Aasif Mandvi Never Wanted Daily Show Chair, Focusing on HBO Series Now

Aasif Mandvi has been making fewer appearances lately on The Daily Show. The reason is not because his career is floundering. Rather, he is now a writer and co-star on a new HBO series, The Brink, which premiered last night.

Mandvi said in an interview with Vulture that he has fully relocated to L.A. He praised Jon Stewart for his encouragement that his correspondents expand their careers beyond the show. Mandvi added, as a minor spoiler, “but I will be back, especially for Jon’s last show.” Jon Stewart’s final episode as host of The Daily Show is on August 6.

He also said in a separate interview reported by The New York Post that he was never really interested in Jon Stewart’s job. “I wasn’t available,” he said, “but it was never a chair I wanted to sit in. It’s a big chair to fill.”

Meanwhile, Mandvi’s new project, The Brink is a half-hour comedy with an interesting structure. Each season of the show is set to focus on an international crisis in a different country. The first season focuses on a geopolitical crisis in Pakistan. Unlike True Detective, the same cast is set to remain for each season.

The Brink stars Tim Robbins, Jack Black, Maribeth Monroe, Pablo Schreiber, and Mandvi. The show’s executive producers are Roberto Benabib, who wrote the pilot episode and is known for writing and producing Weeds, and Jay Roach, who directed the pilot and has also directed Meet The Parents and the Austin Powers films. As a sign of confidence, HBO placed The Brink on its Sunday night lineup, reserved for its most beloved shows.

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