Aadip Desai is a Los Angeles based new dad, sideburns enthusiast, comedy writer, producer/co-host of the On The Page screenwriting podcast, and drummer for The Spanglers, a comedy musical act.
He will be a recruit on the fourth season of the popular Food Network reality show, The Worst Cooks In America.
His writing has appeared on The Conversation with Amanda de Cadenet, in City Arts Tacoma Magazine, Geekweek, Los Angeles Or Bust, and he blogged as President of the Northwest Screenwriters Guild. His produced work includes an award-winning romantic short, a Get Out The South Asian Vote PSA, and a math rock music video starring Leuko. As a stand-up comedian, Aadip has performed at The Improv, The Comedy Store, Flappers, Red Rock, and Elderberries. He also performed musical comedy at the Improv Lab, Upright Citizens Brigade, Steve Allen Theater, and SF Sketchfest.
Aadip has also interviewed/moderated panels featuring EMMY and OSCAR-winning filmmakers at The Northwest Screenwriters Guild, Austin Film Festival, and Pacific Northwest Writers Conference.
In the music business, Aadip music supervised several action sports films for Ally, a feature film called Unsung, and several commercials. He has interned for Randy Jackson at Sony Music, Capital Public Radio (NPR), and assisted Jim Wilke at Jazz After Hours (PRI). He managed the $5m global music account for Starbucks Coffee Company and programmed music at Muzak.
As a trumpet player, he has performed with Ramsey Lewis, T.S. Monk, Pancho Sanchez, Stanley Turrentine, Arturo Sandoval, Cleo Laine/John Dankworth, Jack Sheldon, Reggie Watts, Easy Big Fella, toured with The Diablotones supporting The Voodoo Glow Skulls (Epitaph Records), and recorded on Gardener’s New Dawning Time on Sub Pop Records.
As a drummer, Aadip has recorded, performed, and/or toured as a member of several bands, including The Far West, Juhu Beach, Martian Memo To God, and Pint O’Guinness.
Aadip’s training includes classes and workshops at The Groundlings, Upright Citizens Brigade, Writers Homicide School, UCLA Ext. and UW Ext. He’s also taken courses from Robert McKee, Steve Kaplan, Ellen Sandler, Blake Snyder, Pilar Alessandra, Jen Grisanti, Michael Hauge, Marilyn Atlas, and Walter Dalton.
He holds a BA in Economics and a Minor in Music from The University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA
Aadip lives in Los Angeles with his universally adored wife, his sassy newborn daughter, and two reactive Malteses. He melts when animals who are natural enemies become friends, enjoys a good TV slap fight, and marvels at the plethora of items that can be stuffed into a pizza crust.
Today was a good day. #1 - I got to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. No spoilers here, I promise. I thought it started out a little slow and expositional, but Laura reminded me that they needed to set it up for the younger viewers. OK, I'll give her that one. I thought once the ol' hat and lasso were back in the picture, it was ...
Let me set this up. I'm a comic book fanboy. I tried to get my dad to invest in Marvel Comics in 1988. Of course, it was in the toilet until that little movie called Spiderman. Well, one of my favorite Marvel characters has been brought to the screen by no less than two separate writings teams. But, of all the comic book adaptation (not graphic novel) movies (Spawn, Blade, Ghost ...
We just finished up the weekend with film execs, Kevin Chang of Misher Films and Matt Skiena of Village Roadshow. They were extremely forthcoming and generous during our extensive interview/Q&A session with yours truly. That was some turnout - around 50-60 people. We even got to see a new trailer for Speed Racer, as well as a promo sales reel for Get Smart with Steve Carrell. Pretty hilarious. ...
I was happy to see Stephen Colbert welcome back his writers one by one on camera, awarding them with a pencil and well, their jobs. There was only one suspect writer, namely the ubiquitous Kevin Bacon. Colbert did continually make fun of the strike throughout, but it's a comedy show. Hey Oregonians - The Oregon Writers Colony asked us to let you know that Christopher Vogler, who wrote The Writers ...
I just met with the delightful Catherine Ann Jones. She is in town for her Way Of Story workshop in Edmonds and a book signing in U-District. My favorite story is when she heard Indian music for the first time - at her marriage to Raja Rao in Paris, with non other than Ravi Shankar playing during the reception. She'd love to come up this April and do a whole ...