‘Humour is a way to make difficult conversations easier’: Actor Kal Penn on his memoir, Hollywood, and the White House

“I turned successful the archetypal draught of the archetypal 3 chapters, and my exertion called maine and said, ‘Hey, truthful you pitched america a comic book. But this is similar immoderate truly acheronian shit,’” Penn recounted. “I realised that arsenic an actor, I’m utilized to reliving emotions. When I was penning astir things that happened 20 oregon 30 years ago, I was experiencing them with the aforesaid intensity. I had to instrumentality a measurement back, portion retired the emotion, and past adhd the humour.”

Breaking stereotypes successful Hollywood

Penn’s travel successful Hollywood has been marked by some breakthroughs and frustrations. Early successful his career, helium said, helium faced blatant typecasting. “I’d spell to auditions, and they’d say, ‘You’re good, but an Indian feline is ne'er going to marque america capable wealth successful Hollywood,’” helium said. “At first, it was discouraging, but I appreciated their candour. It made maine rethink however I could get my ft successful the door.”

One peculiarly egregious illustration was an audition for a quality named “Taj Mahal” successful a teen comedy. “I hung up connected my cause erstwhile she told maine the character’s name,” Penn said. “I mean, I’m not adjacent playing a quality — I’m playing a building.” But aft consulting with a mentor, helium decided to instrumentality the relation and usage it arsenic an accidental to propulsion backmost against stereotypes. “I told the writers, ‘Here are 10 things that are problematic, and present are 10 things that are funnier.’ They listened, and we made the quality better.”

Penn besides reflected connected the advancement made successful caller years, acknowledgment partially to the emergence of streaming platforms. “The advent of Netflix and Amazon has democratised content,” helium said. “There was this aged misnomer that achromatic audiences wouldn’t ticker divers shows, but that’s been proven wrong. Humans volition ticker compelling stories, period.”

The migrant acquisition and ‘aunty pressure’

The speech besides touched connected the unsocial pressures faced by children of immigrants. Penn shared humorous anecdotes astir the “aunties” successful his life—family friends who were speedy to question his vocation choices. “They’d say, ‘What bash you mean you privation to beryllium an actor? What astir engineering? What astir medicine?’” helium recalled.

But down their concerns, Penn explained, was a deeper fear. “When I was penning You Can’t Be Serious, I asked my parents, ‘On a standard of 1 to 10, however embarrassed were you erstwhile I told radical I wanted to beryllium an actor?’ And they said, ‘We weren’t embarrassed—we were scared.’ They didn’t cognize if the kid of an migrant successful America could beryllium an histrion oregon if acting was adjacent a existent job.”

A emotion for Indian television

Penn besides revealed an unexpected root of inspiration: Indian television. “I got addicted to Saath Nibhaana Saathiya a fewer years ago,” helium said, laughing. “Kokilaben is conscionable a badass. You bash not privation to transverse her. And Gopi washing the laptop? How bash I explicate however bully these episodes are to my American non-Indian friends? There’s nary imaginable way.”

The show, helium said, became a mode for him to reconnect with Hindi and Indian culture. “Whenever I enactment successful India, I effort to get scripts 2 months successful beforehand to prepare. But watching shows similar Saath Nibhaana Saathiya helps maine support up with the connection and the humour.”

From Hollywood to the White House

Penn’s vocation took an unexpected crook erstwhile helium recovered himself moving astatine the White House during the Barack Obama administration. “People ever ask, ‘How did you spell from doing stoner movies to moving astatine the White House?’” helium said. “The abbreviated reply is that I volunteered for the Obama campaign, moving connected outreach to young radical and taste diplomacy.”

He shared however his inheritance arsenic an histrion initially raised eyebrows. “When I was hired, my brag looked maine consecutive successful the look and said, ‘I tin guarantee you, you’re being hired successful spite of being an actor,’” Penn recalled. “I thought, ‘Hell yeah, I’ll instrumentality that.’ But it was a learning curve. There were days I’d hide I was a authorities bureaucrat and not successful a drama writers’ room.”

The relation of creation and society

When asked whether creation tin genuinely unite radical crossed taste and governmental divides, Penn agreed that creation has the imaginable to transcend boundaries but acknowledged that it tin besides reenforce stereotypes. “Take Raj from The Big Bang Theory,” helium said. “The amusement was groundbreaking successful galore ways, but it besides perpetuated definite tropes. The situation is to archer stories that bespeak the complexities of identity.”

“People don’t ticker a movie due to the fact that it’s successful Bengali oregon Hindi oregon English,” helium said. “They ticker it due to the fact that it’s a bully story. Satyajit Ray’s films happened to beryllium successful Bengali but they were planetary successful their appeal. That’s the modular we should purpose for.”

Coping with bullying

As the league drew to a close, Penn reflected connected the relation of humour successful his beingness and work. “I learned to beryllium comic due to the fact that I got bullied successful eighth grade,” helium said. “It was my mode of coping. But implicit time, I realised that humour is besides a mode to link with people, to interruption down barriers, and to marque hard conversations easier.”