Aparna Nancherla (Live @ SXSW)
The Comedian's Comedian Podcast
Stuart Goldsmith
4.8 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 15 August 2025
⏱️ 56 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Aparna Nancherla is a self-described “silly-billy” with her dry sense of humour mixed with hints of the existential, absurd and whimsy.
She’s the author of Unreliable Narrator: Me, Myself and Impostor Syndrome, and the voice behind Hollyhock on Bojack Horseman. Aparna has also appeared in A Simple Favor and Bob’s Burgers and written for Late Night with Seth Meyers and Mythic Quest. Rolling Stone named her one of “The 50 Funniest People Right Now,” and she’s even starred in a Super Bowl ad with Michael Bublé!
We discuss navigating the tension between vulnerability and self-deprecation, the risk of commodifying trauma, using comedy to control the narrative around your perceived flaws, does success cure imposter syndrome and is Aparna Nancherla happy…
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Catch Up with Aparna:
Keep up-to-date with all things Aparna Nancherla at aparnacomedy.com, and find her on Instagram @aparnapkin.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Every single person that comes along to my Edinburgh show, |
| 0:02.7 | an inconvenient time at 11.5 a.m. |
| 0:05.0 | between the 11th and 17th of August, will receive a kiss. |
| 0:08.4 | That's right, a full-on snog from me. |
| 0:10.5 | Get your tickets now at Stuartgoldsmith.com. |
| 0:12.6 | Kiss not guaranteed. Hello and welcome to the show. I'm Stuart Goldsmith, and today I am speaking to a parna nanchurla, who I've been trying to get onto the show for a few years, |
| 0:39.1 | ever having first caught a couple of clips of her stuff. |
| 0:41.9 | I think when she was going to be on at the Soho Theatre, and we talked about it then. |
| 0:45.3 | We couldn't make the time of work, and then I was very lucky at the last South by Southwest that I attended, |
| 0:51.3 | and perhaps which I will ever attend, I was very lucky to catch up with her for a |
| 0:56.0 | live episode of this podcast at The Creek and the Cave. So hello to everyone there. Hello to |
| 1:02.0 | Rebecca and everyone and Charlie and all of the South by Southwest crew. But this is the fabulous |
| 1:08.0 | Apana Nanchela, a self-described silly billy. She's an incredibly dry sense of |
| 1:13.4 | humour and has these wonderfully wonderful, layered, nuanced jokes with sort of all this |
| 1:18.5 | existential angst and absurdity and windy. She's just fantastic. She's the author of |
| 1:23.9 | unreliable narrator, Me Myself and Imposter Syndrome, which I really recommend. |
| 1:28.3 | Fantastic book. And is the voice behind Holly Hock on BoJack Horseman. She's also, she's |
| 1:33.6 | been done loads of voices like Simple Favour and Bob's Burgers. She's written for late night |
| 1:38.1 | with Seth Myers and Mythic Quest and Rolling Stone named her one of the 50est, one of the 50est, |
| 1:43.8 | and Rolling Stone named her one of the 50 funniest people in the world right now. |
| 1:48.4 | And I believe she's also been in a Super Bowl advert with Michael Boubley. Imagine. |
| 1:52.4 | In the first half of this episode, Aparna and I will talk about navigating the tension between vulnerability and self-deprecation. |
... |
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