Kumar goes to the White House

Most people know that actor/activist Kal Penn is joining the Obama Administration. Which is nice, because their desi quota was running low after Dr. Sanjay Gupta got shut out for Surgeon General.

I have so many questions! Will he insist he go by his real name, Kalpan Modi? And will they call him Kumar anyway? Will the Administration subject him to random drug testing? Does the marijuana legalization lobby see this as a major win? Will they televise the ceremony when he hands off the "Only Desi Actor in Hollywood" crown to Sendhil Ramamoorthy?

Kal Penn appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show to discuss his move, in what turned out to be a mildly awkward interview. Surprisingly so, because Rachel is usually pitch perfect, and Kal Penn is usually a great interview subject.

The problem, I think, is that Rachel came prepared to interview Kumar and make pot jokes, and when she got Johnny Harvard instead, she got thrown and never recovered. I kept waiting for her to ask if he had the munchies.

My two favorite moments are when Rachel tries to make a joke about "Arts communities = Hollywood" and Kal Penn overreacts and refuses to play along. That, and his expression after she runs an uncomfortably long clip of his sex scene with a giant bag of weed, prompting Penn (he's an adjunct prof at UPenn!) to lecture her condescendingly about the difference between movies and real life - at one point explaining that when the anvil hits Daffy Duck in the head, he doesn't actually die. Good times.