This feature was produced in collaboration between Vox Creative and OnStar. Vox Media editorial staff was not involved in the creation or production of this content.

Some of the most insightful conversations come in the most casual settings. On The Ride we catch up with today's top personalities in technology and entertainment on their way to work. Along the way, we field questions sent live from The Verge readers via a tablet connected to the OnStar 4G LTE built-in Wi-Fi® hotspot.

When it comes to life imitating art, "Silicon Valley" start Kumail Nanjiani is something of a special case. His character on the show is video game-loving, code-fluent programmer and the real Nanjiani isn't far off. In fact, Nanjiani earned a bachelors degree in Computer Science and hosts a popular video game podcast "The Indoor Kids." We caught up with Nanjiani in Los Angeles to talk about his relationship with the real Silicon Valley, shooting on the set of "The X-Files," and working with his hero Mike Judge.

KN: Let's go to Meltdown Comics. I do a show there every Wednesday. Because I do a show, I never really get to pick up comics and stuff, and look at stuff, because I'm working when I'm there.



So you're in a show called "Silicon Valley." Do you have any experience with the real Silicon Valley, like in real life?

KN: Just from doing this show, because we do the show, we go there a few times a year. We do little events there and stuff like that. Just from doing the show, I've been to Silicon Valley a bunch. Honestly I didn't know much about the Silicon Valley culture when I sort of signed on to do the show, and now I know quite a bit. I think, because I sort of have to.

What's interesting is, we did the pilot for this about three years ago, and they were like, "Oh, what are you doing?" I was like, "Oh, it's a show called Silicon Valley, it's about the tech industry," and I know it seems crazy, but three years ago people would be like, "Oh, is it set in the nineties?" I'm like, "No. It's right now it's crazier than it's ever been. There's like more money, there's more stuff going on than ever before."

Cut to three years later, and now it's all in the conversation, like everybody knows Silicon Valley's like going through this crazy boom right now, but honestly three years ago, people weren't talking about it. I'm not saying our show's responsible for it, I'm just saying it's sort of coming to the conversation.

I wonder if it's going to turn into, like sort of how the food industry has turned into a bunch of celebrities.

KN: Yeah, that's interesting because we only knew Emeril, is that it? Did we just know Emeril?



We knew Emeril, we knew, what's the lady's name from France? She's not from France, but she does the French cooking cookbook. Julia Child.

KN: Julia Child. We knew like a couple people.



And that was it, and now it's like all these big rock stars, and they've got the Chef's Table series on Netflix.

KN: Yeah, and now I feel like it's sort of becoming the same with the tech industry, that everyone knows Elon Musk and all these people who have been celebrities in Silicon Valley for a while we're not sort of, now we're hearing about them. I'll say seventy percent of the time that people come up to me, and say they like the show, they're from the tech industry, and they're always like, "Oh, yeah, I was in a startup, and you know, when that went under I just got a job." I also realized you only hear about the start ups that make it.



You think of the word startup, and you think of, you know, selling to Microsoft for three billion dollars, but that's not the norm. The norm is they couldn't get the money together, or the VCs weren't interested, or whatever it is. It's interesting to see how there's a lot of money in Silicon Valley, but not a lot of people have that money. There's these VCs that control it, and then there's these startups trying to sort of get at that money. A lot of storylines are based on actual plot lines. Like in the first season there's a part where, you know Richard has Pied Piper, and he gets a check made out to Pied Piper, and he goes to the bank, and they're like, "Wait, you're not incorporated? You can't just come in and get that." From what I understand, that is actually what happened to the Google founders. They went in, and they were like, "What's Google? Do you have any paperwork?" They were like, "No, we just came up with this weird word, and that's who we are now."

Most shows would have like the one nerd character. Our show, everybody's a nerd character so you sort of have to find differentiation between that. If you think of most comedies, there's these types. There's a nerd-type, and everyone kind of knows what that looks like, but on our show, we really have to specify. I think the tech industry has become so big that I don't think that there's like a type of tech guy anymore. Obviously they're nerdy in the sense that they're good at programming or business, or they know some aspect of it, right?

I think it's gotten so big and there's so much money in it that I've certainly met people that I'm like, "Oh, you were like the popular guy in high school. You were on the football team, and stuff like that." Maybe a few years ago, I don't know, maybe a few years ago it was all sort of the nerdy guys and girls that went in, but now it's, you see sort of people from across the board. You see people from across the board in terms of personality types. Our show, I think it's accurate in the sense that to me they feel like real people.

Certainly Martin Starr's character Gilfoyle, the satanist, angry, nerdy guy is a guy that I think a lot of people can relate to and know, and T.J.'s character Erlich, sort of the blustery guy who doesn't know what he's talking about, that's a type that we all know that guy, and Richard's sort of the nervous guy, and Jared's sort of the also nervous, but like in a very motherly, loving kind of way, so I think these are all people hopefully that feel real. I'm sure there's guys like that in the tech industry, but I don't get to see, I don't get to talk to a lot of the actual programmers. The people we talk to at these events are like the CEOs. It sounds like I'm showing off, "I talk to the CEOs of tech companies."



So a lot of members of The Verge audience are writing in questions for you.

KN: Really?



Yes. So I'm just going to throw a couple at you if we can switch gears. Here's my first question: Bro, do you even code?

KN: Oh my god. Do you know what, I used to code. I wasn't good at it, but I did... Bro, do you even code? I do know how to code, and I did make websites for a while, and I would handcode them HTML. I wouldn't use some sort of editor or anything. I would do it myself. I sort of get it. I coded Java. I used to do Java. I used to do some C++. I've done JavaScript. I knew a little bit of it, I completely forgot it.

For me it was like I did study computer science at school. That's what I went to school for, but I feel like I missed a class one day, and then I never caught up. The first year I kind of had a handle on things, and then suddenly stuff just stopped making sense.



Okay, so we have another question here: Why does Emily answer all my @IndoorKids Twitter questions, but you answer none? Are you too busy with your fancy "Silicon Valley" life and your stand up comedy shows, and your Meltdown, and all your other stuff? Which I love all of the things you do, especially Meltdown, but Jonah is the real star of Meltdown. Just answer my stupid questions once in a while, okay? Thanks, you're awesome.

KN: If you're going to say that your questions are stupid, why should I answer them? Also, I didn't like your attitude. You know what? Be nicer, and now I'll definitely not answer your questions. Emily can continue answering them.

Why don't you have Jonah answer your questions if he's the star of meltdown. Next Question! I would say I'm like eighty percent of my character, but that twenty percent is pretty big. What Dinesh is I think is all my insecurities and anger and fear coming out in the wrong way. Everyone feels insecure, I certainly feel insecure, but I think he's so driven, and wants to be successful so bad, and then is afraid that he won't be, that his personality then comes out in this weird way. He comes up with schemes, right. He has these schemes, and he's going to succeed, and then he doesn't succeed, because he kind of screws himself over.

I like to think that I do have some of his insecurity, but that I can sort of handle it better. Middle of the night, you're like, "Oh, I'm a sham." Dinesh does that, but then it comes out in anger, whereas for me, I guess I don't know what I'm doing with it. What I'm doing is I'm pushing it deep down inside, and I think that's the best way to handle your feelings. My mom always used to say, "Push your feelings down. That way they won't hurt you." I think that's how I handle it. Yes, so I would say eighty percent.



So you don't want Dinesh dead or anything?

KN: Sixty forty. No I do like him. I know a lot of times he does stuff that people think is immoral or unethical or infuriating, but I kind of defend him, like I totally get where he's coming from, and I obsess when people think he's a dick. I totally understand why he's doing the things he does. I don't want to punch him. I kind of want to sit him down and have a talk with him, and explain some stuff.



You seem like a more mature version of him.

KN: Yeah. I guess at some point maybe I was more like him, but I was never like that angry, or schemey really, but I did want to present myself as being cooler than I was. I remember one time I bought a silver chain, and I would wear a silver chain around.



How old were you?

KN: I don't know, I was probably fifteen or sixteen. It was so thick.



Did girls like it?

KN: Nobody liked it. I could barely pull it off. I wasn't wearing the chain. The chain was wearing me, I was just like super self-conscious about it.



Do you think the gap between techies and ordinary people is shrinking as things become more accessible to the normal people?

KN: I do think it's shrinking, because I think people are getting really, really good at negotiating their apps and computers and all that stuff, you know. I do think it's shrinking in the sense that we used to be so scared of computers. Something would go wrong and then you'd be like, "I don't know what I'm doing."

I think people have gotten better at being able to Google, and figure it out, and go into system preferences and whatever that is. They've gotten a little demystified, and I think people are getting really good at sort of figuring out what their devices do. I still only do like tree things with my phone, but I know people are doing all kinds of things with them. Air horns, people are doing air horns. There's a fun fart app people are doing, so people are really utilizing this technology.



Air horn, is that just an app that has an air horn sound?

KN: Yep. I know like five people that think it's hilarious, and you know what? It kind of is.



So where are we headed today?

KN: Let's go to Meltdown Comics. It's a comic book shop, and I do a show in the back, but when I'm doing shows, I don't get to like look at the toys and comic books and stuff, and buy my own stuff because I'm working. This will be just a pleasure trip.



So you're a nerd in real life, and also play one on television. Does that get confusing for you?

KN: No, I like it. I feel like I've never actually not played a nerd in anything, even if it's not part of the character, in my head I'm like, "This guy's probably a nerd." I like that I can fully understand the mindset, and we don't really reference stuff too much, but I fill in stuff that references stuff, and I like that I get the references, and I get, you know we play video games on the show. Martin and I play video games on the show a lot, and I like that I know exactly what's going on, and what it would be like to have conversation while playing a video game. We actually are playing those games, Martin and I will actually be playing against each other during a scene while having a conversation. I like doing that and it doesn't really get confusing.

I can also be like, "Hey, can I change this reference to this, because I feel like he would be more into this, not Star Wars." I like it. I like playing nerds. Although, that said, if anyone wants me to be an action star, put me in an action movie, I'd totally, I could totally do that as well.

I'd love to be in an action movie. I want to be a superhero, or whatever. I'll work out. I'll diet. Whatever you guys need. I'll do it.



So what was it like being on the X-Files, a show that you were a huge fan of an a kid?

KN: I mean, first of all it's crazy that it happened. I mean when I watched the show, I was not a comedian or an actor or a writer or anything, I was just a kid. It never was me watching the show being like, "Oh, I want to be on this." Then when I did become a professional at this, the show was already over. It has never been a possibility until three months ago. Then as soon as they started doing it again, I was like, "I have to be on this show. I have to be on it."

I mean I really, really had to be in there. There was no way I could not have been in there. I would have burned this town to the ground if I hadn't been in there. It was good because basically I found out two months before I shot that I would be on it. For those two months I didn't watch an episode of the X-Files because I didn't want to get scared. I had to approach it just like a regular job, I didn't want to freak out. As soon as I was like, "It's just a normal job, I'm fine." When I landed, the car picked me up and they gave me a folder and it said: KN Nanjiani, X-Files Welcome Folder, and it had the poster that Mulder has in his office. Instead of "I want to believe" it had my name. I freaked out, and I called my wife.



Did you sort of reveal that to them that you were obsessed, and so excited, and you really wanted to be on this show?

KN: David Duchovny knew because he knew about the podcast, and he had watched Silicon Valley, and he had met a couple of my costars randomly, and I wasn't there, and they told him that I was a big fan, so he knew I was a big fan going into it. He told Gillian, and she didn't know, and that was very embarrassing for me.

She's like, "Oh, you're ..." No, she was very, very nice. You know I still haven't fully processed. It is very hard for me to talk about it without crying, so let's move on to a different topic.

I didn't audition for Dinesh. When I read the script, that character wasn't in the script. I auditioned for Big Head, which is Josh Brener's part, and Mike was like, "Well, I like you, but I don't think you're right for Big Head, so I'll write a new character for you." I was like, "That's crazy, everyone says that, that never happens." The same thing happened to Martin Starr. Then they did. They added my character Dinesh, and they beefed up Martin Starr's character Gilfoyle. I was not in the pilot, and Gilfoyle only had like one line, but they liked us, so they added these characters for us, and they kind of tailored them to us. It was cool, we sort of got to have a little bit of a say in what these characters were going to be based on how we auditioned, Mike made these characters.

They sort of cast people on purpose, people who sort of work well together, but occupied different circles of comedy. Mike didn't even know we were all friends. I've known Thomas over ten years. I've T.J. over ten years very doing comedy in Chicago.



What was it like to work with Mike Judge. Did he know who you were before that?

KN: He didn't know who I was. I loved "Office Space," and I loved "Idiocracy," so I was a massive, massive, massive fan of Mike's. I've seen "Office Space" probably more than any other movie in my life. This was before Christmas I heard like, "Hey, are you going to audition for this." I wasn't auditioning for months, so spent the whole months freaking out. I completely over-prepared for my audition, way too much. I was like, "Oh, I'm just excited to meet Mike Judge. I know I won't get it, but it's fine because I'll get to meet one of my heroes." Then I went into the audition. It went well. Then I got a call saying I was in the show. I remember exactly where I was when I got that call.



Where were you?

KN: I had just landed, and I got a voicemail from like, it was all, my agents and my mangers, and they were all on the phone, and that only happens if something kind of big is happening. When I called back, I couldn't get them, and then they called, and they were like, "Hey, wait, we're waiting for this person. Hey wait we're waiting for this person." I was just waiting on the phone, like, "What the fuck?"



Your career's over. We're all dumping you.

KN: You have to quit. Go back to your day job. You're doing computers again. They said, I remember I was outside the house that I used to live in before this. Again all through the pilot I didn't tell Mike I was a big fan of his, and then when I wrapped, I was like, "Hey, just so you know, it means so much to me to work with you." He was, he's so humble, he doesn't know how to take compliments. He's like, "Oh, well. Thank you, you did a great job." He doesn't like being praised. Which is a very endearing quality.



So, it looks like we're here.

KN:Here we are. Nice. I'm going to go buy some comic books.

This feature was produced in collaboration between Vox Creative and OnStar. Vox Media editorial staff was not involved in the creation or production of this content.