Nimesh Patel Pokes Fun at Kash Patel and Other Indian Supporters of Donald Trump

Comedian Nimesh Patel calls himself a liquor store Indian, the bottom of the social hierarchy among Indians in the United States

April 20, 2025

Last week, Nimesh Patel told Ronny Chieng that he is praying for Usha Vance, wife of U.S. vice president J.D. Vance. “I’m hoping she has Stockholm Syndrome,” a psychological condition where captives develop positive feelings towards their captors. “Because otherwise, why is she with JD Vance?”

Nimesh was chatting with Chieng, host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central, an American cable TV channel. Among other topics, Nimesh spoke about Indians in America who are big supporters of President Donald Trump.

Nimesh said that he was not “saying shit” about Kash Patel - Kashyap Pramod Vinod Patel - who was appointed director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations by Trump. “I’m trying not to get one of these one-way tickets to El Salvador.” While not a fan of Kash Patel’s politics, Nimesh said that, if he is ever questioned by the police, he will say his cousin is Kash Patel.

In January, in a post on X/Twitter, Nimesh stated that Kash Patel’s parents “left Uganda facing racial discrimination only to have their son join the white Idi Amin's administration…Be wary of Kash Patel. There's no stopping the inferiority complex of Indian that had to go to Pace University (in New York City).”

“The country needs a father figure not a step-mom,” Nimesh said referring to Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party candidate, on the eve of the U.S. Presidential election in November. This was during a stand-up performance, whose video was posted on YouTube, where his channel has 485,000 subscribers.

Nimesh Patel, 38-years-old, is touring U.S. cities performing stand-up comedy at theaters and clubs; last week he was at the Beacon Theatre in New York. Later this year, he will be featured in a comedy hour produced by Netflix.

An Emmy-nominated writer, in the past two years Nimesh has self-released three stand-up specials: “Jokes To Get You Through Quarantine,” “Thank You, China,” and “Lucky Lefty”, which have amassed millions of views on YouTube and other social media. He recently appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and earlier on Late Night with Seth Meyers.

In 2016, Nimesh got his first writing job after Chris Rock saw him perform and hired him to write for The Academy Awards as well as to tour with him. Nimesh has written for “Saturday Night Live,” “A Little Late with Lilly Singh,” The White House Correspondents Dinner, and was a producer of “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.”

In 2009, while working in finance, Nimesh began performing, starting with an open mic comedy night at the Stress Factory in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Nimesh worked as an associate in private equity at the PanAfrican Investment Company, New York, 2013 to 2016. He led company and financial due diligence on a Kigali, Rwanda based hospital; Lagos, Nigeria based outsourcing company; Nairobi, Kenya FinTech service; and an Accra, Ghana chain of radiology clinics.

Earlier, Nimesh was an assistant at funds in New York city : Sawaya Segalas, 2012 -2013; Elm Ridge Capital, 2011-12; and Platinum Partners Gmbh, 2010-2011. He earned a finance degree from New York University, 2008. He initially enrolled for a joint pre-medical and finance degree, with the goal of becoming a surgeon. But he dropped out of the pre-medical program after he earned low scores in an organic chemistry exam.

Nimesh grew up in Parsippany, New Jersey, in a Gujarati family. His parents immigrated from India in the 1970’s. His father owned a liquor store in Irvington, New Jersey, a mostly African American neighborhood scarred by crime and two rival drug gangs.

Nimesh, who worked at his father’s liquor store while in high school, calls himself “a liquor store Indian.” In a live stand-up performance, which he posted on Instagram, he says, “In America we have this hierarchy in the Indian community. Okay. At the top…we have your doctor Indians. Your engineer Indians. Your software Indians. All the way at the bottom you got your liquor store Indians. But when all these people wanna drown their sorrows who do they come see? Johnny Walker Patel.”

He has more than 395,000 followers on Instagram, 1.5 million on TikTok, 373,000 on Facebook, and 14,000 on X/Twitter.

Recently, while Nimesh was walking with an Indian friend in New York City, a homeless man pointed at them saying, “Look at these two computers.” Nimesh told The Daily Show’s Chieng, “I miss that kind of racism.“