TanGent Show

Aasif Mandvi is an actor, comedian, writer, and longtime Daily Show correspondent, known for his work on television, film, Broadway, and his one-man show Sakina's Restaurant . His book No Land's Man is a collection of stories about growing up between India, England, and America and finding his way through an acting career while constantly negotiating questions of identity and belonging. This episo...

Melanie Chandra is an actress, model, and former Miss India America who made the leap from Stanford mechanical engineering and McKinsey & Company into entertainment. She went on to star in Code Black , appear in The Brink , and build a career across film, television, and modeling. We get into why awkwardness is actually a pretty useful thing, and her admiration for people who have figured out what...

Azhar Usman is a comedian, actor, writer, and producer best known as one third of Allah Made Me Funny . He's also worked on shows like Ramy , Mo , Ms. Marvel , and Patriot . Before comedy, he somehow managed to become a lawyer. Azhar and I have been friends and collaborators for years, including co-creating our Make Chai Not War shows, so I knew this conversation was probably not going to stay on...

Janina Gavankar is an actor and musician who has appeared on The L Word , True Blood , The League , and The Gates . She also just starred in the hit movie Best of the Best which recently premiered on Netflix and hit #1 movie in the world on that platform. On top of all of her acting accolades, Janina is also one of those people who seems to have about six completely different careers happening at...

My guest on this episode is someone I've known my entire life - my mom, Lalita. She taught elementary school for 36 years and, after retiring, somehow decided that sitting around wasn't for her and started teaching Hindi at Miami University. So naturally, I thought I'd bring her on the podcast and find out what she actually thinks about life, work, family, faith, and all the questions I've been as...

Rakesh Satyal is, most importantly, my brother. But he is also an esteemed author and editor, best known for his novel Blue Boy , a coming-of-age story about a young Indian American boy in the Midwest. He's also spent years working in publishing in New York, bringing together a rather unusual combination of literary brain and pop-culture obsession. Since Rakesh is indeed my brother, I figured I ha...

Fahim Anwar is a comedian, actor, writer, and former Boeing engineer who went from doing stand-up in Seattle while working in aerospace to performing on Conan, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and Comedy Central. He also was a part of Goatface with Hasan Minhaj, Asif Ali, and Aristotle Athiras, and has appeared in shows like Chuck, The Carmichael Show, and United States of Al. When Fahim and I sat dow...

Maz Jobrani is a comedian, actor, writer, and a founding member of the comedy group "Axis of Evil". He's built a career talking about culture, politics, immigration, and family, while also appearing on shows like The Colbert Report , Grey's Anatomy , and Superior Donuts . Maz and I go all over the place in this conversation, but underneath all the jokes is a pretty consistent question: how do you...

Sebastian Maniscalco is one of the sharpest observational comedians working today, with a style built around turning everyday annoyances into very specific, very funny outrage. He's gone on to star in films like Green Book and The Irishman , release multiple stand-up specials, and become one of the biggest live comedy acts in the world. When Sebastian and I sat down, I was fascinated by how much o...

In this episode, I sat down with an extremely special guest: my dad. He has since passed away, so this recording is very special to me. It serves as a lasting memory of the love and kindness he shared with everyone he met. Vinay Kumar Satyal: November 12, 1944 - May 8, 2024

Payal Kadakia is the founder of ClassPass and the founder and artistic director of The Sa Dance Company, a contemporary Indian dance company. An MIT graduate who went on to work at Bain & Company and Warner Music Group, Payal managed to turn the thing she couldn't imagine giving up (dance) into the foundation for both her artistic career and one of the biggest fitness platforms in the world. Payal...

Parvesh Cheena is an actor and voice performer whose career has taken him from Barbershop to memorable roles in NBC's Outsourced , Crazy Ex-Girlfriend , A to Z , and The Mandalorian , along with an extensive run in animation including Transformers: Rescue Bots and Centaurworld . He's been working professionally for two decades, which, as he explains to me, is roughly when you can finally say you'r...

Dean Delray is a stand-up comedian and podcaster who has spent years building a career around two things he clearly loves: comedy and rock and roll. He's the host of the long-running  Let There Be Talk podcast, where he's interviewed an incredible range of musicians, comedians, and entertainers, and his own comedy career has taken him from The Comedy Store to touring stages around the country. Dea...

Avantika Vandanapu has already had a pretty wild career for someone who started acting as a child. The Bay Area-born actress began working in Telugu cinema before moving into American projects, eventually landing the lead in Disney's Spin and appearing in Senior Year , Mean Girls , Tarot , and Prime Video's Big Girls Don't Cry . We talk about growing up between California and India, starting her c...

Hari Kondabolu is a comedian, writer and podcaster whose work has landed him everywhere from Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Conan to Comedy Central , and his documentary The Problem with Apu . He also has a Master's in Human Rights from the London School of Economics, which may explain why a conversation with Hari can go from tennis and punk rock to race, power and colonialism without ever feeling like th...

The second time  Hasan Minhaj joins me on the podcast, we get a little deeper into the question of what it actually means to "make it." By this point, Hasan had already worked on The Daily Show , and released multiple comedy specials, but he was already thinking beyond the next accomplishment and toward the larger body of work he wanted to build. We get into the idea of burning the boats, why the...

Hasan Minhaj has built one of the most distinctive careers in comedy, from The Daily Show and the White House Correspondents' Dinner to his Peabody, and Emmy-winning Patriot Act and Netflix specials like Homecoming King and The King's Jester . But for me, Hasan is also my old roommate, which makes this episode feel a little different from the usual celebrity interview. We talk about why he chose c...

Deepak Chorpa is a bestselling author and one of the most recognizable voices in modern spirituality and wellness. The author of more than 90 books, including The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success and Metahuman , he has spent decades exploring the intersection of consciousness, health, science, and human potential. And this isn't even our first time sitting down together - Deepak has been kind enoug...

Ian Edwards is a stand-up comedian and writer who has performed on Def Comedy Jam , The Tonight Show , Conan , The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson , and Gotham Comedy Live . He's also written for shows including The Boondocks and Black-ish , but if you ask Ian to describe himself, his answer is much simpler: "lazy and ambitious." That combination pretty much tells you what kind of conversation...

Aparna Nancherla is a comedian, writer, actress, and bestselling author whose distinctive voice has made her one of the most original comics working today. You've seen her stand-up on Netflix, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert , and Conan , heard her in BoJack Horseman , and watched her in series like Corporate , The Great North , The Standups , and A Simple Favor . Her memoir, Unreliable Narrato...

Kevin Nealon is a comedian, actor, and writer whose nine-year run on Saturday Night Live produced unforgettable characters like Mr. Subliminal and Hans and Franz. He's also known for starring in Weeds , appearing in films like Happy Gilmore , The Wedding Singer , Grandma's Boy , and Daddy Day Care , and, more recently, for his wonderfully offbeat hiking interview series, Hiking with Kevin . Kevin...

Chris D'Elia is a stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and podcast host whose career has included starring roles in NBC's Whitney , Undateable , Netflix's You , and The Good Doctor , along with multiple stand-up specials that have made him one of comedy's biggest touring acts. This conversation, though, catches Chris at a fascinating moment - right as Whitney is about to premiere and everything is be...

Aasif Mandvi is an actor, comedian, and writer best known for his years as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, along with memorable roles in Evil , The Internship , Spider-Man 2 , Million Dollar Arm , and The Last Airbender . As both a performer and outspoken commentator, he's spent years using comedy to examine politics, identity, and the immigrant experience from a perspective th...

Deepica Mutyala is an entrepreneur, beauty creator, and founder of #LiveTinted, the beauty brand she launched after her viral color-correcting beauty hack introduced millions of people to her perspective on representation in the beauty industry. Before building her own company, she worked at Birchbox, became one of the earliest South Asian creators to break through on YouTube, and has since been r...

Charles Fleischer is an actor, comedian, musician, inventor, and the unmistakable voice of Roger Rabbit in Who Framed Roger Rabbit . Beyond that iconic performance, he's appeared in films like Back to the Future Part II , A Nightmare on Elm Street , The Polar Express , Zodiac , and dozens of television shows while cultivating a lifelong fascination with mathematics, science, music, and invention....