Nasim Pedrad’s Journey From SNL’s Kim Kardashian Back to High School in ‘Chad’
Like most of us, Nasim Pedrad did not peak in high school. From her current vantage point, the actress, comedian, TV creator, and Saturday Night Live alum sees herself as better for it, like most of us do. Like none of us, however, she has chosen to relive the trauma, humiliation, and gargantuan, unmanageable feelings. And this time, she’s doing it as a boy.
Pedrad is the creator and star of Chad, which launches Tuesday on TBS. The comedy centers around a 14-year-old boy from a Persian immigrant family who, fresh out of his braces-removal appointment and armed with a lethal combination of ambition to be popular and absolutely no self-awareness, is determined to fit in with the cool kids in high school.
With her hair styled into an unfortunate bowl cut, a pair of aggressive ungroomed eyebrows, and hunched shoulders contorting her body into adolescent awkwardness, Pedrad plays Chad, despite being about 25 years removed from the sweaty horrors and combustible emotions of high school. Of course, as Pedrad—and anyone who watches Chad—knows, it doesn’t take much to be triggered from that formative, and traumatizing, time.