‘Disheartening to see right-wing Indian Americans’: Comedian Nimesh Patel on a divided diaspora

A few minutes into his first Netflix special Buy the Dip, comedian Nimesh Patel gets the room chanting: “H-1Bs! H-1Bs!” while making a joke about immigrants in the US. He then asks whether any visa holders are in the audience. When a few people cheer, Patel cuts them off humorously. “Stay quiet man,” he says. “It’s too hot right now, the fuck’s wrong with you?”.

In a year when Indians have become a prime target for America’s anti-immigrant right wing, Indian American comedian Nimesh Patel is having a moment. The comedian, known for delivering his punchlines with a laid-back, stoner vibe, has long taken a serious, introspective look at Indian American identity, politics and culture.

He has stood out as someone who has shown the other side of the Indian American diaspora through jokes about his father, who immigrated to the US in the 1970s and ran a liquor store in New Jersey.

After the release of his Netflix special, Nimesh Patel spoke to Scroll to discuss his ideological disagreements with the diaspora and why he believes it could use a little more self-awareness about its politics and its religion.

Nimesh Patel, 40, hails from Parsippany in New Jersey, a town with a large Indian diaspora population. He was a pre-med finance...

Read more