Zarna Garg is the kind of person who can easily qualify as the poster woman for ‘endless possibilities’. In a world where stand up comedians are getting younger by the day, she stands at the other end of the spectrum, a 50-year-old, who performed at her first open mike when she was 43, and still made it to the top. The Indian-American comedian is also a bestselling author, her memoir This American Woman (NYT Bestseller in 2 categories) dropped in April, and new special which came out in July is called ‘Practical People Win’. Garg is also developing a sitcom with Mindy Kaling and Kevin Hart. She has performed with Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, selling out shows worldwide, and you’ve probably seen her on The Tonight Show, Late Night, or starring in A Nice Indian Boy.
The Indian immigrant wife, mom, lawyer, screenwriter, producer and stand-up comedian also describes herself as an all around nosey, overbearing Indian auntie. Raised in Mumbai, she has lived in multiple countries, and is based in NYC with her family. But the ‘endless possibilities’ tag isn’t only for her wild comedic success, it also has to do with where she comes from. Garg lost her mother suddenly when she was 14, after which her father wanted her to have an arranged marriage- either marry or leave home. She left her home as a young teen and stayed with friends, relatives and strangers, who opened up their homes for her ‘because I made them laugh and kept it light. I got invited to Diwali and Holi dinners because they knew I’ll make it fun.’
She treated all this as an adventure, until she could figure out a way to immigrate to America and be with her sister and her family. She went to college and law school in America, and later won at the Austin Film Festival for Best Comedy Screenplay, beating past Oscar winners and 11,000 entries. At the insistence of her kids she went for her first comedy open mike in 2018, after being a stay-at-home mother for 16 years. One of her inspirations is Kevin Hart, whose book I Can’t Make This Up: Life Lessons she had read, and realized that she shared a lot in common with him. In 2021, Garg won Kevin Hart's comedy competition on Peacock, Lyft Comics. She also won the Ladies of Laughter Award in the Newcomer Winner category. In 2022 she was highlighted as "one of the gutsiest women comedians in America" in Gutsy on Apple TV, hosted by Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton.
Garg was also recently in Mumbai with her children — Zoya, Brij, and Vir. During their visit, she had recorded a live episode of their popular Zarna Garg Family Podcast at Bandra’s Bal Gandharva Auditorium and had also met Indian comedy legend Johny Lever, calling the experience “FIRE” in an Instagram post. “For five decades, from audio cassettes (remember those) to OTTs, Johny Lever has entertained a nation and a people,” the post had further mentioned.
During an interaction with us, she told us about her new special, the phase of her life when she was homeless, starting off a comedy career professionally late in life and more.
Excerpts from the interview:
What's your special 'Practical People Win’ about?
Just the same as the last special. Kids, husband, mother-in-law. ChatGPT won’t stop feeding me jokes.
Could you tell us about the phase of your life when you were in Mumbai and homeless?
You don’t have to be so delicate about it! I was 14 and the day after my mother died, my dad said I had to get married. I said no. He said that I couldn’t stay in his home any longer. For two years, we each stubbornly waited for the other person to come to their senses. Of my dad’s four children, I turned out to be the one most like him in stubbornness and dictator tendencies. I tell my own kids “Do this math competition or you’re out of my house.” Would I arrange them at age 14? If only it was legal in America! Our next India vacation is in a few weeks though…. If you have any single rich children in the Mumbai area, email me at nomorekids@zarnagarg.com
What prompted you to go for your first comedy open mike?
My kids dared me, and I had to follow through to prove that this family doesn’t back down from any challenge. This way, I could dare my kids to be doctors, for instance. Little did I know they just wanted me out of the house on nights and weekends.
With most comedians starting off as youngsters, how did people/family respond to you when you started off late in life?
Most casual acquaintance in my life thought I was crazy. Shalabh’s insurance broker even asked my assistant on the phone, “So is Zarna actually funny?” But my hardcore girl friends, my Indian girls in New York, my day ones, they believed in me from the very start, they were at every show, until I actually was funny!
And how easy or tough was it to establish your comedy career as one which paid the bills?
It was really hard until it was suddenly easy. All that energy to get a rocketship off the surface of the earth, and then once you leave the atmosphere, there’s no more friction. I used to plug and plug and plug my shows, and then one day in July 2022, I had 5 shows sold out back to back. Since then, there has been no looking back.
