The Asian reporter., April 07, 2025, Page 15, Image 15

A.C.E.
April 7, 2025
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 15
Abdullah Saeed’s “Deli Boys” brings
laughter and chaos to the screen
By Leslie Ambriz
The Associated Press
EST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. —
Abdullah Saeed wasn’t looking
to write a groundbreaking
comedy. He was just looking for a job.
The “Deli Boys” creator wrote a sample
script in 2019, hoping to secure a staff
position in a writers’ room after
transitioning
from
journalism
to
screenwriting. (“Nobody was buying my
documentaries,” jokes Saeed.) He had
recently co-written a script for a feature
film, but needed something to showcase
his own voice.
Saeed sat down to write without worry
about representing his entire community,
and decided to freely create a show that
was as lighthearted as he is.
“The pressure was off because I didn’t
think it was going to be a TV show. I was
just like, ‘OK, whatever, I think that’s
funny,’” said the Pakistani American
writer.
“Deli Boys” soon landed in front of
television writers and producers Jenni
Konner (“Girls”) and Nora Silver (“Single
Drunk Female”), who immediately wanted
to do more than hire Saeed. They wanted
to develop the half-hour pilot and bring it
to life.
“It was so unique and so funny and fresh,
and (there is) nothing like that in the
world, ever,” said Konner who later
brought on showrunner Michelle Nader (“2
Broke Girls”).
The 10-episode Hulu original comedy
presented by Onyx Collective stars Saagar
Shaikh
(“Ms.
Marvel”),
Asif
Ali
(“WandaVision”),
and
Poorna
Jagannathan. Premiering last month,
“Deli Boys” follows two Pakistani
American brothers, Raj and Mir — played
by Shaikh and Ali — who lose their
comfortable
lifestyles
after
their
convenience store mogul father (Iqbal
Theba) dies unexpectedly from a golfing
accident. Raj and Mir must now work
together to take over the family business,
but soon learn they are in way over their
heads when they discover the stores were a
front for cocaine distribution.
W
Saeed, who used to cover stories cen-
tered on music, cannabis, and recreational
drugs, says he was inspired by the
“unverified stories about stealth and
smuggling” that he heard over the years.
“It’s just lore,” he said of the stories he
was never able to report out. “But in this
show, we can borrow all that stuff, right?
And so, like, there’s all these elements
about, you know, stealth, like how you
actually package and move drugs that
really made their way into the show.”
The brothers at the show’s heart are two
complete opposites who have to find
themselves while being comically thrust
into the drug-smuggling underworld: Raj
is the free spirit who relies on cannabis, his
shaman, and good looks to get him by,
while Mir is the buttoned-up, model child
looking to make his father proud.
“It was great to finally, for the first time,
be a flawed character not a model
minority,” said Shaikh. “The spectrum for
white shows goes from like, ‘Full House’ to
“It’s Always Sunny.’ And, you know, we
are, like them, not a monolith, right? We
have different stories. We have different
values from house to house. We have
different cultures from house to house.
And we rarely get to see any nuance.”
For Ali, portraying Mir was something
he never would have imagined.
“It really is above just being, you know,
an exploration of what being South Asian
is,” said Ali. “It’s something that I have
never seen our community have before.
Just like straight-up crazy comedy.”
Jagannathan plays their father’s right-
hand woman Lucky, who quickly takes the
boys under her wing in an effort to salvage
the family’s dwindling drug operation.
According to Jagannathan, Lucky was
initially written as a man until Saeed was
advised to go back to his script and change
two characters from men to women. Soon,
Lucky became a blend of Saeed’s mother,
whom he describes as a “self-starting,
headstrong badass,” executive producers
Silver and Konner, and Nader and
Jagannathan’s past roles as a mother on
Never Have I Ever and “The Night Of.”
“She’s sweet and loving and nurturing
and then the next scene is her putting a
bullet
in
someone’s
head,”
said
FUNNY & FRESH. This image released by
Disney shows (L-R) Saagar Shaikh, Asif Ali, Poorna
Jagannathan, and Brian George in a scene from
“Deli Boys.” The television show follows two Pakistani
American brothers, Raj and Mir — played by Shaikh
and Ali — who lose their comfortable lifestyles after
their convenience store mogul father (Iqbal Theba)
dies unexpectedly. The brothers must then work
together to take over the family business, but soon
learn they are in way over their heads. (James
Washington/Disney via AP)
Jagannathan.
“And
I
think
the
juxtaposition of that is so funny, but the
script has so much of that. It’s the expected
with the unexpected right next door.”
The cast also includes Alfie Fuller (“The
Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) and Brian
George, a familiar face to “Seinfeld” and
“The Big Bang Theory” fans who is now
front and center as Lucky’s second-in-
command. Guest stars for this season also
include “Queer Eye’s” Tan France, who
makes his acting debut in the sixth
episode.
“I saw the script, and it was a fully
formed character. I was so nervous. But
the first day I got on that set, I had the best
experience,” said France, who initially
thought he was only going to play a small
role.
Saeed and Konner hope the show will
have the opportunity to welcome more
South Asian guest stars in later seasons.
“There’s a lot of people we would die to
have,” said Konner.
“And then for each of them, we’ve now
set this thing up for ourselves where they
have to play someone against type,” said
Saeed. “So, that makes it more fun for us if
we get somebody huge, right? And we’ve
only seen them one way; we get to put them
into something different.”
Life of Pi the musical arrives this week at Keller Auditorium
Continued from page 11
Schoenfeld
Theatre
in
midtown
Manhattan on March 9, 2023. Prior to the
Broadway premiere, it made its North
American premiere at the American
Repertory Theater at Harvard University.
The North American tour began at the
Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore,
Maryland, in December of 2024.
Life of Pi runs April 8 through 13 at the
Keller Auditorium, located at 222 S.W.
Clay Street in Portland. The production,
which is presented by Broadway in
Portland and is recommended for
attendees age 10 and above, runs 2 hours,
10 minutes with one intermission.
To purchase tickets, call (503) 248-4335,
or visit <www.portland5.com> or <www.
broadwayinportland.com>. To learn more,
visit <www.LifeOfPiBway.com>.
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