Great Day At The Office

Photo courtesy of JustJared.com

Mindy Kaling and her “Office” – mates have received a nod from the Screen Actors Guild for “Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.” Kaling, who plays the clingy, cloying Kelly Kapoor on the Emmy-winning show, also writes for the sitcom.The Office is part of NBC’s Thursday night line-up.
More The Office on Nirali:
Masti See TV
The Diwali Song

(And if you’ve always wanted to see a video-montage of Kelly Kapoor set to a giddy Spice Girls! track, today’s your lucky day)

“Crank Up the Handsome and Rip Off the Knob”

Stephen Colbert uses his internal “Bhangrometer” when deciding which side to take in this feud currently shaking up Bollywood.

Start watching at about 1:50 to see King Khan and Big B face off:

Thanks to Sepia Mutiny tipster brown_fob for the link.

(The Colbert Report)

Don’t Call Him Gary (Or Iranian)

Maz Jobrani (abc.go.com)

One of the main characters in ABC’s new series The Knights of Prosperity starring Donal Logue is Indian attorney-turned-NYC taxicab driver Gourishankar (“Don’t Call Me Gary”) Subramaniam. The actor/comic who plays this role is Maz Jobrani, a Middle Eastern American of Iranian background. Such cross-cultural casting is not new for Jobrani who once played a Sikh character on Curb Your Enthusiasm, or for ABC, the network that features Naveen Andrews in the role of Sayid Jarrah, a former member of the Iraqi Republican Guard, on TV series Lost. Andrews was born in the UK to parents from Kerala, India.

The pilot for The Knights of Prosperity, which brings together a diverse bunch of outcasts in NYC for the purpose of robbing Mick Jagger, can be viewed on ABC’s Web site. The verdict is wide open on this new show, but I’ll give it points for not using a canned laugh track and for its over-the-top touches like the houseboy character in Mick Jagger’s apartment.

Jobrani on being called Iranian v. Persian: Ever since the hostage crisis of the early 80s, randomly yelling “I’m Iranian” in any crowd not filled with Iranians was considered a no-no. That’s why to this day you’ll find many Iranians insist on being called Persian—it’s not just a fancier name for Iranian, but it sounds nicer and friendlier, and some Americans don’t even know what it means. “No, no, I’m not Iranian, I’m Persian, like the cat … meow! Let’s hug.” — California Magazine.

More information:
The Knights of Prosperity Official Web Site
Maz Jobrani’s Official Web Site

Update: Check out Naina’s post on Jobrani and Andrews: “I Suppose We All Look the Same to ABC.”

Big Fuss Over Little Mosque

Creator/producer Zarqa Nawaz. (Sophie Giraud/CBC)

CNN’s Paula Zahn recently visited the set of the CBC’s Little Mosque on the Prairie to report on the new comedy series about a small community of Muslims living in rural Saskatchewan. The BBC, The New York Times, The LA Times and several other news outlets outside of Canada have also been paying attention to the show. It is scheduled to debut January 9, and the buzz has been building up. Torontoist has photos and more from Thursday’s promotional event in Dundas Square featuring camels and “The World’s Largest Chicken Shawarma.” Will it live up to the hype? The clips look promising, and it would be great to hear from people who tune in to watch this next week. Let us know what you think!

The show’s creator and producer, 39 year-old filmmaker and mother of four Zarqa Nawaz, of Regina, Saskatchewan, hopes her children will see the new face of Canada in the show. She also hopes it will make people laugh.

More information:
Little Mosque on the Prairie Official Web Site
Official CBC Blog posts on Little Mosque
CBC news clip with interview of Nawaz
YouTube clips (1, 2)—these are also on the show’s site.

The Morning After: Nawaz responds to questions via chat and email following the show’s debut, including this gem: “How much are you paid by Al Qaida to produce your show to try to soften up the Canadian public for an attack?”

Watch The Pilot: On Google Video

Holy Fandango!

Go to the movies this weekend, and you might catch this new Fandango ad during the pre-show:

Those paper bags have some serious balle-balle skills.

Meet the Papdits

The Papdit Family

Oh. My. God. Thank you so much to The Head Turban for introducing me to The Papdits. I am surreptitiously listening to this at work and it is ridiculously funny.

CBS has begun streaming the discarded pilot of this show, created by writer-producer of “Borat” and “The Ali G Show”, Ant Hines. The show was intended for FOX (which I think would’ve been great for the misplaced Arrested Development fans) and was passed up by both FOX and CBS.

The docu-comedy is centered around a family from Kashmir who have decided to travel cross-country and look for suitable locations to start quartz mining operations. They interview many people along the way including a house boat rental manager, school administration and some lovely senior citizens. The pompous father figure is played with such brilliance by Nitin Ganatra, who was last memorably seen in Bride & Prejudice. The woman who plays Mrs. Papdit steals the show with her gentle tone of voice saying the most ridiculous statements. As a Tupperware Party host, she explains Tupperware (after realizing it’s used for storing food and not for use as a toilet.) as having “a magical see-through quality”… and introducing a popular soft drink as “Dew from the mountain that is very refreshing.” Gahhh, I love it. Take a look, and tell me what you think.

Comedy in the City

For anyone hanging out in good ol’ NYC this weekend (and craving some comedy action), check out Sikh comedienne Nikki Chawla, who’ll be performing this Saturday night at The Producers’ Club’s Grand Theatre, collaborating with other comedians. Get your advance tickets for a mere 18 greenbacks by calling 212.352.3101 or by logging on to www.theatermania.com. Oh, and those of you who run on brown time (I know I do): the show starts promptly at 8pm.

Chawla has opened for comedian Russell Peters, and she’s been featured on MTVDesi as well. Check her out this Saturday–and let us know how the show was in the comments!

Hai, Hai, Hai and a Bottle of Lassi

The Office folks get down with Diwali.

Nothings spreads holiday cheer like some plucky lyrics set to tender music (see Happy Birthday Jesus and the Kwanzaa Spelling Song: K-W-A-N-Z-A-A!) , so when the cast of NBC’s hit show The Office celebrates Diwali on screen next Thursday, they will be doing so with an aural ode to the Festival of Lights.

Called The Diwali Song , its lyrics are dark (“Don’t invite any zombies/To a celebration of Diwali”), folky (“Along came Polly/To have some fun at Diwali”) and might just convince you to put your old holiday CDs—about flying deer and talking snowmen—into storage for good.

Tune in to NBC at 8:30PM on Thursday, November 2, to catch desi script and screen sensation Mindy Kaling introducing her co-workers to the joys of being Hindu. As a bonus, we are told her real-life parents will be starring in the episode.

In the meantime, pop on your headphones and turn up the volume for this: The Diwali Song (courtesy of NBC Universal).

(PS: Want more on Mindy Kaling and other desi American television writers? Check out the November issue of Nirali for the exclusive).

Ismat’s Note: What do you think? Is the song funny, offensive, or none of the above? Share your thoughts!

Disha Theatre Dishes up Three Nights of Sex, Drugs and Mothers

Reena Dutt, Disha’s Director of Development, and Purva Bedi, its Artistic Director and Founder (www.dishatheatre.org)

In Sanskrit and Hindi, Disha means direction. Expanding in a new direction, Disha Theatre, the South Asian theatre company originally founded in New York City, has arrived in Los Angeles. Starting next week, Disha brings us a collaborative reading festival of works by emerging South Asian writers, at various Los Angeles theatre companies. This fall’s lineup includes a mix of comedy, sex and angst featuring performers who you may recognize from tv and film. Read the descriptions below to whet your appetite for Disha’s offerings.

ON THE ROCKS: A Staged Reading Series

Three Nights of Sex, Drugs, and Mothers.
Featuring Ravi Kapoor (Crossing Jordan), Meera Simhan (Date Movie), Reena Dutt (Medium), Rizwan Manji (Transformers), and Purva Bedi (Boston Legal) among others.

Read the rest of this entry »

Russell Peters: Outsourced!

Russell Peters is Outsourced

I love stand up comedy. I don’t know why. I also love desi stand up… Aziz Ansari, Dan Nainan, Paul Varghese and Russell Peters are among my faves.

Very excited to see the press release today that Russell Peters will be on Comedy Central this Saturday… His one-hour special, called “Russell Peters: Outsourced” will be airing at 11pm as a tie to the release of the special on DVD next Tuesday, August 29th. I’ve watched his Comedy Now! show so many times and I’m really wondering if Saturday’s show will be new material. (And if you haven’t seen his other stuff, watch the above video.) Great to see desi comics on Comedy Central… hopefully more will appear.