"Aaja" by Swet Shop Boys
feat. Ali Sethi playing]
[cheering and applause]
[announcer] Ladies and gentlemen,
welcome to the stage, Kumail Nanjiani!
[cheering and applause]
Hi!
Yeah!
Hi! [laughing]
Yeah!
- [cheering and applause continue]
- Thank you, thank you.
Thank you.
How's it going, Chicago?
[audience cheering]
[Kumail laughing]
Just walking out, as soon as you--
I heard you cheer, almost started crying.
That's not... [laughs]
I got overwhelmed, thank you.
You are so absolutely wonderful.
It means so much to me
that you're here tonight.
Uh, I wanna clarify one thing.
I wanna make sure you all
know that I started off
as a stand-up comedian
here in Chicago.
- [cheering and applause]
- I did.
I-- I started off doing stand-up
in Chicago.
Then I did it for many years.
I stopped for like 10 years,
and now I've started stand-up again.
It's very important to me
that you understand
that I'm not like an actor who's like,
"Now, I'm gonna do some stand-up."
[laughter]
I'd rather you think
I invented COVID, okay?
[laughter]
Also, do not get weird
about the muscles.
I know some people get weird about them.
Don't get weird.
Don't get weird.
- It's like...
- [cheering and applause]
Some people get scared.
Don't be scared.
These muscles can't hurt you.
- These muscles are decorative.
- [laughter]
These muscles
have never seen combat.
[laughter]
This is the closest
I've ever been to a fight, okay?
This was years ago
when I lived in Brooklyn.
I was driving my wife's car around
at night to try and find a spot.
I finally found a spot.
I pulled in, another guy was pulling in,
we started arguing.
I was like, "Go f*ck yourself."
He got out of the car,
started walking towards me
and he was like, "What did you say?"
And I was like, "I said...
I was sorry!"
[laughter]
That's the closest
I've ever been to a fight.
Never been in a fight because
I'm super good at apologizing.
[laughter]
Love being back in Chicago.
A lot of stuff has changed, um...
Marijuana's legal here now.
[cheering and applause]
I'm gonna start off controversial.
I think legalizing marijuana
was a mistake.
- [scattered gasps, boos]
- Oh. Okay, hold on.
- [laughter]
- That's not the end of the show.
I have a point to make.
By the way, does anyone
remember what it was like
buying marijuana
before it was legal?
[scattered cheers]
You had to, like,
go to a guy's house.
[laughter]
You had to, like,
pretend to be friends with a guy.
You had to, like, watch a little bit
of The Matrix with him.
[laughter]
You had to pet his iguana.
It was a f*cking nightmare.
And then, what did you do
after buying weed from him?
- [audience member] Smoke.
- Yes! Smoke with him!
W-What? No!
You have so much,
I have so little.
[laughter]
Why do I have to give
some of it back to you for free?
You don't do that at other places.
At a restaurant, to the waiter,
you're not like,
"Alright, here's a bite of my burger."
[laughter]
Let me explain what I mean, okay?
I think marijuana
should be decriminalized.
- I don't think people should go-- yeah.
- [scattered cheers]
I don't think people should go to jail
for marijuana possession.
People who are in jail for
marijuana possession should be let out.
- I think it's ridiculous.
- [cheering and applause]
I just don't think
it should be, like, 100% legal.
I feel I should have to
break the law a little bit...
to feel the way I feel
when I'm high.
[laughter]
I'll give you an example.
A few weeks ago,
my wife and I
were in Northern California.
We're going on a nice date night
to a nice restaurant.
And I'd taken an edible.
And, by the way,
now that weed's legal,
edibles are way better
because there's a number on the box...
[laughter]
...that tells you the maximum high
you will possibly get.
Back in the day, it was always
a mysterious adventure.
[laughter]
Some people were just
trying to prove a point.
I remember back when I lived here,
there was an old lady
who'd go to bars and sell weed muffins.
And I once bought
a weed muffin from her.
- [audience member] Woo!
- And I ate it, and she was like,
- "You ate the whole thing?!"
- [laughter]
"You have to go home right now."
[laughter]
And then I laid awake
in bed for three days
thinking about every email
I'd sent in the last five years.
[laughter]
So, much better now.
We were going on a date,
I'd taken an edible, and I was super high.
But I knew the number on the box,
so I felt safe.
So, we go, we sit down outside.
There's gorgeous mountains
and the sun's in my eyes,
and I'm just staring at it like...
I'm so high, I'm just like,
"You're high. I'm high. [chuckles]
Same word, two meanings."
[laughter]
The waiter comes up to me, he's like,
"Sir, right now, the sun's in your eyes."
And I'm like...
[laughs] "Yeah, no--
- Yeah, no sh*t."
- [laughter]
He says, "Sir, right now,
the sun's in your eyes,
"but once it starts to set,
you are going to be treated
to the most beautiful sunset
in all of California."
And I looked at this man super high,
and I was like,
"Well, is the sun going to set
behind the mountains?
[laughter]
Or in front of the mountains?"
[laughter]
It should be a little bit ill*gal.
I should have to break the law
a little bit to forget how the sun works.
[laughter]
I was genuinely like, "Well, I've never
been to your restaurant, so...
[laughter]
"I don't know how
you're doing things here.
"I don't know if you're setting the sun
behind the mountains
"or in front of the mountains.
But if it's in front,
I would like to be reseated."
[laughter]
I've been going to a lot
of concerts recently.
I love going to concerts.
I love seeing live music.
It's one of my favorite things to do.
It feels like magic to me.
- Like, I can't do that, and I love--
- [audience member] Woo!
- Yeah, I love going to concerts.
- [light applause]
I'll tell you what I hate,
and it happens at every concert.
I hate the encore.
I hate the whole f*cking thing of it.
Don't pretend to leave.
Stay out here,
play all the songs in a row.
It's late.
I have work in the morning.
[laughter]
Stay out here,
play all the songs in a row.
[audience member] Woo!
How fragile is your ego
that you have to make us
extra clap for you...
[laughter]
...so you'll finish the show
that we've already paid for?
We've been clapping for you all night.
What will fill the hole
in your souls, musicians?
Don't make us play along
with your silly little game.
They're like, "Alright, show's over.
We're leaving without playing
our three biggest songs."
[laughter]
"Oh no!
"I can't believe the Eagles left
without playing 'Hotel California.'
[laughter]
"And 'Desperado.'
And... 'Hotel California.'"
[laughter and applause]
[laughing] I don't really know
their music.
[laughter]
I saw a show recently,
this made me so angry!
When they pretended
to leave for the encore,
the guitarist left his phone out there.
[laughter]
Bring that with you, man!
At least pretend you're leaving for good.
You know, if you're gonna do it,
really commit to it.
Bring up the lights,
open the doors,
insist the show is over.
And then, as everyone's leaving,
come back out
and play three more songs.
Make everyone cancel their Ubers.
[laughter]
Chicago, you guys are so wonderful.
Can I talk about something
that's a little, like,
emotionally difficult
for me to talk about?
Are we okay with that?
- [cheering and applause]
- I have your permission?
Yeah?
Okay, great.
Um, I have a cat.
- I do. Her name is Bagel.
- [scattered cheers]
I call her Everything Bagel
because she is everything to me.
- I--
- [audience members] Aw!
I tell you that story to-- to illustrate
how disgusting my love is for her.
I love her too much.
She's too important to me.
I'm scared by how much I love her.
Like, she's my whole heart.
Sometimes I kiss her face so much,
I put her whole-- whole face in my mouth.
- [laughter]
- I wish I could eat her
and have her still be around, you know?
Trump was right about immigrants.
[laughter and applause]
[cheering and applause]
I wish I could eat her,
and then give birth to her,
because that's what true love is.
[laughter]
I have so many names for her:
Bagel, Bages,
Little Baby Bages.
And recently, out of nowhere,
Sweet Christian Girl.
[laughter]
I don't know how it started. [laughs]
I didn't even realize I was doing it.
My wife caught me.
She's like, "Are you calling
our cat 'Sweet Christian Girl'?"
It makes no sense
because I am not Christian.
And she's not Christian.
I mean, she believes
there's something, you know?
[laughter]
She's "spiritual."
f*ck' Hollywood cats.
Obnoxious.
Bagel, uh, just turned 16.
- [audience groans]
- Alright, I don't need that.
- [laughter]
- Don't love that reaction.
I understand how time works, okay?
[laughter]
You can't do that with humans.
"My grandma just turned 90."
- [groaning]
- [laughter]
I know, 16 is an advanced age for a cat.
Her age snuck up on me.
I remember when she was eight,
when Little Baby Bagel was eight.
I took her to the vet,
and the vet was like,
"You know the thing
with geriatric cats is--"
and I was like,
"What do you mean, 'geriatric'?!
"It's a little baby, look at her!
"That's a little baby.
Write down 'baby' on your stupid chart.
[laughter]
I have a question for you.
Are you an idiot?"
[laughter]
Pull out a laser pointer.
"Is this the behavior of an adult?"
[laughter]
"Write down 'baby.'"
[laughter]
Her age snuck up on me
'cause there aren't, like, milestones
that mark the passage of time
with cats, you know?
Like, they don't, like, go to school,
and learn to drive, and get married.
No. Like, I got Bagel
when she was this little.
A few months later,
she was this big.
And since then,
she's looked exactly the same.
- [laughter]
- And learned zero new things.
[laughter]
So, her age
totally snuck up on me.
Last year, I was in London
working for four months,
and I brought Bagel with me
'cause I can't live without her.
And, uh, Little Baby Bagel
started having some health issues.
- [audience members] Oh.
- She did.
And, um, we had to take her
to the vet a whole bunch of times,
we had to do a bunch of different tests.
She had to stay
at the hospital overnight.
- [audience members] Aw.
- It was horrible, yeah.
And then, when we finally had
the final meeting with the vet,
when they'd figured out
what was wrong with Bagel,
we go in, and this British vet's there,
and he's got this very
somber look on his face.
And he's like,
"Your cat has an enlarged heart."
And I was like,
"Yeah, I know she's got a big heart.
"Like, when I'm sad,
she can, like, feel it,
"like we're psychically linked,
and she puts her face right here
and purrs, and it makes me
feel better, it does."
[laughter]
And he says, uh,
"No, uh, in cats, a big heart is bad."
And I was like, "Okay.
Well, then what-sized heart is good?"
And he said, "A normal-sized heart."
[laughter]
I knew the meeting wasn't going well,
'cause the first thing I did
when I got home
was I googled,
"Are vets even real doctors?"
[laughter]
They are.
[laughter]
They have to go to-- they, like,
go to school for it and everything.
And, like, human doctors have to take care
of the human body.
Vets have to take care of
every other kind of body on planet Earth!
You could bring in an iguana or a peacock,
and they'd have to be like,
"Alright, let's see what's going on
inside this f*cking thing."
[laughter]
"I hope it has a heart.
Otherwise, I don't know where to start."
[laughter]
Anyway, so back to the meeting,
this guy's giving us this news,
and it's not great news.
And I don't know what my face did,
but this British guy
got really awkward,
and he started, like, backing up,
and he was, like, looking for something
and he couldn't find it.
And then, finally, he found--
you know that butcher paper
the doctors pull out
that they make you sit on?
Like, it's like that really thin
and really loud piece of paper?
You could-- could kinda see through it.
Like, it's the same material as disposable
toilet seat covers on airplanes.
He rips off a corner of that
and hands it to me.
And I'm like, "Why is he give it--
giving this to me?
Oh, he thinks I'm gonna cry."
And I say to him, "I'm not gonna..."
And before I can finish, just tears.
- [audience] Aww.
- Tears down my face, yeah.
Now, I'm trying to use this
to dry my tears.
And it's not absorbent at all.
[laughter]
I'm just relocating the tears
around my face.
[laughter]
I have tears on my forehead,
which is a new sensation.
And watching me c-- cry,
this British guy got so awkward
'cause he's British
and emotions are not...
- End of sentence.
- [laughter]
So now, this guy gives us
these five pills
and he's like, "Just give 'em
to your cat every day."
And I'm like... [chuckles]
"How do you suggest I do that?
You know how cats are famously compliant
and do whatever you ask them to do?"
And he goes, "Just put it
in her food, she'll eat it."
Which, of course, that doesn't work!
Like, imagine you're at a restaurant
and in your spaghetti
there's, like, five Tylenols.
[laughter]
You'd be like, "f*ck this restaurant.
I'm leaving.
Oh, my back doesn't hurt anymore."
[laughter]
Has anyone here
had to medicate a cat?
- [audience cheering]
- It's so hard, right?
If your life is too easy,
medicate a cat.
[laughter]
Actually, the newest Saw movie,
one of the challenges is,
they have to medicate a cat.
- Everybody dies.
- [laughter]
Except for the cat.
The cat's still alive.
[laughter]
So, the pills-in-the-food plan
doesn't work.
So then, they give us-- the people
who've medicated cats I'm sure know this.
It's like a plastic syringe thing, yep.
But instead of a needle
at the end, there's a hole,
and you put the pill in the hole.
You're supposed to open her mouth
and sh**t the pill
into the back of her little baby throat,
which presents a problem.
I cannot get her mouth open.
I don't know how.
I'm so much bigger than her.
[laughter]
I don't know how she's been
exercising her jaw muscles.
I don't know if she's been doing Tae Bo
or a more updated
workout reference.
[laughter and applause]
[audience members] Woo!
P90X, she's doing.
She's doing Purr 90X--
"Purr" 90X?
[laughter]
She's doing Meow Bo.
Ooh, imagine, a little cat?
My therapist says I retreat into puns
when things get
emotionally challenging.
[laughter]
And I'm feline she was correct.
- Alright.
- [audience groaning and laughing]
I'll go f*ck myself after the show.
[cheering and applause]
So, that doesn't work.
So then, we're in London.
We find this French product.
It's a pill putty.
And you-- it's like a goopy thing
and you put the pill in the middle,
and surround it with the goop,
and then they can't taste the pill,
and they eat the whole thing.
And people who don't know,
pill putty looks and feels like Play-Doh
and smells like the sewers beneath
Buffalo Wild Wings.
[laughter]
And Bagel loves it!
[laughter]
She can't get enough of it!
And the particular product she likes--
we were in London,
this was a French product--
and the name of the product she loves
was, uh, EasyPill Giver Cat.
[laughter]
They just typed some sh*t
into Google Translate,
and they were like,
"Let's go with exactly that.
No rewrite required.
AI comes through again."
EasyPill Giver Cat.
Easy pill,
giver cat.
"EasyPill," one word.
EasyPill, which is not a word.
EasyPill Giver Cat.
She's not the giver cat,
she's the given cat.
- I have notes.
- [laughter]
But Bagel loves this so much,
so when we fly back to our home in LA,
we bring suitcases full
of EasyPill Giver Cat with us.
We give it to her at home in LA
and she's like,
"Oh no, that's my European food.
[laughter]
"I don't f*ck with that at home.
I'm on a diet."
So, then we take her to her vet in LA,
and he gives us this ointment
that you can rub in her ear
that just does the exact same thing.
"Why didn't you lead with that?!
"Did you invent this last week?
Tell the European vets about it."
So, that's my advice to you.
If you have to medicate a cat,
go right to the ointment
that you can rub in their ear.
But before you do that,
try EasyPill Giver Cat.
I'm selling boxes after the show.
[cheering and applause]
I get night thoughts.
Do you guys get night thoughts?
- [audience member] Woo!
- Yeah, you know what I'm talking about?
When you're laying in bed
in the middle of the night
and you can't sleep,
and your brain's like,
"Here's something new
for you to worry about.
- [laughter]
- "Oh, you hadn't thought of that?
- "It's 'cause you're a little bit stupid.
- [laughter]
And all your friends know."
Night thoughts are like day thoughts,
except they hate you.
[laughter]
While the sun's out,
I have all the confidence in the world,
but at night comes the hour
of questioning.
Every night,
I have to budget one hour,
every night between 3:00 and 5:00 a.m.,
one hour every night
where the good parts
of my brain are asleep
and the bad parts have come out to play.
So, I'm gonna read to you
my most recent night thoughts.
[cheering and applause]
These are all real,
verbatim, actual thoughts
that have kept me up at night, okay?
"Night Thoughts:
"That email that I sent earlier today,
"I said, 'Thanks for reaching out,
good to hear from you.'
"Should I have said
'Great to hear from you'?
[laughter]
"I should email them right now
and clarify.
[laughter]
They'll know I care
because I'm emailing at 4:17 a.m."
"Remember that raccoon that used to come
to your house every day,
"and then one day it stopped coming?
I wonder if I did anything to upset it."
[laughter]
"Is Big Bird a chicken?"
[laughter]
Oh, this one's really
keeping me up at night.
Okay, this one's really
f*cking my sh*t up.
This one's really keeping me up at night.
"White people..."
There's more!
[laughter]
You know what? You're totally right.
Just that, too.
Just "White people," period.
- [cheering and applause]
- Knowing you're out there.
Who can sleep, you know?
Good to see
so many of you here tonight.
[laughter]
See if you can follow this, okay?
This is really keeping me up at night.
Okay, see if you can follow this.
"White people get to have
every different hair
"and eye color
there is possible naturally,
"and every other race
gets the exact same ones.
[laughter]
"White people can have red hair,
and blonde hair, and auburn hair,
"and green eyes, and blue eyes,
and hazel eyes.
And every other race gets
black hair and black eyes."
Across the board!
Every other race.
Asian people, Black people,
my kind of Asian people...
[laughter]
...Hispanic people.
We just get black hair
and black eyes.
What the f*ck is that about?
[laughter]
I can't figure it out.
The best I can come up with
is that God loves you more.
But I know that can't be true.
He sees what you're like.
[laughter]
[cheering and applause]
We just get black hair and black eyes.
Also, those aren't just ours.
White people can have black hair
and black eyes, too.
You've colonized that as well.
[laughter]
Whenever I see a white person
with black hair and black eyes,
I'm like, "Get off my lawn!"
[laughter]
[cheering and applause]
"What does CVS stand for?"
[laughter]
- So, I have anxiety.
- [laughter]
And I was thinking about this,
I think the reason we have anxiety
is 'cause our bodies'
self-preservation mechanisms
are, like, completely outdated.
Our, like, self-preservation mechanisms,
our survival mechanisms
are all fight-or-flight based, right?
'Cause back in the day,
you see a leopard,
your body gets you ready
for intense physical activity
so you can, like, fight it
or run the f*ck away from it.
And now, for the most part,
we don't have those problems,
but our body's presenting
the same solutions.
It's just fight or flight.
So, I'll be laying in bed
in the middle of the night,
not able to sleep, like,
"At the party earlier today,
"when I told Greta that I thought
all kids were stupid,
I hope she didn't think I meant
just, like, her kid was stupid."
- [laughter]
- And my brain's like,
"You're being attacked
by a lion right now!
"I've made your heart beat super fast
and you're breathing super shallow.
So, go find a tree to climb.
Go, go, go!"
[laughter]
And I'm just laying in bed
vibrating like, "Whoa!
"I should go to her Instagram
and just fave pictures
that feature her child."
[laughter]
My body's like, "I've made you
start sweating so you don't overheat."
And I'm like, I just wanna go to sleep!
It's like, "Oh, you're sleeping?
Don't worry.
"All that energy will be funneled
into making sure
- "you grind your teeth all night.
- [laughter]
"Is that helpful?
"Will a visit to a condescending,
judgmental dentist
be the solution you're looking for?"
[laughter]
There's such a chasm
between the problems we have
and the solutions our bodies present.
Like, you're like, "I have a--
I have a new job starting tomorrow.
"I hope my coworkers like me.
I hope they don't realize
that I'm full of sh*t."
And your body's like, "I got it.
I'll make sure you don't poop for a week."
[laughter]
That's not helpful.
[laughter]
My wife and I, we, um,
we, uh, we live in LA,
we have a house in LA.
And the house has a pool.
If I did not have to mention
that fact for this story,
- I would have left it out.
- [laughter]
I'm trying to be relatable
up here, Chicago.
- [laughter]
- I don't know what to tell you.
sh*t's hard, life's unfair.
- I have a pool.
- [laughter]
It's a modest pool.
It's huge,
it's just not sure about itself.
[laughter]
So, we were having work done
to the house,
and while we were having
work done to the house,
my wife and I were crashing
at a friend's place.
One day, we go to check on
the work that's being done to the house,
and around our pool
we find an empty bag of chips
- and an empty pair of pants.
- [laughter]
And my lovely wife
freaks out a little bit.
She's like, "What's going on?
We have to find out what's going on.
"I don't know what to do.
What do we do? What do we do?
We should install cameras."
So, I'm like, "Okay, let's do that, honey.
We'll install cameras."
So, we install cameras.
A few days later, we're at the place
we're crashing at and bing,
there's an alert on my phone.
I turn it on.
There's a live feed
from the cameras at my house
to my phone.
And I can see, in real time...
a young man and a young woman,
like a young couple.
I see them climbing over my gate
and walking through my backyard.
I'm just seeing this happen.
They don't even have the decency
to do like a sneaky robber walk,
you know?
They're being
totally nonchalant about it.
They're not being "chalant" at all.
[laughter]
They go to my backyard,
they open their picnic basket.
- They brought a picnic basket!
- [laughter]
And they pull out bread,
and cheese, and a bread knife.
They brought a bread knife!
They're not even in my pool,
they're teasing my pool.
They're foreplaying my pool.
They're just sitting there eating bread
and cheese and laughing.
They're laughing.
And I'm watching this right here,
and Emily's watching it right here.
And I'm like,
"What are they laughing about?"
Like, "Ah, we're so good at petty crimes."
- [laughter]
- And Emily goes,
"Well, uh, you know, there is a microphone
on the camera."
- [audience member] Ooh!
- Ooh, yeah!
So, I'm like, "Alright, let's party."
So, we turn on the microphone
and now we can hear, in real time,
their entire conversation.
And they're having, like,
a total third date conversation.
You know what I mean?
Where she's like, "My parents
divorced when I was a kid."
And he's like, "Mine too.
We should have sex for the first time."
- [laughter]
- Like, that's the vibe, you know?
Anyway, I'm watching it right here,
and Emily's watching it right here.
And Emily goes, uh,
"We should drive over there right now."
And I'm like, "I don't want
to drive over there, honey.
- They have a knife."
- [laughter]
And Emily says,
"We can bring a knife."
[laughter and applause]
"Yeah, I don't want to get
into a knife fight today, my love.
"What happens if I lose?
"Actually, Emily, what happens
if I win the knife fight?
[laughter]
"Do I just m*rder them?
Is that what you want, my love?"
"You were swimming in my pool."
Stab, stab, stab.
"Honey, as per your instructions,
I have k*lled the trespassing picnickers.
"That's their corpses.
"Do you have the instruction manual
for the new camera system?
'Cause we gotta delete some footage."
- [laughter]
- sh*t looks premeditated.
I walk in with a knife.
[laughter]
So, we decide we're not gonna do that,
okay, so we're just discussing.
We're just talking about,
should we call the police?
We're really discussing it, like,
we're having a real conversation about it.
Like, where I'm like,
"Well, you know, honey,
"we don't want them swimming in our pool,
"but we also don't want them
to get arrested over this.
"Like, it is technically
breaking and entering.
"But you know, Emily,
once your name's in the system,
"you can't get jobs.
It's a very difficult hole
to climb out of, my love."
We're really talking about this, I'm like,
"You know the criminal justice system
"of this country,
it is not interested in rehabilitation.
"No, the criminal justice system
of America
"creates career criminals.
I was watching
this documentary about it."
[laughter]
And I've noticed that
while we've been talking,
both of them have stopped talking
and are staring at us
through the phone.
[laughter]
[applause]
'Cause when you turn on the microphone,
it goes both ways.
[laughter]
They've heard this entire conversation.
They've heard us being like,
"We can bring a knife."
[laughter]
Now, we're staring at them,
they're staring at us,
like two raccoons
caught in the trash.
[laughter]
Bright green, glowing, night vision eyes.
And then after the longest silence
of my life-- I swear this is true!
After the longest silence of my life,
my wife goes...
[robotically]
"The police have been called."
[laughter and applause]
I'm like, "Emily, are you doing
like a robot voice?"
She's like, "It sounds more official."
- They can hear this part, too.
- [laughter]
[robotically]
"The police have been called.
The police have been called."
She's just saying it over and over.
She's stuck, she doesn't know
how to get out of it.
She's looking to me for help
and I'm like,
I can't leave her hanging,
so I panic, and I'm like,
[robotically] "Yes, you are correct.
The police are on their way.
[laughter]
"They just got in the police car.
"I am the police car robot.
"It's a new program
they're trying in Los Angeles County.
Turn left on La Cienega."
- They left.
- [laughter]
'Cause they'd heard two cyborgs
arguing the ins and outs
of the prison industrial complex.
Decided instead to go have sex
for the first time.
[cheering and applause]
As they were leaving,
I got back on the microphone
and-- and I was like,
[robotically] "On your way out,
please grab one box
of EasyPill Giver Cat."
[laughter]
I am an immigrant.
- I am.
- [cheering and applause]
Are there any other immigrants here?
- [scattered cheers]
- Immigrants? Yes?
Yeah. Where are you from?
- [audience member 1] India.
- India.
- [audience member 2] Yay!
- [scattered cheers]
I think there's some other ones here.
- I'm from Pakistan.
- [audience cheering]
It used to be called India.
[laughter]
How long have you been here?
- [audience member] Forty-eight years.
- Forty-eight years. Wow.
Anybody else?
Any other?
R-- Yes, hi.
Where are you from?
[audience member] Uh, former USSR.
Former USSR.
Uh, what's it called today?
[laughter]
You've told me where you're not from.
[laughter]
- Where?
- [audience member] Russia.
Russia. Are you--
W-Why didn't you just say Russia?
Why? Has it been in the news recently?
[laughter and applause]
What did happen to Russia?
I feel like we used
to hear about them a lot.
It's been silence for a while.
How long have you--
how long have you been here?
- [audience member] Forty-nine years.
- Forty-nine years.
So, how old were you
when you came here?
- [audience member] Seven.
- Seven.
Are there any real immigrants here?
[laughter]
I'm just being serious.
[laughter]
Anybody else?
Is there any other immigrant?
- [scattering cheers]
- Okay, what you can't do
is point at someone else.
[laughter]
You can't be like,
"Immigrant right over here."
[laughter and applause]
You can't do that
for the next four years.
[laughter]
[cheering and applause]
So, we know this, I think--
you know, people who were born here
think the borders are wide open,
anybody can just waltz in.
But people like us
who had to move here
understand that, like, nothing could be
further from the truth.
It's very hard to move to America.
It took me 14 years
to get my green card.
It cost me over $10,000.
Lawyer fees, application fees.
And if people don't know this,
that entire process
comes down to one interview.
And on that day in that room,
there's one person,
and it's-- on that day,
it's completely up to that person.
They can say yes,
and you can stay.
Or they say no,
and you're on a boat to Pakistan.
That's only if you're from Pakistan.
That's not the standard.
- [laughter]
- "But I'm from Canada."
"f*ck you. Boat to Pakistan."
[laughter]
"Oh, no!
The stakes are so high."
[laughter]
So, I go in to talk to this woman,
and, uh, she's sitting at her desk,
and I cannot believe
she was allowed to have this.
This is completely true.
Right behind her desk, on the wall,
she had a big Jesus calendar.
But like a Jesus of the month calendar...
[laughter]
...with Jesus performing, like, different
activities every month, you know?
Like Jesus fishing,
- Jesus dunking on LeBron.
- [laughter]
My month was Jesus
driving a boat to Pakistan.
[laughter]
So, I sit down,
and she's gonna interview me,
and I'm very intimidated,
and she wants to be intimidating.
She's, like, got her glasses
down to here.
She's leaning in,
she's trying to poke holes in my story.
She's trying to catch me in a lie.
Then, about halfway through,
just to see what would happen,
about halfway through, I go,
"Well, I don't consider myself
Muslim anymore."
And she immediately switches.
Way nicer after that.
Like, genuinely, her shoulders relax.
She's like, "Oh, thank God."
- [laughter]
- Her glasses are off, she's leaning back.
Now, she's laughing
at jokes I'm making.
And then, she asks me, she's like,
"So, how do your parents
feel about the fact that you
will raise your kids Christian?"
- [audience gasping]
- Yeah, which I never said anything about.
She just assumed,
"If he doesn't like vanilla,
- he must like chocolate."
- [laughter]
So, I looked at her and I was like,
"Ma'am, they're not
gonna be happy about it,
"but I just love Jesus so much.
[laughter, cheering, and applause]
Where did you get that calendar?"
Approved!
[cheering and applause]
Um, I am so genuinely excited
to be back in this gorgeous theater.
- [cheering and applause]
- It's so beautiful.
[whistling and cheering]
This... [chuckles]
This is where I started stand-up.
This is where I met my lovely wife.
Oh, my God.
- So, I'm just very...
- [cheering and applause]
...very happy to be back here.
The last time I did this venue
was in 2000 and... [mumbling]
And, uh,
I opened for Zach Galifianakis here.
- [audience exclaiming]
- And I remember doing that show
and being like,
"Someday I'll headline this place."
And today,
I get to sh**t my special here.
- [cheering and applause]
- Yeah.
[chuckles]
So, thank you for coming.
No, you've been so wonderful.
It's been truly so wonderful to come back.
Can I talk about another thing
that's like emotionally vulnerable
for me to talk about?
- Are we okay with that? Yes?
- [cheering and applause]
Okay, thank you.
So, this is--
this is emotionally vulnerable.
This is difficult for me to talk about.
Um, this is true.
A few months ago,
I did a friend's podcast.
And on the podcast,
I mentioned that I was in a movie.
When it came out,
its reviews were so bad
and hurt my feelings so deeply
that I started seeing a therapist.
And, uh, for some reason,
that little part of the podcast
got picked up
by every major newspaper in America.
Like, truly, like Chicago Tribune,
uh, Sun Times,
New York Times, uh, Rolling Stone.
Everybody picked it up,
and they all had the exact same headline.
You can look this up,
the headline was,
"Bad Reviews
Land Kumail Nanjiani In Therapy."
[laughter]
Which, they did not land me
in therapy.
People land in jail.
[laughter]
I did not get sentenced to therapy.
A judge wasn't like,
"47% on Rotten Tomatoes?
"You need to talk to a professional.
- [laughter]
- "You call that a third act?
Too many characters."
[scattered laughter and applause]
Not great that obviously so many people
know exactly what movie I'm talking about.
- [laughter]
- Not great.
I didn't land in therapy.
I chose to go to therapy
because I realized
that too much of my self-esteem
was tied up in what people
thought about my work.
Like, if I made something good
that people liked, I was a good person.
If I made something bad that people
didn't like, I was a bad person.
And I realized that
that was untenable.
I had to figure out how to have
my self-worth come from inside me
and not be based on
other people's opinions of my work.
That's why I went to therapy.
[cheering and applause]
That was not America's reaction.
[laughter]
What followed instead, was two weeks
of everyone on social media
calling me a baby.
- [sympathetic laughter]
- No, no, no.
In their defense, they're totally right.
I'm a big baby.
My feelings get hurt
constantly and deeply,
which is why I went to therapy,
so it wouldn't ruin
my f*cking life anymore.
[laughter]
And there were thousands of responses
on social media for two weeks,
people that were very angry at me
for talking about going to therapy.
And there were thousands of responses,
but really,
there were five different responses
thousands of times.
'Cause everyone in social media thinks
they're so clever and original,
but they're just repeating sh*t that
thousands of people have already said.
So, really,
there were, uh, five different responses,
thousands of times,
five different responses.
And we're gonna go over
each of those responses...
[laughter, cheering and applause]
...and talk about them, okay?
Response number one:
"Oh, your big Hollywood movie
didn't do well.
Are we supposed to feel sorry for you?"
No, I don't want you
to feel sorry for me. I don't!
But I get to feel sorry for me.
This is my life.
I'm inside of here.
I worked really hard
for a year on something
that I thought was gonna be awesome.
And when it came out,
everyone was like, "No, it sucks.
"Also, we think you're stupid!
"Also, we've decided you're gonna be
the first person
we mock for getting in shape."
What?!
How the f*ck did that happen?!
That's happened to nobody else
in the history of civilization.
- Why me?!
- [cheering and applause]
"Oh, he got abs?
What a moron."
What?!
Who changed the rules?
Why didn't anybody
give me a heads up?
Do you know how hard this was?
I have not smelled cake in years!
And now, I know all of you are waiting
for me to go back to how I was.
Oh, it'd make you so happy
if I go back to how I was.
So now, I'm stuck in this prison,
'cause I don't want to give you
the satisfaction.
[cheering and applause]
There's no reason
for me to be buff anymore,
but I am, because f*ck you.
[cheering and applause]
I'll be doing push-ups on my deathbed,
because f*ck you.
[laughter]
When I look at cake
and wanna eat it,
I think of how happy
it'll make you if I eat it,
and that gives me
the strength to not eat it.
[laughter and applause]
Response number two...
- [laughter]
- [audience member] Woo!
"Oh, you got paid for a movie
that didn't do well? Boo-hoo."
It is true. I did get paid for it.
[laughter]
But that doesn't mean that I don't get
to be sad when it didn't do well.
And the implication there
is that because my life is great--
and it's true, I have a great life.
I really do,
and I'm very, very grateful for it.
Like, I can't believe I get to be up here,
talking to you amazing people
for a living.
- [cheering and applause]
- I'm genuinely very thankful for it.
I understand I'm very, very fortunate.
Very thankful for it.
- However...
- [laughter]
...that does not mean that bad sh*t
does not happen to me.
I have disappointments, I have fears.
- My baby cat gets sick.
- [audience] Aw!
Sometimes my abs get stuck in my belt.
[laughter]
You don't know what that's like,
you deep-dish m*therf*ckers.
[laughter]
[cheering and applause]
People swim in my pool
without my permission.
- Just trying to see where the line is.
- [laughter]
Response number three:
"Watching your movie
made me wanna get therapy."
Oh, that's good.
That's clever.
Give yourself a cookie,
I'm not gonna eat it,
because f*ck you, remember?
[laughter]
"Watching your movie
made me wanna get therapy."
Well, then you were just looking
for an excuse to go to therapy,
- and you're welcome.
- [laughter]
Your whole family can thank me.
[laughter]
[scattered cheering and applause]
Response number four:
"Oh, he worked really hard
for a year on his movie
and then it didn't do well.
Of course, he went crazy."
Okay, I wanna talk about that.
First of all, mental illness
is a real illness,
and you should not
denigrate people who have it
by calling them crazy.
That's wrong.
- [cheering and applause]
- Yeah.
But also, you don't have to have
mental illness to go to therapy,
and just 'cause you go to therapy
does not mean you have mental illness.
[audience member] Right.
- Yeah.
- [cheering and applause]
I'm fortunate in that
I don't have mental illness,
but I still benefit from therapy
because I have a bunch
of trash in my head,
and I don't know what to do with it.
I don't know what's what.
I don't know what's trash,
and what's recycling,
and what's composting.
Night thoughts
every f*cking night, you know?
I needed someone to go through that
and sift through it,
and label things for me, you know?
That's helpful for me.
This is true, for a long time--
this is completely true.
For a long time, I didn't think
I had any negative feelings.
That's true, I didn't think I had
any negative feelings.
I thought I was happy all the time.
And then every now and then,
I'd get very angry out of nowhere.
[laughter]
Turns out, I did have negative feelings.
[laughter]
I just didn't know it.
And I would take that unprocessed feeling
and point it at the wrong thing.
So, when it came to feelings,
I did not know what I was feeling,
and I did not know what
I was feeling it towards.
I'll give you an example.
A few years ago,
my dad was in a car accident.
He wasn't hurt at all,
he was totally fine.
He's still totally fine, completely fine.
However, it was a very scary
car accident.
His car flipped over twice.
And right after he crawled out
of where the windshield used to be,
the first thing he did
was he called me on the phone
'cause he needed to talk to someone
who would make him feel better.
And I could tell he was okay,
but I could tell he was panicking.
So, I was like, "Dad, you're okay.
You're panicking a little bit.
"But that's very understandable,
given what you went through.
"I know the car is totaled,
but that does not matter.
"What matters is that you're okay.
"So just sit there, breathe,
they're going to come take care of you.
I promise you will be okay.
Dad, I love you very much."
Then I hung up the phone and I was like,
"Wow, I f*cking nailed that."
[laughter]
Who's the father now, you know?
And then an hour later, I was like,
"Where is my Ninja Turtles shirt?
"I can't find my Ninja Turtles shirt.
"It fit me perfectly and it had
my favorite Ninja Turtle on it.
"My dad almost died in a car accident
and I can't find my Donatello shirt!
Two equally significant tragedies
are occurring!"
[laughter and applause]
Turns out, it wasn't about
the shirt, you guys.
[laughter]
I was sad for and scared for my dad,
and I didn't know how to express that.
So instead, I got angry
at a shirt I couldn't find.
And I'm gonna generalize here.
I think that's a problem
a lot of us men have.
I think a lot of us men have trouble
admitting when we're feeling sad or scared
because we think
those emotions are weak.
We think the only
manly emotion is anger.
We think anger is strength.
But I think the opposite is true.
I think anger can come from weakness,
and admitting you're sad when you're sad,
and you're scared when you're scared,
that is strength.
[cheering and applause]
That is what it sounds like
when just the women are clapping.
[laughter]
Straight dudes, if you look over
and your lady's clapping
- while looking at you...
- [laughter]
...make that appointment.
[laughter]
And it's not really our fault, you know?
It's the way we were raised.
It's what we were taught
being a man was, you know?
Like all our role models.
Like, there were no Arnold movies
in the '80s
where he defeats
the bad guy through empathy.
[laughter]
Like in Predator, he's not like,
"You may think you're invisible,
but I see you."
[laughter]
[applause]
And I think a lot of the world
is angry right now
'cause we're constantly
vacillating between sadness and fear,
and sadness and fear,
and we don't want to feel that.
So instead, we get angry at someone
who cut us off on the highway,
or a nerd who got buff for a movie.
[laughter]
Two equally relatable examples.
[laughter]
I mean, we're dealing
with a lot right now
and we've been through a lot.
We've been through a lot!
I mean, we had a pandemic
not that long ago.
We couldn't leave the house
'cause there was a new disease.
We had to wait for science to catch up,
and we barely talk about it.
None of us have processed it.
I don't even know
what processing it would mean,
but it would mean at least
talking about it.
We've all decided to ignore it
like a fart in an elevator.
[laughter]
Like, what did you guys do in quarantine?
I watched every movie
ever made in the 1980s
and washed bananas in the sink.
I washed bananas
in the sink!
I washed bananas in the sink!
That's like the one fruit
you don't have to wash.
- Nature gave it a wrapper.
- [laughter]
I would guess I'd washed
200 bananas in the sink in one year.
I'd washed zero bananas
in the sink in my life,
200 bananas in the sink in one year,
back to zero bananas
being washed in the sink.
[laughter and applause]
Every now and then,
I'd go outside to get dessert.
I'd put a mask over my face,
I'd get cheesecake.
I'd carry it into my house
like I was carrying plutonium.
I'd stick it in the microwave,
I'd nuke it for two minutes,
reduce it to sludge,
eat it bubbling hot out of the bowl,
like the devil's night cereal.
[laughter]
It was a weird year.
[laughter]
And my lovely wife
is in a high-risk group
and I was sad for and scared for her
the entire time.
You know what helped me through that?
Therapy.
Therapy helped me through that.
- [cheering and applause]
- It did.
And I understand I have a lot
of privilege, I do have a great life.
But now, I-- I'm more in touch
with myself.
I feel things more.
I still have work to do.
I still have more work to do,
but, you know,
I-- I'm more in touch with myself.
I-- I cry more now.
Like, I cried twice
watching a Godzilla movie.
- [laughter]
- Godzilla Minus One.
Have you seen it?
It's so good.
- [cheering and applause]
- Cried twice.
And even now--
I watch movies with Emily,
and even now,
when I start to get teary-eyed,
my man-ness gets threatened,
and I try and hide my tears from Emily,
even though watching me cry
brings her so much joy.
[laughter]
I'm married to a psychopath.
[laughter]
Response number five:
[laughter]
"Oh, you think your movie
getting bad reviews
is a good reason to get therapy?"
Yes.
My movie getting bad reviews
is a good reason to get therapy.
You know what else is a good reason
to get therapy?
Having to get out of bed
in the f*cking morning.
- It's really hard.
- [cheering and applause]
It's really hard for us right now.
We were going through a lot.
Climate change.
I mean, my city was on fire for a month
because of climate change.
A healthcare system
that prioritizes wealth over health.
Uh, whatever the f*ck is happening
in our politics right now.
People who live right next to us
who occupy completely different
versions of reality from us.
It's a lot.
And it's invaluable to have a professional
look you in the eye and say,
"You're feeling this way
because sh*t is f*cked up right now."
- [cheering and applause]
- Yeah.
Because you know what your therapist
is doing after talking to you?
They're talking to their therapist.
They're like, "I just told my client
sh*t is f*cked up.
It's f*cked up, right?"
They're like, "Oh yeah,
it's so f*cked up right now."
And then, they talk to their therapist,
and they talk to their therapist,
all the way to the end of the line
where there's one giant uber-therapist
who's taking on everyone's problems
and has nobody to talk to.
And they're just wandering
into grocery stores
trying to make eye contact
with people and saying,
"Tell me I'm going to be okay!"
- [laughter]
- And you have to look them in the eye
and say, "sh*t is f*cked up,
and you're going to be okay."
- sh*t is f*cked up.
- [cheering and applause]
And you're going to be okay.
That's-- that's what I'm saying
to you right now.
sh*t is f*cked up,
and you're going to be okay.
[cheering and applause]
sh*t is f*cked up,
and you're going to be okay.
- Now, you say it to me.
- [laughter]
[audience] sh*t is f*cked up
and you're going to be okay.
That feels so good.
One more time.
[audience] sh*t is f*cked up
and you're going to be okay.
Thank you so much, Chicago,
you've been absolutely wonderful.
- Thank you.
- [cheering and applause]
[cheering and applause continue]
[audience chanting]
Encore! Encore!
Encore! Encore!
Encore! Encore!
- Encore! Encore!
- I don't have an encore bit.
[laughter]
I-- I should just sing the entirety
of Hotel California.
[audience cheering]
No, that's-- nobody wants that.
Okay, this is what I'll do, okay?
I'll-- I'll tell you, as my encore,
the first joke I ever did on stage, okay?
[cheering and applause]
But I'm gonna do the whole thing.
I'll do the, you know, like, uh...
"Thanks so much.
That's my time."
[laughter]
[cheering and applause]
[cheering and applause continue]
Ever since-- ever since I was a kid,
I've wanted to be a scientist.
But I wanna be a really successful one.
Like, I've always wanted to have a unit
of measurement named after myself.
'Cause all the cool scientists have them:
Joules. Newton,
Mr. Kilometer.
[laughter]
[audience member] Woo!
He didn't come to America though.
[laughter]
[audience member] Woo!
So, I want a unit of measurement
named after myself.
But I want something cool, you know?
Like, "Turn the torpedoes
up to five Nanjianis!"
- [laughter]
- "Five Nanjianis?
"That's way too much power!
Most people can't handle
one Nanjiani."
[chuckles] Thank you.
[cheering and applause]
["Aaja" by Swet Shop Boys
feat. Ali Sethi playing]
[cheering and applause continue]
I push the seats in my car back
Polish girl check that Slovak
You're sweet like baklava
You know I'm hot as Benny Lava
And if them mandem intervene
then I'll go get the balaclava
Your mandem can't see me
Side man, man I'm Mario, Luigi
That's you on your
f*cking green dungarees
Oh, aaja
[song continues in Hindi]
Oh, aaja
[trilling]
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Kumail Nanjiani: Night Thoughts (2025)
Moderators: Maskath3, GabrielAlejo2341, sidolanters, Maskath3, GabrielAlejo2341, sidolanters