There鈥檚 a new series making waves on the web. 鈥淗alal in the Family鈥� centers around the Qu鈥檕sbys, an all-American family who also happen to be Muslim.
It鈥檚 no coincidence that the family name sounds a lot like 鈥淐osby.鈥� Co-creator Miles Kahn tells s Robin Young that the idea first came from a comment that journalist Katie Couric made, that maybe what American Muslims needed to combat stereotypes was their own 鈥淐osby Show.鈥�
鈥淲e sort of took that and ran with the idea in the most ridiculous way,鈥� Kahn said.
Co-creator Aasif Mandvi stars as 鈥淎asif Qu鈥橭sby鈥� the sweater-wearing patriarch who hires an image consultant to help his son in his race for class president, but who also thinks it鈥檚 a good idea to decorate the house like a haunted terrorist training camp for Halloween.
The creators of the show try to incorporate real-life elements into their comedy, for instance, Miles Kahn ran his definition of Sharia law past consultants, and a real-life anti-Muslim Facebook post also makes an appearance.
鈥淲e comment on the absurdity of the racism, the Islamophobia, by having this family who鈥檚 trying to be uber-American 鈥� you know they鈥檙e country music dancing and they鈥檙e drinking pork juice鈥� almost over-the-top American,鈥� Mandvi said.
Interview Highlights: Aasif Mandvi and Miles Kahn
Aasif on creating the right set for the show
鈥淭he show is ultimately a parody of some 鈥�80s sitcoms and that whole genre. So the set, we really needed it to be the all-American sort of generic sitcom set. You know, with the living room and stairway going up to the upstairs which we never see.鈥�
鈥淚 think it allows people to have access and deal with some of these issues in a way that they couldn鈥檛 if it was just a regular news story.鈥濃�� Aasif Mandvi
Miles on the fake laugh track
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 kind of key. That鈥檚 what we know of those old multi-camera sitcoms. It was the cue for the audience when to laugh. It was always a little bit overdone in the 鈥�80s and late 鈥�80s. We screened it occasionally and someone would be like, 鈥業 didn鈥檛 need the laugh track, I knew where to laugh.鈥� For me, it鈥檚 part of the parody of it. If you don鈥檛 get that it鈥檚 a parody of that format then maybe you won鈥檛 like the laugh track.鈥�
Aasif on Barry West鈥檚 Facebook post
鈥淭he whole joke was that my character is trying to teach this girl how to be a better bully because Aasif 鈥� the character Aasif on the show 鈥� gets offended by the fact that she鈥檚 calling his daughter a Sikh. So the idea is that if you鈥檙e gonna bully us then at least get the racial slur right, so that was the whole premise of that. It鈥檚 a great visual image to show that. And we blew it up and put it on an easel and stuff and showed it on camera. It鈥檚 very shocking and gets the point across really well.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 darkly funny. I mean, I think that鈥檚 the whole thing about the show, is that we have things that are kind of serious, but using this format, I think it allows people to have access and deal with some of these issues in a way that they couldn鈥檛 if it was just a regular news story.鈥�
Guests
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