Nimesh Patel’s share in comedy has been on the rise lately. From sold-out shows to skyrocketing social media followers to the first Netflix special, “Buy the Dip,” released last month, it’s been incredible the difference a year has made. Filmed in Washington, D.C., the new hour offers sharp, dryly delivered jokes and personal stories about America’s separation from the heart of our capital.
Believing in the power of recovery despite difficult conditions is in our country’s DNA. So did Patel, who saw his own career end after suffering an unexpected blow. Last fall, the comedian faced public backlash for his decision to accept and then decline to appear at the controversial Riyadh Comedy Festival, where he was offered $125,000 to perform alongside notables such as Dave Chappelle, Bill Burr, Sebastian Maniscalco, Whitney Cummings and many more. The holding of a comedy festival in Saudi Arabia, whose government has been accused of human rights abuses, and the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in its consulate in Türkiye, according to US intelligence, have sparked a war of words against comedians on the Internet. Hearing the review loud and clear and ultimately deciding the money wasn’t worth it, Patel decided to pull out and tell the world via Instagram that he wasn’t going, opting instead (and somewhat reluctantly) to make up for the lost bag with 40 extra shows added to his nationwide theater tour. The response to the video announcement further fueled the anger of comedy fans. Looking back now, he admits that his delivery at the time wasn’t his best, sounding tired and a little uncomfortable with his own decision.
“People read it as sarcasm and seem to feel sorry for me,” Patel said in a recent Zoom chat with The Times. “I can see why they think I’m a bad actor in the video I posted. But until it becomes their life, everyone acts better than the person they see on the screen, and then they’re like, ‘Oh… yeah, I’d probably do the same thing.’ So, damn them!
Despite the criticism he received, Patel kept his word and demonstrated. Hitting the stage every night to earn the money he planned to make from a canceled concert in Saudi Arabia last year gave him the reps he needed to perfect his hour of new material. The title “Buy the Dip” is a nod to the remnants of his previous career in finance; This is stock market terminology for buying a failing asset in the hope that its value will rise again. But it also describes the optimism with which she makes her decisions as a parent and as someone who still believes that things can get better, even at their worst.
“I have to be optimistic, I have to believe that the world is getting better, because otherwise what have I done by having children?” he said.
Comedian Nimesh Patel turns personal setbacks and a troubled America into carefully observed jokes grounded in unexpected optimism in Netflix’s first special, “Buy the Dip.”
(Courtesy of Netflix)
Her belief in positivity followed her to D.C. to tape the special; It’s the town where he said he had his first big hits as a comedian, opening big shows like Maz Jobrani at the Warner Theatre, headlining Bier Baron and DC Improv and even the Kennedy Center — “or whatever you call the now-defunct Trump,” he joked. When it comes to his comedic trajectory, it’s important to take the long view to realize that Patel’s path to this particular gig began more than a decade ago, when Chris Rock discovered him on stage in Brooklyn and helped him write gigs for “Saturday Night Live” and the 2016 Oscars; These two opportunities solidified his resolve to pursue comedy full-time after losing his job in finance.
As an Indian American comedian, he knows that cultural representation focuses on him, which he notes and even pokes fun at in the special. Such attention is directed not only at him, but also at Indian Americans working in higher-profile jobs; for example, the FBI’s first Indian American director, the chronically embattled Kash Patel.
“Let me be honest, it’s really hard to be proud of Kash and belittle him at the same time,” Patel says. On the one hand, there is the astonishing success of going from being one of the few Indian children in Virginia amid post-9/11 racism to becoming head of the nation’s domestic intelligence agency. On the other hand, he has a career full of gaffes and allegedly lewd behavior, making him an easy punching bag for the writers at “SNL” with the help of late-night TV star Aziz Ansari.
“It’s an incredible achievement to have him serve the country at this level and it’s very sad that our representative is in this situation right now,” Patel said. “Just like an Uber driver asked me, ‘Is your last name Patel? Like Kash?’ like he said. And I said, ‘Yes, that’s exactly it, but it’s not like that at all, you know?’
Patel revisits the backlash he faced after accepting Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Comedy Festival and how dozens of extra tour dates later helped shape his new material.
(Courtesy of Netflix)
While Patel tries to distance himself from someone who shares his last name, he makes a lot of jokes about being too close to his real family when it comes to them. Like most millennials, she is stuck between caring for aging parents and raising children. At age 40, he says in the special that people in his age group have become the “Sandwich Generation.” But to be fair to the toddler, keeping track of their parents is sometimes a much more difficult task.
“They don’t get any help. They’re pretty independent, and I think I was the same way growing up,” Patel said. “So just like in the Progressive commercial, we all become our parents, but in real life we’re not guided by a corporate marketing team. It’s funny to see that happen.”
Whether the obstacles he faces in life are laugh-out-loud funny or career hurdles that threaten to send him over the edge, the idea that he can always bounce back is the key to remaining unaffected through life’s ups and downs. And to the extent that anyone can learn from Patel in the art of staying balanced, he hopes this special will make people feel a little less bad about the country being on the brink of collapse.
“Everyone knows we are not in a good situation right now,” he said. “Diving is here now. I fully believe we can get better, I hope we can. There will be a lot of pain. I don’t know if we’re at the bottom yet, but I’m optimistic and I have to be. Otherwise I don’t know what I’m doing.”