SAAGAR SHAIKH

Today, Hulu dropped their brand new dark comedy DELI BOYS. The 10-episode series is like a gory Schitt's Creek, and follows two Pakistani American brothers after they inherit their father's convenience store chain – and his ties to the criminal underworld. Saagar Shaikh plays Raj, one of the two brothers. You may also recognize him from the Disney+ show Ms. Marvel and its followup feature film The Marvels. Across the board, Saagar shows surprisingly human depth – and variety – in the roles he plays. 

The first episode of DELI BOYS is full of twists and turns: a strange man with a paper bag on his head, a surprise sports accident, and unexpected gore. What was your first time reading through the script like? Was it as surprising and exciting as this first episode?

Yes! We didn't get all the scripts at once, so every week it was getting a new set of surprises. Each episode has its own set of exciting twists and turns that I'm really excited for people to experience. It's a really nice blend of comedy and gore. 

Let's get the most important thing out of the way: The DELI BOYS jacket is absolutely beautiful. Is that kind of a cast and crew only thing? Or will those be on sale for viewers anytime soon?

[Laughs] oh man those jackets are so dope! They were a wrap gift from the camera department. Shout out to our DP Nathan Salter. That being said, I do hope DELI BOYS merch becomes a thing 'cause the people have spoken and the jackets are hot. 

Joking aside, it seems like there was a great culture among the cast and crew for this show. What's one of your favorite moments of camaraderie between your crew members? 

We did a lot of weekend activities and kept the invitations open to anyone that was able to make it. We would go karaoke, and some of these crew members are better singers than some singers I know. Some nights we played darts, and one of the camera ops, Ben, would kick my ass every time.

We played a lot of ping pong, and I truly had no competition (ARE YOU READING THIS, NATE? COME AT ME!). The only one that kept me on my toes was Tim Baltz, this guy is a menace with a ping pong paddle. He’s the nicest guy ever off the table, but he turns into a completely different person when the paddle touches his hand. I've never been more scared of someone in my life.

Nesrine, who’s the head of the HMU department, had a handful of us over to her apartment for dinner once and I still drool thinking about her meal. She cooked Egyptian food, and it was just so incredible. Cailey, the head of wardrobe, was so on top of her game. We co-designed my character's outfit in episode 5, and she had it stitched and ready within the week. It was so perfect. I hope the fans appreciate it as much as we did.

Blaine, one of the camera ops, is incredible with his rollerblading skills and has a crazy guitar collection. I’ll stop here, but I can keep going because I know everything about everyone.

What other experiences in film and television have you had? Have you been 100% on the acting track? Or have you done any writing, directing, lighting, etc. throughout your career?

In 2015 I made a rule for myself that I wouldn’t take any more work outside of the industry, so that forced me to take any job I was able to get within the industry. I interviewed for a bunch of different production assistant gigs, and I took the first one that offered me a job. I was a post P.A. for a 52-episode web series. It was a freelance job, but it kept me employed for 7 months. After that, I kind of got stuck in the post-production world and kept getting the same kinds of jobs for different shows.

Eventually I got promoted to post-production coordinator, then post-production supervisor, and then I got fired for “not being passionate enough about post-production and not going above and beyond.” That was truly the best thing that happened to me at the time. I was working in post for 5 years and while I learned a lot, I didn’t enjoy it.

Along the way, I bought myself a bunch of camera equipment and learned how to use it all. One of my side hustles was taking headshots for other actors. I have written a few short films over the years, but I’ve never really done anything with them. I hope to one day write a script and I also have dreams of directing.  

Tell me a little bit about your experience with the Upright Citizens Brigade? How has sketch comedy experience helped your professional career?

I signed up for UCB Improv 101 before I even moved to LA. It’s kind of the thing that forced my timeline in terms of my move date. I saved up for months to take that class and I couldn't let that money go to waste. Man, I love that theatre so much. I took classes there for about 8 years, whether it was improv or sketch. UCB really taught me to think differently about every interaction I have. It brought me out of my comfort zone and really taught me how to commit to a character. 

Some background on this next question: I'm a Mormon, and so I don't fit in with mainstream Christianity and have a weirdly specific global cultural identity that's separate from others. Often – I would say 99% of the time – my faith and culture have not been accurately represented on screen. My wife and I had a long discussion about your performance as Aamir Khan in Ms. Marvel. The show presented him as obviously more devout/orthodox compared to the rest of the family, but did so in a way that didn't pass judgment or poke fun at his religious convictions and was certainly respectful of Islam. Aamir was presented as a normal, laid-back human being full of wisdom and discipline but was still able to quip back and forth with the family after his prayers. We really appreciated that and were able to see a little bit of our lives in Aamir. I'm curious about how you personally approached the role. Did you have someone in your life that inspired your portrayal of Aamir?

Aw, thank you so much for saying that!

Growing up Muslim, I know a lot of people on various parts of the spectrum on the religiosity scale, and having the knowledge myself I fully understood who Aamir was. I brought parts of both of my brothers to the character. They can be serious and goofy at the same time. I think in the first episode, everyone was still finding their footing, so I wanted to honor the script and directors’ vision earlier in the process. As I got more comfortable with the environment, and as the directors’ trust in me built, I started playing a little bit more with the words and the jokes. I ended up improvising a lot of the jokes and I was surprised that they used most of them in the final cut. My two favorite ones were “Haraam dot kamran” and “Gotta grab the money!"

Your character in DELI BOYS is very different from Aamir Khan. Who would you say you're more like in real life? Aamir or Raj? What do you like most about playing Raj?

[Laughs] Yes. they are VERY different. It’s funny because my opening shot in Ms. Marvel is Aamir sitting at the breakfast area making Duah (saying a little prayer) and the opening shot in DELI BOYS is Raj waking up the morning after an orgy. VERY different. I think I found a balance in both.