How do you solve Apu? ~ Comedy, Controversial Casting, Reboots - (A·B·C·D) Podcast Episode 17

Don't you just love how certain beloved characters from childhood can influence our cultural identities? Let's discuss Apu from The Simpsons and how this character shaped us. We take you through our journey of growing up with Apu, addressing issues, controversies and sharing some personal anecdotes about navigating through racist situations. We also introduce a fresh new segment, 'Spin Off, Rewrite, Cancel' and discuss how some actors have depicted characters in brownface. 

We're not done yet! We pick up our conversation from where we left off, examining Apu's character traits that make him so appealing and considering the potential implications of casting a Pakistani actor for the role. We face the uncomfortable complexities of offensive comedy, sharing stories about racism and how we learned to confront it. As we dissect the most offensive parts of a recent documentary on Apu, we share our honest feelings towards it. 

Hang on, there's more! We switch gears to scrutinize controversial casting choices and problematic characters like Fisher Stevens from Short Circuit, Max Mangel from The Social Network, and Benedict Cumberbatch from Star Trek into the Darkness. We discuss which characters deserve a spin-off, reboot, or cancellation and also bring up characters in video games. And lastly, we show our love for comedy production and the intricate task of crafting new, intriguing stories while still honoring the characters' original narratives. Join us as we take a fascinating journey exploring our cultural identities and experiences through the lens of media characters.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:10

Hello, hello, hello everyone, and welcome to ABCD. American Born Chattie Dacys. Let me introduce to you all the co-host. It's Sandeep's younger brother, sandeep, but Shaven.

Speaker 2 0:28

Thank you so much and I'm gonna jump in and introduce our, our host. Who's dethroned my I guess my brother last week, the my personal, the man whose voice is my personal. Next COVID booster shot, that is Omar Najam.

Speaker 1 0:50

Thank you thank you, thank you, thank you. I got some horns. All right Horns for the host, let's do it.

Speaker 2 1:02

So we'll, just just to you know, catch up the podcast listening audience.

Speaker 1 1:06

I do have probably should, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 1:09

I hope it's not a new strain that is transmissible via audio. Let's just hope, yeah, but let's be honest, if is there any other way you'd rather catch COVID than listening to our podcast? Probably not. Yeah, it's the best way.

Speaker 1 1:24

Yeah, I agree. I agree If you had to. this is the best, and we'll and we'll keep you company with our show.

Speaker 2 1:31

So yeah, just a brief. You know, don't be too concerned. It's been pretty mild for me. I had the two bad days already Kind of on recovery. I'm feeling a little fatigued and kind of weak in the joints, kind of thing, but like not enough not to do a podcast from home. So don't, don't you fret, don't you fret listening audience. And if you are fretting, i appreciate your fretting because I mean, you care, you know And you know you, you'd be thrown me. You'd be thrown me this week. So congratulations.

Speaker 1 2:06

Well, it doesn't feel as great after following this reveal that you have COVID.

Speaker 2 2:13

I guess I had COVID last week Yeah.

Speaker 1 2:17

So we'll see. We'll see how today plays out, but we're all wishing you a speediest of recovery, sandeep, from afar and close to your heart. But the show will continue to go on, and that show is APCD. American born Chattie Dacys. This is a podcast within a live stream, within our lives. As to American born Dacys, it's a pod ducking, if you will. This is for anyone out there who, like us, is navigating your cultural identity and just you know you want to chat about it.

Speaker 2 2:46

On tap for today. We do this in three basic sections. Section one, because we are so basic that we have to give you a syllabus. Section one is our chakra check in. This week we're talking about growing up with a poo, a poo the.

Speaker 2 3:05

Simpsons character and what was like to. You know, have that be our sole representation growing up? because there's yeah, we'll get into it, we'll get into it. But there's been some news on the problems with the poo front. So so section two is going to be a new, a brand new segment that we're calling spin off, rewrite, cancel. It's a, it's the, it's the f Mary kill, but about people who play things in brown face. It's going to be good, it's going to be good. And then the third little bitty is the day see the week yep and so we nominated.

Speaker 2 3:45

They see every week as the day, see the week. We talk about why they are that person and give them lots of love, and then we are done with this podcast that's right.

Speaker 1 3:54

That's right. Really quick, before we start, we have to thank our sponsors. We've got two sponsors. First sponsor is they see quest. This is an actual play, ttrpg, set in a south asian mythology inspired universe built by star gm and good friend of the show, jasmine, that bronze girl bowler with a star cast and includes critical role. Darling angelina, mani, dimension 20 darling ricka, shankar, and two more darlings, sandeep and me.

Speaker 2 4:20

That's right to be stars soon to be. Stars soon to be riding on the coattails of those other three exactly, exactly.

Speaker 1 4:30

We're just slowly absorbing bits of those titles.

Speaker 1 4:33

So we're going to be a critical, a critical 20 or maybe dimension role darlings by the end, one of those shows one of those shows also if you want to keep track of all of that, all the news that we have coming up about they see quest, check out. They see quest, calm. That's dsiq. You est calm, it's like johnny quest, but they see quest and check that out. That link will also be in the show notes. And we want to thank our second sponsor. Guess who it is?

Speaker 2 4:59

andy oh i can guess it's you guys it's you guys right yes yeah, head over to the page to our patreon please.

Speaker 2 5:07

Patreoncom, slashf and funny e f i n funny, and there's lots of ways that you can contribute to the show and help us keep the lights on. We're so thankful to all of our sponsors that do. For five bucks a month, you get to play with us during our after show right here on twitch, because we do this show live as well as to what you might be listening to in the future. So do that and get to play with us live. That's super fun. Uh, for a mere 10 bucks a month, we sing your name in the credits, and by we i mean basically me, i think. Oh more, you did it once.

Speaker 1 5:42

Well, you did the monologue, you don't? yes, yeah, i haven't.

Speaker 2 5:45

Yeah, yeah, yeah, i did one monologue version is the one i had with the background music was amazing. Point is we give you that personal shout out. It means so much to us uh, so contribute any amount that you possibly can. Uh support a couple of days season the creative arts, will you huh yeah, and help us keep these lights on ie us to be able to afford high speed internet. uh, that's patreoncom slash f and funny heck.

Speaker 1 6:15

Yeah, all right, shall we start the show? yeah, all right, let's do it, let's head into our.

Speaker 2 6:20

What were we doing before? well, oh, yeah, okay.

Speaker 1 6:22

Well, let's continue the show then. Okay, yeah, we're there, chuck, recheck in, all right. So today we are talking about the famed simpson's character, uh, with the sole responsibility of portraying the entire south asian experience in springfield apu, indeed, indeed, and we're specifically talking about how we like, how we personally grew up with apu in our lives.

Speaker 2 6:53

Um, some of you may know that that uh, uh friend of the show harry condobalu is a stand-up comedian, super funny guy. Um worked on w comeo bells uh show. Oh, the name is escaping me. I'm blame, covet fog The name of the show.

Speaker 1 7:14

The name of the show Yeah, i haven't written down. I'm scrolling. Yeah, all my, i'm just licking on it.

Speaker 2 7:20

But it was. A good show was on common sense.

Speaker 2 7:22

Oh, totally biased, Thank you. Anyway, he did like a little bit, a little bit about a poo on the show and then that kind of blew up and He was like I think he was like let's make a whole documentary about it. Documentary comes out I think it was on adult swim Maybe or something like that, tbs or something like that, i don't remember, but it was great, great. It was all about sort of Diving into. You know, was this is a problem that he's voiced by a white actor, hank Azaria, yeah, and how it affected him personally, but not just him, but All sorts of people that he interviewed, like what was like sort of growing up. They were gonna give.

Speaker 2 8:00

We're gonna share our personal experiences about that as well, but the reason why we're talking about this now is because they recently So spoiler alert at the end of the documentary. He doesn't get Hank Azaria on the documentary.

Speaker 2 8:11

It's still a great documentary, but doesn't? he's not able to land him, even though he's sort of chasing him the whole time. But recently it's now six you cut to. Six years later, hank Azaria and Harika Kondo Kondo Balu get together publicly for the first time and have this conversation. You know about what went down six years ago and it's cool They really get Into it that you can tell that they've come. They've come to peace with with each other and the situation. It's a great interview. I really recommend checking that out. It's on NPR's Code switch. Yep, they're late episode, i believe, or maybe by the time you share this, maybe the second to latest, whatever. Anyway, that's why we want to talk about it, because that we both listened to that interview. It was really Fascinating and was, like you know, one to reflect on how it, how it affects us. So I'm gonna kick it over to you, omar, with how. How did it affect your chakra alignment? What did you feel it? Where did you feel it growing up?

Speaker 1 9:17

Yeah, you know it's. It's so interesting, i feel like, for for me the problem with up who, it comes in two stages. One is sort of like the pre documentary, pre discourse, and then post discourse and pre. It's something that Hank Azaria actually touches on in code switch, which is The fact that a poo did become a slur At a certain point, like was was sort of used and targeted that way.

Speaker 1 9:45

I grew up in neighborhood that was predominantly uh, asian and like latin a, so it I didn't experience a lot of um, i want to say like otherization, until I got to college. I went to Santa Barbara and, as you can imagine, the demographic there in the 2000s was weighed in a certain uh certain for towards a certain uh construct. But growing up as a kid, that was sort of the thing where the only representation we really had on television at that time was a. The way to kind of describe a harry is like a white man doing a white man's impersonation of an indian person. It's not even like a direct and you know a lot of people talk about how op is like a product of time. That Time is the 1960s. It's a peter cellars take on, yes, you know a general which already is offensive in its own right, a general indian accent, like the one go-to indian accent, and so I mean literally.

Speaker 2 10:47

Hank, as area says that's where he got the accent from was from peter cell, not from like an indian person He met but was from the peter cellars flick. Um, i'm trying to look it up right now. I can't the party. Yes, yeah for the party where he plays like an Hrindi v Buxi is the character that he plays um, so Kind of amazing. Not even an indian impression. Yeah, impression of a guy doing it's a peter cellars. It's a brownfish impression of someone doing brown face. It's amazing.

Speaker 1 11:21

And it's like, and it was, it wasn't a thing in like growing up, where it was like, oh this, we didn't know better. Like it's clearly This is not real, like it was very clear that this was very sort of disingenuous consciously and I think, but you, but you weren't, so you weren't, personally at least, growing up with it.

Speaker 1 11:41

Well, you were not like called it in a way that really bummed you out it wasn't I, because it would come up and as I got older it was more and more. It was like a mixture of apu and like people saying like gondy dot and that being like a thing. God, yeah, we got but you've never heard that.

Speaker 2 12:02

Oh yeah, we got that a lot growing up, where people just go up to you and hit your head and say it. Oh, i did get. Oh, i don't know if they said gondy dot particularly, but yeah, I definitely got the flick in the head.

Speaker 3 12:13

Yeah, you got the applied gondy dot then Yeah, the implied gondy, they were they were so certain that you were so used to that Racism, they didn't have to tell you what they were doing.

Speaker 2 12:24

They just said gd. I was like what?

Speaker 1 12:26

They didn't even bought. They were, they were in a hurry, they had other, they had other racially insensitive things to do that day.

Speaker 2 12:34

They say, yeah, i gotta get to more racism, i don't have time.

Speaker 1 12:38

But for me the thing, the thing that hits like, i think, the heart chakra and the throat chakra for me is that It, the simpsons, is a cornerstone of american comedy writing. For me growing up, the simpsons was the comedy, like the timing of it, the, the, the character perspectives, uh, the points of view, the pacing of those jokes, uh, i have probably over 100 favorite simpsons jokes. I think it is an incredible product of comedy and for the character that represents our community to sort of Be shortchanged in that to me was the thing that hurt the most was that I knew that.

Speaker 2 13:16

You were offended as a writer more than you were offended as a daisy person.

Speaker 1 13:20

Yeah, yeah, and and there is, and there is a thing that that's difficult about that, because comedy is supposed to be a thing That's very inclusive to us, right, like comedy is supposed to be something that can bring people together. When we laugh, we laugh together. To have a character Held outside of that and that character only has one sort of bit They're gonna milk from, that Is difficult. And then when the documentary came out And people were just like, no, don't change anything, we hate this. And even the simpsons reaction itself. That, for me, was when I felt a huge sense of Danger from it because I was like, but we're telling you and we're all kind of saying this in good humor, uh, and like, hey, this isn't like fun. Like the simpsons is the echelon of comedy, why don't you have up who also be the echelon of comedy? and people are just being like shut up and getting really angry about it.

Speaker 2 14:06

I know, i think that was the thing that was most disappointing was like Lisa's reaction to it Yeah, and and and harry talks about that in in the interview as well.

Apu and Comedy Offense

Speaker 2 14:17

Uh, not to spoil everything, i guess, but it is like. So, just like that was you're like wait, that was your reaction, which, if you guys aren't familiar They did finally have lisa simpson in the show sort of addressed the controversy by yeah, being like I'm gonna terribly paraphrase it, but it was like if something that was so beloved in the past Like then has you know, there's a different lens on it now, like should we be condemned for that thing? and then like looks to lens or something. Or like, yeah, over to her dresser Right, and then there's it meant you like randomly has a picture of a poo at her nightstand, and so, like it wasn't funny.

Speaker 1 14:55

It's not. Yeah, that's the thing.

Speaker 2 14:57

It wasn't. I was like god, could you like if they went full south park with it And we're just like we're doubling down and it's gonna be like like I would have been more happy with. Then right this like weird kind of like almost lecture. Yeah, that was honestly for me. Sorry if i'm.

Speaker 1 15:16

But no, that's it, that's it. I completely agree.

Speaker 2 15:19

That was like the most offensive part of the whole thing.

Speaker 1 15:22

Yes, Yeah, honestly, let me, i have, i have a bit to bring up, but let me ask you really quickly, before you move on too much from childhood How did apu affect you growing up? because I I think that talking about the post documentary stuff is Is the meat of this conversation.

Speaker 2 15:38

So I'm sorry. Where'd you say you grew up again?

Speaker 1 15:41

I grew up in the bay area.

Speaker 2 15:42

I talk about it all the time Right, right, right.

Speaker 1 15:46

Yes, you do. I've been called out recently, Yeah you really do man, so I grew up in new hampshire.

Speaker 3 15:57

Yeah, okay, bay area different bay area different, i guess.

Speaker 2 16:01

Uh, new hampshire, the south of the north, as I call it, um, let's just say, has a lot of Libertarian vibes, a lot of um, you know, pickup trucks.

Speaker 1 16:14

I've been told not to go there by every uh bordering state, just so you know.

Speaker 2 16:18

Yeah, and look you should. it's fine to go, it's beautiful.

Speaker 3 16:22

Um.

Speaker 2 16:23

There's just some problematic elements of it.

Speaker 3 16:25

There's a reason why I'm not going to ever live there, but anyway, the point is I grew up there.

Speaker 2 16:29

For some ungodly reason, my parents decided to move there and Uh so was I called a poo, like of course. Yeah, like all the time, i think I mean like I don't even, like there's so much thrown at me that I don't remember. I don't even remember being all that offended at at a certain point because you just had to, like, throw it back, right. Yeah like there was no, and that's how I made my friends was like being able to go like toe to toe.

Speaker 2 16:56

Yeah you know and become an equal opportunity offender. You know. So the story that I really remember. This wasn't a poo related, but I was called, and forgive me if I've told this story before, but I was called Uh. I remember. I'll never forget third grade. We're playing tag Mm-hmm. I won't name him Uh, but he has the funniest name. Oh god, he has literally douche. The word douche is in his, is in his last name. I'm not kidding, i'm not gonna.

Speaker 1 17:22

That'll narrow it down, it's just perfect.

Speaker 2 17:24

Yeah, He knows who he is and he knows actually that I love him and that we are friends to this day. Um, or at least we're friends. We ended up being friends. But He called me. He was like don't play with tag with sun deep He's. He's got shit all over him. Look at him, He's got he's. He's the color of Shit he's right. So don't touch him, you'll get your his shit on you um And oh man, like as in third grade that stung so hard and I was yeah.

Speaker 1 17:52

Like couldn't.

Speaker 2 17:53

I was like frozen. I kind of just like sunk away, like because I remember everyone laughing right like everyone laughing like oh, it was almost like it was one of those laughs where I was like They were all waiting for someone to say it.

Speaker 2 18:06

Yeah, yeah, it's like it's like now that we've done I've done improv a bunch, right, like you know, when someone comes into a scene and like nails the like, the thing that all the audience has seen the whole time, but like no one in the scene has talked about, and then someone like walks into the scene and just like You don't know, walmart or something like like they just nailed the thing that everybody's like and they're like, oh, that brings context to everything.

Speaker 1 18:27

They put that lantern up Yeah.

Speaker 2 18:28

Yeah, and it's a satisfying laugh Like that's how. I felt everyone was laughing at me in that moment about like being like. Finally, someone called him the color of shit.

Speaker 2 18:38

Right, i was like, oh man, it really, it really cut deep and I remember I got so upset. Um, i told my. I got home, i told my parents. I was like I felt ostracized. I just didn't want to talk to anybody for the rest of the day. I went home I talked to my dad. I was like dad, we gotta like Destroy everyone. I was like we got you gotta go to the principal. Like this is terrible. I was called this terrible thing. I felt so like ready to be. I was like my dad's gonna go up in arms with me. My dad was like son Sad me down And he's like, if the kids call you, he's like we're not going to the principal. It's like you can handle this. He's like if the kids call you that you have shit on your skin, you tell them that their skin is so white they look like my underwear And you give them a big hug and you say you know you have shit stains all over you.

Speaker 1 19:29

Your dad's solution.

Speaker 2 19:30

Yeah, my dad's solution was to like yes and them and like make fun of them, make fun of it, like like give it no power give it no power And it was. I feel like it was like the best advice anyone could have ever given me. Like do not do not let that shit have power over you. That shit, you know.

Speaker 3 19:50

No pun intended have power over you.

Speaker 2 19:53

And it's like he's like he didn't say this, but now, looking back on it, he's like you're not going to win any friends Like by tattling And you know, you know what I mean Like, in the end, you're not really going to like win the day if, like you go to the principal, the hammer comes down on this kid. Yeah. He gets in trouble, like it just creates more vitriol, like in the end.

Speaker 2 20:16

So he's like he's like you got to laugh it off water off the duck's back, mm, hmm, and so that's kind of like how I was really raised with that point of view. So I have a weird relationship with a poo where yes, it was, it was used as an epithet against me. I didn't like it, mm, hmm, but like I did sort of view the Simpsons as like an equal opportunity offender, right, i kind of was like everyone's getting. I'll say the thing that annoyed me the most was that he wasn't yellow Skin color. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, everyone else was yellow, but he had to be brown. That was the thing I actually hated, and I know they had black characters and stuff too, but it was like here's this swath of normalcy, yes, and he doesn't get to be depicted in the norm. That was the most actually to me the most offensive thing about a poo, right, um, was that like a hate of that? Uh, i was just like fucking make them all yellow, then you know.

Speaker 3 21:15

Yeah.

Speaker 2 21:16

Why does he have to be like sort of like stick out in that way? That bugged me. But like I, you know, uh, someone in chat earlier was like I'm an apoologist, i'm an apoologist for a poo, like I was kind of like I'm just in on the joke. I think I'm just in on the joke, cause again, i didn't want to give it power over me.

Speaker 1 21:35

It was like I felt like growing up. A lot of it was like it sucks that it gave a vocabulary to the worst of people.

Speaker 2 21:44

Right, but then we're going to find something that we're going to find Gandhi dot. They're going to find something to shit on us, right?

Speaker 1 21:50

That's the thing is that like there was going to be something and I kind of operated under that philosophy, i think, until the documentary came out, because they were just like Hey, this is like problematic, um, and and I think that should be the easiest conversation to have And the fact that there was this huge blowback, uh, from comedians. That's when things get weird for me is when comedians are just like actually, this is freedom of speech And, um, if you cross this line and suddenly it's like why do you sound like a militia?

Speaker 1 22:21

Uh, that's when I started to get a little creeped out And the response to that was tough. And then the response also from certain and it's not universal in any way, but Hari touches on this a little bit in the interview The response also from certain people in the South Asian community who will always pounce to be like the best brown guy for white people. I don't know if you experienced this, but they're like Hey, i'm Brandon, i'm here to say it's fine And I'm like great, you're brown, you can also shut up. I don't like that.

Speaker 1 22:49

That holds so little credential with me, a fellow brown person like a brown comedian. Um, it's a really good point And it is, and I still watch The Simpsons, but it's so apparent to me that, like who isn't getting the same comedy that's available to the other characters?

Speaker 2 23:08

Um, he wasn't like the highest mind, like everyone else, it felt like it was. I will say that like growing up, I was never excited about an appu episode. You know, what I mean. Yes, like I was for me personally again, i was like I was in on the joke. I was like, listen, they're going to shit on everybody, so fine.

Speaker 1 23:23

Yeah.

Speaker 2 23:24

I never was like, oh yeah, great, now they're going to do an appu episode because every joke felt so, for the most part felt pretty tired. Yes, yeah, relate to very much of it, to be honest. Like I was like I don't think this is really anyone that I've seen. I've never really seen this.

Speaker 3 23:41

Yeah, a lot of this in my life.

Speaker 2 23:43

Um so I don't know It just, it just felt like tonally off, but um, yeah, and look I, i, i guess I'd have to go back and really think, like I feel like they're like I think there was one good episode. I remember there was some episode with him and his, his wife that maybe was interesting, but I don't know, i don't.

Speaker 3 24:03

I I, I was never again, again.

Speaker 2 24:05

I was never like anti oh my gosh, this is terrible, I'm offended. I was never really offended by it, i was never excited about watching it And I was kind of like, okay, whatever, i still love the Simpsons and fine. Yeah, just that's kind of how I took it.

Speaker 1 24:17

I mean here to like put into perspective, like how, like where this gets scary is like we, it's, it's, let's quickly identify this. It sucks that we're like, yeah, we were tormented through our childhoods Anyway, like that is pretty wild, like that is like for any marginalized group, you know, for someone to be like yes, of course it's dangerous for me to walk to my car at night, like who knows if I'll make it, they're alive anyway. And you're like, wait, i, we have to pause and talk about that. For us growing up, it does suck that there was so much cultural context for people to rely on to just casually be racist. That does suck. But as to comedians, i think that it was a thing of where we know this, we know the world and we're going to develop our own vocabulary. Counteract that.

Speaker 1 25:05

When a documentary came out, the amount of people who were like I refuse to listen to you, i refuse to even think about this or acknowledge this. And many of us were like, yeah, but the thing is, it's also just not good comedy. You have world-class comedians working on this. Why is this bad? And it was a thing of just the doubling down of that and just being like no, we're drawing a line, we're doing this, and even the Simpsons reaction itself being such a hack, weird joke where I was like did Fox News write this? That to me is where I'm just like now I'm really feeling the other rising.

Speaker 2 25:40

It was in that meta reaction which is why I'm so grateful The interview came out. That's where I'm at too. I think it was in the reaction, which is bummer because I do know folks there too and I know that they're good people and great writers and brilliant and all that stuff, And I was just like, oh man, how did you come up with that?

Speaker 2 25:57

Call me up, man, I'd love to have been in the room for that one, because I'm like that didn't land To me, it was. I didn't even need a whole retconning of the whole thing. I was just like just recast them. That's kind of where I was like just be like own up to like it was problematic And we're just going to do better going forward. And here you go, it's like here's this cool new casting opportunity. And that's how I think I would have done it, just been like, yes, our bad.

Redeeming Apu

Speaker 2 26:31

We've changed with the times. We hear that it caused people pain and we want to be hilarious and we want to skewer and we want to do all the things that we do on our show but not cause so many people pain, and so we want to adjust and just do better tomorrow and still be funny and still be us. And I thought they abandoned all of that. In that moment It was like again, if it was funny, i would have been like that shit was funny. Yeah, shit was funny. You got, you, got us, you know like, but they went total to this other way. It was just like reprimanding, anyway. So that's, that's kind of where I how about this? Let's, let's, let's shift gears a little bit. So now, on the Simpsons, they don't, they don't really feature a poo at all, hank.

Speaker 2 27:26

Hank doesn't do this the character anymore. They have not recast him, He's just sort of in the background, I think.

Speaker 3 27:32

Yes.

Speaker 2 27:33

The later episodes. Now I want to say they should cast. So I think we should bring him back and get a new voice. That's how. That's how I feel about it. But just for funsies, who would you want to play a poo if someone could? Who do you think could like redeem?

Speaker 1 27:50

I think. I think that there are certain elements of a poo. I the question I would ask let me use this to tee up my answer, if that's all right Outside of having a general Indian accent, what is a characteristic of a poo?

Speaker 2 28:15

That he is super. He's a, you know, hardcore businessman. He's like you know, spend thrifty. He's cheap, He's like he's, he's good, He's like me, He's my people, I feel it. I didn't know he's not technically my people. I'm like, I know. I do know that aspect of him is true. Is that what you're trying to say? Like the?

Speaker 1 28:35

episode. Yeah, like the episode when he goes to live with the Simpsons family and he's just like here's how to navigate a grocery store, this line will move faster. Or when Lisa's going vegetarian and he's just like I have a secret hideout behind a non-alcoholic beer, and what if someone checks this? and he's like no one ever does Like his. There is a savviness to the character that they're not leaning into and I feel like and while this sounds like an obvious answer Kumail Nanjiani could play that savviness. So I'm talking Portlandia. Kumail Nanjiani, like just to like Apu at the end of the day, is not funny because he's Indian. He's funny because he's a weird little guy who loves his job. He actually loves it And the passion he brings to it and the knowledge he has of it. I feel like, as an actor, kumail can lean into that of. Here's the one thing of just being like no, i'm gonna stop you Like. I can just feel those lines of dialogue already coming out.

Speaker 2 29:29

I also think that Kumail I love Kumail for it. Is it problematic that Kumail's Pakistani? Probably not really. I mean, I'd be okay with it, but again.

Speaker 1 29:39

I do know that that's like come up before. That's been like a conversation. It is a little muddy just because before 1940s it becomes a real big question mark.

Speaker 2 29:51

But I so personally put my vote Just write Khan the character as Pakistan. Or like you know, he was, you know like you could actually do some really interesting storylines on the partition. Potentially, you know, Like his family, maybe his family in India and in Pakistan, I don't know.

Speaker 1 30:05

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but that's my personal vote. I'll take any heat from that. I'll have that discourse, that conversation, but that's my personal vote.

Speaker 2 30:16

Here's what I got.

Speaker 1 30:17

Okay.

Speaker 2 30:18

I'm gonna get a couple ideas. I think that, like, because the accent was such a thing, it would be nice if the character had a like, if the actor didn't have to put on any sort of accent to play.

Speaker 1 30:31

Yes.

Speaker 2 30:32

Like it was just their natural accent.

Speaker 1 30:34

Yeah.

Speaker 2 30:35

And there's one actor that I really love. That I think is super funny. He has an accent, but he's young, hip with the times. Karin Sony, do you know him?

Speaker 1 30:50

Yes, Yes, yes, yes.

Speaker 2 30:53

Most people will probably know him in maybe also somewhat of a problematic role, potentially kind of as the cab driver sidekick to Deadpool in the. Deadpool movies.

Speaker 1 31:06

But also If someone had to play it.

Speaker 2 31:08

I'm so glad it's Karin, because Karin's really funny.

Speaker 1 31:12

Also can be featured in the new Spider-Man movie, if I'm not mistaken.

Speaker 2 31:14

Yeah, i mean he just keeps getting. Yeah, he plays Dupin, though That's the name of his character in Deadpool. Yeah, so he is super talented. He's got like I don't know, he's just got obviously a very natural accent. He just uses his natural accent because he's immigrant and he's fucking funny.

Speaker 1 31:35

Yeah.

Speaker 2 31:35

And I think he would I could see him bringing Destroy that role. Destroy that role and bring redemption to that character.

Speaker 3 31:42

Yes, In a way it's really lovable.

Speaker 2 31:43

Yes, my other pick was going to be Ifran Khan, but, of course, rest in peace. Yeah, yeah But they could AI Ifran Khan's voice.

Speaker 1 31:52

Okay, All right. So a little bit of a a little bit of a Star Wars situation here.

Speaker 2 31:59

But I would have loved, like when Mr Khan was with us. That would have been so badass right. Like I would have just been the most badass pick, i think, just because I loved him. But yeah, those are, i think were my picks. Any like random pick. You know? got any other ideas You're in the casting room, throw them out there, nothing's wrong. Dinesh DeSiza No, yeah.

Speaker 1 32:29

That's it On his Bobby Jindal, mr Politics Dr.

Speaker 2 32:33

Sanjay Gupta And.

Speaker 1 32:37

It is because I think the core of it is and this is the thing that I saw, like when the documentary came out the stuff that the conversation's having to correct so many people. It's not about like, oh, we're so sensitive, let's cancel this. It's no one makes fun of. They see people better than they see people. Right, i know you can try, but no one does a better job dunking on our people than us. There have been so many good British sitcoms and sketch shows of Indian people just making fun of Indian culture, and let us do it. We can come in with so much knowledge, so much specificity. You will be in tears. It will not be the same joke over and over and over. You will love it. How about this pitch?

Speaker 2 33:20

Okay, so he's just been gone for a really long time.

Speaker 1 33:24

Okay.

Speaker 2 33:25

Like in the show he comes back because he spent all this time in England, And so he comes back with a British.

Speaker 1 33:32

I love this already.

Speaker 2 33:34

Indian accent.

Speaker 1 33:35

Okay, and we go with say one of two ideas.

Speaker 3 33:40

Okay, vasif Manvi.

Speaker 1 33:42

Yes, who's British?

Speaker 2 33:43

American, yeah, or Rao Kohli. So who has like? I think he has like a really deep British accent. I don't mind that at all, and I just think he's brilliant. So those are my Bring in a cousin.

Speaker 1 34:05

That's not bad. That's like Rao Kohli would be so good.

Speaker 2 34:11

Identical twin.

Speaker 1 34:12

Yeah.

Speaker 2 34:15

Like identical twin. You just go straight. You know soap opera with it, yeah, but like I want the British. Like you know, the deeply British accent, yes, the casual British accent.

Speaker 1 34:29

Also British, they see, is an entire subculture to itself. And those homies come with so much comedy. They're so funny, aren't these?

Speaker 2 34:38

all better ideas than having Lisa betray the character Right Yeah.

Speaker 1 34:44

I'm just like, well, I guess here's the thing, And you're like that's not Lisa at all.

Speaker 3 34:49

Yeah, yeah, you know what. You know what. I was a very good man.

Speaker 1 34:54

Okay, lisa, we've even replaced with Weird Yeah So weird. I hated the supper jet movement. Lisa Simpson, you're like what is this? I don't like this, Yeah.

Speaker 2 35:06

Yeah, right, okay, all right, let's let's move on. I see some good ideas coming in chat as well. Chat, please hit us up, and after the show, in our exclusive live chat only section, we will go through your ideas as well. Perfect, but for now we are going to move on to our new segment. New segment spin off, reboot, cancel. Oh, that has to sound, wow Sounds close to it, yeah. Okay.

Speaker 1 35:37

So the rules of this are we are going to get three suggestions from a category right And then we're going to make it up on the spot, we, i hate people explaining improv to me because I'm just like don't tell people what this is, then we have to not do it.

Controversial Casting Choices

Speaker 1 35:53

Imagine anything else, like we're going to bake some stuff, what's that? Take ingredients We're going to introduce into some heat, but not before we mix them up. You're like, just make it, yeah, so we're going to make it up, we're going to make it up, we're going to make it up, we're going to make it up, we're going to make it up, we're going to make it up. You're like, just make it, just make it. Okay. So one of these characters is going to get a spin off. One of these characters, their own thing. They get a franchise now. One of these characters, a full reboot we get to design. Okay, yeah, and then one of them off the face of the planet will never see again cancer to life, okay So what's our first?

Speaker 2 36:32

It's kind of the fuck Mary Kale of of Problematic characters.

Speaker 1 36:37

Yeah, mostly problematic characters, some. we are going to give some shout out to you. What's our first category here? It's not deep.

Speaker 2 36:43

All right. Well, everything is made up and the points don't matter. Here we go Round one. Sorry, i just stole that from chat. Love it Round one and spin off, reboot, cancel. It's the brown face round.

Speaker 2 36:55

Okay So we're going to go. Fisher Stevens, okay, specifically from the short circuit, mm hmm. Max Mangel, mm hmm, the social network, or Benedict Cumberbatch. This is maybe and I This may be surprised for some folks, and this is, you know, this is definitely edging, i guess, a different version of edging On on whether this counts as brown face From Star Trek into the darkness. So those are the three characters that we're going to decide. Yes, if they get a spin off, reboot or cancel. I'm going to go through real quick before we, just before we, give our Okay, uh, are you going to give some context Decisions, or yeah, i'll give some context for each of these.

Speaker 3 37:43

Okay So.

Speaker 2 37:43

I'll start Fisher Stevens. Start with Fisher. Okay, short circuit Right 1986. It's a science fiction film based on this Idiot robot Fun movie. I think we all loved it. Yeah, we all know. Yeah, i enjoyed that movie growing up. Yeah, again, i don't remember really much about it.

Speaker 1 38:03

Yeah, there's a radio shack. That's all you got to know.

Speaker 2 38:06

Yeah, uh, but white actor Fisher Stevens played an Indian scientist The role. Nobody criticized it back in the eighties, really, uh, to the point that Stevens reprised the role, yes, as the Indian scientist, in the 1988 sequel. Uh, but recently, you know, amongst, i think, maybe every comedian I've ever heard that's Indian disease.

Speaker 2 38:29

I'm sorry, i think about it. I think in some podcast or something, um, and even just Stevens describes himself as I'm a thin, white Jewish kid from Chicago, so probably no real business playing an Indian scientist. Like, just make the character. And white Jewish kid from Chicago, right Yep. Like, why, just why even have a million Indian scientists at all? What was that? There's no IP that you're deriving this off of. That you're Like I don't think anyone would have cared, or why do this?

Speaker 2 39:00

alternatively Cast an Indian guy. There's a key option. No, decided to cast Fisher Stevens uh as an. Indian scientist. So that's, i think, maybe the most famous, one of the most famous versions of brown face. Um, do you want to take on max? Give people the context of why this is a brown face.

Speaker 1 39:17

Yeah, so uh uh max uh uh was a uh character in the 2010 David Fincher classic. uh Facebook, also known as the social network, uh that covers.

Speaker 2 39:32

Was that it's working title or like a secret title?

Speaker 1 39:34

That threw everybody off.

Speaker 2 39:36

And they're like what's going to be about?

Speaker 1 39:38

social network. Oh, that's going to be. Uh, so, uh, the original um uh person who this uh role is meant to portray is uh Divya, uh Narendra, and uh, the actor portraying Divya is half Chinese, half Italian, british. Yeah, so the idea of this kind of touches on a problematic aspect of Hollywood, which is the interchangeable Asian right That, if you get just any Asian in, it works A couple of drops of Asian in there. That passes producers.

Speaker 2 40:14

Uh, you know it's got like uh, seven Asian points. I think we're good, yeah, i think this person?

Speaker 1 40:22

is this person tie? Okay, great, that's indeed enough for me, uh, that's yeah, uh, that's sort of the the offensive concept behind that, uh, and so, as you can see, just by looking at that, still, uh, some issues with that casting. You also could have 100% just cast a person of South Asian descent to be in 2010.

Speaker 3 40:42

In 2010. What was the Oscar nominated?

Speaker 1 40:46

If you have money to get Trent Reznor, you can afford a Dacey actor. You'll you'll probably save a little bit of cash, honestly.

Speaker 2 40:53

Yeah, i mean Divya Narendra, i think, is on record as being like I really love the movie. I mean like it was a little weird that like they didn't, he like it was like a little weird that I wasn't played by an Indian guy, but but I love the movie. And you know, he was the co-founder of Facebook So he probably had to speak out of both sides of his mouth for that, but, um, kind of hilarious.

Speaker 2 41:13

The third one here is Benedict Cumberbatch, and I think this is the one that's going to get us in the most hot water with our fans here. Uh, star Trek Into the Darkness 2013 film the supervillain Khan. Okay, who's who he's portraying? He's an Indian guy. All right, this is an Indian guy. I'll tell you why This is a fun fact. Creator Gene Roddenberry maybe you've heard of him had actually named the character after a friend of his, kim Nuneun Singh.

Speaker 3 41:38

Yeah.

Speaker 2 41:39

And you know that last name Singh. We're talking, we're likely talking. You know, sick or Punjabi sick or something, Right? He, uh, was his co-pilot in World War II. Yeah, They actually had fallen out of touch. Uh, he had fallen out of touch with his old friend and he thought that naming the character would renew this forgotten friendship. Isn't that beautiful. I'm going to name a freaking amazing, I mean a total villain, Maybe he'll. It's like wait, why'd you name me after a horrible, genocidal villain, villain.

Speaker 1 42:13

He has a way with the ladies I love. legend to you, man.

Speaker 3 42:16

I don't know what the accent that was Alright.

Speaker 2 42:18

so technically Englishman Benedict Cumberbatch playing the character is this is technically a whitewash even though Kahn so canonically in the show is a genetically advanced human born in a laboratory. So I think that's why you kind of get this. you know you'll get your fanboys, you know to be able to give it a pass Also in the original movie he was portrayed by a Mexican actor. Anyway, ricardo Montalban back in the famously. This was in the 60s, 67.

Speaker 2 42:52

So, and then in the movie it was in 1982. So, yeah, there you go. So that's what we have to work with. Okay, how are you feeling? Do you have like a definite answer already, or do you want to throw out some ideas?

Speaker 1 43:04

Let me throw, okay. So we're going to choose which one gets a spin-off, which one gets a reboot, which one gets a cancel.

Speaker 2 43:09

Yeah, we'll work together here for the definitive answer. Here we go, okay.

Speaker 1 43:14

I kind of feel like we reboot Fisher Stevens with a different actor.

Speaker 2 43:21

Okay.

Speaker 1 43:22

I think it's time. I think, with everything that's coming back, I can see a straight to streaming short circuit with a lovable Indian. Actual South Asian character would be a blast.

Speaker 2 43:36

You're going with like IP value here, like there's actually value in this character and we can reboot it. I like it, i like it.

Speaker 1 43:44

Yeah, i think we haven't cracked it. I think we haven't cracked it yet. I think we can do it In a post-Wall-E world. I think that we could have a friendly little robot. You know, due to go to Radio Shack.

Speaker 2 43:53

Right, and then we just get an actual Indian scientist to yeah, okay, great. You know, i think I might be on board, that I think we might be of the same mind, because I sort of have a preconceived notion of what I want to do here. Okay So okay, I'm going to say I'm on board in general with that. I'm going to say Benedict Cumberbatch gets the spin-off, because I'm good with the technicality because I'm not good with.

Speaker 2 44:16

I'm really kind of the least good with the Max Minghella one, because like that was like a real life Indian too And it's like not only are you like sort of taking away like a role for an Indian actor which obviously have tons of empathy for, but you're also sort of like changing recent history about this like high powered co-founder history. I don't love-. It happened like five years previously.

Speaker 1 44:43

Yeah, yeah, i say I completely agree. Conn gets the spin-off and Conn can acknowledge sort of just like hey, genetically, here's a, i'm showing you how this happened. We have, we have, room to explain that We have science. I can explain that. And just like also I was named after Gene Roddenberry's co-pilot, like you, know like.

Speaker 2 45:02

I feel like, yeah, it's not just because Benedict Cumberbatch is hot.

Speaker 1 45:07

Okay, it's not just because And he is.

Speaker 2 45:10

And I love him as an actor. It's not just that.

Speaker 1 45:13

Yeah, and I feel like he would do, you know, if we were just like can you, can you course correct this? here's the lines I feel like Benedict Cumberbatch could do that, you know. Here's the thing for me. Here's why social network gets the cancel. It's because you have to be so problematic in your casting process to go to Silicon Valley to make a movie about Silicon Valley and go how am I going to find an Indian person? that's, i'm from the Bay Area. I don't bring it up a whole lot. That's impossible. That's impossible. If you throw a rock in the Bay Area, you're going to get sued by five different Indian families. So that's just going to happen.

Speaker 1 45:55

So I can't fathom how this happened. I can't process that.

Speaker 2 45:59

Yeah, there's so. And then there's so many Indian actors now and it's even in 2010 there was. There's enough of us out there that you could I mean you. I mean, it's not like it was like the titular character here and you're like, oh, we got to get bankable star for this role. It's like some kind of side role. Right, had your bank. No one's going to the theater for Max. Yeah, you know, i think he's a good actor or whatever, but like you could it just that's yeah, so I'm with you.

Speaker 2 46:24

Okay, i think we're on the same page, so the definitive answer is spin off for.

Speaker 3 46:30

Conn.

Speaker 2 46:31

Benedict Cumberbatch for Conn.

Speaker 1 46:33

Yes.

Speaker 2 46:33

We all want to see the Conn series. anyway, right like I'm okay with that, alright reboot for Fisher Stevens. Yes, and I love this because Fisher's doing a great job in succession. I want him to like be sort of have some forgiveness here.

Speaker 1 46:50

Yeah.

Speaker 2 46:52

I think he's a great actor, max, and you know it's not your fault. You took a job, i get it, but you know they could have done better. They could have done better, not just. You know. They could have found an Indian, is all I'm saying. Yeah, so social network, you are canceled.

Speaker 1 47:07

Yes, bam, and there it is.

Speaker 2 47:10

There, it is Alright. Are you ready for round two? I'm ready.

Speaker 1 47:13

Alright, here we go round. two Brown Voice Edition. we're dealing with Appu from The Simpsons, yeah, mowgli from Jungle Book and Haji from Johnny Quest. That's right.

Speaker 2 47:30

Alright chat. You guys should be blowing up right now for these. I want to hear what you think.

Speaker 1 47:37

These are familiar characters, so we can blow through this really quickly. Appu, of course, is the character we talked about from The Simpsons, an Indian immigrant who runs a quickie mart the most popular convenience store in Springfield, and he's known for his catchphrase Thank You, come Again, which people have used ad infinitum to try to hurt our feelings.

Speaker 2 47:57

Indeed.

Speaker 1 47:59

Mowgli is from the 1967 animated film, the Jungle Book, of course you know, based off of the writings of Richard Kibling, and, and that's effectively, you know, like what we're looking at for Mowgli. Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2 48:15

I guess we could say that he was voiced by, because I looked this up. This is kind of an interesting story. This guy, david Bailey, was originally cast. That's right, his voice changed during production. This kid's voice changed and they're like wait, he doesn't sound Indian anymore, he's like walking around just talking like this all the time, because when he was 11 years old, that's how he talked. And then one day and then the next day, he was like oh, my voice is changing. Now I sound like this um.

Speaker 1 48:46

I guess we can't have that voice talking to snakes in the Indian jungle. Oh, oh jeez baloo, oh jeez baloo. There's a tiger chasing me, shakans chasing me, baloo should I trust this snake? I don't know okay, king Louis, what do you need? tell me what I can. I can get anything you need oh man, so anyway.

Speaker 2 49:12

So at the last minute I guess they changed it to this guy. Bruce cast, the son of the director.

Speaker 1 49:19

Bruce.

Speaker 2 49:21

Rytherman, who had just voiced Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh in the Honeyshoes.

Speaker 1 49:26

Which is funny because a lot of the animation cycles for Mowgli are also Christopher Robbins, so that's a fun fact, is that true? Yeah, you can see comparisons on whatever your favorite video source is yeah, yeah wait so they also.

Speaker 2 49:44

They also wait. What's the brown face version of using animation cycles from a non-Indian character?

Speaker 1 49:52

they changed his voice and they see cycling, i believe, is what it's called. Yeah, they brown cycled them. They brown cycled them. They used a white character's body.

Speaker 2 50:04

They used the white, the bones of a white character and they just up the size of the bear.

Speaker 1 50:10

You know, there's also a tiger. I mean, the comparisons don't stop we can go all night. And finally we've got Haji Singh, the adopted older brother to Johnny Quest by Dr Benton Quest. He was found in the classic episode called Cutta Adventure, which I love, by the way Johnny Quest, one of my favorite shows of all time. Haji studied yoga and mysticism while growing up and he could change his body temperature and also stop his heart and appear dead in the show. Yeah, so some cool powers you can only get in India.

Speaker 2 50:48

I love that there's like what are a bunch of Indian powers? let's go, guys. He can also talk to snakes. I hear they do this stretching thing called yoga.

Speaker 3 50:59

Alright, throw it on the board, whatever amazing, amazing.

Speaker 2 51:06

And they love to get out of sick days sick days by changing their body temperature alright, put it on the board.

Speaker 1 51:14

Alright, that's good, let's go to lunch, okay, so now, one of them is going to get a spin off, one of them is going to get a reboot, one of them is going to get a cancel. This is tough.

Rebooting Characters and Making Casting Decisions

Speaker 2 51:23

Yeah, it's tough why don't you go for the first yeah, first march, sure listen. For a number of reasons one again the least of which is maybe not the least of which is the fact that Haji kind of like a poo in a way, like that term is has been hurled as a yeah, it's definitely a racially charged term.

Speaker 2 51:49

Now for a lot of folks that are unfamiliar, it's kind of what a lot of the army folks in the armed services may have called people in Iraq, afghanistan. You know, during those wars they were sort of like calling them a Haji, almost like Chao Charlie was used now. That said, i'm going to take a little twist on this you might think I'm going cancel because of that right that's what I thought. I'm not going cancel what are you doing?

Speaker 2 52:24

I actually want to reboot this character. I want to because I love Johnny Quest and I want to like. I just want to redo this character. I want this character to be like first of all, you don't get very many turban characters that are cool and badass and, can you know, i would definitely change some of these magic powers and I would probably, you know, make him, because if his last name is Singh, first of all I'll change his name, changing his name, giving him a real name, not just a.

Speaker 2 53:00

I mean not that there aren't people named Haji, but like I just feel like it's few and far between it's not a very common name and it's more like it actually means pilgrim. Essentially, it's people who made this pilgrimage called Haji. That's where it came from so, like you know, very few people are named pilgrim and I feel like it's used as frequently as that for the most part. I'm going to get a lot of ads from actual Haji's out there that are like that's actually my name.

Speaker 2 53:28

I exist but I want to give him a name that is maybe less you know. I want to give him a name that sort of falls in line with if he's a Singh, then like, let's make him a cool, sick character who, like you know, maybe is an adoptive older brother, or maybe actually has a family, i don't know. Just know that out there and let's like put him in this world. There's a way to reboot him. That would be very cool and that would make amends.

Speaker 2 53:58

That's what I'm throwing out there for him. Yeah, and then there's, like our bad yeah, call it out. I think that's a good point.

Speaker 1 54:21

Okay, i'll vote yes as long as in your reboot we finally acknowledge that race and doctor quest for sure have feelings for each other, because there's a lot of scenes in the classic cartoon. We're just empty, like we just got back from vacation. How are you doing, johnny? and I'm just like you too, okay.

Speaker 3 54:38

I love it. I meant spin off.

Speaker 1 54:42

Okay, so now this leads to who or who, that was a reboot. This is who gets the spin-off and who gets cancelled. Yeah, this is interesting. This could be tough.

Speaker 2 54:53

We want to spin off either them.

Speaker 1 54:55

I guess You go, you go Here's my thing, i The spin-off of Mowgli would just be technically this the continued stories of Mowgli going to a village and just becoming a man Because he leaves it becomes like it becomes like Encino man basically. Like it's not particularly a spin-off, because also technically jungle book did get a spin-off and it was called tailspin, so Right it's making that in that, though, really right well, he's not, but that's why it's the blue spin-off, i guess. Right, what's?

Speaker 2 55:33

happening during tailspin. It's like a. You know the parallel story.

Speaker 1 55:38

It's just him getting married. Because at the ending of that movie was just like What do you want to do? Mowgli, you could live the cool life in the jungle. And he's like I saw a girl, so I'm gonna go adhere to patriarchal standards and you're like, oh, that's boring. Yeah, your life rocks in the jungle.

Speaker 2 55:56

It's like I'm not into it turns out I'm into my own species.

Speaker 1 56:03

Okay. So Sorry guys, i've been doing some soul searching. I'm gonna go ahead and say We cancel Mowgli and give the spin-off to a poo. After all the conversations we have, we give the spin-off to a poo. I know it's a little bit of a cheat, because we said earlier how we would sort of soft reboot the character with a different voice actor.

Speaker 2 56:28

Wait, but we don't have to technically reboot the character. We could recast the character and still do a spell.

Speaker 1 56:33

Oh, it's on a full, you're right, so yeah so new voice actor And we have and and I'll poo gets to hang out with all of our favorite I'm sorry you know characters, cheap, wig them etc. And and it's the, it's a poo universe. I would love that a poo show with it.

Speaker 2 56:51

I'm good with it. Okay, I said if Disney was like, hey, can you write the Mowgli story? I'd be like, yeah, i could do that. But I agree, i think for this, this, the purposes of this, i like it. We are so just to Cement it in stone. Yeah, we're spinning off, spinning off a poo, yeah, I'm recasting him. Yeah, we are Rebooting Haji, rebooting Haji canceling Mowgli. Yep, mowgli's cancelled hit us in the comments if you disagree. Listeners.

Speaker 3 57:22

We love to hear it. We love to hear.

Speaker 2 57:24

All right, moving on to round three, our final round.

Speaker 1 57:27

Here we go.

Speaker 2 57:29

Here we go. This is the video game edition.

Speaker 3 57:33

Yep.

Speaker 2 57:35

So not necessarily brown face or white face or, sorry, a white wash or anything like that. Yeah it's happening here, but still, this is a fun matter characters Yeah, good fun, right, they'll seem, yes, the great tiger from yes punch out and Symmetra from overwatch. Yes, yes, who? I just want to say right off the bat, not a problematic character, no, This one might be.

Speaker 1 58:02

Yeah, this one will be stacked at a certain Certain. It's good We could.

Speaker 2 58:06

We don't know, you don't know, uh, also we'll just say You know, just to keep our integrity. Yes, we'll be upfront and say that Anjali Bimani Plays the voice of Symmetra and overwatch as well after mentioned critical role darling obviously Cancelled, right Yeah.

Speaker 3 58:27

So much free time for desert quest.

Speaker 1 58:30

Yes right because, we need this a class, so we're canceling sorry, auntie Ruby.

Speaker 3 58:34

Yeah, so, uh so.

Speaker 1 58:38

To quickly go through Dulce from Street Fighter Yep. He is a yoga master and yoga flame. Stretch his body and conjure fire yoga fire. So we've got that going. Great tiger Is the signature move, now called the tiger magic punch. Is that right?

Speaker 2 58:55

Uh, from super punchouts sounds like a dirtier version of the donkey. I hate it.

Speaker 3 59:01

Absolutely hate it.

Speaker 1 59:07

He has the powers to teleport, flying around in the ringing circles, hitting Mac with a barrage of big jab. So he's also got some magic power He gets dizzy.

Speaker 2 59:16

Does the dacy head shake when he gets? Yes, and I punch him in the face in his turban blanks.

Speaker 1 59:21

You know that's really fun, but was voiced by a Hindi speaking actor into the 2009 version, so something to keep in mind. And, of course, as we talked about Symmetra from overwatch, played by our very, very good friend, and it's just a badass character. Just holy shit, what a badass character, and you know I don't normally curse on this show, so it means a lot, okay, so who? so? who's getting what? who wants to take first blood?

Speaker 2 59:50

All right, I'll just jump in. I think this one could be relatively quick. Yeah, I Mean.

Speaker 1 59:59

So are we both feeling the spin off here, right, i mean?

Speaker 2 1:00:02

I think it's been a certain right. fine, fine, we can take, we can knock that off the office is I'm gonna go with Symmetra, Yes mostly where we put her into this category because we wanted to shout out We want a name drop that our friend plays the character. That's pretty much it is a light bending architect who weaves her construction in order to and perfection, in order to create a better world.

Speaker 3 1:00:22

We love this character.

Speaker 2 1:00:23

She's got photon projectors. Yeah, yeah, it's cool. Cool, puts out these century turrets, you know just rad, cool, rad, we're gonna, we're spinning off this character. Yeah, that's an easy one. So it comes down to which between they'll seem the great tiger.

Speaker 2 1:00:39

Honestly, those are the, for me growing up, were the only Indian characters and for both of them I was like dad, yeah, i was like how did my dad get in the video game? Yes, there's so like, yeah, they were obviously, let's just say, yoga flame and yoga fire was often you also hold at me in ways, i think, with literal fireworks being thrown at me, being like here's a black cat or Wow because they were legal where you're from.

Speaker 1 1:01:11

Yeah, yeah, that's anyway so dangerous.

Speaker 2 1:01:14

Yeah, well, we did stupid shit.

Speaker 1 1:01:16

Yeah. That actually does become legally a hate crime? I do believe it's, if it's an explosive being thrown at you.

Speaker 2 1:01:23

Here's where I'm at. Yeah, and we'll see if we differ. Okay, i'm. I want to cancel Dalsim because it feels more stereotypical and annoying to me. Okay, like a stretchy yoga? I don't know, i just don't love it. I never loved playing him. I always felt like when people selected him to play against me, i was like, oh, you're doing this just to be a dick.

Speaker 2 1:01:45

Yeah, I just, i just don't like the character. Right, okay, the great tiger I could see doing like a hardcore, like creed, like I imagine like a creed style trailer. You know, you just see like eight pack abs punching a thing, it's like kind of lits. You're like, oh, is this creed? because you're like, you know, get tell, yeah, black-eyed brown guy, yeah, who knows with that, with that cool 8-bit film lighting or whatever right.

Speaker 2 1:02:18

Like who is freaking, pounding these punching bags? and just like. And then you're like, what's that? What's that? lens flare that just hit the thing. And you're like, oh, it's the fucking Turban gem. Like holy shit. He's just like. You give him a whole real backstory. Turns out that he was haji from Johnny Quest, grown up. Now.

Speaker 1 1:02:40

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 1:02:42

I don't know, but you give like you know. I just and to me. I've never seen an Indian boxing movie like I would watch this shit out of that.

Speaker 1 1:02:50

So here's the thing. Okay, let's talk, really let's.

Speaker 2 1:02:52

We're on this down.

Speaker 1 1:02:53

I've got two points Okay, before I, before I either confirm or deny what you've put on the table. One, dulceme, comes with the idea that we innately have magical abilities, which, as someone who struggles with literally everything, is not true, whereas the great tiger I, with a boxing thing, i feel like it's cooked in where, like, boxers train right, yeah, i want to see, i would love to see a South Asian character train up, earn those muscles right, right, like, go through this, don't just be born like a certain way. I want that story and, you know, even if it is the great tiger as a villain, i do want to see like that training montage. I want to see that working out. I like that. Okay, now, that's point one.

Speaker 2 1:03:39

In the end he beats the fuck out of Mac Yeah, he stepped on his throat and wins doesn't stop.

Speaker 1 1:03:46

Yeah, it's like a dirty fighter too. It's like really funny. It's like really just like I won't. Yeah, it's like a like they're scared.

Speaker 3 1:03:53

The story opens with them at age 12, and Mac is doing a Gandhi dot on him Right in the turban and that sends him off on his story of revenge.

Speaker 2 1:04:02

Yes, i'm into it. Yes, into it.

Speaker 1 1:04:05

Trains and trains second, the second point Do you happen to know where the name Dulceme comes from? No, oh no, please tell me. So this is from a cursory Google. So if you have more information, please feel free to correct me. But from my read, according to my research, the name comes from an Indian restaurant in Osaka, near Capcom's office. They mixed, they mixed doll and she And wow, so it was just a vegetarian dish. So it's not so don't see me.

Speaker 1 1:04:39

Basically, they named him the Indian equivalent of Panda Express, like imagine if Imagine just for for like for for Caucasian folks like imagine if it was like your street fighter, you all these cool characters and it's like toast syrup and And you'd be like that's, that's not great.

Speaker 2 1:05:16

Seem. I don't know what. I know what doll is, but what's seem? I don't know what that is.

Speaker 1 1:05:19

Uh, i might be mispronouncing you, but it's the highest synth beans. Oh, i was about to buy some highest synth today from Trader Joe's, i think.

Speaker 2 1:05:27

I think good juice, we call it something else. I don't know what. I don't know what. Yeah, see a picture of it. Or whatever. Highest synth beans, okay.

Speaker 1 1:05:36

Um, but yeah, being named after a menu And also in the worst description of food, because it's always like bread mixed with yogurt, mixed with spices, you're like that sounds terrible. What I'm eating is good. What you described as a trot city, so I'm gonna agree with you.

Speaker 3 1:05:56

I'm gonna agree with you, we cancel.

Speaker 1 1:05:58

Dulce, named after two Indian dishes. Canceling toast syrup.

Speaker 2 1:06:05

We're rebooting the great tiger as like a creed Indian boxer, creed movie. Yes man, i want that, and then we are. We are, of course, spinning off Anjali Bhimani's character Symmetra in overwatching, watching many, many seasons of that, as her career absolutely continues to explode, and then we just ride her coattails even further. I.

Speaker 3 1:06:25

Feel like you kind of got let up the hook easy by having Symmetra on this board. I'd like you to also cover what her spin-off. Is it a show? Is it a different game?

Speaker 2 1:06:35

So what kind of game?

Speaker 3 1:06:36

is her spin-off game.

Speaker 2 1:06:39

So you're gonna out me as someone who didn't play overwatch cool, Well, I mean.

Speaker 3 1:06:44

I'm presuming you're not just making overwatch again, but everybody's Symmetra right.

Speaker 2 1:06:49

Yeah, yeah, oops, i'll Symmetra. Uh, is that a?

Speaker 3 1:06:51

Mario kind of game, a link kind of game, you know.

Speaker 1 1:06:56

I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go show. I want to animate it show. It's so red. This is, and I want it to be in this style, not the animation style, but the way we play this out. I want it to be the Batman beyond of this universe. That's the vibe I'm going forward Symmetra, that's my pitch.

Speaker 2 1:07:13

Okay, i am obsessed with the game vampire survivors Okay, okay. So I just want a version where I get to be her and accrue all these cool weapons and to runs and kill. Vampires, you know yeah, vampires with with Symmetra, i guess that makes sense.

Speaker 1 1:07:37

I got the vampires hit life.

Speaker 2 1:07:39

That's the best my COVID frog brain will give you.

Speaker 1 1:07:45

I Really quick before, but to the next segment I went. One time I went in for a pitch and I gave all these heartfelt pitches of these entire worlds I built out and every single one of them got shut down and this was this is probably like 10, 15 years ago. And then I was like, all right, well, my last idea, just off the cuff, i don't know, it's not that great, but lost, but a comedy. And then went go home and write that and I had built out Wikipedia pages for all my other pitches. And it was just that where I was like I hate this industry. Okay, i'll be back in a bit.

Speaker 1 1:08:12

It's all that.

Speaker 2 1:08:13

I'll be back in a bit the right quick pitch at the right time, when the Executives in the right mood and they actually have money they can actually spend and all this. Yeah, it's crazy. This industry is absolutely nuts. It's like hitting like 15 moving targets.

Speaker 1 1:08:28

Yep.

Speaker 2 1:08:30

Yeah, well, having diarrhea It's very difficult. Just dropping this in from chat because this is pretty great triple yeah to the rise of the great tiger. and then another And nervous Rex is in there saying Symmetra With triple R in there. How beautiful is there it is. You too could join us live Sundays at 7 30 for the most part, if you listen to us. We're gonna move into our last segment, right?

Speaker 1 1:08:54

now right.

Speaker 2 1:08:55

They see of the week And that, oh, this is your job, oh, you can do it.

Speaker 1 1:09:02

You started. Why don't you go into it? No, no, no, it's you know the host villages are important.

Speaker 3 1:09:06

Oh, are you burned? All right, I'm not gonna do that.

Speaker 1 1:09:09

I get to introduce our they see of the week I. It is none other than the man of the hour himself, Hari Kanda Blue. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think that's this is obvious.

Speaker 2 1:09:19

He's. You know, listen, we love Hari. He's an amazing standup. You guys should check him out. He's got a brand new special right out right now, all about how he's a dad. Now It's on YouTube, I believe, for Frey. Check it out. I gotta look up the name. Where is it? Do we have it somewhere? Mm, mm, mm.

Speaker 1 1:09:39

Sick of.

Speaker 2 1:09:39

Hari. It's on the YouTubes. So, look, he went head to head. He went head to head. He went for something he believed in, you know, and that he thought would make the world a better place if it was called out And there was some massive fallout. You should check out that interview. It's super interesting on NPR on a code switch If you wanna see how they really kinda chatted it out. Right there live Hari and Hank Azaria. I really thought it was an excellent interview. It's only 20 minutes, so go check that out. Maybe go check out the problem with the poo, but probably what he cares about the most you checking out is the vacation baby. That's what it's called His school comedy special Hari Konda Blue. He's a friend too, so we'll get him on the pod someday. I'm just gonna go and check it out. That'd be great. And one thing I really do.

Speaker 1 1:10:31

I wanna shout out from the interview that Hari did was that Hank Azaria who is a comedy legend and a comedy hero of mine, obviously for many, many reasons was talking about how he has the documentary did eventually change the way he thought about this, changed his view on this.

Speaker 1 1:10:51

It made him more informed about it And that's incredible And I really do appreciate all the work that Hank Azaria is now putting into this and how he was like I'll feel these questions, i'm gonna jump in, i'm gonna see what I can do to take care of this. But when he was talking about that, hari did highlight an aspect of it where Hari was like, yeah, you said this stuff, but I did all the work, my team did all the work, and then you're coming through and saying you came through these discoveries and then we're not getting the credit. And that happens a lot in communities of color, where we'll do a ton of work and then people other people outside the community will get credit for that. And even on this interview, where Hari is getting his finally earned flowers, for him to still stand that and to state that it means a lot. It makes the difficulties he's dealt with and he's dealt with death threats He's dealt with so much. This has possibly affected his career for decades to come.

Speaker 2 1:11:41

It's made our lives easier. He was really pigeonholed as like oh, he's just like you know.

Speaker 2 1:11:47

Cancel culture, dude who just like all he does is like whine about this thing And I think it probably did really affect. you know the types of jobs he was offered, the opportunities that he got, especially for he's such a rising comedian as he was Like there was. there's probably a reason why a lot of you listening like who's this guy? It's like you should have known about him because he was rising at the same time that Hasan Menazer was rising. He was rising at the same time that Kumeil was rising.

Speaker 2 1:12:14

They were all kind of coming up and moving up together And his standup is great and deserve the same level of respect as those guys. And then for some reason he got sort of like shadow band by the community. So we are more than happy to shout him out And I'm glad that I think you called it out. Great, that was awesome for you to mention everything that sort of happened in that interview. That was a cool moment. So do go check that out, do check out his special And that's our Day to See of the Week And that is also our show.

Speaker 1 1:12:45

My goodness, that's right, as always, if you want to see our lovely faces. All the VOD and all the other ways you can hang out with us are in the show notes. Please, folks, do us a huge favor and rate and comment on this podcast wherever you listen to it, wherever you watch it. That helps us so much. Comment, suggestions, feedback all of that can be sent to ABCD podcastshowatgmailcom or check out our Discord.

Speaker 2 1:13:08

And one last time shouting out DesiQuest, our sponsors, the TGG RPG actual play show that's going to star us and Symmetra and a couple other really great folks. It's all DM'd by Jasmine that Bronze Girl Buller. Go to desiquestcom to sign up for that mailing list. And we'll give you up to the minute news about the show. And of course to you, our patrons and listeners. Did I bring my guitar? Yes, i did. I did. It's in the back.

Speaker 1 1:13:42

OK, give me 10 seconds. You got the mic, you got this. Let me stretch. I also want to say a very quick shout out to Hank Asario. I really appreciate the attention and genuine effort he's put into it. I feel like that response is a wonderful basis for people to see how to reflect on things that you've done. He has a really good balance of acknowledging what he's done and also having optimism for changing over the future. So thank you, hank Asario, comedy legend and hopefully soon friend of the podcast.

Speaker 2 1:14:14

Over to you, sundee, and now we're just loving on Hank Asario.

Speaker 1 1:14:18

A little bit yeah.

Speaker 2 1:14:19

OK, that's fine. I do love Hank Asario too, so I'm glad to see that they came to a happy ending.

Speaker 1 1:14:26

Yes.

Speaker 2 1:14:27

And I mean that in all the ways that you think I mean it.

Speaker 3 1:14:29

OK.

Comedy Production Credits and Appreciation

Speaker 2 1:14:31

The last people I'd like to thank are the patriots who put money into our bank, which include Joshua Ryan Talbiam, carlo Muzak, benjamin Low, brandon Pace, hunter B Brown, miranda Hollinger, vaden and Michael Long. That's it. If you're live, stick around for our after show, where we critique ourselves and give ourselves ratings and comments. We actually come up with a show title together on our live show right after and play a little game of a jet box. The show is produced by Diego Lanau. The show's technical director and sound designer is Delvin Neville. This show's executive producers are Sundee Parikh I like him And Anand Shah he's OK. Edited by Sean Meager, music by Herschel Sosodia, Jaspir Singh and Moloch Saveri. This has been an effing funny production.

Speaker 1 1:15:30

On behalf of Sundee Parikh and myself. Omar Najam, may your chuckers be aligned and smothered in Chutney.