In January, ardent viewers of The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon (TTSJF) were introduced to a comic who stole the spotlight. Award-winning screenwriter and stand-up comic, Zarna Garg has been on the high ever since clips from her sets garnered much praise and attention online. With a Prime Video stand-up special, One in a Billion, already under her belt, Zarna’s ‘Indian-American mom’ spirit has made heads turn. From diving into stories and anecdotes about immigrating from Mumbai to establishing a life in New York City (NYC),to spilling the beans about the tough life of being a parent in the city, Zarna has come a long way in telling her story. With much more yet to be told, Zarna has turned a globetrotter, taking her upcoming stand-up special, Practical People Win, international. After the first stop in Dubai, the show’s next leg is the India tour and we couldn’t be more excited to reach out to ‘America’s favourite Indian aunty’ for an extensive chat about her iconic homecoming.
How do we win, Zarna?
Zarna assures us that these shows will follow her signature satirical Indian mom approach and address how we can ‘win in life’. “My show will be a classic stand-up comedy show. I take great pride in writing jokes and I love writing jokes about the life that I know, which is one of being a traditional Indian mom in NYC,” Zarna begins. Elucidating on topics like the career choices of her children and themes exploring family dynamics, she adds, “I let all my shows end on a positive life-affirming note — on how I’m going to help you win. It’s not just about me winning. I have already won because I my tickets are sold out.”
The comedienne’s homecoming is all the more special as she notes that this will be an opportunity for her to share stories in the country, the audiences of which have given her an overwhelming response with a few sold-out shows! “This (pointing to her face) is who I am. This is me everywhere I go. I’ve lived in America for over 30 years but I’ve never not been an Indian woman. My heart has been tied to India since the day I left it,” she says, emphasising further the impact of her roots, “India never really leaves you, it’s that kind of a place. Also, the ties are so deep that when people come to my show, they often forget that I live in America because I speak Hindi, Gujarati and Marathi. Since I grew up in Mumbai, I had to learn these languages in school and I still speak these languages.”
Dare of a lifetime
Zarna also opens up about her initial days as a stand-up comic. She reveals to us that the first time she went on stage to perform a set was a result of a dare. “The first open mic in America that I did was eye-opening for me as I went on stage because my children had dared me to go. My daughter said, ‘Mom, you should be a comedian.’ Then, I thought to myself, ‘That makes no sense.’ No one in my world had ever thought of comedy as a profession,” she says, as she continues, “The kids said, ‘Mom’s too scared to try it.’ So, I decided, ‘I’m gonna do this open mic just so I can tell the kids that they’re being stupid, and move on from it.” She admits that the experience was a revelation. “In passing, I may have heard that other people do this, other cultures do standup, but it never occurred to me that somebody who looks and sounds like me and has my kind of very traditional Indian stories, for the most part, can also get on the stage and share those stories and the world might be interested in it. That opened up the door to a whole new person,” she says.
She further quips that her late parents “are probably rolling in their graves”. “They must be thinking ‘We got the funny one. We didn’t get the doctor, accountant or even the computer one,” she adds. Zarna opines that this is the reason even today, such professions might not be promoted within the Indian culture. For her too, this profession did not feel like a calling until a couple of years after her first open mic. “For the longest time, I thought, ‘Who’s going to hear what I have to say?’. But each successive show got bigger and now in hindsight, looking five years back, I feel like it is a calling. I feel like I’ve been anointed by somebody to educate our community and my women, especially brown women, that they have a right to laugh at their lives and their stories and that we have a right to push back at the culture that sometimes pushes us in directions that we don’t want to be pushed into.” Zarna explains that within the culture there is much shame in being a victim as well. “I try to find the humour in it and how to deliver this idea of what rights we have and what we can do to push back with a sense of humour and that’s it. That’s what my show is about,” she explains.
Therapy on stage
For Zarna, being on stage is all about expressing her ‘trauma’. When we ask her about her experiences as a lawyer finding her way into her material, she quips, “I have so much mother-in-law, husband and kids trauma that first I have to work all that out (laughs).” She then goes on to compare being on the stage with the process of therapy. “To me, being on a comedy stage is cheaper than therapy. Since I’m too cheap to pay for therapy, I go on stage and I talk about whatever is on top of my mind,” she expresses.
Zarna also opens up about being a stay-at-home mom for 16 years and why her experiences during this period have found their way to her material. “The biggest thing I learned as a stayat-home mom was that I wasn’t into my kids. But it is my truth. If no one wants to say it, I’ll say it. It’s freaking boring!” she exclaims.
At Jimmy’s
Zarna’s appearance at TTSJF is nothing short of iconic. She opens up about making a promotional video for the show inspired by the iconic song, Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy Aaja from 1982’s Disco Dancer star ring Mithun Chakraborty. She says, “Not only was the Jimmy Jimmy promo a super-hit across platforms, with millions of views on Instagram alone, it also got everybody to tune in; and my standup set is the most watched standup set on The Tonight Show!”
