Drinking Guinness & Black With Comedian Vir Das

Many comic routines have met with a hostile audience response but comedian Vir Das almost found himself in prison. In his fourth Netflix special ‘Landing’ Das talks about the fallout from a ‘Two Indias’ speech he gave at the end of a performance at The Kennedy Center and what happened when he returned to his home country of India. I met with the Emmy-nominated Das at the Soho Grand in New York to discuss the new special, his upcoming ’Mind Fool’ tour and why he is one comic who never wants to drop a mic.

Do you have a favorite country you’ve performed in?

My favorite show might have been Stavanger in Norway. I did Oslo and God was kind, we had like a thousand people show up. Then they said there’s this fishing village called Stavanger, do you want to go and just do a show? There were only 32 people out of which I think 20 were comps. So nobody knew me. No. safety net. It was a good test on a first world tour to see if my material really did translate.

You moved around quite a bit growing up. What affect did that have on your comedy?

It took me a while to figure that out. And the minute you say I’m an outsider — I didn’t realize how broad that made my perspective. Where I didn’t have to pick a camp in America. I don’t have to fit into ‘woke’ audiences. I don’t have to fit into alpha-male audiences. I don’t have to cater to these microcosms. That’s the big positive, finding depth within the outsider perspective. I find something deeper that isn’t just hey I landed in New York three weeks ago and your taxis are aggressive.

Do you look at America as one place or is New York different than Iowa?

I went to college in America. Not like ‘Van Wilder’ and those college movies that you sell us abroad. I went to Galesburg, Illinois — (laughs) the Mecca of civilization as we know it. My host mom was a cafeteria lady. My host dad was a trucker. They drove Harleys and had shotguns and two things: one, I don’t know who decided that you all had to wake up so early in America. Perhaps you’re the most powerful country in the world just because you wake up two hours before anybody else needs to. And two, I think you are harder working than people give you credit for.

Americans are also known for not having a lot of vacations.

And Christianity has what, like three big festivals? The nice thing about Hinduism is you get like 36 through the year.

Is there a need for a comic to make it in America to be considered successful?

This is where standup was invented. But I still don’t know what it means to fully crack America. If that means starring in an American movie, touch wood, I’ll do that this year. If it means starring in an American TV show I’ll do that this year. If it means living in Malibu and having a wheatgrass smoothie — then maybe I haven’t cracked that. But there’s a big bad world out there.

You have a new tour coming up.

The tour is called ‘Mind Fool’ and it’s about not having control over your mind. How there is a complete disconnect between what I’m supposed to do and what my mind forces me to do. And also about a struggle to find out what’s real. Those are the broad themes. I do material about the world in the first forty minutes and then get more personal for the final forty. There’s everything from visits to police stations to first sex.

Where will you be performing?

We’re going to do 32 countries and we consciously decided to level up so I’m going to play Carnegie Hall for the first time. I think I might be the first Indian comedian to ever play there. I’m doing the Chicago Theater, the Kennedy Center, the Dubai Opera House, the Sydney Opera House, the Hammersmith Apollo in London. It’s the dream list of the most iconic venues that I made ten years ago.

Any of those you’re looking forward to in particular?

Straight up Carnegie Hall. I saw George Carlin’s special there. Robin Williams’ as well. I know it’s not a room that does a lot of standup but it represents a global appeal. And it’s just beautiful to look at.

You’re also working on a television show?

It’s called ‘Country Eastern.’ I’ve been in a band since I was 18-years-old and everything I’ve done is classic rock, blues in and country-influenced. I wanted to write a show that brought Americans and Indians to the same sofa together to watch it, but along with the comedic voice could there be another vehicle? And I think that’s music. I don’t think there’s anything more global than good music. So it’s about me becoming a country music singer in Memphis.

Who were the comedians you looked up to growing up?

My top three were Pryor, Carlin and Eddie Izzard. Carlin just for not giving a f@$k. Pryor for putting vulnerability into comedy and turning pain into comedy. And Eddie because he makes you feel like he made it all up a second ago even though it’s exquisitely written.

What’s your favorite drink?

I’m a beer guy. There’s nothing like a Guinness & Black which I cannot seem to find in America. It’s black currant syrup, which is ridiculously sweet, and then a Guinness poured on top. The beer becomes purple and it looks like a weird Voldemort drink. And then I have a beer I launched called ‘Faaaak It’ in India. I wanted something that met me halfway between beer and cider so that’s my favorite.

What was your first drink?

I want to say I was 12 and it was boarding school and it was called Old Monk Rum. I went to boarding school — like Hogwarts on an ex-British military academy on a hill in the north of India. So you had to sneak out of school at night. So it was Old Monk and we didn’t have glasses four of us sat in the hillside and had caps fulls of rum.

Some comedians say this is a bad time for comedy, but you almost went to prison for it. What’s your take on today’s audiences?

Get used to the fact that the audience has as loud a voice as you do now. And if you’re getting grief because of comedy that’s par for the course. If action is being taken against you because of comedy make sure that it’s fair and it’s legal. But what I can tell you is having faced both grief and action taken against me — the fact that there’s a microphone back in my hand that I lost for a hot second, it’s driven me more than you could possibly imagine to say more than you could possibly imagine.

Musicians rave about all their different microphones. Is there one that comedians tend to like?

I’m a [Shure] SM58 man. I appreciate it so much. I’ve never had the gumption to drop it. (Laughs) It’s a big comedian thing to drop the mic and I’m just like, no, that’s four days shipping from Amazon to India and $82 and then customs. So I’m not doing that. I’m not dropping a mic.

Tour date and tickets for the Vir Das Mind Fool tour are available here.