Abby Govindan

Fooling media outlets into thinking she created the Netflix series Emily in Paris may have won the comedian and Fordham grad Abby Govindan plenty of new followers on Twitter in 2021, but it didn’t go a long way in making her the pride of her Indian American family back home in Houston. It’s just one of the stories Govindan shares in her debut Off Broadway one-hander, “How to Embarrass Your Immigrant Parents,”produced by the comedians Hasan Minhaj and Daniel Sloss.

In the show, she reveals how she struggled with her mental health before finding therapy and stand-up comedy, and learns how to love or at least understand her father’s responses in the family’s group chat. Just 24 hours before her opening night at New York City’s SoHo Playhouse, Abby sat down with me over Zoom to talk about how much has changed for her in the past five years.  She explains what she has learned from social media and working with and for more famous comedians, and how Jungle Cat, the stand-up showcase she co-hosts with Mohanad Elshieky, has helped her both mentally and professionally. There’s a lot to get to, so let’s get to it!