82 GQ.CO.ZA OCTOBER 2017These days, almost everything can
make you cry – or at the very least,
drive you to build an underground
bunker and hide until the eventual
nuclear apocalypse. Until then,
thankfully, there’s also enough to
make you laugh. We’ve gathered a
few legends and few new innovators
to give us the low-down on comedy
in (an ever-more terrifying) 2017
Kumail
Nanjiani
If you recognise the caped
man above, it’s probably from
his role as the dryly brilliant
engineer Dinesh on Mike
Judge’s tech satire Silicon
Vall e y. He’s the Pied Piper
employee who starts wearing
an unfortunate necklace in a
tragic attempt at coolness and
justifi es the purchase thusly:
‘I’ve been working hard. I’m
making money for the fi rst
time. I was like, [I’ll] buy
myself something nice.’
Born in Karachi, Pakistan,
Kumail Nanjiani moved to
America at 18, then started his
career in stand-up, making
dryly brilliant Seinfeldian
observations delivered with
understated underdog eff ect.
His appeal broadened as his
focus narrowed to the
personal, exploring tragic
attempts at childhood
coolness (including, yes,Edited by Nkosiyati Khumalo(Th e New
and Improved)