Aasif Mandvi debuts tonight as a driver for a government operative in Pakistan in the new HBO comedy series, The Brink.
Mandvi wrote one of the episodes and also appears in several. He plays opposite Jack Black as his driver Rafiq.
“Jack plays an entitled American foreign-service agent who hasn’t taken the time to learn about the country he’s been assigned to,” says Mandvi to the NY Post
, “and Rafiq is the one who is smarter . . . but because of circumstance and economics, he is the driver. Rafiq and Alex’s relationship ends up being the relationship that Pakistan has with America.”
It’s the kind of satire that Mandvi did well on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He looks forward to continuing that role when Trevor Noah takes over August 6. Mandvi’s name was thrown around as a possible successor to Stewart, but Aasif says he didn’t want it.
“I wasn’t available, but it was never a chair I wanted to sit in. It’s a big chair to fill,” he said.
You can read his thoughts on the controversy over the selection of Noah and his views on racism in the NY Post.
