Do You Celebrate Thanksgiving in Pakistan? Kumail Nanjiani Hilariously Ad-Libs on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
- The Pakistani American actor is currently on a press junket to promote “Welcome to Chippendales,” which premiers on Hulu Nov. 22.
Kumail Nanjiani, the Pakistani American actor, screenwriter and stand-up comedian, was a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Thursday to promote his true-crime series on Hulu, “Welcome to Chippendales,” in which he plays Indian American Somen “Steve” Banerjee, the founder of the empire built on male strippers.
Banerjee’s all-male striptease revue was a sensational success in the late 1970s, raking in millions through clubs and merchandise. But within a decade Banerjee was implicated in cases that involved murder-for-hire, racketeering and arson. The extraordinary story of Banerjee came to an end in 1994 when he killed himself in his jail cell, just days before he was to be sentenced.
Nanjiani, the breakout star of the rom-com “The Big Sick,” is currently on a press junket to promote “Welcome to Chippendales,” which premiers on Hulu on Nov. 22.
During the segment, Nanjiani talks about never going to the dentist all through his childhood in Pakistan, his experiments with bodybuilding for his role in the Marvel Studios superhero film “Eternals,” and his father’s disappointment of seeing him almost nude in a film.
That’s when host Kimmel asked him if they celebrate Thanksgiving Day in Pakistan. Nanjiani replied saying that they do have something similar, Eid, when they go out to visit dozens of relatives, stuffing themselves in each of their houses. But before that, he ad-libbed saying that Pakistanis don’t do Thanksgiving specifically … “our relationship with Indians is different,” hilariously alluding to the antagonistic relations Pakistanis have with real Indians in India and not what the Pilgrims had with the so-called “Indians.”
“Not really,” Kimmel said amid laughter, clearly impressed by Nanjiani’s pun.