There’s a scene in HBO’s new comedy series “The Brink,” in which Aasif Mandvi — playing a driver for a government operative in Pakistan — begs an ambassador to save the operative, who’s been taken by Pakistani soldiers.
The ambassador says that instead, he’ll pray for the man’s safety. As he begins praying to Jesus, Mandvi — whose character, Rafiq, is Muslim — begins an Islamic prayer in Arabic.
After a few seconds, the ambassador says, “Son, I’ll do the praying.”
“That right there tells me everything about geopolitics” says Mandvi, who is Muslim himself.
For the Indian-born, English- and American-raised actor, “The Brink” (premiering Sunday at 10:30 p.m.) continues the sort of work he did as a correspondent on “The Daily Show” — satirizing the American establishment from an outsider’s perspective.
“There’s this idea of American exceptionalism that our government and media want us to buy into,” Mandvi says, “which is often looked at by the rest of the world as nonsense.”
Most of his scenes are with Jack Black (who plays the aforementioned operative), and the pair form a sort of international odd couple — with Black’s ugly American, Alex, contrasting with Mandvi’s thoughtful but powerless Pakistani.
“Jack plays an entitled American foreign-service agent who hasn’t taken the time to learn about the country he’s been assigned to,” says Mandvi, “and Rafiq is the one who is smarter . . . but because of circumstance and economics, he is the driver. Rafiq and Alex’s relationship ends up being the relationship that Pakistan has with America.”
Part of Mandvi’s worldview was formed by racism he experienced as a child. Though born in India, he was on the receiving of “Paki-bashing” in England. (He moved with his family to the States as a teen.)
“Sometimes I describe myself as a turducken — an Indian baby wrapped in an English schoolboy wrapped in an American adult,” he says. “This was useful on ‘The Daily Show’ because I was able to tell stories [as an American and] as an outsider at the same time.”
“The Brink” hews so close to the true awful nature of politics that Jerry Weintraub, one of the show’s executive producers, received confirmation from the most knowledgable source possible.
“Jerry showed episodes to a former president,” says Mandvi, “and the president said, ‘Yeah, this is exactly the way it is.’ That was a little troubling.”
If there’s a downside to Mandvi’s work in political satire, it’s the depressing realization that however messed-up we may think political institutions are, the reality can be worse.
“We hold the people who run our world in such high regard . . . ‘They must be smarter than us, they must have more information,’ ” he says. “The sad truth is, ‘The Daily Show’ showed me that a lot of it is just not true. People often operate from this place of narcissism, pettiness and politics.”
Mandvi has continued appearing on “The Daily Show” part-time while working on “The Brink,” and expects that to continue once Trevor Noah takes over for current host Jon Stewart, who departs on August 6.
Asked about his own desire to have been considered for Stewart’s job, Mandvi say, “I wasn’t available, but it was never a chair I wanted to sit in. It’s a big chair to fill.”
Mandvi doesn’t know Noah well, having met him just a few times in the hallway at “The Daily Show,” but believes the controversy that dogged the new host after the announcement of his hiring was much ado about nothing.
“He’s funny, he’s smart, and he’s gonna bring his own spin,” he says. “I think people were having a reaction to the fact that Daddy’s leaving.
“Nobody wants Jon to leave. I love him, we all love him, we all want him to stay there for 100 years.”