Deli Boys is a comedy series from Hulu and Onyx Collective that follows two Pakistani American brothers whose lives are turned upside down after they find out their recently deceased father was the boss of a criminal empire. With the power vacuum, they are sucked into a life of crime as they try to avoid the FBI and live a normal life with their significant others.

Playing the roles of the brothers are Asif Ali as Mir Dar and Saagar Shaikh as Raj Dar. They are joined by Alfie Fuller as Prairie, Poorna Jagannathan as Lucky, and Brian George as Ahmad. Deli Boys executive producers are Abdullah Saeed, Michelle Nader, and Jenni Konner.

“I watched The Sopranos, and I also watched Righteous Gemstones because I feel like, comedically, they’re kind of existing in the same way,” Shaikh tells Nerd Reactor. “There’s also this succession aspect of Righteous Gemstones, where they’re trying to fill that vacuum. And so I watched both of those, but, I mean, our show turned out to be so different.”

“So different,” Ali added. “But like in such a cool way in that it has its own world that it’s existing in. It doesn’t feel like when you watch it, you go, ‘Oh, this is just some sort of knockoff of XYZ show, right?’ This is a unique world; it’s its own thing. Speaking of Righteous Gemstones, Tim Baltz is in the show. I mean, what a get. An absolute crusher. All of our guest stars were incredible.”

Asif Ali (WandaVision) and Saagar Shaikh (Ms. Marvel) have had a long journey in the industry that led to them getting to lead their own show.

“Yeah, it’s just a crazy thing, especially for a show like this,” Ali tells Nerd Reactor. “Like, I always thought, ‘Oh, you know, I’d been series regular on shows and stuff. I figured like, ‘Oh, I’d be a guy in a show or whatever, which is great. It’s great to work in any capacity, but to be the lead of a show like this about people like this, I never even thought that this was a possibility, honestly, and for it to be this good, and for it to encompass all my favorite things, which is action and comedy and just silliness.”

The creative team behind Deli Boys was inspired by Godfather, Coen Brothers films, Quentin Tarantino, The Righteous Gemstones and Beef. Michelle Nader, one of the executive producers, had some experience with the mob.

“I come from South Philadelphia,” Nader said. “I have been acquainted with some mobsters in Philadelphia. I maybe dated them. Some of the stuff that I can bring to this is about criminals who don’t think they’re criminals because that’s how I grew up with these mobsters in my neighborhood. They were just kind of like celebrities in our neighborhood. Abdullah and I wrote the fifth episode about Frank Rizzo, the biggest criminal of all time, one of the mayors of Philadelphia. People in the country won’t know this, but if you’re from Philly, you get that. There’s a lot of history in that show.”

Deli Boys premieres on Hulu on March 6, 2025.