Abdullah Saeed's series on Hulu Deli Boys is Harold & Kumar on coke.
The bizarre golf-course death of Pakistani-American patriarch Baba Dar (Igbal Theba) reveals a deep family secret: He'd been running a cocaine trafficking operation out of his bodega, A.B.C. Deli, in Philadelphia.
Baba's grown sons Mir (Ali Asif) and Raj (Saagar Shaikh) are in the dark until his female assitant Lucky (Poorna Jagannathan) fills them in.
A business-school graduate, Mir is smart and uptight like Harold; a classic weed-toking and dab-hitting stoner, Raj is like Kumar. All four characters are of Asian descent.
In the opening scene, Raj fires up a banger, which may be the first dab taken on a mainstream TV show. He has his own personal shaman, Prairie (Alfie Fuller), who leads ayahuasca ceremonies.
"Some would say drugs are my passion," Raj tells mobster Chickie Lozano (Kevin Corrigan) in Ep. 4. "I'm a coke savant, the Willy Wonka of white."
But Raj doesn't have the brains to run the operation, so Mir reluctantly accepts the job, which he performs with the help of hit-women Lucky and his perpetually stoned brother.
There are a lot of players who want in on their Peruvian action, with threats right around each corner. Mir's quick thinking averts most of the perils.
Note that Corrigan was a regular in '90s stoner films (True Romance, KIcked in the Head, Detroit Rock City). Half Baked's Guillermo Diaz has a cameo as the Peruvian Chacho. And Chris Elliott shows up as goofball cop Sgt. Restacola.
Saeed previously appeared in High Maintainence and Bong Appetít and co-hosted the podcast Great Moments in Weed Hitory with David Bienentock.
The female roles are particularly solid in Deli Boys, from Lucky to Mir's fiancé Bushra (Zainne Saleh) to Raj's new wife Nandika (Amita Rao) and shaman to Chickie's impulive daughter Gigi (Sofia Black-D'Elia) to newbie FBI agent Mercer (Alexandra Ruddy).
It's a fast-paced, wild ride that follows the Dar family navigating the mean streets of Philly. But mostly Deli Boys is played for laughs. By Ep. 10, Mir imagines he's The Godftather.
The final episode neatly sets up Season 2, which has yet to be announced.
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