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Zarna Garg on Arranged Marriage, Performing on the Subway and Being Herself
Parade
Follow
6/20/2025
Category
🛠️
Lifestyle
Transcript
Display full video transcript
00:00
The word changemaker to me means spreading positivity however you can.
00:06
I'm so excited to be here.
00:12
I know that you're the youngest of four.
00:14
So talk to me a little bit about finding that comedic relief role in your family at such a young age.
00:19
I think to get attention in an Indian family with all the chaos and all the drama that surrounds everyday life in India,
00:27
anybody has to learn to get attention.
00:29
I think I just made everybody laugh from ever since I can remember having any memory.
00:35
An astrologer told your mom before you were born that you were going to be a talker?
00:38
Oh my God, my family was so horrified.
00:41
So my mom, my whole childhood was like, please don't say it.
00:45
Whatever's in your mind, please don't say it.
00:46
I mean, in India, that's a fate worse than psoriasis because you can't hide it.
00:52
After your mother passed and you fleeing home because your dad wanted to set you up for an arranged marriage.
00:57
So talk to me a little bit about that, too.
00:59
I had very clear ideas about what I didn't want because I knew what arranged marriage meant.
01:06
It meant I might not be able to go to college.
01:08
And I really wanted to experience college.
01:11
Eventually then you did make your way to the U.S., going to college and then becoming a lawyer.
01:15
The other lawyers would laugh out loud at all your legal notices.
01:18
Yes.
01:19
I remember sending legal notices to opposing counsel and they would be like, this is the funniest notice.
01:24
And I was like, did you read I'm Trying to Sue You?
01:27
And the truth is that even my comedy is born from that.
01:30
Your funny theme, again, even led to your romantic life.
01:33
I want to talk about, too, the ad that you posted on an Indian singles website.
01:37
Your future husband said it was ridiculous at the time, but clearly it worked, you know?
01:42
When I was writing the ad, I wrote what I thought made the most sense in trying to find the kind of person I wanted to find.
01:49
When our paths collided, we had a very shared kinship in feeling like it was us against the world.
01:56
He, too, comes from very, very humble origins and wanted to make something of his life.
02:02
I wanted to make something of my life.
02:04
Then it hit him that if he didn't marry me, I was really determined to be married to somebody.
02:10
There was no proposal.
02:12
It was more like, okay, this makes sense.
02:15
Even when you guys were raising a family, you still pursuing your dreams constantly.
02:19
You launched about 18 LLCs.
02:21
You then went up to write a screenplay.
02:23
I learned off of YouTube how to write a screenplay.
02:26
And I took one class in Midtown.
02:28
I knew that I had written something good.
02:30
And I started researching film festivals where you can submit and win.
02:34
Then I won the thing.
02:36
And they were like, you know, do you have another script?
02:38
I was like, what?
02:41
Okay.
02:42
So I had to take a step back and be like, this is not going to work.
02:46
And that became the first, like, iteration of what else do funny people do?
02:50
Because I had never been to a comedy club in my life, even as a viewer.
02:54
You then went to your first open mic night.
02:57
You would practice for basically anyone around you who would listen.
03:01
Once I realized what open mics were and all, how comedians practice, I was like, oh, I can
03:07
turn every hangout with every parent into an open mic.
03:12
I'm going to just show up in the subway and do my thing and see what happens.
03:16
And that's exactly how I did it.
03:18
No one's going to tell you.
03:20
We don't like you.
03:21
In comedy, a lot of times when you're coming up, it is largely white and largely male.
03:28
When I started doing comedy, I didn't actually know how male dominated or white it was.
03:33
I didn't know what a big deal comedy seller was.
03:36
I just walked in and I was like, somebody said do five minutes.
03:40
I'll do it.
03:40
You wrote this New York Times bestselling memoir, This American Woman.
03:43
You also have starred in A Nice Indian Boy to rave reviews.
03:45
What's that on his arm?
03:47
It's a tattoo of Ganesh.
03:49
Our Ganesh Bhagwan, he did that for you.
03:53
He did it for us.
03:54
Why would you?
03:55
You opened for Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
03:57
You had a successful comedy special on Amazon Prime.
03:59
Another one, Zarna Garg, Practical People Win, dropping July 18th on Hulu.
04:04
You have a successful podcast with your family too.
04:06
I want to ask how it feels now to have all these things happen for you.
04:09
I feel like I've been ordained.
04:12
Like destiny wanted me to be here.
04:14
I never thought I'd be in front of a screen.
04:16
But the director of A Nice Indian Boy was so determined that this was my part.
04:21
And I took a leap of faith on his judgment.
04:24
I feel like my community sadly has been a little behind in accepting the gay community.
04:29
And I want to be a voice in pushing that culture forward for us.
04:34
I remember at one event, a very elderly Indian man, uncle, he said, you know, I've lived in
04:40
America for 50 years and I've laughed at jokes that I don't understand.
04:44
It's the first time I have laughed and really loved something like this.
04:50
When I get scared or I get nervous, I think of that man because it's true.
04:55
That man and millions of other men and women like him are out there being seen through me.
05:01
You've really created change by just being authentically yourself.
05:05
So I just kind of want to ask how you think people can tap into just being who they are to make change.
05:11
You have to stop worrying about what people think.
05:12
Success is written every day by people who look like me and you.
05:16
There's millions of Zarnas out there writing their own stories.
05:19
There is a whole world of people waiting to receive you.
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