Kumail Nanjiani has nothing but praise for his “Only Murders in the Building” co-stars Steve Martin, Selena Gomez and Martin Short, who he described as the new “three amigos.” Nanjiani also told Jimmy Kimmel Friday night that he was “very nervous” to work with Martin and Short — but only for a day.
“I was very nervous to work with them, because, you know, I grew up watching their movies, so I was like, all right, got to play it cool, don’t do anything,” he said. “Day two, I’m like, ‘So when you guys were making ‘Three Amigos,’ all right, yeah, and they’re like, they’ll talk about it.”
Kimmel asked if Nanjiani is the pair’s “third amigo” now, to which he quickly answered, “No. I think that’s Selena Gomez. Oh, yeah, she is the third amigo now.”
“But it was fun,” he continued. “Their vibe is so good. I mean, you know, I saw Martin Short call Steve Martin a white-haired ass. I was like, oh, I’m really living the dream right now.”
Nanjiani was cast in the series in March. His character, a fellow tenant, was described as “Christmas all the time guy” by Kimmel, a characterization that Nanjiani agreed with. “I love Christmas very, very much,” he said. “And so, for me, it was not hard. Because you know what? I was like 20 when I moved here. I never had Christmas. And then suddenly at 20, you have Christmas for the first time. Oh. It’s awesome. I still love Christmas.”
In addition to Short, Martin, Gomez and Nanjiani, the cast of the fourth season of “Only Murders in the Building” also includes Eva Longoria and Eugene Levy. Meryl Streep will also reprise her role of Loretta Durkin. The season will also focus on the death of Sazz Pataki (Jane Lynch).
Executive producer John Hoffman told TheWrap that Pataki’s death “ticked a lot of boxes for me as far as doing something new that we hadn’t done before.” He added, “And also, it brought it back to the Arconia in a specific, interesting way that I immediately started tethering out thoughts and ideas about. And we hadn’t done a beloved character as someone in the crosshairs potentially. So that felt new.”
You can watch the interview with Nanjiani in the video above.
