samberg.
Speaker 1: Yes, you tell us about it. I can, Okay. I
Speaker 1: wanted to be in a TV show.
Speaker 4: There was a modern immigration story, but I wanted it
Speaker 4: because immigrants will always come over and do sensible stuff
Speaker 4: in America, right, And why take a twenty nine hour
Speaker 4: flight if you're going to do something sensible when you land.
Speaker 4: So I wanted to make the show where Americans and
Speaker 4: Indians sit on a sofa and watch together, but Indians
Speaker 4: get to come over and be outrageous and ludicrous and
Speaker 4: enjoy America. So my show is called Country Eastern and
Speaker 4: it's about me as a brown bearded Indian man who
Speaker 4: becomes a country music singer in Memphis, Tennessee.
Speaker 2: Yes, I'm a huge country music fan, so that makes me.
Speaker 2: That makes me very excited. On your shows, you always
Speaker 2: end asking people in your audience, what's the one thing
Speaker 2: you want to say to the world. Yeah, why do
Speaker 2: you do that? I just think it's so interesting.
Speaker 4: I have I think, one of the smartest crowds in comedy,
Speaker 4: and I say that to get their money.
Speaker 1: I I just do.
Speaker 4: I think a lot of comedy these days becomes about
Speaker 4: look at me, and look at my jokes, and look
Speaker 4: at my pathoss and my ethos. But you know, the
Speaker 4: audiences and equally loud voices you do, and I think
Speaker 4: there's no better teacher than their laughter and their silence.
Speaker 4: So sometimes I just like to put the camera on
Speaker 4: them and say, look at who I have the privilege
Speaker 4: of performing for. And some of it is great, and
Speaker 4: some of it is you.
Speaker 1: Know what it is.
Speaker 4: But but I think it's valuable to share your platform
Speaker 4: with your audience.
Speaker 1: Sometimes that's the only reason I do it.
Speaker 2: Do you do you still to with Juhu beach sand I?
Speaker 4: Okay, so in the special I have some Indian soil. Look,
Speaker 4: I'm I'm a brown man with a beard, so traveling
Speaker 4: with a bag full.
Speaker 3: Of dust.
Speaker 4: Internationally it doesn't work out well for me anally, but I.
Speaker 1: I try to.
Speaker 4: Look, my shows are like this big reunion. You know,
Speaker 4: if you're not from India, you get integrated into India.
Speaker 4: If you're Indian, you sometimes haven't been in a room
Speaker 4: full of Indians in a really long time.
Speaker 1: Do you know how many people hook up at my shows?
Speaker 2: Like this is the best at ever?
Speaker 1: Right? Yeah, listen, I'm like Seema Auntie with a jawline.
Speaker 4: All right, That's that's who I am, right, Like, I
Speaker 4: have couples that are formed at my shows.
Speaker 1: So it's this big India celebration. It's kind of cool.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 2: That's that's awesome. Thank you so much for coming here.
Speaker 2: We'll be Performer's my for so Carnegie Hall on January nineteenth.
Speaker 2: More stops in the US and January and February Bear
Speaker 2: Daughts Everyone.
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