Rasika Mathur

Rasika Mathur, best known for her improv performances as a regular on Nick Cannon’s Wild-N-Out (MTV) also boasts a talent for developing characters, writing/performing sketches & stand-up material. Her latest adventures in the world of musical comedy has attracted international attention, through her first self produced music video, ‘The Sari (W)rap’ – a film festival favorite.

A Houston TX native, Rasika headed north to train at the legendary Second City’s Conservatory in Chicago, where comedy greats such as John Belushi began their careers. A move to Los Angeles sharpened her stand-up routines on the stages of the Largo, The Comedy Store, The Laugh Factory, Westside Eclectic, Improv Olympic West, Comedy Underground, The Gig, The Empty Stage & The Second City LA.

She has recently guest starred on Showtime’s Weeds & The L Word, NBC’s My Name is Earl and also appears in the 2008 thriller Cloverfield. Rasika is also a regular on National Lampoon Radio’s, ‘Nadine @ Nite’ show on XM Radio 154 & a featured artist on Turner’s Superdeluxe.com – a comedy oriented video-sharing site focusing on original content. Her signature character, the middle-aged Nilam Auntie was born as an inside joke during a traditional Indian wedding and has manifested into a miniseries for DesiYou.com & mockumentary project chronicling the life of this loveable, albeit intrusive relative.

Do you find it difficult for people to separate the stage persona from the person?

Yes, but that’s because I’m a fricking schizo. People always want to joke with the monkey, but I have a bad day waiting in line at Van Nuys Superior Court for a bulls*** traffic ticket, too! And then people always want to dump their s*** on me right before I’m about to go onstage and its like (Chris Rock voice), “Sorry lady, I gotsta go bring the funny!”

You were very “hip-hop” from your days on Wild N Out, but that was certainly putting you in a box. How do you describe your unique style?

If I was to describe me, I’d go with Preschool Bohemian Sexy. Let me explain. I love bright colors and cartoon characters, but I also love hippies and the peace-nag burning era because I identify with it. But then I do have that off-the-shoulder-check-out-my-bum thing happening. So let’s go with that.

Who do you look up to in your field?

Ellen. She’s found that beautiful balance of being her most joyful, truest self, and still her funniest, along with being an altruist and someone who encourages others. I think that’s living a created life.

Do you have any famous friends?

Someone I wish I was hanging out with more is Janina Gavankar. Because she has a dog, and loves to play Rock Band and she has this amazing fricking giant xylophone thingee at her house which she is trained in playing! It’s easy to talk to her and be 14 again. And gab about which jeans we ruined with our last period.

What do you feel is being ignored in the South Asian community?

I think the South Asian film festivals have covered pretty much everything. I think what might still be ignored is stigma and taboo, and what are we really doing about it? I’m an Ambassador for Living a Strange, Non-traditional Life. Because us SA comedians are so out-of-the-box, we get to keep putting that image of “something else is possible” out there for our own kind. The more of us who can show up boldly at weddings with non-South Asian partners, who can boldly support our elderly family members, our family members with disabilities and illnesses, our family members who are gay and lesbian, this is how we will advance our society and our community. And we really are kicking ass, if you look at how many fields we’ve already torn up. But it’s that human element we need to strengthen. Mother Teresa loved India and she lived there–the least we can do is attempt to be as accepting and as unconditionally loving as she was.

We know you love to mention the people you’ve touched or really had an impact on. Any good letters recently?

I was asked by a MySpace fan if I’d ever think about performing in Baquba, in Iraq. It’s the troops’ letters that are so so precious to me. And I got blitzed by a German family–the dad was asking for autographed pictures for not only his 2 kids, but also for himself and his wife! How? What?

And we find this hard to believe, but does anyone just loathe you?

Believe it! If there is a person alive, they are probably hated, especially if they are putting themselves out there, sharing what they do. I got the opportunity to do some funny bits for the Amgen Bike Tour of California just this past February, which were, as the producers called it, “Cycling for Dummies 101” bits to learn about the sport. But seasoned cycling fans thought it was awful, and just hated every minute of it! 6 total minutes over the week. One guy actually said he lost 3 months of his life for every minute I was on. I mean, those are some strong feelings! It’s hard to hear all that noise about “Get off TV!” I went into a severe depression. Okay, it was mild. Okay, I didn’t shower for 2 days. But in a typical week, I don’t shower for 3 days. The POINT is that all I want to do is bring joy to people, so just chill…till the next webisode. But I’ve totally lost my cycling fans!! I really don’t know how I’ll go on.

Tell us about your highly acclaimed sketch group Siblings of Doctors.

It is myself, actor Danny Pudi (Road Trip 2, Greek), and writer Ranjit Souri (The Best American Essays of 2007). We love to collaborate and pick on what’s topical, whether it’s a Slumdog parody or a Blagoyevich reference worked into our homage to The Muppets. We pride ourselves on the fact that in the last year, we have put together 7 shows, with 2 of us living in LA, and the other in Chicago. We are starting to get automatic entry into festivals to perform. You know that’s what happened to Lincoln before he got big. He was just making the rounds on the Toastmasters circuit, f’in around, and then one day, Boom.

How did you decide to pursue musical comedy? What brought this about?

South Asians love music and videos, and as a kid my favorite hobby was called RMTV. So making spoof music videos has always been in my blood. Now I just get to write the lyrics, too. I started playing guitar 4 years ago and my first songwriting/singing gig was for India Independence Day in Austin. I only knew one chord, (E minor) but I had such a blast with it! That concert was the seed for “Enlighten the F*** Up” my first musical comedy album, coming out this Spring, on Rukus Avenue. Word to Sandler, Fallon, the Flight of the Conchords, and the original, Weird Al. His album and Chipmunk Punk were my first ever vinyls. Oh, and Thriller.

Tell us a little bit more about the album’s content?

Alongside The Sari (W)rap, there are many other songs and celebrations about my culture. I am also doing a song about Haters, as we talked about above. I always hear rappers saying, “You can’t be me or see me or blah blah blah” but what nobody is saying is that they have been a hater too. It’s a human emotion. So I sort of get to confess who I’ve hated on and how it’s done nothing for me, except keep me from going after my own passion. I am also talking about things like going to the bathroom, because I think simple actions like that can help ultimately lead to world peace. Call me naive, but it starts with us, and what’s going on inside of us.

What are some of your other current projects?

My amazing team at Rukus Avenue has been talking to Sulekha.com about my getting to contribute comedy to their global website. So we are currently producing a 3-minute weekly show, titled quite appropriately, “The Rasika Mathur Show,” featuring my eloquent yet tight-assed concoction, Laxmi Harjoshi, a British correspondent who brings both irreverent and irrelevant news. What excites me most is that I get to resuscitate the Rasikammentator, which was a series of fake news articles (a la The Onion) I would write as therapy (!) to vent out how horrible my first few years in LA were. The attitude really stuck through good times and bad, and now that I have tried-and-true Haters in my life (cough::shifttoalowergear::cough) believe me, I am in bad need of ther-a-puting.

And can readers and viewers of your comedy find more fun on your website?

Damn you iWeb! You’re not helping me anymore. Neither is GoDaddy.com. They’re always like, “I can’t do that. You takin’ up too much room. Broken pipe … Sheeet.” So, yeah. Revamped rasikamathur.com. Coming soon.