Aasif Mandvi, a Daily Show correspondent who has also appeared in movies like Million Dollar Arm and Today's Special, recently visited the the BuzzFeed offices to talk anti-Muslim bias in America. This year, he successfully crowdsourced Halal in the Family, a sitcom satire based around an American Muslim family, and premiered it on Funny or Die. These are just a few of the hilarious things he said about being Muslim in America.
On his satirical Funny or Die show, Halal in the Family:
On what his team learned from consulting with Muslim advocacy groups:
We worked with some Muslim advocacy groups (for Halal in the Family). They were very helpful. They gave us a lot of great information when we worked on the show. For example, to use the term "American Muslim" instead of "Muslim Americans." It's a psychological thing — put the word "American" first. And don't use the word "Islamophobia," use "anti-Muslim bias" or "bigotry," which is more correct.
On growing up Muslim:
When I was a kid, most Americans didn't know what a Muslim was. They thought Muslim was a type of cloth. Now, Americans know what Muslims are and they're very afraid of Muslims. And they're also afraid of muslin, which is a weird thing.
On how things have changed after 9/11:
After 9/11, Americans were much more curious about ... "What are these Muslims?" "What is this thing called Islam?" "Who is this person 'Qur'an'?" I think now what has happened is that the answer has been given by the media and the government. This conversation has been hijacked and what Americans are being told is that they should be afraid of Muslims. Things like the implementation of Sharia law, which could never happen in America, and yet a large percentage of Americans think that Sharia law is going to take over America.
On the term GIF:
It's interesting that the word GIF... what does it mean?
(David chimes in with the definition.)
Well! It also means "Grandma I'd Like to Fuck!" Doesn't it?
Oh. That's GILF. Sorry, my bad.
On the differences between being an immigrant in America and Britain:
On making it in the industry;
If you want to go into show business, just suck at everything else. Because if you do, you have no choice, which is what I did. I was just terrible at every other subject except drama and English. Show business was the only place I could really go. I think my parents realized very soon, "He's not going to medical or law school, this guy." That was a sad day for them, but I think they eventually accepted it. And now they're very proud and happy.
On his parents:
Most of my family is very excited and supportive of the project. They're very excited that I'm doing what I'm doing. It wasn't always that way. As most immigrant parents are wont to do, they were suspicious and dubious of the whole thing for a long time. Now they're happy for my success. Now they just want grandkids. At the end of the day, they're Indian parents. What're you going to do?