Asian A.V. Club newsletter #41: Abdullah Saeed
Writer, journalist, composer, and producer Abdullah Saeed can now add creator to his impressive list of accomplishments with the raucously delirious action-comedy Deli Boys.
Comedic actor, writer, and all-around creative talent Abdullah Saeed is stepping into the spotlight with his original new series, Deli Boys. You might know him from his days as Vice’s weed specialist, where he brought a uniquely funny and informative voice to his stories, or from his recurring role on HBO’s cult favorite High Maintenance. Now, Saeed is combining his sharp wit and storytelling chops to deliver a show that is both darkly comedic and wildly entertaining.
Deli Boys follows brothers Mir (Asif Ali) and the free-spirited Raj (Saagar Shaikh) as they uncover their late father’s secret life as a drug kingpin—turns out, the family business wasn’t just about convenience stores! Packed with humor, heart, and a touch of chaos, Deli Boys has earned glowing reviews for its fresh take on family, identity, and the immigrant experience.
We sat down with Saeed to discuss his distinct point of view, the journey of bringing Deli Boys to life, and, most importantly, whether his mom thinks the show is as funny as the rest of us do.
Asian A.V. Club: It’s interesting that you grew up in Thailand before moving to the US. Did being in an Asian society, yet still considered an ‘international’ expat, offer you a different view on things?
Abdullah Saeed: Oh yeah, absolutely. I think the advantage it gave me is perspective. I grew up in Asia with a lot of American culture. I went to an American school and I consumed American media, but of course, America was still ‘over there’. It was encapsulated as this faraway place. So, when I came to the United States, it really changed the way I view humor. To me, absurdist humor really points out these oddities of American life that we don't really notice every day. That's sort of at the heart of American observational comedy, and I feel because of my shifted perspective, I was really able to look at comedy in that way. And I think opening myself up to that difference also helped. Because the first few years you're just trying to be as American as possible, but once I learned to navigate my American identity with my Pakistani Muslim identity and with my Southeast Asian upbringing, it allowed me to look at things through a different humorous lens.
Asian A.V. Club: Outside of consuming American media, where do you think you got your humor from? Was the dynamic back home playful with your family?
Abdullah Saeed: My mother is a very funny person, and she has this cutting sense of humor that can kind of shock or surprise you. I think all of us have one laugh in our head that we want to satisfy when we're writing jokes. For me, it's making my mother's laugh.
It's eerily similar to my wife Alexandra’s (Ruddy) laugh. They both have this really deep and just satisfying laugh that I'm always trying to get. I attribute a lot of my humor to my mom. My older brother is also a very funny guy. He's a little more understated than me and is sort of the calm one in some ways. His name is Ahmed, so of course, I named the most detestable character in Deli Boys Ahmed as a dig at my brother. (laughs)
Asian A.V. Club: You started your career as a journalist, how did you make the transition from behind the scenes to going in front of the camera?
Abdullah Saeed: So, when I was hosting Vice stuff, there was a space to make extemporaneous jokes, and it was also a way to make your subject a little bit more comfortable and give the editors something to use, right?
So I was already kind of in front of the camera doing that, but it wasn't until I started working on High Maintenance as an actor and really got in front of the camera doing comedic bits that were scripted, that I started to see myself as a performer.
I've been a musician my whole life, but being a performer in this way was completely new to me. And then when I moved to LA, I started doing stand-up and ran a show with my buddy at El Cid in Silver Lake for many years. That was where I sort of traded spots and started performing at a lot of weed comedy shows, like independent comedy, which was kind of my world. That really helped me shape my comedic sense, not only for my writing and performing, but also for pitching. My improved my ability to pitch may not seem like a sexy skill, but functionally, for a writer and producer, it's an important skill.
Asian A.V. Club: Was there a visual or specific memory seed that you kept in your back pocket before you actually created your series Deli Boys?
Abdullah Saeed: I think that the setting up a convenience store was a comfortable space for me. My family's Pakistani, and like many Pakistanis in America, they own franchise businesses, right? My mom had a coffee shop in a mall when I was in high school, and that's where I worked and stuff. You get the idea that this is one of the dirtier jobs that no one else wants to do, and so it's available to immigrants. In America, when you have that kind of job, you're forced to cut corners. And I just imagined a world in which a guy did not stop cutting those corners. He just kept going and going and going and going until he had compromised his whole business and brought danger upon himself and his children.
To me, it was also fascinating that, like my parents, many immigrant parents have these secrets that they keep from their children. It's almost unnecessary. You want to know your parents, but they're hiding all this stuff for you, for your own good. So for Deli Boys, these boys love their dad, but they don't really know him and start to get to know him and his secrets only after he dies. To me, there was something really beautiful and really touching about that. That's what brings these two very different brothers together.
Images from @saagarshaikh @ruddybuddy instagram
Asian A.V. Club: I hope you don’t mind me saying this, but while I’m talking to you, I totally see elements of you in the performances of Asif Ali and Saagar Shaikh. Did you realize they were picking up ‘isms’ of your personality as the shoot went on?
Abdullah Saeed: That is so funny that you say that. The short version of the story is basically we cast Mir (Asif Ali) first with the idea that I would play Raj. And it was down to Saagar and Asif, but we ended up choosing Asif. But then a decision was made internally that I shouldn't be playing a lead when I'm also writing and producing on my first series, which I think was the best thing in the end. I actually worked with Saagar when he was testing for the role and gave him some prep, which probably allowed him to take on some qualities of myself for Raj.
I feel like Asif and I are kindred spirits in a lot of ways. He just has these qualities that are like mine - even our voices have this weird similarity. The way that we operate, we are very quick to make a goofy joke. But seeing the two together, it all just made sense. It just clicked in this way that allowed the rest of the world around them to become so much more colorful. Every single department and the other actors just fed off their energy.
Asian A.V. Club: I appreciate the fact that your show also represented a specific culture without having to explain anything to the audience.
Abdullah Saeed: You know what? I really wanted to see flawed characters, who have immigrant roots, because I had only ever seen kind of the lamest version of us depicted. Like, we're striving to work hard and be good. But you know what? We have negative emotions and struggles, and I wanted to tell all that through a humorous lens, showing a Pakistani story that could really be anybody, because they're just existing. This show gives them space to exist.
I want people to feel that we're as human as anyone else, as crazy as that sounds. I didn't realize when I wrote the show that we live in a world where I have to say, Muslims are human, just like everybody else. Maybe if you can identify with these fictional Muslims, you can identify with the real ones who are being persecuted all over the world right now. Because we are just regular people in a lot of ways.
Asian A.V. Club: There’s also something really beautiful when you turn on the TV and you see people that look like you. Did you have that step-back moment where you’re like, this is kind of neat.
Abdullah Saeed: Oh definitely. The way this show is lit, the way that it's shot - speaks to these skin tones - know what I mean? Also having a patriarch who is probably the most well-known Pakistani actor in American television loom so large over this whole show just provides this realness to it.
You know, my whole life, I've been struggling against the stories I should be telling, or what other people in my diaspora think I should be doing, or what the majority culture thinks I should be doing. This show really is purely what I wanted to say, and everybody who worked on it helped to refine that voice. I'm very grateful, because now, finally, this thing is gonna be out.
Asian A.V. Club: I gotta ask, did you make your mom laugh watching this show?
Abdullah Saeed: Especially in the pilot, when the boys bow and everyone else is still standing [in the funeral], she laughs so hard every time she sees that. And that makes me very happy.
Asian A.V. Club: That makes me so happy that your mom is happy! Congratulations on this show and thank you for talking to us!
Abdullah Saeed: Thanks so much, man.
Ooo this wasn’t on my radar, ty for this!! def queueing it up for this weekend, looks so good
Been meaning to start this show - this interview is a good push to!