South Beach Sessions - Kumail Nanjiani
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What motivates Kumail Nanjiani to return to stand-up comedy?
Kings Network.
Welcome to South Beach Sessions back on the West Coast. I'm very excited about this one because Kumail Nanjiani is a man of much range. It's not just that he's an actor, he's a writer. And I think his first love is stand-up comedy. He's returning to stand-up. Night Thoughts is the special, Hulu, December 19th. He's in theaters now with Ella McKay. I wonder which of these, you've shown extraordinary range and your journey is fascinating. So thanks for being with us. But which of these gives you the greatest joy? Because you're going back to comedy now and you didn't have to do that.
No. Which brings me the greatest joy? It changes day to day.
How did Kumail's childhood experiences shape his career?
What I love about stand-up is it's really on you, your mistakes. It's you and the crowd. If something doesn't go right, it's completely your fault. When you're acting and stuff, truly when you're acting and stuff, you're at the mercy of other people. So you really have to trust the filmmaker that they make you look good. The actual doing of it, I enjoy acting the most, I would say, because I find it to be challenging. And it's exciting because the goals are so varied. Whereas with stand-up, your goal really is to make people laugh, right? And it's not limited. There's so much you could do with stand-up. But with acting, it can be very cathartic. It can feel like therapy. Stand-up you can do really well and just have it be outward facing.
With acting, you can't do that. You have to sort of be inside your own self.
What role does masculinity play in Kumail's personal journey?
But therapy how? Because you say inside your own self, but it's also the one that is most not you, right? I don't think the Welcome to Chippendales character that you played is very you. But parts of him are me.
The part of me that's like, if I could kill this guy and get away with it, wouldn't that be great? I mean, I certainly have a list of people that I'm like, if that person could die and it doesn't come back to me, I would not even consider not doing it. I would do it right now. So with acting, I mean, you're playing different characters, but at least the way I do it, I wasn't trained or anything in acting. I mean, I've been taking acting classes now for about 12 years, but I didn't go to school for it. I have to use parts of myself. I have to put parts of myself into the character, and I have to take parts of the character and put them into myself. It is very personal. No matter how different the character is on the surface, you really are using a lot of your own insights for it.
Well, I want to get to a bunch of this stuff because you're very vulnerable. You're sensitive.
How has therapy influenced Kumail's understanding of his emotions?
So let's dive into the deep end. Which are you more, sensitive or anxious? Sensitive.
I'm more sensitive. I think so. Although, you know, with anxiety for so long, it was just like what I thought being a person was. That is just sometimes it becomes like background noise. You don't even know. Like for me, the biggest... I've had journeys with both those things about myself. And I'm at different points with them. With anxiety, it took me a long time to even realize I was anxious. And it was with my Y family. We've been together for years. And at one point I was like, you know, I'm a very laid back person.
What challenges does Kumail face in expressing vulnerability?
She's like, what are you talking about? You're like the most anxious person I've ever met. And I realized like, oh, all this thinking and overthinking and what am I gonna do next? Or what did I do? Was that okay? Shouldn't have done that. Shouldn't have done that. The regret of doing something. hurting myself for something I did that's already in the past, basically not being able to live in the moment. I realized that's just how I've been my entire life.
And sort of numb, right? Because I recognize this one, like numb to it. Because I always argued that I'm here and I didn't realize that I went lower than that because of whatever the suppression of feelings were or... eating my feelings or not understanding what my feelings were, speaking them more than feeling them.
100%, I wasn't even speaking my feelings.
How does Kumail's view on success and failure evolve throughout his career?
I was just, it would push, push, push, come out as anger.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What motivates Kumail Nanjiani to return to stand-up comedy?
0:04–1:05
2
How did Kumail's childhood experiences shape his career?
1:05–2:07
3
What role does masculinity play in Kumail's personal journey?
2:07–3:11
4
How has therapy influenced Kumail's understanding of his emotions?
3:11–3:50
5
What challenges does Kumail face in expressing vulnerability?
3:50–4:35
6
How does Kumail's view on success and failure evolve throughout his career?
4:35–5:37
7
What insights does Kumail share about working with his spouse, Emily?
5:37–6:47
8
How does Kumail define joy in his work and personal life?
6:47–1:09:19
Speakers
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