The Problem with Apu Page #5
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
Pool.
Poo?
What?
Poo?
No, not poo. Pool.
Pool. Pool!
Pool! Now you got it.
Ah! Oh, like swimming pool.
You got it, honey.
called Poo.
You know, I've since learned
that a lot
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,
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.
two Indians guys in a club
standing around going,
"Hey, man. Aren't we cool?
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.
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.
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,
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 --
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
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 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.
about race I could imagine,
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.
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,
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
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
I would go to the Comedy Zone,
I'd see all these comics,
and they'd put my friends
in the front row
'cause we were brown people.
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.
that you're transgressive.
Yeah.
When you say,
"When I see Hank Azaria
I'm gonna kick the
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"The Problem with Apu" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 22 Nov. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/the_problem_with_apu_21117>.
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