ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Aasif Mandvi is an actor, comedian, writer, and longtime Daily Show correspondent, known for his work on television, film, Broadway, and his one-man show Sakina's Restaurant. His book No Land's Man is a collection of stories about growing up between India, England, and America and finding his way through an acting career while constantly negotiating questions of identity and belonging.
This episode is a little different from the usual Tangent Show because I sat down with Aasif in front of a live audience at JCCSF to talk about the book. We talk about the major inflection points in Aasif's life, from seeing Bugsy Malone as a kid to moving to New York "with eight dollars in his pocket", writing Sakina's Restaurant because the roles he wanted weren't being written, and eventually getting the call from The Daily Show that changed everything for him.
Aasif and I also get into what it means to write honestly about your own life without stealing somebody else's story, the immigrant experience, race and representation, and why South Asian artists are finally getting more opportunities to tell their own stories. And because there was a live audience, we get some questions that you simply cannot manufacture in a studio - including one that Aasif immediately declared was going into his next book as the most absurd question he's ever been asked.
Read Aasif's book "No Land's Man"
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