Actors Maulik Pancholy (Raoul in Hitch) and Amir Talai (Legally Blonde 2) appear Wednesday night at 10:30pm ET on an episode of the HBO series The Comeback. This photo is on the front page of the show’s Web site right now.
The Comeback is a Lisa Kudrow show-within-a-show about a washed-up sitcom actor trying to land a role on something very much like Friends. I love these high-funda, Russian doll plots in theater, but on TV it’s usually an excuse for refried writing.
Some comments from Hollywood Masala (thanks, Kiran):
Amir and Maulik are on this weeks episode #9 on the HBO series. They will also be on episode #11 a couple of weeks later…
… Maulik appeared in the Sunday New York Times for a full page ad for ESPN…
[Pancholy] will also be seen in the off-off-Broadway play India Awaiting…
Pancholy’s been around the TV circuit with parts on Charmed, Felicity, Jack & Jill, Law & Order: CI and Weeds. Talai is Iranian-American (thanks, thalassamikra) and plays desi characters on both The Comeback and Gilmore Girls. Check out his photos on set — doesn’t his high forehead remind you of Bronson Pinchot?
too bad “The Comeback” is so awful it’s unwatchable.
on a network-related side note, weren’t we told Kal Penn was coming in this final season of “Six Feet Under” as Claire’s new love interest? Yet there are two episodes left, and I fear Claire may not be down with the brown…
DD, Kal Penn was supposed to play Claire’s love interest, but was later recast. 🙁 Every time I watch the show and see the character Ted (which would have been Penn), I throw my chappal at my television in anger.
what? what?!?! Say it ain’t so, brimful!!
well…then I’m glad the show is ending afterall, if they can’t show love to Kal Penn!
I swear on Nate’s dead body, DD. What makes me angriest is that I watched this stupid season specifically for the Kal Penn sighting, and then I got nothing.
That said, nothing can make me watch The Comeback. Why couldn’t these two have cameo’d on Entourage instead?
I’m just glad that HBO was smart enough to put Entourage after 6FU, instead of making us suffer through The Comeback to get to Entourage.
now THAT show is the funniest thing on tv right now! Jeremy Piven is the most accurate depiction of an agent ever, he reminds me too much of some former colleagues. It’s both hilarious and bone chilling 😉
I want one of those “I’m with infidel” shirts Talai was wearing on set.
Just imagine the mayhem it’d cause… ;D
Oh, Desi Dancer, “let’s hug it out b*tch!” I think we’d get on quite well…
Isn’t Amir Talai of Iranian heritage? His name is very Iranian sounding, and he lists Farsi as the language he is fluent in (and the ability to do passable Dari and Tajik, both offshoots of Farsi). Did you just decide to appropriate him to desi-dom on the basis of a desi-sounding name?
best recurring line ever
No, I was just quoting Hollywood Masala. But you’re right, it seems he’s at least half Iranian.
Please, I’m like a third-Irani, and as far as I’m concerned, I’m desi. Of course, I cry this proudly only because I kind of want to jump both of ’em.
DD and brimful- Comeback is not awful. I find it hilarious! I love the dry humor and Kudrow’s acting. I think it would be challenging to act as a reality star in a sitcom.
But then I agree w/ y’all on Entourage. The funniest show on cable right now.
I have no idea what any of the shows you are talking about are. But doesn’t that fella on the left have small hands?
Actually it’s erroneous for me to pluralise that, I can only see one hand, hence I can only assume he has one small hand.
Bong, why are you interested in the dimensions of his hands? 🙂
ew. It’s the opposite of Man Hands!
Maybe I’m writing a dissertation on hands. Maybe I’m just an observant chap. Maybe I want to be a hand surgeon. Maybe I’m a hand model. Maybe I’m deeply insecure about having small hands. Maybe I’ve got a hand fetish and I don’t care who they’re attached to. Maybe I think someone with small hands should be forbidden from having such big hair.
Any/all/none of the above.
Chai, I tried to like The Comeback, I really did… it was too angsty or something– it gave me agita 😉 I think for the same reason a lot of people can’t watch the Larry David Show.
and what would be the problem in that, T-rex?
It’s not the first time I’ve noticed a bit of homophobia on here.
Bongo
Dont you think the one on the left left with the tiny hands looks like that one from Ant & Dec?
I happened to catch this episode when it aired on Sunday. I’m not a fan of the show, for the reasons alluded to here. But I guess my keen desi-radar picked up something in the ether, because for some reason I decided to not turn off the TV after Entourage.
Their role on the show was small, but I thought it was kind of interesting. They play a comedy team who are brought in to do a shtick described by the head writer as “this Pakistani gibberish thing.” So I had pretty low expectations for what was coming next. But I thought it was actually somewhat funny. They do this parody of a parody of an Indian accent that kind of sounds like “beedi beedi bud bud bud da bud da beedi beedi.” It’s hard to explain, but it’s so ridiculously bad that I couldn’t decide if it was funny or not. So their shtick is that they talk in gibberish when the neighbors are around, and then act like normal people when they leave. In the reality part of the show (sorry, it’s kind of confusing to explain) there isn’t much in the way of character development; the actors come off kind of like the writer characters on the show: smart, but kind of jerky.
I’m curious to see what other people thought of it. I didn’t find their role funny, exactly, but I thought it was a different spin on the usual stereotypes. I also didn’t find it offensive, but it’s possible that other people might.
FWIW, I’m Persian/Iranian/whatever you wanna call it. But Sin, you’re still welcome to jump me. And yes, I do have very very small hands. But I have a huge nose. So make of that what you will. Sin? Still paying attention? Anyway, thanks for watching folks, and I’m glad some of you enjoyed it. PS: I don’t come here often, I just noticed people were coming to my site from this site, so i popped on over. Peace.
Amir
Sin is a dude.
Punjabi Boy:
That (probably) doesn’t change Amir’s comment, seeing as how Sin linked his blog (i.e. where his “dudeness” is evident.)
Sin is indeed, as you put it Punjabi Boy, a dude. I’m also half-Punjabi btw, but hey, who’s counting. A homo-setsual, even. And Amir, I am notorious for my predilection towards men with large noses. Can I take this as blanket approval to claim that I’m having a tawdry (but tender!) affair with you? A long-distance relationship, even?
Check out http://www.moderndesi.com for an interview with Amir Talai (discussing his desi experiences…
I
dontthink that im going to waste my time on some low down piece of shit, that has no right to challange me, cause you might get a punch in, but from what you did to me, i’ll beat the shit out of you!