I came from a very different sort of background and pedigree from the people who were on "The Daily Show". I was an actor. I was sort of - the irony is that I've done as much dramatic work in my career as comedic work and I don't really think of myself as a comedian.

Aasif Mandvi

Categorized in : Thinking People Careers

I think Islam has been hijacked by the idea that all Muslims are terrorists; that Islam is about hate, about war, about jihad - I think that hijacks the spirituality and beauty that exists within Islam. I believe in allowing Islam to be seen in context and in its entirety and being judged on what it really is, not what you think it is.

Aasif Mandvi

hate war believe

If you don't acknowledge differences, it's as bad as stereotyping or reducing someone.

Aasif Mandvi

reducing stereotype differences

Voter fraud does just barely exist, while racism, according to the Supreme Court, is a thing of the past.

Aasif Mandvi

racism doe past

If you choose to be a Muslim then you believe that it is on some level wrong to show the image of the Prophet Muhammad.

Aasif Mandvi

prophet-muhammad levels believe

When you're brown and Indian, you get offered a lot of doctor roles.

Aasif Mandvi

brown doctors roles

I've always said I'm the worst representative of Muslim-Americans that's ever existed, because I've been inside more bars than mosques.

Aasif Mandvi

mosques bars said

People lament that there's no roles being written for South Asian or Muslim characters. But their parents don't want their children to go into the entertainment field. You don't get it both ways.

Aasif Mandvi

character children people

Paki- bashing was kind of this term that was used in general to beat up anyone that was from the Indian subcontinent.

Aasif Mandvi

beats used kind

When I was 11 my friend's mom made a peanut butter sandwich. I ate the sandwich and was like, 'I'm never eating anything else again.' And I still eat peanut butter every day. I would put peanut butter on a steak.

Aasif Mandvi

peanut-butter sandwiches mom

Traditional television as we have known it will make love to the Internet and have a child. That child will be the future. It's already happening, and it's hot!

Aasif Mandvi

making-love hot children

The great joy of doing 'The Daily Show' for me is that I get to sit on the fence between cultures. I am commenting on the absurdity of both sides as an outsider and insider. Sometimes I'm playing the brown guy, and sometimes I'm not, but the best stuff I do always goes back to being a brown kid in a white world.

Aasif Mandvi

guy white kids

Because to Americans, Chechnya might as well be a suburb of Narnia.

Aasif Mandvi

chechnya narnia might

The artist never really has any control over the impact of his work. If he starts thinking about the impact of his work, then he becomes a lesser artist.

Aasif Mandvi

impact artist thinking

In America, people think being South Asian is still kind of exotic. When you go outside New York and Chicago and L.A., there are people who have never tried Indian food... they've never even tasted it!

Aasif Mandvi

new-york america thinking

I never consciously got into comedy. It was sort of one of those things where I was a theater student, I was acting, I was doing comedy, I was doing dramatic stuff, so it's been something that I've always done and enjoyed doing and had an instinct to be relatively good at.

Aasif Mandvi

acting done stuff

Now the bigots have to get creative. Good luck coming up with slurs for Chechens. Go back where you came from, Ushanka head.

Aasif Mandvi

bigots good-luck creative

An artist's job is simply to take the mirror in front of your face and hold it there. It's not to give you any answers. It is simply to take that mirror and point it at you.

Aasif Mandvi

mirrors artist jobs

So I had this completely unrealistic idea of what America was — but I wanted to be there.

Aasif Mandvi

wanted america ideas

The experience of being on a show that is very much in the center of popular culture is exciting. You really feel like you're reaching people.

Aasif Mandvi

like-you culture people

I mean, but obviously, in people's eyes, it still - it can still link Islam to terrorism. I mean, why does it make a difference that they're white?

Aasif Mandvi

eye white mean