The Problem with Apu Page #5

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most of the 7-Eleven guys were

Indian and Pakistani.

Then also, Peter Sellers

in "The Party,"

one of my favorite

performances ever.

Sir, excuse me.

What is the name of a game

that has a multitude

of colored balls like that?

Pool.

Poo?

What?

Poo?

No, not poo. Pool.

Pool. Pool!

Pool! Now you got it.

Ah! Oh, like swimming pool.

You got it, honey.

I never heard of a game

called Poo.

You know, I've since learned

that a lot

of Southern Asian people,

found that Peter Sellers

portrayal fairly offensive.

No

What, did you get

Inspector Clouseau

to help you solve that mystery?

Inspector Clouseau.

That's Peter Sellers.

How different is

a Southasian actor patanking

versus, like,

Hank Azaria doing that voice?

Because as

a Southasian actor,

it is part

of my cultural heritage.

Hmm.

It's part of,

like, what I --

what I ow-- It's mine.

So, like, a white guy doing it

sort of feels like

you're...

usurping my culture.

An invasion.

A kind of exploitation,

but also kind of like

using it to further a narrative

within sort of

the larger culture

about me and my people.

You're never gonna see

two Indians guys in a club

standing around going,

"Hey, man. Aren't we cool?

Don't we sound really hip?"

To a lot of people, I think,

you're known for,

like, incredible accents.

And you've done them

throughout your career.

There is a criticism of, like,

"How come he uses accents?

Is it okay for him

to use accents?"

Is that something

you've had to respond to?

The most commonly

asked question is,

"Well, what if a white guy

did these jokes?"

And I go, "Don't get

caught up on my color

and don't get caught up

on the words.

Get caught up

in the intent."

Most of the 7-Eleven guys were

Indian and Pakistani.

And there was one,

in particular,

who lived near me

who was pretty crusty.

And I would often have

the same exchange with him

all the time.

I would be in line,

buying a drink,

and I'd open the Gatorade

before I'm waiting to pay,

and he would get annoyed.

"Why do you

open your unpaid product there?

Please don't open that

until you have paid."

I'm like...

"Am I running out the store?

what am I doing?"

There's nothing wrong

with doing an accent.

An accent is a crucial part

of a character.

It's when the accent

lends itself to being

part of a joke

about the person,

it's a racist dig,

that's when

the accent's problematic.

You know that a white guy

does the voice?

Huh?!

'Cause the voice is --

It's actually done

by a Hank Azaria,

who's a white voice actor.

How did you find out it was

a white guy that did the voice?

I don't know. I think,

like, after a long time.

I definitely assumed

he was Indian.

How do you feel

about that?

Oh, I'm making a movie

about how much I dislike it.

Finding out just now

that it was a white guy

is kind of --

that makes me a little bit

uncomfortable, for sure.

I don't know whether --

'cause people, like,

imitate him.

I don't know whether it makes

it more or less racist

to imitate a white guy

pretending to be Indian.

Does that make sense?

I will tell you it makes me

equally uncomfortable.

The bottom line was always

"what's funnier?"

Our job is

to write a comedy.

The fact is,

sober Barney, not funny.

Right.

Out Smithers, not as funny.

Humor comes out

of conflict.

And the seven deadly sins

and our less --

and our more --

the aspects of our personality

that we're maybe not

so proud of.

What was Apu's flaw?

I wouldn't say

he was flawed,

but he was

a first-generation immigrant

with all of the trappings.

But I mean, could you say that

a lot of the stuff that Apu says

wouldn't hit as hard

without the accent?

Yeah, well, there are accents

that by their nature,

to white Americans,

I can only speak

from experience,

sound funny, period.

But there were a lot of people

that did not agree with Dana.

And if Hank is anything like me,

he definitely checks Twitter

every five minutes,

especially on the toilet.

The public wants answers, Hank!

The public wants answers, Hank!

I always

loved stand-up comedy as a kid.

Like, it was, like, magic to me.

Well, I knew that

I wanted to do that,

except I was 17

and didn't have

a complicated life.

What I did have was

the fact that I was Indian.

Oh, you got that from India!

You got me!

Oh, you got me!

I-I have some chicken dinner

in my backpack.

Do you want some?

Hey, rub my belly.

I'll give you three wishes!

Yeah, come on!

So, I milked it

as much as I could.

Like, every corny joke

about race I could imagine,

like, jokes about curry

and taxi cabs,

gas stations,

convenience stores,

and it was awful.

And I probably did that

for about,

I don't know,

four or five years.

And then, 9/11 happened.

The world was falling apart,

and I felt more like a minority

than ever before.

So why was I on stage,

doing crappy impressions

of my parents?

I was minimizing them

the same way America always had.

My comedy had to shift

from the way people saw me

towards the way

I wanted to be seen.

I hate when people say

they can't see color.

Like, "I can't see race."

If you can't see race,

you can't see racism.

Then, what good are you to me?

You know what I mean?

I hate that

I hate that.

And people say

they can't see race,

and I think that leads to

more racism, like, every year.

Like, when did Halloween turn

into racist Christmas, right?

When...

When is that the year

people think

they can get a pass

on being super racist,

wearing blackface

or a Geisha outfit or whatever?

Why do they assume that?

Every year you see people --

White people wearing blackface.

It's not just white people.

It's also people of color

that have chosen their sides.

I would go to the Comedy Zone,

and I loved the Comedy Zone.

I'd see all these comics,

and they'd put my friends

in the front row

'cause we were brown people.

At first we thought it

was great, and then we realized

they're just gonna pick on us

the whole time.

And it wasn't just one time.

It was every time.

It'd be racist ,

and I'm like,

"Okay, it's a joke.

You gotta take a joke."

But we never got to reply,

'cause there was never a comic

who was gonna go on stage

who was Indian-American...

And defend you guys.

There was no response.

And you know,

I wanted to be that response.

There's a kind of complacency

that happens in our culture,

like, around that stuff,

you know,

where even we start going like,

"Oh, it's funny!"

Mm-hmm.

And this is the insidiousness

of racism.

The person who is

subjected to it or --

is buying into it

as sort of a cultural norm.

Like, "It's not a problem.

It's fine.

What's the big deal?

You're overreacting."

One thing

people don't understand

is that something can be

really funny

and still wrong

or morally questionable.

The fun part about comedy is

that you're transgressive.

Yeah.

When you say,

"When I see Hank Azaria

I'm gonna kick the

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