Hulu’s ‘Deli Boys’ is a very Philly and very Pakistani comedy series

On a quiet street in Grays Ferry, a half-naked man with a paper bag over his head and blood dripping down his chest runs out of a deli, trailed by two frantic men in aprons.

Raj and Mir, who have just inherited ABC Deli after their father’s unexpected death, must track down the half-dead man — they’re armed only with a box of Philly pretzels — in their first challenge as new business owners.

While the opening scene of Hulu’s Deli Boys is fictional, the deli at the center of the show is inspired by a real one at Third and Poplar Streets in Northern Liberties.

The 10-episode comedy premieres March 6. It follows the antics of Raj and Mir, a pair of spoiled Pakistani American brothers (Saagar Shaikh play Raj and Asif Ali plays Mir), as they navigate their late father’s (Iqbal Theba) deli empire — a front for trafficking cocaine, among other criminal activities.

The show is an homage to creator Abdullah Saeed’s and executive producer Michelle Nader’s Philly roots.

Philly was a formative place for Saeed, who studied at Temple University and worked as a journalist at Philadelphia Weekly. “I used to live [near this deli] — they had a $3 hoagie, which is suspicious — but that’s the place I would think of [for ABC Deli].”

His script revolving around this deli spoke to Nader, who was born and raised in South Philly.

“I think Philly is a magical place,” she said. “It’s a crazy place, and I think this show captures the eccentricity of Philadelphia in a way that a lot of shows don’t — I mean It’s Always Sunny does — but this is a very particular lens into it.”

The show looks into the lives of a very Philly, very Pakistani family — one that just happens to stuff bags of cocaine into achar (pickled veggies) containers at a convenience store named ABC Deli (ABCD stands for “American-born confused desi,” an informal term used to refer to South Asian Americans).

“They sent me this show and I was so proud of it,” said Queer Eye star Tan France, who plays Zubair, a British Pakistani gang leader. “Someone’s giving us a show that’s so specific — it represents us [South Asians] so beautifully. It gives us a chance to be real, fully formed humans.”

“I had to audition four times for this role, and I would’ve auditioned 40 times [because] I was part of a show that was life-changing,” he added.

That excitement to represent the City of Brotherly Love is evident in the characters of Raj and Mir, who is a “Philly 10″ and a Drexel University alumnus.

A Philly 10, Shaikh and Ali explained, is all about knowing good food, lining up your beard, having a “fresh-ish” cut, being confident with multiple chain necklaces — maybe one with an Allah pendant — nice kicks, and a real — or honorary — business degree from Drexel University.

“What really makes a Philly 10 is a ride-or-die with the city — people who are unabashedly like ‘I know my city has faults like every city does but I love it and I’m ride-or-die for these people whether the team does well or the city does well — I believe in these people,’” Ali said. “And I think people who don’t, those are the Philly 5 (and if they eat cheesesteaks with mushrooms). Clog your arteries like the rest of us.”

Despite the show being filmed in Chicago, each half-hour episode packs a lot of Philly references. There’s a joke about SEPTA, a box of pretzels, and an expired Tastykake that tips off a determined FBI agent to the deli’s illegal activities.

The showrunner’s favorite nod to the city is in episode five at Philly gangster Chickie Lasagna’s (Kevin Corrigan) Eagles Super Bowl watch party in West Philly.

At the party, Raj and Mir break into the gangster’s collection of keepsakes — or as his daughter calls it, “Philadelphia’s museum of contemporary [BS]” — featuring the very putrefied first cheesesteak, Black Thought’s original lunchbox, Vince Papale’s bar rag, Kevin Bacon’s baby tooth, M. Night Shyamalan’s original iPhone, and a gold statue of Frank Rizzo’s head.

“Our favorite is the one about Rizzo — it’s the Super Bowl and we obviously conjured the Eagles winning from that episode,” Nader said. “With the Rizzo of it all and the Tastykakes, even though we were in Chicago, this is still a love letter to Philly.”

“Deli Boys” streams on Hulu starting March 6.