Vir Das on 'Abroad Understanding'

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We've talked about it on the show before -- Netflix seems intent on buying up the comedy world. This year alone there have been for specials from comedians including Amy Schumer, Dave Chappelle, Louis CK and Vir Das.

You might not recognize that last name unless you happen to be familiar with the English-language comedy scene in India. In his home country, Das has sold out stadiums and appeared in Bollywood films. He has more than five million Twitter followers.

Now he wants to establish himself in the US. His Netflix special, Vir Das: Abroad Understanding, cuts back and forth between two venues -- a stadium in New Delhi and an underground club in New York -- which vividly illustrates his popularity in India compared with his relative obscurity in America.

Das truly brings a global perspective to his comedy. He was born in India, but his family moved to Nigeria when Das was just a year old. He grew up going back and forth from Africa to boarding school in India. When it came time to look at universities, Das made another geographic leap. He tells us about discovering acting through a class at an American college, deciding to go back to India to pursue comedy, breaking into Bollywood through an unconventional ploy, and why he's determined not to fall back on making easy jokes about his accent.

Credits

Host:

Kim Masters

Producer:

Kaitlin Parker