Breaking Bread with Tom Papa - Episode 129 - Nimesh Patel

Episode Date: November 1, 2022

It’s time for the always funny, somewhat spicy Nimesh Patel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Hey, it's time for Breaking Bread with Papa. Hey, don't you know? Hey, it's also a show. Hey, everybody, welcome to another edition of Breaking Bread with Tom Papa. I'm Tom Papa. How are you? Here we go. Here we go.

Dipping into November. Holy Toledo. How did that happen? I know. Time is a weird thing. And we always get caught up in the cliche. of can you believe it? I think it was really fast. I think it was really short. Whatever it is, it's an adjustment. And the only adjustment we need around here is it's food

time. So whatever state of being you are in right now, whatever your love handles are, whatever your boobs are, whatever your puffy faces, this is kind of, this is, this is, this is kind of as good as it's going to get. And you may try and maintain. You may try and fight off some pounds. But this is it, kids. We're heading into bake goods weather, holiday weather, end of the year, all that shenanigans.

Nothing to be feared. Totally to be celebrated. Totally. Great show for you guys today. we have Nemesh Patel coming on the program, a very funny comedian. He's really great. I was really excited to sit down with him.

You know, there's a lot of, he's had a lot of early success in his career, and he kind of blew up on social media, and he's got some great specials, and he's just a very thoughtful, funny comedian. And there's a lot said online about, about him as a comic and Indian American comic and he's got this new special out.

Thank you, China, that is very popular on YouTube. And you know what supersedes all of this? He's from New Jersey. He's from New Jersey. He's a Jersey kid. And as soon as I heard that, we kind of locked in. He had done my radio show. and I got to spend a little time with him.

I saw him at The Cellar and stuff like that, of course. But, you know, when you interview somebody, it's a whole different thing. But he's just a funny guy from New Jersey, and you're going to love him. It's a great conversation. Love talking to him about his family and his food and his comedy roots,

which are very unique in a way, very unique, which makes him unique. And you're going to love him. this conversation. Today's show is brought to you by tompapa.com. What? Yeah. Another very funny comedian. I've got some shows coming up. This week, I am heading off to Florida. I don't think you can get tickets for these shows. But then next week, I'm coming to Red Bank, New Jersey at the Count Basie Theater and the Egg in Albany. And that'll be my big birthday weekend, actually. I'm starting it off on doing Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, which will air next Saturday,

which is the 12. I'm very excited to go back to Chicago and record that show. And then roll into Albany at the Egg in the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank. A lot of Jersey people coming out. It's going to be a lot of fun. I love that whole theater group. I've actually never performed in the Count Basie Theater. I did their outdoor thing during COVID.

And this one, there's still some tickets available. So come out and it's going to be a great show. I don't think there's that many left for either of those, but just go online. Go to tompuppet.com. That's why they're the sponsor. And they'll show you. Also go to Portland and a bunch of other shows. I have been home, I think, five days out of October.

Yeah, I think literally five days. And not in a row. Not in a row. I had a insane 24-hour trip to Virginia Beach. this weekend that was just bonkers and is making me think that maybe American Airlines and I have to break up. They've just, you know, sometimes you're in a relationship and the person that you're with is just abusive and they keep letting you down and you keep staying in there because you have history and I have a lot of history with them. But I don't know. I think they're telling me

maybe it's time to see other people. Maybe I've got to go hang out with my friends at Delta. Five days. I'm a little burnt. I'm not drunk, but I am drinking this beautiful Chate de Nove de Pop. It is a beautiful wine.

And also, on the flight, I was rereading every once in a while. These are the things that I do. Every once in a while, I take down John Updike and I'll read him. And every once in a while, I'll take out Walt Whitman and I'll read him.

And it's these writers, they kind of knock something loose when I'm in between projects or thinking about writing. And those are two giants who a lot of times you get turned onto when you're young and then you kind of move forward and then you don't go back because that was a phase of, you know, when you first discover those writers. and I refuse to let that happen. So even at my age, every once in a while, I'll crack them open. And, you know, there's a different perspective at different ages when you read that stuff. Another person, another insanely talented writer and novelist and poet who I've talked about on this program before is the giant Jim Harrison. and I just had my iPad out on the flights. And like I said, a little burnt out, a little boozy.

But something about reading Jim Harrison, it just, my brain wakes up and dusts off and starts wanting to go right itself. And I came across this poem called Broome that he included, I think he was probably some, somewhere else, but he included it in a really big lunch, which I definitely recommend that you read. A really big lunch. He wrote a lot of articles for Esquire on food and wine and life, and that collection is just great. And you can just, it's a whole bunch of essays and you just kind of drop in, read about

these great wines, the Chate de Nouve de Pops. This actually, this peed long comes from a domain template. Pierre, which is one that I literally started drinking because of this man. He, you know, not a picture of health at the end. Ended up with diabetes and gout and a whole bunch of complications. But man, he lived life. And he ate and drank all of the best things that he possibly could. And every time I read him, I want to go eat and drink as well.

but then I also don't want gout. So I put the brakes on at some point. And maybe that's why I'm not a mountain of a poet as he was. But let me, I figure I'll just read this poem to you. And don't, don't get weird. It's, you know, this isn't, we're not out of poetry reading. I'm not going to slam poetry read you. I'm just going to read some of his words.

because as we're coming into this time of year, I don't think there's anything wrong with getting a little more quiet than you're used to. And then we'll go into this interview with Nemesh Patel. This is called Broome. And these are the words of Jim Harrison, a giant. To remember that you're alive, visit the cemetery of your father at noon after you've made love and are still wrapped in mammalian odor that you are forced to cherish. Under each stone is someone's inevitable surprise, the unexpected death of their biology that struggled hard as it must.

Now, go home without looking back at the fading cemetery. Enough is enough. But stop on the way to buy the best wine you can afford and a dozen stiff brooms. Have a few swallows, then throw the furniture out the window, and then begin sweeping. sweep until you've swept the walls bare of paint and at your feet sweep the floor until it disappears. Finish the wine in this field of air. Go back to the cemetery in the dark and weave through the stones a slow dance of your name visible only to birds. What does it mean?

I don't know. That's up to you. All right, enjoy this conversation with Nemesh Patel. He's a very funny comedian. Make sure you look up all of his stuff online also. And I think you're really going to enjoy this. And this is me and my jersey pal, Mimesh. Thanks for being here.

This is a real treat. I was happy to actually sit with you in person. Yeah, yeah. Zoom is always like, obviously like the intangible thing is that it's not tangible. Yeah. It's like there's something in that that's just gone. Yeah. And I don't, I think it's a lot easier to pretend how you're feeling when you're on a Zoom.

Yeah. And I kind of hide it. Whereas here it's like we can just, it feels a lot more honest than earnest. Immediately. You know? Yeah. It's weird. Because like it technically works.

Like you can get an interesting conversation and it can work. But I've, from doing my radio show, I'll run into people who I've only met doing that through Zoom. And it, they don't even. clock that we met. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. We had a conversation, right?

Yeah, right. But yeah, this is really great. Normally, I would bake you bread. Uh-huh. But I was in Vegas the last two nights. Betting? So, no, no gambling. Because I really kind of feel like I should gamble, like, just a little bit, but I've never won.

Yeah. So I'm just like, I don't see the appeal. I hear that. I gamble. I have gamble quite a bit, but I'm net down a lot. But I stopped. But I only gamble when I go to casinos. I'm not like one of these.

I'm on my phone constantly playing poker or whatever fuck. You know, like, it bothers me when I see comedians like shilling gambling stuff. Yeah. It doesn't, I get it. Yeah, you get your bag. But it's also like, that is advice. You are selling an addiction right now. I know.

Yeah. I was saying that last night that I don't know. I'm not like, it's cool that weed is legal and it's cool that gambling is now legal. Like everyone's been wanting that for a long time. I'm not convinced it's all going to work out. Yeah. I mean, I like weed, so I'm pro that. Totally.

But I'm also, I think we can be speaking the same language in the sense like there is something wrong with these things. Right. So you shouldn't be like, hey, like, let's be. black out tonight, you know? Like, it's like, go gamble all fortunes away. Yeah, yeah. It's something about it that feels like, all right, I, it's a prime time for comedians to

be finally recognized as people who can help sell things. Right, sure. But it's also like, yeah. Now they come to you and say we would like to, you to be a part of this campaign. We're sorry, it's only going to pay

$500,000. Yes. I'll do it. It's not my responsibility, how people are going to use this and abuse this. I haven't been given a check that I can say no to yet. But, you know, it's like if that would have come, if I were in a position to say no to a check, then I would consider.

I'm not in a position to say no to that. But like, it would have to be a pretty, like, not evil, but like I don't know if I could pitch gambling. Yeah. For anything less than half a million. dollars. Just to go on record. I once went,

Kathleen Madigan and I were doing a corporate gig in, I think it was in D.C. And I got there. And it was like in the four seasons, but like a real small room in the four seasons. And I came down, Kathleen was always so funny. It's just like,

you see what we're doing here? No, what is it? And it was like a subsidiary. area, I think, of Philip Morris. Nice. And they were selling, like, some kind of, like, like, non-smokable tobacco. Like, it wasn't chewing tobacco, but it was like, maybe pouches. I don't forget what it was. But whatever it was, it was like, should we, are we going to do this?

It's like, well, we're here. We're not putting the tobacco in their mouths. Yeah, right, exactly. We're not saying you should. Yeah, the pays pretty good. We're just telling jokes. Someone's going to tell them jokes. Yeah. Yeah, it becomes a, when I do see people,

have a real, a real, a real hardline moral character or like, they've got real rules. I'm pretty envious. Like, yeah. That's pretty noble. Yeah. Are those people also rich? No. Oh, they're poor.

Yeah. No, exactly. So when I was in Vegas, not gambling, I couldn't bake you bread, which I will, at some point, I will give you my bread. Thank you. It's very close to this. This is my favorite bread in, uh, in L.A. How do I break this?

You don't have to eat it now. You can bring it to your hotel. You can do whatever you want. You can just smell it for now. I'm going to Bert's podcast after this. Oh, you are? So maybe I will break the bread that you brought. Oh, that would be great.

That would be great. No, these guys are solid. They've been on the podcast before. They make an amazing, amazing bread. And yeah, share it with Bert. That would be great. Yeah, for sure. I will.

Yeah. How is that big guy doing? I haven't seen him a little bit. Oh, you never met him. I haven't met him. I haven't met him. Oh, you're going to have a great time. Yeah, yeah.

He seems cool. Very cool. I watched some of what he did. Like, I don't, like, I have this policy, and I don't know if the policy is so much laziness, it's just like, I don't watch anything, I don't listen to anything. Like, even this. Like, I saw half of a quarter of what you did with Mazz because I know Mazz. What are you going to talk about?

And so, okay, we're going to eat and bullshit. I can do that. I do that all the time. And so I watch a little bit of Bert's stand up just to like, or what is, I don't even know. I know the machine bit, but that's it. And I saw a little bit of it. I said, okay, I get this guy. So is that a conscious thing to keep in your own?

It's just like blinders on. I think when I started, I was, you know, I started in 2009. And I was never a curious student about anything necessarily. Like even if I'm looking back at like from elementary school till today, like I never fully developed a curiosity for things. I was always just good at figuring stuff out. Interesting. And so when I started, I was like, okay, I know Chris Rock, obviously. You know, like, I grew up watching Chris.

I know Russell Peters because, a little bit because in 2004, Russell's stand-up special leaked on YouTube. Right. And it was like, hell, my, the only other Indian kid on my floor and I, we bonded over that. Right. You know, that was like, oh, this is crazy. Indian, I understand. Yeah. And so I knew a little bit of Russell.

I knew of Dave. I knew Chris. I knew Chris is bigger and blacker. like my friends and I quoted that all throughout high school. Yeah. But beyond that, when I started comedy, I was never like, I'm still not. Right. A huge student of it.

Like, I, I'm envious of people who are like scholars. You remember that Colin bit or that dude? That, you know, Tony Rock bit or whatever. I'm like, no, I don't know anything. Right. And like, I've tried to be like, oh, let me watch them prior. I've listened to Prior a lot. Uh-huh.

And then some of Dave, some Chris. But it's been a conscious thing because, and Headberg. But it was a conscious thing because I caught myself early being like I can my ear is such that It will emulate what it is Sure, assessed with right so if I'm constantly listening to headberg and you listen to my early stuff on Like on tape that's on tape it's like everyone's like oh he sounds a little bit like Mitch headberg and like I guess I was listening too much to Mitch headberg Yeah, and then as I evolved I was like I got to just stop

Yeah, anything because right on top of sounding like anyone I don't want to be influenced or hear something and that and then did I hear that five years ago from a fucking yeah yeah yeah I know those are the worst when you're like why is this so funny yeah wait a minute I didn't do was this me yeah and you know there's moments like that I'm like no like it feels like there's enough comedy police around to be like no that's thing right they'll tell you yeah and and but beyond like I don't want that to ever even being influenced at all so I'm just like let me just focus on my own shit and at think what ends up happening is if you are so focused on if you're paying attention to

whatever else is doing you tend to lose focus on what you're doing or you sure that comparison kind of yeah will rob you of the joy of it now are you that way with all like acting and i don't everything yeah everything like it's it's not just stand up like you're you just kind of like i'm i have had blinders on for the last like two and a half year three years of like what anyone's doing outside of my friends group yeah which is very simple. small number of people. Like, I don't know what, even within my friends, I don't know what anyone is doing. I always hear about it, like on variety.

It's like if someone posts something, oh, that's good for you. Congratulations. Right. But that's just, you know, again, like a lack of curiosity it started as, but now it's more just like self, I'm just focused on what I'm doing and trying to. It's good. Cultivate what I got on my own, you know? Yeah.

I remember when I first got to the comedy seller, it was a problem because, I was following a tell like almost every night and watching him and hearing him and thinking like it was how long ago was this this was a 90 oh gee shit yeah yeah this was like 97 something like that and uh I learn quickly I can't watch I have to not be aware of who's going on before me yeah and it was that complete thing of not to the extent that you're doing it but that thing of let's put the blinders on so I can go do my thing. What's cool about what you're doing is everything is, everything's kind of derivative of other things in a way. I remember this acting teacher telling me that, and this was, you know, back when I was in college, was that actors, you're never going to have a pure actor because we've all been influenced by other actors.

We've all seen TV and commercials. This is before, you know, the explosion. now. And he said, we're never going to have those pure actors that saw like a movie. Or they just lived their life. Right. And came into it. And that's kind of cool because you're kind of constructing that. I'm trying to unlearn whatever I have learned that's in there. And then trying to just be, try to shake, just develop my own stuff. Right. Whatever that voice is necessarily. You know, like I did a show, was it two? weeks ago is in Marquette, Michigan. I did like this weed festival. And the check was good.

And so I went up to do it. And there's the first show, probably one of the first, maybe I've only done like five shows high, right, in my whole life. Yeah. And this time I got high on stage because it was outside and we can legally smoke. I was like, oh, I'm taking advantage of this shit. Yeah. And at some point, like, I was high and I heard myself, I was like, I sound like, I sound like. I sound like. like Dave. And it's like, and I was talking about my friend Mukki who was with me and he's like, yeah, it's like when you get high, there's, your brain goes to like this kind of defensive place where you're going to go back on your old ass latencies, things that are like deeply ingrained your brain. Right. And it's not even like the, it was just like, you know, Dave has kind of like

this rolling cadence at the end where it goes, and then, you know, it's kind of hard to explain. And it's like almost philosophical when he's waxing on stage sometimes. And I caught myself doing that. Right. And I was like, yeah, it's still in there. And like, there's moments where I can like make the Chris face. Yeah. And I can see myself doing that.

Or I can hear myself doing a little headburn. I'm like, okay, like these will be shaking off. Right, right. It's just those moments like, nope, I got to just keep like this. You know what I mean? It's, I mean, look, everybody, you know, you're in this thing that you love to do and you're seeing people who you love to watch doing it. And, you know, there's that old story about Bill Cosby. You ever hear the, uh, I've heard three Bill Cosby stories. Yeah. And,

and, uh, and that he, yeah. And he, when he was young, like he, he went, um, he was had a, a headlining thing. He was just starting to pop. And, uh, and, and he, I think it was prior, right? that he he yeah contemporaries yeah yeah and he the first set he wasn't himself he was doing this new influence you know he was leaning into someone else's voice and he was priors and his manager came back and said i don't know who that was but i'd like to see bill do the second set got it you know yeah and he just and he kind of shook it off and but you know jazz music everybody you know there's influence you'd have influence or you don't show up There's a, there's, I don't know if it was me like looking for confirmation, but someone told me that

if you can hear something and then like assume that kind of voice, like there's a sign of genius kind of thing. Like people who, I'm not saying I'm that, but I'm saying there's people, if you have a really good ear and you could immediately kind of in a few days, like pick up what's going on and like emulate that language, then it's like a sign your brain is way. operating a different way. And I've always found, like, if I go to another country. Yeah.

And it's a different language. If I go to, when I went to New Orleans, not too long ago, I was there for like three days. Right. By the end of that third day, I was like, say, bro, like, me as Benier meant you. Like, I was talking like that. And it was just because I was just, and I was surrounded by it constantly. And I was like, what, say, bro. Like, who am I?

You know, like, I felt it. I'm Cajun now. Yeah. It was. And in Italy, like, They say yeah at the end of a no, yeah. And like by the end, like second day, I was like, yeah, yeah. You know, like in India, same thing.

Yeah. It's just like, I know what my ear is capable of doing. Right. My brain can pick up. Yeah. And so that's part of the reason. I was like, I'm out. Yeah.

I can't listen to anybody. You don't have a traceable accent of a place. I'm from New Jersey. Yeah. But I don't, I'm from Jersey. You don't sound Jersey. That's the thing. Like, I don't know what I'm supposed to sound like.

Yeah. But I think that's because. because this is just years of listening to random stuff, like DMX to cold play, incubus to, you know, like Michael Jackson, like my parents, like my cousins, like everyone who's had, I've been surrounded by has definitely just hit my ear and it's just made this happen. Yeah. You know what I mean?

Yeah. And my dad, especially. They had to be corrected. They had to tell me in acting class because I was playing someone in the Midwest. They're like, we're going to tell you some words that only people from New Jersey say them this way. Uh-huh. And I was just telling me coffee, talk.

That's in New Jersey? Yeah. Coffee. You want some coffee? We're going to get some coffee. We like to sit down and have some coffee and talk about it. No. Okay.

All right. Yeah. Where in Jersey were you? Parsipany. Parcipany. Born and raised. It's in Morris County. It's like 40 minutes out of New York on a good day.

Yeah. But yeah, my parents landed in 81 and, 79, I think. Okay. My mom and dad, respectively. But they landed in Newark. And it was the time when Newark was transitioning from being like an okay place to live to like a not okay place to live. And it was, I think at that point already kind of not that good, but it's cheap.

And it's like right outside the airport. Yeah. And so they live there. And then I think my grandpa, my mom's dad got. punched in the face in an elevator, like robbed. That was enough to be like, all right, we out. Yeah. We're going to the widest place there is.

Let's head whiter. Yes. And they went to, and it was mildly racist, but it was also, it was just a function of the fact that they were in a very poor place. Yeah. And so they went to the widest place they could participate in New Jersey, near the lake. Right. And then they live there.

They still have that house. Oh, that's great. My grandparents and my uncle still have the house. Obviously, my parents moved out. and my mom moved out, got out of the spot in an apartment. But, yeah, so I've been born and raised in Parsipani. Right. And still there to this day, you know.

It's so funny. You don't know talk? You don't know that. I guess I never make it a note to hear it. Yeah. And someone says talk. I'm like, yeah, okay. Let me get some coffee.

Yeah, sure. But that doesn't say, I didn't know that was Jersey. Yeah. Yeah. How do people outside of it, outside of Jersey say, talk. Talk. Oh, it's like a W on one? Yeah, they have a little W in.

there. Got it, got it, got it. Coffee. Yeah. Yeah, okay. I can hear it and I'll be paying attention to it now. Yeah. Although I haven't said coffee in a long time. Who, uh, were your parent, you said your mom moved out? Yeah, so, well, in Indian families, it's like, you know, at least the generation above it was, and they came when they were in their 20s. Um, my, my mom, uh, my two uncles and my mom's sister, my aunt and, uh, our grandparents, my grandparents, they came, you know, my dad. I, that my grandpa was probably in his 50s. My mom and her siblings were in their 20s. And they all lived in the same house.

Right. In like a three-day-four bedroom. And then my uncle moved out. You know, when he got married, my mom moved out. And then, or my mom had a husband moved out. My parents divorced when I was two. I got to know my father. My mom remarried.

I think when I was four or so. But yeah, so I don't know the truth. exact timeline of transition from when they left my grandparents house. Right, right. But the oldest son, my mom's oldest brother, stayed in my grandparents' house in Lake Parsipani. And then, like, my mom and the siblings, like, got their own houses. Got it. You know.

So you never met your father? No. Wow. I have very limited, maybe one or two mental images and even those are fuzzy. Like, I have no idea. Other pictures? I've only seen one, I think. Right.

And I thought it was my uncle because they looked kind of the same. Right. Um, but she remarried? My mom remarried. Yeah. She remarried when I was four years old. So when you were for it, right? Yeah.

So, so that's your dad? Yeah. I mean, I'd never known any other father figure. So like, right. So like, I, I have clips on YouTube and TikTok and stuff where like people who are like super fans will be like, wait, he's talking about his parents divorce, but now he's saying, his dad got shot at. It's like, what?

What is this? I'm like, I got to, how do not, do not make a logic leave, you know, like, you know, like, Yeah. If you're paying that close attention, I said father in one and dad and the other. Like, there's a slight difference here. Right. But I appreciate the, the, the, I'm going to police and stuff. Yeah.

But also like, come on, guys. Give me a fuck. Yeah. Yeah. Is there, does that, does it, is he still alive? Do you know if he's alive? I haven't had any contact. The last, the last I heard about him or from him was, I didn't know how long ago.

but he had, I think, message or got in touch with my mom about, like, child support that he thought he overpaid. And I was like, oh, okay. It's like that. He wants them back. Yeah, right, right. I see that. But outside, like, I never heard from him. And I don't, I'll probably go to therapy about it at some point.

Uh-huh. But not from, like, I'm constantly thinking, like, what's going on. Right. But, like, I'm sure there's a billion other things I got to unpack and figure out. Right. Sure. About that. But it not to, like, not.

to a point where you feel like it's affected your day to day. No, no, not at all. You know, like, there's been moments where I'm like, so I had, are we rolling right now? Yeah. Oh, okay. So, like, I would strike this, but I had a diagnosis of cancer. You did? Yes, like in February.

Whoa. And of this year. And I'll tell you about that. But once that, when that happened, we were all just like, how the fuck did that happen? Like if I could say genetic or whatever And then come to find out My father's father had the same cancer Oh shit okay

So there's some health stuff I probably don't know about Right But for all intents and purposes I'm like fully healthy as human being Outside of that that happened But it's right We exercised it all and all that Oh that's good

What was it? Testicular cancer Oh really? Yeah yeah That's what my current hour on tour is about Like it was like So I did Oh right you mentioned this on the radio

Yeah yeah right I did like, you know, from April of last year to December of last year, I did like, you know, I don't know, 180, 200 shows or something. And I taped my special, thank you China at the end of the year. Right. And then in January, I was like, all right, well, you know how it is? Like, you don't want to do that shit ever again. Yeah. And so I was like, what the fuck am I going to talk about?

And so I had like, I think like 20 shows from Jan 1 to February 1, let's say. And in that, those 20 shows, I was just floundering. I was looking for stuff. I was on stage with notes, but I did Cobbs. Yeah. Which is, you know, 500 seats, 400 seats, four shows. Spoily sold out, but just like a notepad on stage. Yeah.

What you want to talk about? And it was fun at a great time. Yeah. But it didn't feel like I was given. I wasn't taking advantage of the opportunity that I had because I was still trying to construct a new set and not. And not, I didn't want to do all the old stuff. Like, it was just in me to not do it. Wait, what was the thing?

What was the opportunity you weren't taking advantage? The opportunity being like, I have this. stage right now. Right. I'm just here fucking around like it's open mic. Right. Talking to the crowd. Instead of like working on another hour.

Right. I know that the starting process is like that's how it is. Yeah. But I felt like this like I remember San Francisco being such a big show to me because it was Cobbs. It was, you know, my biggest show to date at that point of, you know, fully sold out weekend. Yeah. My people are here. Yeah.

Although the shows I've done, you know, Midwest, you know, here and like Texas, all that kind of stuff. Yeah. And I'm not saying this as a bad thing. I think it's a great thing. It's all been like a huge demo of like white people, black people, Indian people, Spanish people, every age range. Right. But San Francisco had that plus like a huge Indian population.

I'm like, I got these people here. Yeah. And I could talk to them. I fucked around a lot. Yeah. But it didn't feel like I had done. I didn't want to do the set that I had done already. Right.

I was like, I'm tired with that. Right. and these people don't know the process of comedy but I feel like I got to do I got to do these notes shit because I'm not going to do the yeah interesting so that was that that set of shows was the last week of January okay so that that following week was my birthday week I was I'm being New York I'm gonna take off hang a wife hang out with my friends whatever my sister's in town I'm a chill birthday night I got pain in my balls I go to hospital doctors I you know a few days later doctor diagnoses and you got cancer. I'm like, what the fuck? And literally just those six days,

I just scribbled notes every day. Because you know when something's happening to you that you got to talk about at some point. And I was just scribbling notes the entire time. I had the surgery, had tested cancer, removed, all that. And then I was like, all right, well, I guess I got another hour. Yeah. And I was just being that for the last, you know, a few months. And so it's been a kind of crazy thing to have experience, but I'm also like very grateful I got this cancer, which is a weird thing. You know, I'm not trying to downplay it, but I'm also like, it's kind of nuts that no pun intended, like that's what happened.

Right. I'm sorry, did you say you didn't want to talk about it? No, I don't want to do, I can talk about it itself, but the instant I start talking about it, I feel like I'll go into the bit. Oh, I got you. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I've said it so many times.

You have some jokes to write. Yeah, yeah. And I don't want to do that. Okay. But it's okay to just discuss it. Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I'm fine talking about it in the sense that I had it. Right. Right. And that's what happened. And that's what I'm talking about. That sounds like it was kind of short. Like you've, you had the pain. Like, honestly, you know, I'd say this as a joke, and it's probably one joke I'll tell you right now.

But I went from literally Thursday night, balls hurt to Tuesday, cancer-free. I just lost a filling, and it's taking me longer. Yeah. To get in and get it replaced. It was like, you know, it was like, I had like fucking Amazonic prime of can't, like, it was so fast. Yeah. And I talk a lot of, like my entire last special, I said like, this is probably like 10 minutes of talking shit about the American health care system. Right.

And I still feel very strongly the American healthcare system is absolute garbage. Yeah. But there is some silver lining in the fact that if you have very good insurance. Right. You can, and some connections, you can. Yeah. remove cancer before it's even a fucking yeah before you even crosses your brain if you have the money you know yeah it connections two days later i was eating indian food like it was like i was eating

the best indian food i've ever had my entire life like right that's the american health care system you know yeah so is there is it is there a concern like you have to keep in a remission yeah so i have to get a cat scan every uh six months for the next 10 years 10 years the the i was a bit concerned about the protocol initiative because there's there's kind of two schools of thought and the leading school of thought is and it used to be once a quarter and you have to get a CAT scan. Well. Or you get radiated. You get radiation just to make sure.

Regardless. Yeah. And then you get a CAT scan once a year or you get a CAT scan and then the literature to kind of change a little bit. It's like you can do a CAT scan every six months, not get chemo at all and just monitor what's going on. And I caught it so early. Yeah. that it was like, you know, a very low chance. And I had like, the doctor said like the best kind of this that you're going to get.

Oh, great. So. That's great. Yeah, yeah. It was very grateful. What was the pain like that you knew like I got to get this check? Because we all have little pains here there. It was, you know, have you ever had a hernia before? No.

Okay. So a hernia is when like part of your intestine comes out of your abdominal cavity, right? And it's like, it could be very dangerous. But for the most part, from what I understand is. not dangerous you can push it back in but the recommended procedure is get a surgery on your on your groin to keep put a meshing yeah but that pain is like a sharp pain in your balls and i had that six years ago i had a hernia six years ago and i remember that pain being like oh this fucking sucks yeah um but it was like random and it wasn't constant it was just random like it would happen

like when i was using the bathroom uh if i was laying down i would have like a sharp pain and And I was like, fuck. And I went to the doctor. The doctor was like, yeah, you have hernia. You got to get surgery. I'm like, okay, cool. But like, the doctor said I could wait for surgery. Like, I've had stuff to do.

Like, it's not, it's not going to kill me if I wait. Like, I was like, I have time. Let me get it done. So that's what I thought this was. Right. I thought I had re-agravated a hernia because I was working out a lot more than I had been. And maybe I lifted a little too heavy or something like that. And so maybe I re-agravated this hernia.

And I was, I was in the bathroom after, you know, we come back from dinner, my sister, my wife and I, and I'm like, if it's a re-agravated hernia, I want to know that that's what it is. Yeah. Let me go to that. And my concern was that it was torsion, which is like when you're a testicle,

there's a tube that connects to your testicles. Right. Like supplies blood. Sometimes your ball will like twist. Uh-huh. And it could happen natural if you play with it too much. Like it could twist and not and like cut off that blood supply and you have to get that remedy immediately or you could lose the testicle.

Right. So it's like if there's a slight. chance that there's torsion. Yeah. And I'm catching early. I need to go right now because I don't want to fucking, I'm not losing a ball over there. Right. Did you know torsion from Google? Yeah. It was one of those. You were busy. Yeah, yeah. And I was like, shit, all right.

And I was like, well, if it's a hernia, the doctor will tell me it's a hernia, like, I'll just wait until I'm done with touring and stuff and I'll get the surgery then. Yeah. If it's torsion, then I got to get the shit fixed right now because it's a disaster. Yeah. And I was like, all right, you know, go to the hospital like 3 o'clock in the morning. They do an ultrasound. They tell

me it's not torsion. I'm like, all right, cool. And then they're like, you have a mass. I'm like, I don't know what that means.

But then, and then the whole process started. Right, right. But the, the crazy shit is, is the doctor, you know, after everything had been done

after the surgery and all that, he was telling me, it's just like, you know, like, the, because he initially said it was nothing. He initially said it was like,

you know, some other, the epididomized, like inflammation of the tumor or something like that. And, because the, the,

cancer doesn't present with pain. It doesn't present. It's not normally doesn't present with normally it's a mass. You feel it. Right. But mine was so, I literally call it like, I think the doctor said like weeks,

uh, from formation. Uh, because normally you feel a mass on your, but I didn't feel anything. It was so small and it was intro. It was like in the middle. Oh.

And so there's no way. Yeah. So there's no way I was going to feel it. Yeah. And, but I was just enough of a fucking painsy or whatever you want to call it. Or just, yeah, or your instinct. Listening to my body, yeah.

Like, if there's one message I want to relay, like, I'm serious and I was like, listen to your body, it's telling you something. Yeah. And so I just listened and I went and they're like, it's mass. And then the whole process got started. Right. Wow. Yeah, it was kind of, it was.

Pretty lucky. The tour is called Lucky Lefty for a reason. I got very lucky. Yeah. I'm very grateful for all of it, really. Yeah. It's kind of weird to say, like. Yeah.

But part of me is happy that it happened because I didn't have shit. Yeah. I know. I didn't know. That's where I'm at right now. So all that stuff you did at Cobbs got pretty much thrown out. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I got some of those jokes are good.

Yeah. I have, you know, notes from it all. Yeah. It was just like, who cares now? I'm like, oh, baby, I got a new hour. You know, I can't wait. I was so excited to go back on the road. It's so funny.

You know, just talk about stuff. Yeah. I think it's like a comic mentality. It was like, something bad happened? Yeah. It's like, excellent. Thank God. Yeah.

It's funny because I'm literally going to cops this weekend in that same mindset of like I just taped something. So I'm like, you know, that thing of how loose and like as soon as you said like you're just up there with notes in front of 400 people just doing it. I'm like, I don't know if I'm that brave. Yeah. I mean, it felt like I did that I don't want to sound like I didn't do anything that I had done before. Yeah. That I had a few. Sure.

Some of the hits, so to speak. Yeah. Let them know you're still funny. Yeah, like, guys, don't worry. Like, this is just how it goes. Yeah. But it just felt, like, starting from scratch almost and, like, whatever frustration comes from that, but also, like, the excitement that comes from. Yeah.

I knew I could build something. I had hope I would pull something out of somewhere. I just didn't know that it would be from the divine, like. Right, exactly, yeah. But that thing at Cobbs, not to put cancer on the back burner. No, please. that that thing of like the balance of all right this is a big show for me in San Francisco I've got all these people showing up yeah my people are showing up yeah I wanted to I wanted to do

a good show but I've also got work to do yeah that balance it's so hard it is hard you know it's like you know what I found that I'm not sure I mean you've obviously been in the game a lot longer but when it comes to appealing to your audience and like educating your audience like for me and tell me what it is for you like every time I do a show I ask like who here

has never been to a live comedy show before and it's a good number of people really I'm a lot of people's first comedian which to me I used to think that was kind of a burden but now I enjoy the opportunity to be like Yeah. This is the process of the show.

This is how things get built. I'm glad I'm your first person. I'm sorry if this is not going to manage your, meet your expectations. Uh-huh. Aborious. I'm shitting on everybody, making fun of people, all this kind of stuff. But this is how I work. This is what's going to happen right now.

That's pretty great. You know? Yeah. How's it for you? It's a good opportunity. Yeah. I don't know. I've never had that conversation with them, you know, like to kind of figure it out.

I just, I have this really. need in me to crush. Yeah, I wish I had more of that. You know what I mean? But yeah, but I wish I had more of the, let's not treat every set. Like it's like for me, the most work I get done is at the store, at the cellar and Largo. Like, because that environment seems like I can, it's okay to screw up and stuff. But like if they're coming out and paying and this is their Saturday night and they're like,

So excited to see me. I want to make sure that they leave like, yes, and we'll come back again. Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? So there's that balance. I struggle with that because I also ask her the last time I was here. The last time I was here and it's like 10 people. I'm like, marketing is great.

Retention, not so good. But I'll get you back. I'll get something with you. Don't worry. But it just feels like it's such a difficult thing to walk. And I've been very grateful and happy. that people have come out and droves and like taking a chance on me as their first comic ever.

I feel like those people are very satisfied. I think it's the people who are like... They want to be with you. There is that thing. You know, Carlin would do it, you know, and it's the process. And it's, there's a going to the therapy thing. Like there's something in me that wants to please in this way that probably isn't so healthy. What do you attribute?

all these people being, you are being their first comedy show. It's just, it's just TikTok, you know, like we spoke about it last time, but it's like, right. You know, and I'll talk about ad nauseum until TikTok makes, gives me money to talk about it. You know, because I should, I should, guys, hello, what are we talking about here? I'll say it in Mandarin if you need. Mr. TikTok, yeah, if you're out there. It's like, it's been such a, um, I think like people,

who knock it or are afraid to approach it or whatever think that and I was this way too I said who is this for is it for kids like what who's on this shit right what's called TikTok yeah and then my wife told me to get on it when uh you know early on in like June of 2020 and I listened a little bit but not fully like I didn't put stand-up out of that until like December of 2020 right when my other friend told me to do it yeah you know how that goes confirmation yeah and uh but what I found was that it surprises me to this day, TikTok hits everybody. Yeah.

And people, the algorithm knows you so well that it will serve you something that it, nine times out of ten, you will probably be like if you give it a little time. And if you're searching for stand-up and you're, you know, an 80-year-old white lady who was from Tacoma, Washington, and for whatever reason you're interested in comedy and this voice, this Indian man who's not talking about being Indian, but other stuff, speaks to you, you're going to want to come to the show. Right. And that's what I found.

It's just been like that that platform of distribution is so strong and beyond, I can comprehend it a little bit, but like obviously the algorithm is so, so much more knowledgeable about the fan base that I built. Right. And it's just done such a good job of sending it out to people. Isn't that interesting that the algorithm is more in tune with your people than you are? Yes, it's terrifying, but it's also, you know, I'm not artificial intelligence.

I know, I think I can tell, uh, from like a human perspective what it is about my set or stand, like the clips that have, that have put out that speak to people that resonate with people. Yeah. It's just fun. Like, they like a snarky slightly seems like an asshole, asshole, but not an asshole. Right. Guy, like who can write jokes and is like insightful in different ways.

I'm trouped my own horn here. But like, yeah. I think that I can see. in common with everyone that's at the show. Right. What it is specific, like even deeper than that, I don't know. You know, there's something deeper. There's something deeper because, like, that makes perfect sense in describing who you are.

Right. And why people like you. Right. Um, but it doesn't explain why, how the algorithm, it doesn't the how, how the algorithm starts spreading that. Yeah. It's just, have you, have you done anything other than, just put your stuff up? Like, are you,

are you conscious of trying to put it up a certain way or trying to? I mean, so, like, when I first started doing it, you know, and I started really going pretty hard on it in December, 2020, January, 2021. Yeah.

And then, like, I was constantly putting stuff out, but it was all just like my older, like I taped an, I don't want to call it special, about an hour at, at the seller in 2019. Right. I called it Jokes for Quarantine.

put it on YouTube, excuse me. Right. And it did pretty well. And I was like, then I had my editor chop that up. I was like, let me just put this on TikTok. And I kind of just put it out in order. And then a bunch of other TikTok seller clips. And I put all those out.

And then I started kind of learning what was working, what wasn't working, trying to make adjustments and that, this and that here and there. Yeah. It became like, okay, now I have all this stuff that material that I don't care about anymore. I've kind of exhausted that resource. Right. What am I going to do? And then it became like, then I was bringing a camera to like every show I was doing. And at this point, I was already kind of touring when I had gone through all my stuff, like luckily I had so much material because the Sala records all the clips. I had all that shit. Right. But once I started touring, I was like,

okay, well, I don't want to put anything I'm touring without what, what's going to happen. And I, you know, you do shows, crowdwork will happen. Right. Things, people will say things. You'll inherently talk to somebody if you're doing an hour. Like something's going to, because I wasn't going up with a fully polished hour. Right. I was trying to like fish and see what was going on. Yeah.

And inherent, like in that, something will happen. Yeah. And they're putting those TikTok, like those crowdwork clips on TikTok. And crowdwork just like, it's something beyond funny that's getting people. Right. It's like the kind of the people love the quickness of the mind. to like the rawness of it or whatever it is. And it became like, oh, okay, so crowdwork is what's going to move tickets.

Right. Interesting. To the, to the detriment almost of it is like, I know it shows people, a lot of people will still come thinking it's going to be crowdwork. Right. And that's another education process. Right. Oh, you think it's going to be crowdwork for 45 an hour?

Are you kidding me? I know you've never been to a comedy show, but this is not how they go. Yeah. And then once my special was taped, I had another, you know, I did two hours in December of last year, like all the stuff I cut from the hour and then the hour itself. And so I had, you know, another 60, 120 clips I could just put out there and re-educate people of like, it's not just just a crowdwork. It's going to be.

So did they start getting just as much response with the written material as? Yeah, yeah. So like some of them do well. Some of them do whatever. Like I had to, at some point, I had to like get out of my. brain to stop like tracking everything. Uh-huh. You know, I hired a social media team based here in LA in Nashville called CrowdSurf and

like they've been tremendous in terms of, uh, everything from execute, like executing, really. Yeah. I'm still kind of guiding strategy and stuff, but they all of so I have strategy thoughts. I'm like, hey, let's do a crowd work thing here, old school clip. Right. TikTok like we figured out like you can use old, old clips, new clips. I got to change the captions all the kind of stuff, all the algorithm stuff. Yeah.

they've been very beneficial they've been very helpful in like just executing which was the tediousness of it I just hate it was killing me yeah yeah now to do it yourself is yeah yeah and but so they to answer your question uh I still guide a little bit but they're the ones like fully executing stuff right right oh it's interesting is it uh is it like when you start venturing into like what seems like it is a pretty thoughtful new direction for this chunk after this experience that you went through. And you're, you're working on that.

Is that a different mindset now? It almost seems like that's, you're like, you're like the band making an album. Yeah. And then you're also popping out singles. That's exactly what it. That's a great analogy.

Yeah, it is a different mindset. The mindset is the same that I had in last year when I was like, I'm working towards making a very good hour. Yeah. And I set myself a deadline. Like, I want to be done.

by December. It already kind of, I'm sure, have you come up against this where, like, you feel like it's done, but it's like maybe you have a deadline or artificial deadline or whatever it is, but I can't be done with it just yet. Like, I still got all these dates to do or whatever it is, you know? Yeah. And that's what it felt like back then. That's what it feels like now, but I know it's not done yet because I'm still trying to

figure out, like, how I want to perform it. Does it belong in the theater? Does it belong in a club? Right. How do I get into it? like stuff around the set. And I have to tell myself that this is what I have to. I have to work on this hour because the temptation is just like when you get,

when I get bored. Yeah. I was like, I'm going to fuck around for 30 minutes. Like I did that in Denver at Comedy Works. Yeah. And it was, I just had to remind myself I'm funny. Yeah. You know, like I can just talk and have a good time.

Isn't it amazing how many times you have to tell yourself that? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, like, man, I just, you know, the first show was great. Wait, I'm funny. Yeah, first show was great, but it's like, I just did a bunch of stuff I wrote already. Like, I can think off the cuff and stuff like I fully thought out and me figured out on stage. So I had to do that to get that out of the system.

And then, you know, that'll happen every few weeks. Yeah. I just go up with a glass and wine. Like, I don't know. I have it in my back pocket if I want, guys. But, you know, I'm in a mood. Yeah. And it's literally what I said in Denver.

I was like, I'm in a mood, guys. What's your deal? You know, it was like that. Yeah. And so that mindset, I have, but I have to keep this kind of thing I want to finish. Yeah. And I think to keep that interesting, like, I try to switch out, add new jokes. Like, I'll pace around my room and a hotel room and at night.

Just like, what's missing? Like, how can I say this differently? Right. Like, what's a new way to do it? Yeah. That's a, that MO, like, is something I constantly have to tell myself and learn. because, you know, I've only been on a road. It sounds like a long time, two years, but it's a year and a half or whatever, but it's not a long time.

It's not at all. You know, like, you guys are that road. You guys are out, like constantly. It's like, it's a lot to me. It's a lot to people around me, like my peers and my family and stuff. Like, you're gone all the time. I'm trying to figure out how I'm not gone all the time, but this might be what it is for a while. Yeah.

Well, you're working on this. It's like a project, you know. back to your mom is she a good cook she is a phenomenal cook is she people the crazy shit is she's vegetarian but her chicken I would put up against like some chicken I've had at restaurants and like I've had at

Semma in New York Semma's just one of Michelin Star and the chicken I had at Semma tastes like exactly like the chicken my mom used to make. Really? I'm like, God, like this is incredible. You know? And so my mom is a very good cook.

My dad can cook too. He just doesn't as often. But he can cook like a few dishes that he likes really well, like egg curry like he really loves and a few other things I haven't, not a big fan of. But he can make really well. But my mom can whip stuff up like looking at a recipe. Okay, I know what to do here. Really?

And I have to make it a point to like, I studied her kitcheny recipe, which is like a lentil rice with turmeric and garlic. I taped her making that so I can make it as something. Smart. Because like Indian cooking is very not scientific. You know, there's like this more art and feel and smell. Yeah. You got to add garlic when the onions stops smelling like onions.

Right. When they turn, you got to add the garlic. When the garlic, you got to add the turmeric when the garlic stops smelling. Like that's when it's cooked. Like that kind of stuff. Right, right. Put three fingers of water in the dish. I'm like, what are you talking about?

In the pressure cook. I'm like, oh, okay, three fingers. Yeah, yeah. So that kind of stuff. So she's a very good cook. That's great. It was when you were growing up was the chicken dish the dish, the dish, or was it? So growing up, it was, like, it's bad to look back in hindsight and think, like, man, I was such an asshole.

Not appreciating all this delicious Indian food that I was getting. but it was just, you know, a lot of, you eat with your eyes and a lot of eating food was not appealing aesthetically at the time. And nor do it still to this day. Yeah, it looks a little mushy sometimes. Sometimes they can look like, man, that's, that's, that's okra? I try to get my daughter to that. I'm like, what is the Abu gobi? Uh-huh.

And she's like, uh-uh. I'm like, this is all the stuff you love. It's cauliflower. It's cauliflower. Yeah, you love it. She's like, mm-hmm. Now she's getting to an age where she can. Like there's a

A Kobich Batakano Shok, which is like when I was a kid, my grandma would make it. It's cabbage and potatoes and spices. It's shock, which is, you know, just a vegetable dish that you eat with bread. And I don't know when I turned on it, but I used to hate it. And then at some point I was like, this is the greatest thing I've ever had in my whole life. I would just eat like mountains of it. You know, it was so good. Pronounce it again?

Kobich Batakano shak. Okay. Gobech is cabbage, bataka is potato. Shok is the dish itself, yeah. Got it. And it was just, and I'll just eat it with furry, like, you know, a fried bread. And, like, man, this is so goddamn good. Yeah.

And that was, like, one of my favorite dishes growing up. And my mom would make chicken, two different kinds of chicken, like orange chicken, not, like, not Chinese orange chicken, but, like, that was just the color. Right, yeah. From the turmeric. Yeah, yeah, from the turmeric and the, uh, um, what's it called the paprika and all that and then my mom would make this brown chicken

I don't know what was it that's the chicken that's like Samo's chicken I was like this is incredible I don't know how you make it anytime my cousins come over and eat it they're like this is the greatest thing we've ever had I'm like it is it's so good so are you pretty good if you're if you're tracking your mom and trying to

oh I don't know I've never I've never tried to I've never committed to making food really yeah like I I I think when pandemic started my mom gave me me like a bunch of cheat codes, basically like spice packets you can buy on Amazon. That like, because she couldn't do it with her own spices, like just use this. Marinated.

Hacking it. Yeah. And like they were amazing. Yeah. But that was at the beginning of pandemic when I think everyone was, I'm going to cook at home. Right. Exactly. It lasts up like a month.

And I was like, all right, this is. All right. Uber eats is open again. All right. Let's get some Uber eats door dash and stuff. Yeah. So no, I never, I wish I did. Yeah.

And I have to make it a point to like at least learn some of her recipes. Yeah, for sure. I was talking to Aziz the other day, name drop. But, you know, he sent me like a cookbook. And he's like, man, you really cooking Indian food. He's like, yeah, man, it's great. I'm like, I got to step my game up. Yeah.

And especially if my mom is so good. Yeah. But yeah, it's a goal of mine and a dream of mine to like learn how to cook at least some of her staple dishes. Definitely. You know, I got to do that. You have to or get her to write stuff down. if you can or like write it. I videotaped it all.

Yeah, that's smart. I'm like, all right, how do I do here? You know, like, okay, this is what I have. Because three fingers in pressure cooker will never translate 10 years from now, but if I have a picture of it. Right, exactly. Yeah, my mom put all of her Italian cooking, all of her recipes. She wrote them out for us and gave them to all the kids for Christmas.

Oh, that's awesome. But it's so funny to read because it's like, there's no measurements. Yeah. Take three handfuls of my hand full of rice. Yeah, throwing some oregano and some pork. How much pork? Enough. Enough pork.

What's a really good, and this comes from really not knowing, I guess other than Baklava, what's a good dessert? Baklava is Mediterranean. It's Greek, I think. But there's a similar variation of that, right? I think. I don't know what it's called, but my favorite, I have like two favorite Indian desserts. One is Gulab Jammun, which is like a, basically a fried bowl of sugar.

Oh, yeah. And some kind of dough. It's like a fried dough. It's a donut soaked in syrup. Oh. And it's just. Insane. It's definitely just diabetes.

You know, it's so bad for you. It's like, it's in syrup. It's not not in syrup. It was like warm or cold. Yeah. And then you dipped it in syrup. Yeah, it was just syrup. I love that, but it's so gluttonous.

Yeah. And then there's pistachoufi ice cream, which is just pistachio ice cream. Oh, yeah. But maybe it's saffron in it, I think. And growing up, I would just devour that. That was, I could still do that. Like, yeah. I love pistachio ice cream.

Yeah, pistachio is good. It's incredible. It is incredible. And then mango Russ is like a mango puree Which is also dessert But it's obviously a bit lighter Right

But yeah I've stopped Eating Indian desserts or desserts in general You have? Yeah yeah just like I try to avoid them I'm kind of avoid sugar yeah You know my dad has diabetes And it's just like

And like Indian I was just talking a friend of mine Yesterday was it was today Tuesday Sunday night We went to dinner and he was telling me how his dad had a quadruple bypass. Vegetarian, his whole life, you know, maybe he has one beer a year. Really?

Sixty-seven years old. Well. Felt something was a little off or was doing a physical stress test. And the stress test was like, we got to stop. You got to go to hospital. Whoa. And they're like, oh, you have like a crazy blockage in four of your arteries. You've got to get open heart surgery like right now.

Jeez. And it's like that, that story is not, I guarantee you is not uncommon amongst Indian Americans. of my age and older. It's like, uh, South Asians, yeah, South Asians have a high incidence of,

um, genetically, yes, that I think, I think my friend said that doctor told him, like Indian people just tend to have smaller arteries. Oh. Um,

but it's also we eat thinking we're eating healthy. Yeah. You know, it's, oh, we're eating vegetables. We're vegetarian. Mind you,

it's oil, it's syrup. Yeah. It's fried and it is heavy. It is, yeah. And it can get bad for you. I'm not knocking Indian food because a lot of foods are like that deceptively.

But I think inherently in Indian people, there's this thing of like, oh, if we're eating vegetarian, it's fine. Like, oil is not a bad thing because we all grow up eating oil and drink in eating, like, in everything we do. Yeah, yeah. But then, you know, you're having it for breakfast because you're eating like this fried dish, fried spicy dish for breakfast. And it's like, oh, yeah, that you can't be doing that. Right. It's your whole life. Yeah.

So when dessert, when there's something to chop out of my life, and I've cut a lot of food out, but like, yeah. Sweets are like one of them. That's the big one. You know, it's like, I don't need it. Like, I feel amped up on it. I break out when I have a lot of sugar. Like, this is bad. Yeah.

I, you know, whenever my wife loves it, like she doesn't feel like a meal is done until dessert. Yeah. You know. So we'll be at, you know, have this go out for like Italian big meal or whatever. What's your favorite Italian spot here? There's a place in the valley called Panzano. Panzanelles. Yeah, which is, it's just like a family run, you know, like local place, but really on point. North Italian or?

No, more southern. More southern. Pizas. But not like, but not like really like, like, drenched in stuff. It's probably a little more, a little more Roman than like really like the Jersey Italian. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're saying your wife, I did. But she, if, if you don't have dessert at the end, and I'm like, I'm bored. I'm like, I'll, do it too but I feel so great when it's over we've had wine we've had whatever and we have the big meal I'm good yeah I have that dessert I'm wrecked yeah and you're just wrecked you just bring I think both physically and mentally you feel like why did I do that right I don't know I didn't

need it I could have had a bite but I had seven you know like well you're gonna have a half I got to finish yeah and the impact of it is so dense I mean it's so powerful like two bites even And you're like, that's potent. You can feel it. Yeah. It takes it way. But that's what it's supposed to do. But it's also just like, man, I regret it all the time.

I know. Yeah. I haven't found a good Indian restaurant in L.A. Have you? No, there's, not, no. Which is sad because there's a lot of Indian people here. I know. And maybe it's just my, just being lazy and going from my postmates of what's in my area.

Uh-huh. Um, there's this place, uh, Bollywood. Uh, that is, uh, Bollywood one and two. Uh, and, uh, they're really fast. And it's like fresh. It's like good fresh stuff. Uh, but it's not like, it's not like what I've had like in New York or Montreal. Montreal, Indian Indian food is delicious.

It's insane. Yeah. I walked into a place once at the festival and I just, it was timing was off. I didn't want to meet anybody. I just went into the, this, it was in the old part of Montreal and it was really elegant Indian place and I just sat by myself and I canceled my spot. I did because I was like, this is insane. I've never had it like this before. It wasn't just like cranking it out. It was like I was just, I'm just going to milk

this. Oh, I'm glad I'm happy. Oh my God. It was so good. Canadian food is annoyingly better than anything I've had. Why is that? Did more settle up there? I think, you know, I've been debating this for like a few months now. Ever since the Kansas stuff, because there's three Indian restaurants that I've opened in by the same restaurant group and a chef owner partner group in New York in the last year or two. The Maka, Sema, and most recently Masala Wala, which, like, Masala Wall used to be this old Indian spot in the Lower East side. And then they lost their lease or whatever it was. and they moved to Park Slope in Brooklyn. Oh, okay.

But that, the Makkah is my favorite Indian restaurant on the planet. Oh, yeah. And the food there was just so fucking good. Right. And I was like, I don't know why, you know, like, I live in Brooklyn. Right. I order Indian food. And it comes and it's just like watery, watered down chicken, butter chicken.

I'm like, they've given up. Right. Because the palate that's that not Indian is, I think that this is what it is. This is Indian food, yeah. It's not that. Right. It's not what it's like, it's supposed to be rich and flavorful. Yeah.

Like, butter chicken is not smothered. Yeah, like, it's not supposed to be watered down tomato soup. Right. It's supposed to have a lot of flavor to it. And like, I asked the chef, I was like, what is this? And he's just like, it's just the palettes or the people are used to it. Right. So there's no need to make.

good Indian food. But, like, you know, I haven't gone to Jackson Heights yet, so please, excuse me, if Jackson Heights has some bomb-ass Indian food. Yeah. Um, but in, uh, in like Brooklyn outside of Masala while, like, it's very hard to find good Indian. Well, it's kind of like, it's with every culture, right? I mean, Chinese, I'm sure the same thing. Yeah. Italian, you know, there's like, you know, people get used to just slopping on this stuff and that palette just becomes like, oh, that's what, you know, or Chinese orange chicken is or, you know, and they do get used to it. And it's sad. Yeah.

Yeah. The best, best Italian spot I've had in, in New York. If you've ever been, if you ever, when you go back, go to Teret in Park Slope. Oh, yeah. It's on Fifth Avenue and like Fifth Street in Park Slope. It's northern Italian food. Yeah. And we, that their, Caccio Pepe is delicious.

Yeah. I don't eat the boar ragu, but my wife loves it. Oh, yeah. And when we went to Italy, I went to Italy on honeymoon in September. Oh, nice. Just this September? This past September. Oh, congratulations.

Thank you. And that's why I was excited to talk about food. Yeah. I think about food constantly. When we went to Italy and we had, you know, their versions of Caccio Pepe and Boragoo, whatever. Yeah. Oh, the guy in Brooklyn is doing it just right.

Like it's as close to that as you're going to as we're going to get. Like we went to the best spots in. Yeah. In Italy and this guy was- Where were you? We did. We landed in Florence. Uh-huh.

We spent a few days in Florence. Amazing. Florence had like some of my favorite food. We went to, I forget the name of the restaurant and my wife will kill me for forgetting it. But we went to one spot that had this thing called like the John Travolta pasta. Uh-huh. I guess like he had made it famous or posted about it or something. Right.

That sounds familiar. And it was, uh, it was. It was like almost a rigatoni noodle, but not, like maybe a bigger one. Yeah. It was like this vodka slash truffle sauce. Oh, boy. It was tomato sauce. It was incredible.

Oh, my God. They gave you six pieces and it's just like, this is the best boss I've ever. We went back to, we went twice, yeah. And the second night we went, it was because we tried to get reservations at this one spot, try to walk into one spot that had like this cool view of the river or what having in Florence. Couldn't get in. They recommended this other spot. I wish I could remember the name.

It's just a hole in the wall. Yeah. And we get there and it's bustling. It's like people are pouring out of the street. Like everyone was just waiting to get their table and they're like, oh, we got to go here. Yeah. They didn't have a table until 930. So we went to the Travolta Post spot first and waited, ate that and then went back to this other spot.

Oh, really? In one night? Yeah, yeah. We did a bang bang as Bobby. He was Bobby. Yeah. Wow. Wow, that's amazing.

They had a, this, um, they had a duck ragu. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. And they had a, this fried chicken. I was like, fried chicken. I got to eat it. What is it?

Yeah. What are you doing to fried chicken? What are you doing? And they give you like, it's a, like tiny little nuggets, chopped up, just lightly fried. Yeah. With like salt and pepper and, uh, chicken breasts. And it's like, perfectly cooked.

Oh my God. And you just, like, give me. All of the chickens you have. This is the best thing. I'll never forget that. Like, if I go back to that, I'm going to have to go find that restaurant again. It was by the Gucci store. That's what I remember.

But, I mean, just mind-blowingly good. God. Yeah, that's amazing. I mean, because this is like the antithesis of what you're saying of, like, ordering that takeout. Yeah. Like, that takeout you don't even care. It's just like, like, there's nothing that happens to you beyond just putting food in your stomach and digesting it. Yeah.

Right? This was an experience. Yeah. I was just like, it was such a revelation. Yeah. Yeah. This is what food's supposed to be. It's so good.

Yeah. I never felt like ass afterwards. I was like walking around. We had like, you know, gelato and it was like, oh, this was perfect. Perfect. I never felt any bad way about it. Yeah. Jolato.

Like, it didn't feel like I was getting a sugar rush. No. Right. Exactly. It felt like a light area. Yeah. Yeah. And then we went from there.

We went to Tuscany. We did like a resort in Tuscany. nice. Costalphalphi. I'm not sure if you're aware of it, but it's like an hour and 20 outside of, um, outside of Florence. Yeah.

But it's like in the hills secluded. Oh, beautiful. Everything's kind of like in-house. They have like a few restaurants that are like a walk away. Food there was incredible. Um, we went to chinket, you were from Italy or you're Italian?

Italian. Yes. You've been to Chinquater. I haven't been there. My grandmother's from there. Oh, wow. Okay. I mean, that's a crazy place to be from.

Yeah. I know. Exactly. It was beautiful. but that we Did you walk it? We did No, we took a boat

You took a boat? We took a boat Which was awesome But yeah Excuse me we How long was this trip Two weeks Oh perfect

Yeah we did two weeks in Italy Then I had My friend's bachelor party Was like the weekend after We were supposed to come back And so I was like I'm not gonna fly back to America And go back to his bachelor

Parties in Barcelona Oh So I was like all right Well let's see if I can't line up shows in London which is a whole other story and so we lined up shows in London and so we spent like four days in London where the best Indian food on the planet

exists probably outside of India Oh really? Oh my God Really? Oh my God. Like so good. Compared it like if I'm going to compare the Maka versus the restaurant I had

called Jim Kana in London like they're like that Yeah Like they're amazing There's got to be places in L.A. right? I you know I put a feeler out like last time I was here, I was like, what's the best,

best Indian restaurant? I got like two responses, but this was months ago. I don't remember what they were. I couldn't make it to go. But next time I'm here, I'm definitely going to make it a point. This is making me want to research.

Yeah, I mean, when I was in Florence, when we were in Florence, I think the third day or second day, I was like, I need Indian food. Like,

yeah, and what's crazy. Yeah, this is great, but what's crazy is that so all the, like a lot of the staff, like at these restaurants, is Indian.

Right. And I'm like, what's going on here? Yeah. I did a little research. Turns out in the 90s, there was like a, they needed labor to work on farms. Oh. In like the cheese farms and milk farms, all this.

And there was a dearth in Italy. Like a lot of Italians didn't want to do that. Right. Turns out northern India, Punjabi people are farmers in the depth at that. Oh. They had some kind of exchange. Mad Indian people came over. There's like generations of Indian people there.

Right. And so I was like, if there's, this many Indian people here, there's got to be a good Indian restaurant. Right. Someone is serving. Someone's doing something. Yeah. And so we found the one good Indian restaurant.

And it was good. I'm not saying it was mind-blowing, but for what I wanted to have happened, it achieved that mission. And those other Indian people in there, I'm like, okay, cool. I know what I'm doing. And so that was Florence. And then we went to Tuscany. And Tuscany, like, oh, Chincoteer is what I was talking about.

And Chiquetare. Chiquetare had like. The best, uh, pesto pasta. Mm-hmm. And, uh, the best sea bass I've ever had. I was gonna say seafood. Yeah, the sea bass was like, they, I was like, let's get the salted sea bass. And I thought they mean it was just a filet and they bring out this brick.

It's like a this thick of salt. Oh, wow. And I'm like, where's the fish? And they take the salt off and then they fillet the fish for you. And it just butter. Oh, my God. It was incredible. Amazing.

And the, I think Chinquater is known for like pine nut pesto, uh, pasta. Right. My wife said that was her fate. That's the best pest so she's ever had. Really? And I was like, okay, then it's got to be good. Oh, man. And then Tuscany was so good.

That was incredible. God, that place, yeah, just insane. You've been Italy, imagine a few times. Yeah, it's just insane. I love it. Yeah. Food was great. The trip itself was amazing.

Tuscany was very cool. It was just more like relaxing. Like the food was incredible. Yeah. We ate at some like gastro, gastronami, like, you know, they do like fancy stuff. Yeah. I forget what the term is. Yeah.

And that was great. The views were amazing. From there, we went to Rome. Rome was... That's my favorite. We were only there for a day and a half, two days maybe. Two days total, but like half a day, full day, half a day. And there we went to Aziz recommended.

We go to Risholi. And so we were like, all right, we got to do all the Vatican. We got to see the Vatican. We got to see St. Peter's Cathedral. we got to see the Coliseum, how the hell we're going to get to Rocholi. And we couldn't get a reservation. We had Mateo Lane call from the States to try to get us a reservation in Italian. And they're like, no, we don't have it.

If he can't do it, yeah. Don't they know you're famous? And so we went in, so we got done with the Vatican in St. Peter's like, I will say like 1130. Yeah. Because we went out at 730 and the St. Peter's Cathedral is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Yeah.

It's insane. Like, Vatican is cool. Yeah. You know, the cool chapel, all that. But the St. Peter's Cathedral just blows your mind. Like, that's a church. They built that in 1600.

Like, how is that? Yeah. And then we were like, well, let's just try Risholi. Maybe we can walk in. Yeah. And we get there at 12 thinking it opens at 12. And it opens at 1230. So we're like, oh, okay, cool.

We put our names down. We're at the top of the list. We go back at 1230. We got a table. Oh, nice. Like right by, I'm not, have you, have you been? No. It's like a, it's like a, a, a little walkway.

And then, like, a little walkway. And then the back is where there's majority of seating. But there's some seating in the hallway in front of deli counter. They put us right in front of a deli counter. It is kind of cool. It is cool. It's coming in, like, ordering their groceries or the deli needs. They give me a pound.

We know, they're Italian actually. Yeah. And so we, we, we, I have this tendency to just, like, buy out the menu. Like, I'm getting everything. Right. We're not going to be here again for a while. We're getting, this table will be full. And the waiters are looking at us like, you sure? I'm like, why would I like?

Give me the poop. Let's go. Yeah. And so we, I know, salmon, both pastas that they recommended. It was just incredible. Yeah. Like, and I'm so glad Aziz recommended. Yeah, it's amazing.

So bomb. Oh, my God. And it like kind of worked out luckily that we were able to go. Yeah. Then we went to, from there, we went to Pasatano. Oh, yeah. And man. I just love Positano.

Yeah. I thought I was going to be like, shit, we got to walk all the time. All these hills are stupid. And I was just telling myself, don't complain. This is a honeymoon. Like, have a good time. And, like, I didn't even have to do that. I was like, this is cool.

Just happens. Yeah. And we went, we got a, the second of last day, we kind of screwed up in the sense that we didn't book a boat ride to Capri, like before we left. Right. And so when we got to put to Positano, we were like, all right, well, we got to get the hotel to get us a boat. and they only had like a mega yacht or like a 50 footer.

Right. We're like, all right. Shit. We don't got no friends. It's going to be us. Two people on a 50 footer. All right. Let's embrace it.

Call Aziz again. Yeah, yeah. We get on this, we get on this yacht. And Aziz has recommended Scoglio, which is a restaurant in, I forget, Sorrento maybe, or on the water. But again, one of these impossible to get reservations. that we asked a captain like hey can you be able to maybe get us the reservation he calls them he's like 1 30 okay to people yeah go to capri get like capri's best gelato walk up this mountain to get gelato is delicious yeah come back get on the boat it's raining like shit it's gonna rain now we get

1 15 approaches we pull up to the it's literally put like bring the yacht to the dock yeah we walk up the steps into the restaurant and they had the bed and The most incredible spaghetti. It's like a dream trip. Yeah, yeah. Zucchini spaghetti, like that's what they're famous for. Yeah. And it was so, it's just creamy, just mind-blowingly good.

Insane. Yeah, it was, and then. It's so insane. And then we just chilled the rest of the trip, like, another day, just chilling at the beach, just ordering, like, you know, regular food and hanging out. But it was. This is hard to come back and go on tour. Yeah, yeah.

Really. I'm just thinking about, like, sitting in the back of Cobbs this weekend. I guess I'll get chicken fingers. Yeah, right, right, right. San Francisco, I think, at one point, I mean, I went like five years ago the first time. When was Hassan's wedding? 2015, 2016 or something, that's when I went. And I had some recommendations.

And if I would recommend, I'm not sure if it still exists, but DeVola, I'll look it up and send it to you. Okay, yeah. Like the best, just very simple spaghetti. And I was like, I need it. Yeah. And you're Italian, I'm sure you have like your dress and stuff. But I was just like that basic. Yeah.

Just the most simple, like red little basil leaf. That's all I want. Right. Rolled up, easy to eat. It's incredible. Done. Oh, my God. Yeah.

I mean, it's hard to go from Florence. Yeah. To like regular food. But then we went to London. Right. And the funny thing about London is that September 8th, we're on honeymoon. We get noticed the Queen's dead. Oh, God.

I got to go to shows on September 19th. Oh, no. The day of, her funeral. I'm the only show. I'm the only comedy show happening in London. Literally the only show. Yeah. In London on September 19th. And I'm like, is this going to get canceled? Like, no, show's going on. I'm like, awesome. Did they come out? 400 sold out. 400 people like, uh, just like fantastic room. Comedy store. Shout out to, uh, uh, arcade events for putting it on. That's amazing.

It was my, like, I was like, I was like, the day before I'm flying to London. I'm like, Yeah. How's this going to go? Yeah, I got to write 20 minutes of London jokes. I got to write 20 minutes of queen jokes. That's what they're going to want. How much queen can I talk? And I did. I did 20 minutes on the queen. You did.

It was so much fun. Some of it was good. Some of it was bad. But it was like, I wrote this on the plane here, like, relax guys. What was your take? I mean, I'm an Indian person and I was quite happy that she was gone. Right. I don't like me like, oh, she didn't fuck her.

She did. But part of it was like, I don't like the revelry around celebrating. someone. Monarchy of colonial. Yeah. Part of that's like, you know, like that seems weird to celebrate. Yeah. And I got to, I got into it a little bit with some, you know, lady in the crowd. Oh, really? Indian lady in the crowd. Indian lady. Love is the queen. Wow. And it was fun. We went, we went tip for tat, but you know, I had the mic. So it was fun.

But it was just like, it's kind of like a surreal thing that I got to do that. Yeah. The only show. Right. Book of Mormon was around the corner. or canceled. Cancel their show. That's crazy. You know, and I was like, yeah, the government said, you were just disrespectful enough. Yes. The government said I could go on,

and here I am, just talking shit about the body's still warm. So are people, what do you want people to do now? You want them to come out and see your tour right now? Please come out and see my tour. Thank you, China is great. It's a great special. Yeah, it's a great special. Thank you very much.

Yeah. But come see me on tour. Lucky Lefty Tour. You can find tickets at Finding Neemetch.com. Awesome. Please come see me. So cool. Thanks for the time.

Yeah, this is really great. Thank you very much, man. I could talk forever about food. Yeah, we'll have to go out. When I come to New York, we should go have a meal.

Please, yeah, text me, take my number and we'll go out. I'll take you to that Indian spot. Yeah, that would be perfect. I'm in with the chef now. I'm like,

anytime I got a famous friend to bring, he's like, bring him over. Let's go. All right, perfect. Yeah, yeah. I brought Che there.

It's a Che was the one who told me to go to Jim Conna. A few other people told me to go to Jim Conna. when I was in when I was in Durham, North Carolina Yeah This Indian chef

Owned a restaurant owner came to my show And they waited until after to meet me and stuff And they're like come to our restaurant I'm like nah I don't hang with strangers But yeah I do want Indian food I'll do it So we went to the restaurant I was like this is delicious

And he's like yeah we're you know We're from London but you know we lived here for 20, 30 years or whatever And so when I was going to London I had message him like yo What's good Indian food to eat? And he gave me me Jim Conner and a few other restaurants. Yeah.

And then when I was in Italy, I got FaceTime from Mike, Che. And he's like, bro, I'm in London. Like, this Indian food is great. You guys are good. I'm like, if you know Mike, like he, I know Mike, like more of my best friends. Yeah. He would talk so much shit about Indian food. And so for him to be like, this is delicious.

You got to get it. I'm like, that's crazy. That's overcame that. That's awesome. And so I brought him to demaka too. Oh, okay. This is good. It's just as good.

Now he's converted. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'll bring him to the Mac or Semmel. All right. That feels great. It's incredible. All right. I'll take you up on it for sure. Please.

And let me know how you like the bread. I will. I'll give some to Bert. We'll get together. I can't wait. All right. Thanks, man. Thank you very much.

We got it, Aaron. All right, kids. There you have it. The great Nemesh Patel. Go check out a special. Thank you, China. It is streaming on YouTube right now. And sign up or just follow him on TikTok and all social media.

very funny and go see him live. He really is a thoughtful, fun comic. Once again, go to tompapa.com. Look up all of my dates. I am raging to the end of the year. Then we're just announcing, actually just announced this week a whole bunch of new shows for the new year. Oh, it's tiring to even think I'm promoting next year. But we have so many great shows in D.C. and Atlanta.

And a whole bunch of places. I'm not even going to list them right now. but go to tompapa.com. They all just went on sale this week. Check them out. I'll see you out there. I'll see you next week. And enjoy.