Erik Adams
If there’s one thing more common in TV and movies than the story of a Regular Person Falling Into a Life of Crime (like Breaking Bad, Ozark, Blue Ruin), it’s the comedic spin on it, i.e. Wow It’s Really Hard to Mop Up Blood (see Weeds, Good Girls, Raising Arizona, or Burn After Reading). On the outside, Deli Boys’ tale of wealthy Pakistani brothers in Philadelphia discovering what really generated their fortune slots into the latter category. Fortunately, Abdullah Saeed’s show has the perfect solution: being really, really, really funny. Through a combination of specificity and silliness, Deli Boys freshens up what could’ve been a premise staler than a four-year-old Tastykake.
That specificity presents itself almost instantly as we’re introduced to the titular boys: Raj (Saagar Shaikh) and Mir Dar (Asif Ali), whose late father, Baba Dar (Iqbal Theba), owned several delis throughout Pennsylvania’s Delaware Valley – most crucially in their homebase, the City of Brotherly Love. Mir is the more straitlaced of the two, with a degree from Drexel University, a name drop (and this writer’s alma mater) that gets funnier every time it’s said, and could only get funnier if he dug deeper and mentioned the Lebow College of Business by name. Raj, on the other hand, is a classic party boy, content with having lots of sex and consuming all manner of drugs. This riches-to-rags setup is, again, a little reminiscent of other sitcoms like Arrested Development or Schitt’s Creek, especially the ensuing FBI raid that leads to both of them losing everything in the aftermath of Baba’s hilarious cartoonish death by golf ball. It’s livened up by fast and furious jokes as well as some sublime silliness that, at its best, resembles the late, great Comedy Central/Max sitcom South Side.
The show’s secret weapon makes her first appearance during that scene: interim DarCo CEO Lucky Auntie (Poorna Jagannathan). Jagannathan’s no-nonsense “say nothing” aura makes an immediate mark, but it’s when she kills a man inside the last legitimate vestige of Baba’s business empire that both she and Deli Boys really kick things into gear. The Never Have I Ever and The Night Of actress steals practically every scene she’s in, whether she’s cursing the latest mistake Raj and Mir have made or trading barbs with her nemesis in crime, Ahmad (Brian George, known for his turn as Seinfeld’s Babu Bhatt as well as his voice acting in games like Baldur’s Gate and Mass Effect). George himself has a lot of fun, spitting lines like “Yeah, and I’m a twink” or “Who does she think she is, Dua Lipa?” with sardonic British aplomb.
Like all great sitcoms, Deli Boys’ greatest strength is in its dialogue – the lines themselves, and how they’re delivered. Characters drop location-specific lines like “I’ve done more rail than SEPTA”, culturally specific lines like “If your kid doesn’t get bullied by the white children in their class when they pull that out of their lunchbox, it’s not Caca brand achar,” and many, many others. It’s in this dialogue – and the occasional flourish like Tim and Eric-esque corporate videos and a quirked-up white boy reciting near perfect Arabic – that Deli Boys lands its funniest shots. Also helpful is the array of guest stars, like Goodfellas’ Kevin Corrigan (as a crime boss), The Righteous Gemstones’ Tim Baltz and his wife and fellow Comedy Bang! Bang! regular Lily Sullivan, and even alt-comedy royalty Chris Elliott. Baltz’s FBI director especially – alongside fellow agent Mercer (Alexandra Ruddy) – helps enliven a run-of-the-mill investigation subplot.
Ali and Shaikh, though charming from the get-go, take a little bit to settle into their performances, their first couple episodes feeling a bit too mannered. Though they eventually hold their own well enough, it’s undeniable that they get lapped by Jagannathan every time she’s on screen. (To be fair, Lucky Auntie is one of the best new TV characters of the year so far, so Jagannathan is practically lapping everyone she’s on screen with.) She does well in the show’s few action scenes despite a bit of wonky direction.
Most importantly: Deli Boys’ central storyline is compelling enough to follow it all the way, mainly just to see what wacky scenarios the boys will have to bumble their way through. It’s also a joy to see Shaikh and Ali yucking it up onscreen without having to couch their antics in more serious matters like the immigrant experience and racism the way shows like Master of None, Ramy, or Mo do. (That topical material is there – there’s a whole episode about Indian/Pakistani racism – it’s just not always in the foreground.) As good as those shows are, could you imagine either dropping the line “We’d be the first innocent brown people in jail. Oh my god”?
Source link
ranzware
Add comment