Starring Asif Ali and Saagar Shaikh as brothers who find themselves in an unusual predicament, Hulu’s 10-episode comedy “Deli Boys” debuted on March 6, 2025. Created by Abdullah Saeed and developed by executive producers Jenni Konner (“Girls”) and Nora Silver, with Michelle Nader (“2 Broke Girls”) as showrunner, “Deli Boys” brings together a unique blend of action and family dynamics that “showcases South Asian people in a way that I don’t think I’ve ever seen in a comedy,” Ali told Nerds of Color.
Now, with all six episodes of Season 2 set to drop on May 28, there’s no time like the present to get acquainted with Hulu’s hit comedy. To learn more about “Deli Boys,” like who cast the series and how to get cast, let our guide be your go-to resource.
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Brothers Mir (Ali) and Raj (Shaikh) Dar live a seemingly charmed life with the success of their father’s deli. But when their dad (Iqbal Theba) unexpectedly dies, they must take over running the store—and their late patriarch’s secret life of crime. If the Pakistani American siblings don’t assume their dad’s position within the organization, they stand to lose everything they’ve come to know. But their sheltered existence hasn’t exactly primed them for a life of crime. Only time will tell if they can sustain every element of the family business.
- The “Deli Boys” cast includes:
- Asif Ali as Mir Dar
- Saagar Shaikh as Raj Dar
- Poorna Jagannathan as Lucky
- Alfie Fuller as Prairie
- Brian George as Ahmad
- Alexandra Ruddy as Agent Mercer
- Zainne Saleh as Bushra
- Shahjehan Khan as Ali
- Jake Prizant as Matthew
- Tim Baltz as Director Simpson
- Azhar Usman as Feraz
- Ahmed Lucan as Hassan
- Anish Jethmalani as Patika
Season 2 will also welcome some known names to the mix, including Fred Armisen as Max Sugar, Andrew Rannells as Andrew Chadwater, Kumail Nanjiani as Danyal, Lilly Singh as Aisha, and Robin Thede as Dr. Iverson.
Ben Pollack and Seth Yanklewitz (“How I Met Your Father”) are the main CDs behind “Deli Boys.” When it comes to auditioning for Yanklewitz—who won an Emmy for his work on “New Girl”—his advice remains simple. “Just be prepared, do all your homework, read the scripts, get as much information as you can,” he told Backstage. “You don’t have to be off book every time, but learn the material and be able to take adjustments and changes. Really take the time to make educated choices and be successful. There are so many factors in getting a job and one thing you can control is how prepared you are.”
For years, Shaikh found himself repeatedly losing roles to Ali due to minimal opportunities for South Asian actors in Hollywood, and he thought the same had happened after his audition for “Deli Boys.” He originally auditioned for Mir, but the role ultimately went to—you guessed it—Ali.
“Usually when I audition for something…there’s only one brown character,” Shaikh told Variety. “I was waiting anxiously by the phone, and when I got the call, they were like, ‘So we have some news. They made an offer for Mir, and it’s not to you.’ And I was like, ‘Is it Asif Ali?’ He does it to me every time!” But luckily, in this case, both actors landed a leading role, becoming onscreen brothers.
Yanklewitz told Gold Derby finding genuine Pakistani and Northern Indian Muslim actors to round out the cast was both challenging and rewarding, as said authenticity was the only guidepost Saeed gave the CD. “I was given free rein to find the characters within what they described initially, [but] because we were handling such a small talent pool to begin with, I was allowed to expand and go a little outside the lines of what they thought the characters should be,” he said.
Ultimately, Yanklewitz and his team had to look outside Hollywood to find the ideal cast. “We did a lot of searching through restaurants and stores in neighborhoods that were Pakistani-heavy, or Northern Indian heavy,” he admitted, while also noting that they frequently asked those auditioning if they had any family members who might be eager to give acting a go. “We had to start from the bottom and really build our way up. It took extra work to go into the community to really dig up actors.... It wasn’t just one role: it was almost an entire ensemble, and then episodic cast, of actors who lived in a very small group,” he added.
When casting Mir and Raj, Yanklewitz noted they approached one known name, but he was unavailable, so they opened up auditions to actors across North America and India. As Shaikh noted previously, both he and Ali auditioned for the same role at first, but Yanklewitz was convinced he needed to be part of the project, as well. “I was such a fan of Saagar, and I knew he had a place in this show,” he explained, so he convinced the producers to bring him in to audition for Raj, and “it was apparent the minute Saagar tested for the other brother that he could do it.”
“Deli Boys” hasn’t yet been renewed for Season 3, but there’s no reason you should press pause on the audition process while you await news of its fate. Check out our roundup of streaming gigs that are casting right now and bookmark our main comedy casting call page, too. You may also want to explore our guide on how to audition for Hulu as you prepare.
Support your supposed competition: For many, acting feels adversarial as actors battle it out for coveted roles in the audition room. Even Shaikh and Ali admitted what it’s like to go up against each other for roles. But as Shaikh told Brown Girl Magazine, it’s important to support your fellow actor, because together you might be able to revolutionize the industry.
“One thing I would say to fellow brown people in entertainment is: We need to be bigger fans of each other,” Shaikh explained. “We need to be seeing each other’s shows. We need to be happy for our friends who are booking the roles we auditioned for because either way, it’s a win for the culture…. Being a part of this industry, I’ve learned that if you aren’t white, you have to make your own opportunities. Stop waiting for things to happen to you because they might not ever. We have to be smart, work together, and elevate each other. I just want to see brown people unite, rise together, and make some dope shit.”
Focus on your own successes: It may not always be easy to fight the desire to compare your journey to others who are walking the same road, but your path to success might not look like theirs—and that’s OK. Rannells told us you just need to remain focused on your personal wins, not everyone else’s. “Keep your eyes on your own paper. Don’t be looking around to see what other people have that you don’t. I spent a lot of time in my 20s being jealous of people and what they had, and I regret that. It was a lot of wasted energy,” he shared. “You do what you do, you’re going to get what you get, and you shouldn’t be looking at other people and coveting their careers and their jobs. Put that time and focus into something else.”
Find your comedic voice: Comedians make funny look easy, but as Thede told us, success depends on finding your own comedic voice. That often means learning from those who inspire you most. “If you really boil it down, most comedians only do one to three types of jokes. That’s because that’s what falls in their cadence,” she explained. “Richard Pryor was a storyteller. Eddie Murphy told stories through characters. Richard Pryor used character, but it was always still Richard there. Eddie [Murphy] disappeared into his characters. But they’re storyteller comedians. Redd Foxx was the same way. Moms Mabley was the queen of a reversal. Everywhere you thought she was going to go was a misdirect.
“From the dawn of time of comedy, you can watch this,” Thede continued. “You’ll get anecdotal comedians and snarky comedians and metaphoric comedians. What I did really early on, because I was a student of comedy, I would figure out the types of jokes they did, and I would write for that. Over time, I learned what made me laugh. Once I figured out the things I had to say and wanted to say, and how I communicate—just in talking, let alone in jokes—then I figured out what my voice was.”
For additional tips on how to get the CDs to crack up in the audition room, these guides could do the trick: