Kumail Nanjiani Is A Super Man

Literally. The actor, writer, and producer talks sexism, perfectionism, and breaking barriers.

- Joel Stein

Kumail Nanjiani would like to rewrite this article. I’m not saying he thinks I was mean or wrote poorly or got something wrong. I’m saying he can’t help himself. The night before we meet for coffee in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles, he was a presenter at the Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas. He promised his wife and sometime cowriter, sometime co-podcaster, sometime coproducer, Emily V. Gordon, that he wouldn’t touch the copy written for him. Then he rewrote it. Three times. At least.

He’s rewritten every movie part he’s ever had. “Emily is like, ‘People have written this and rewritten this, and they’ve thought about all of this. Why do you think you can come in and know better than everyone else?’ ” Nanjiani says. “I don’t know better, but I do know what I would rather do. That’s all I have.”

What Nanjiani has, beneath his mellow demeanor, is panic about not being perfect. Comedian and actor Jonah Ray, who cohosted Comedy Central’s The Meltdown With Jonah and Kumail for three seasons, remembers throwing a wrap party with him at a bar. A blackout struck, and Nanjiani kept walking around saying the party was ruined even though everyone was having a good time. When they first decided to put on a weekly live stand-up show together, Ray and Nanjiani discussed their goals. “I told him I wanted to give comics stage time, have stage time myself, and have fun. Kumail said, ‘I want it to be the best show in town,’ ” Ray says.