My Music: Aasif Mandvi
THE FIRST ALBUM I BOUGHT/STOLEI actually don't remember if I bought it or stole it, but it was Elvis's King Creole. It was the first one I could find with his picture on it. It's a picture of his face, and he's looking into the camera. He's looking very handsome. He's a handsome man, Elvis.
THE SONG THAT MAKES ME FEEL INVINCIBLE
I still listen to it when I gotta pump up: [Carl Douglas's] "Kung Fu Fighting." Because "Everybody is fast as lightning…" I don't know the words, I don't know why this song. But there are moves, you know. I'll sometimes do a few kicks and some very pathetic attempts at some karate chops. Whatever the day calls for. As any good ninja knows, you gotta improvise …
LOCATION OF THE BEST JUKEBOX I KNOW
Right around the corner from me at the Allstate Café on the upper west side of New York City there's a jukebox that's pretty good. It's my local place, and I'll go in there and just throw on some Journey and piss everybody off.
NERDIEST NERD ROCK DISC EVER
I used to own John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads," and I used to listen to that. And that was one of those songs that could make a day go by slowly.
SONG THAT MAKES ME CRY
You know what the saddest song is? "Another Lonely Day" by Ben Harper, from Fight for Your Mind. It's just incredibly, incredibly sad. Like when the guy wrote it, he must of just been in the bathtub, you know what I mean? "Everything is bad in my life." He's holding the plugged-in toaster over the water ...
MY GO-TO SONG ON KARAOKE NIGHT
I have a couple, actually, but one is "Englishman in New York" by Sting. Because I am an Englishman in New York, you know. I was raised in England. The reason I love that song is because there's a lyric in that song which says, "I like my toast done on one side," and I love that because that is such an English thing. When I was a kid, I would eat toast only toasted on one side, and when I came to America people toasted both and I was like, "How decadent! You guys toast it on both sides? That's crazy!"
BEST SONG FROM FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS
There's only one: "Business Time." The minute I heard that song I was like… This is the funniest song in the world. Especially the part where he's like "I take off my pants, and I trip over them/But I turn it into a sexy dance." I listen to it all the time.
SONG THAT AN EX RUINED
Well, there's been many, but I have to say the one I'm most bummed about is [Simon & Garfunkel's] "The Only Living Boy in New York." The song didn't have anything to do with my relationship, but we used to listen to it a lot. And now when I listen to it I only go back there, so now it's ruined. And I really like that song.
SONG I WAS PROBABLY CONCEIVED TO
My parents probably conceived me in India, so it's probably a Hindi song, like probably a Bollywood song. So I think the song is a song called "Awaara Hu." I have it on my iTunes. It's under "Various Artists": The Song of Nargis. Nargis was a huge Bollywood star.
THE CD I HOPED WOULD MAKE ME COOL
You know it was Radiohead, The Bends. It didn't work at all. I realized I'm not a big Radiohead fan, but I bought it anyway. And then I would, like, try to be into it, you know? I thought the "cool" would rub off, but instead I would just go right back to "Kung Fu Fighting."
