With her appearance in ‘Deli Boys 2’, the Canadian-Indian entertainer Lily Singh is not just adding a credit to her résumé; she is stepping into a role that feels, by her own account, like the culmination of everything she has been working toward. In a candid conversation, the actress opened up about what the show means to her, the state of brown representation in the West, and more.
Lilly Singh on ‘Deli Boys 2′ and brown representation
Lilly Singh made no attempt to hide her enthusiasm about joining ‘Deli Boys 2’. For an entertainer who has spent years advocating for more authentic South Asian stories on Western screens, landing a role in an already celebrated, comedy-rich show with a strong cast clearly hit differently.She said, “My whole career, I’ve tried really hard to make stories like this come to life. And it’s such an honour for me to step into a show that’s already so incredible, so comedic, has such a great cast, and I get to be part of this amazing family. It’s a dream show for me. I love the fact that all the characters are so messy and problematic, and we don’t get to see characters like that very often. I get to play a wife that’s flirting with other men and disrespecting my husband, and it’s so much fun; more of that please.”
Lily Singh on why ‘messy’ brown characters are a big deal
For Lilly Singh, the significance of the show goes well beyond entertainment. She spoke thoughtfully about what genuine representation actually looks like, and why falling short of it has been such a persistent problem in North American media.“I’m sure in India there’s different conversations around representation, but there’s no hurdle about getting brown people on camera there. The struggle here is that we’re fighting to just have our skin colour on screen. So when you get to have a show like this where not only are there South Asians on screen, but they get to have such a range of personality, that’s really special because in the past, such characters have been either really smart, strict, straight edge, or they don’t get to be messy, and that’s such a shame,” she said.She went further, defining what the bar for true representation should look like. She added, “True representation for us, at least or for me, would be to see characters that get to make mistakes and get to swear a lot, be sexual and get to be an array of things, as we’ve never ever gotten to see that. So, for us, it’s a huge win.”
Lilly Singh talks about growing up without a mirror
Lilly also reflected on what it felt like to come of age in the West with virtually no brown faces on screen to look up to and what that absence quietly costs young people.She said, “My only representation of specifically brown people was only Hindi cinema. In terms of North American cinema, I didn’t really have anything. My closest things were ‘Fresh Prince of Bel Air’, ‘Sister Sister’ and ‘Family Matters’, which were predominantly Black shows. We didn’t have ‘Never Have I Ever’ or ‘Deli Boys’. So I always think, how would my life be different if, growing up, I had shows where I actually saw myself? But I’m happy that people growing up now can see themselves on screen, and it broadens what’s possible for them.”
Lilly Singh shares people telling her she reminds them of Will Smith and Shah Rukh Khan
Lilly saved her most self-aware, and funniest, observation for last. Asked about how audiences perceive her comedy, she revealed that the two figures who shaped her most visibly are not exactly who one might expect.“One of the most common comments I get under my Instagram is either, ‘You remind me a lot of Will Smith’, and that is because I learned comedy from ‘Fresh Prince of Bel Air’, or the second one is ‘Your facial expressions remind me of Shah Rukh Khan’. It’s because I was raised by those two people in either Hindi cinema or Western comedy. So now I look like two men when I do any type of comedy. How would my life have been different if someone like me was on screen?”Created by Abdullah Saeed, ‘Deli Boys season 2’ is a dark crime-comedy web show that premiered on Hulu on May 28, 2026.
