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Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:00:05]:
Hi. This is Neeraj Nagarkatti. And when I’m not performing multilingual comedy, I’m listening to John Garrett on What’s Your “And”?

John Garrett [00:00:16]:
Welcome to episode 673 of What’s Your “And”?. This is John Garrett and each Wednesday, I interview a professional who just like me is known for a hobby or a passion or an interest outside of work. And to put it another way, it’s encouraging people to find their and. Those things above and beyond your technical skills are things that actually differentiate you when you’re at work. It’s the answer to the question of who else are you beyond the job title. And if you like what the show’s about, be sure to check out the award-winning book. It was recently featured on Forbes, which is pretty awesome. It’s on Amazon, Indigo, Barnes and Noble bookshop, a few other websites.

John Garrett [00:00:49]:
All the links are at www.WhatsYourAnd.com. The book goes more in-depth with the research behind why these outside work passions are so crucial to your corporate culture. And I can’t see how much it means that everyone’s reading it and writing such great reviews on Amazon. Thank you so much for those. And more importantly, changing the cultures where they work because of it. And if you want me to read it to you, that’s right. This voice reading the book. Look for What’s Your “And”? on Audible or wherever you get your audiobooks.

John Garrett [00:01:15]:
And please don’t forget to hit subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss any of the future episodes. I love sharing such interesting stories each and every week. And this week is no different with my guest, Neeraj Nagarkatti. He’s an international tax consultant out of London, England, and now he’s with me here today. Neeraj, thanks so much for taking time to be with me on What’s Your “And”?.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:01:35]:
Well, hello, John. It’s great to be here.

John Garrett [00:01:39]:
This is gonna be a blast. Talking comedy. This is my my thing, so we’re gonna have so much fun. I’m so excited for this.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:01:46]:
Oh, me too. I’m so looking forward to talking tax for the next thirty minutes.

John Garrett [00:01:54]:
We’ll go with the one I know something about, which will be comedy. But I have some rapid fire questions to get to know Niraj out of the gate here. Here, I think this is an easy one. Favorite color?

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:02:04]:
I would say it would be something like crimson or maroon because my my curtains, my towels, and a few socks are of that color. And you can spill red wine on them. You know? And if anyone spills, like, you know, red wine on my curtains, I’ll just give them a good telling off, you know, a proper telling off.

John Garrett [00:02:27]:
That’s extreme right there. How about a least favorite color? I’m gonna guess white because red wine and white do not get along. But,

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:02:33]:
Well, actually, it would be something like not just gray. It’s actually graveyard gray.

John Garrett [00:02:39]:
Oh, okay.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:02:40]:
I know. It was actually a color that I selected when ordering, like, this tailor made suit from Vietnam online, and then it came out all all nice, fit almost too well, in fact. And then when I grabbed up to reach the handle when I was on the London metro, the fabric underneath my armpit tore. So

John Garrett [00:03:04]:
Oh. Oh, no.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:03:06]:
And I know. And then a couple of days later, the pants split as well. Pants meaning trousers, of course

John Garrett [00:03:15]:
Oh, yeah. Absolutely.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:03:16]:
In England. Yeah.

John Garrett [00:03:16]:
Absolutely. Anything graveyard gray reminds you of that.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:03:21]:
Exactly. Yeah.

John Garrett [00:03:23]:
Do you have a first concert you went to? I love going to concerts.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:03:27]:
Oh, yeah. I’m not a regular festival goer, but there’s one or two. One which was when a young kid went to a town called Milton Keynes, which is like the size of Lexington, Kentucky. And there, about a hundred thousand Indians gathered for what they call the great Hindu assembly. It was August and absolutely pouring down and, you know, I think I was about eight years old. So it really felt like a massive Indian music festival, you can call it. And the second gig was when I was 17 in further education college, and it was called an acoustics evening. And that was the first time I really felt, wow.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:04:12]:
I’m at a gig, and this is a it was fellow students who were part of the performance. There was cake. There was actually red wine as well at the time. I think it was very low alcohol sangria as well and and candles and aroma. So I think that’s what made it into a, like, something memorable.

John Garrett [00:04:37]:
That’s awesome. No. I love it. I love it. Do you have a favorite actor or an actress?

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:04:42]:
I would say, you know, Kelsey Grammer who plays the character of Brazier. Yeah.

John Garrett [00:04:46]:
Yeah. What a great show that was. Oh my god.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:04:49]:
I know. And I like actors who aren’t just known for what they’re most famous for, but have been in several roles. So he’s been in, like, Toy Story, Stinky Pete, and many other role as and films and TV and theater. So absolutely.

John Garrett [00:05:06]:
How about books? You go audio version, ebook, real book?

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:05:10]:
I would say go with a hard cover book, but read it along with the audio because that way it’s it’s almost like watching television with captions, isn’t it? You’re getting double dose.

John Garrett [00:05:25]:
That’s interesting. I’ve never tried that. That’s an interesting idea. Plus, it probably speeds up your reading because you can one and a half times the audio type of thing. And then yeah. Yeah. How about when it comes to puzzles? You Sudoku, crossword, jigsaw puzzle, Wordle. I don’t know what else is out there.

John Garrett [00:05:40]:
For me, it’s a tax return. That’s

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:05:42]:
Yeah. They can be a puzzle and a half. I would say getting the the right wording or the right reaction for a joke, actually, isn’t it? Yeah. It’s a puzzle in its own right. So there you go. We’re talking there you go. We’re talking comedy.

John Garrett [00:05:57]:
No. Absolutely. That’s good. I like it. How about a Star Wars or Star Trek?

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:06:02]:
I would say a more it’s more the question that I’m more Star Wars because Star Trek, it was just say that if you try to wanna troll a Star Trek fan, just call say that May is Star Trek day.

John Garrett [00:06:24]:
Oh, man. That’ll get them all tricky.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:06:26]:
Yeah. That’ll get them all riled up. Yeah. Yeah.

John Garrett [00:06:28]:
There you go. And your computer more of a PC or a Mac?

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:06:32]:
Definitely a PC PC. Yeah. Yeah.

John Garrett [00:06:36]:
Yeah. Do you have a favorite day of the week?

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:06:39]:
I would say Thursday because

John Garrett [00:06:42]:
Oh, interesting. Okay.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:06:43]:
Yeah. It’s a London thing as well because Thursday is is like a Friday in London. People, you know, go out after work, and Friday is like a working from home or it’s hangover day.

John Garrett [00:06:58]:
Okay. Alright. I like it.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:06:59]:
Yeah. Okay.

John Garrett [00:07:00]:
Do you have a favorite Disney character or an animated character of any sort?

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:07:05]:
I would say someone over from the Simpsons. It’s a classic. Oh, yeah. Yeah. The very, very that’s Disney character.

John Garrett [00:07:15]:
I think

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:07:15]:
that’s a Disney princess.

John Garrett [00:07:17]:
By now,

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:07:17]:
like you’re saying. Right? Exactly. Yeah.

John Garrett [00:07:20]:
I love ice cream. So in ice cream, do you get it in a cup or in a cone?

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:07:25]:
I would say I would eat the cone or the the the holding device must be edible. Okay. And I’ll I’ll eat the cup all night long. Yeah.

John Garrett [00:07:37]:
Just whatever it is. I wanna eat all the things.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:07:40]:
Yeah. That’s my party trick, eating, cardboard cup of an ice cream.

John Garrett [00:07:46]:
They make the bowls out of the cones now, out of the waffle type things. There’s some places. Yeah. It’s amazing. It’s it’s great. Would you say more cats or dogs?

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:07:55]:
Definitely more of a dog person. I’m more likely to to stop in the street and sort of pet a dog rather than a cat. Cat is scat, you know? Well, you know, I’d still sort of, you know, be friendly with a cat. But, yeah, dog, there’s something more endearing. Right? A border collie, it’s it’s like absolutely makes you smile, doesn’t it?

John Garrett [00:08:19]:
Yeah. I I’m with you with that. It’s I mean, it’s pure love all the time. And a cat is not all the time. That’s for sure. How about, are you more personal tax or corporate tax?

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:08:30]:
I’m more no tax. Oh, no. You said Yes.

John Garrett [00:08:33]:
Yes. You’re my

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:08:37]:
hero. No. I’m more tax compliant sexually. Well, I would say more corporate tax that, you know, I can dabble, shall we say.

John Garrett [00:08:46]:
Sure. Okay. Alright. Alright. Do you have a favorite number?

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:08:49]:
37.

John Garrett [00:08:51]:
Okay. Is there a reason?

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:08:52]:
Yeah. Well, there’s a number of things about 37. Wasn’t there a, you know, in a sequence of numbers that they say in American football, and one of them is, you know, 37, hut hut or something?

John Garrett [00:09:05]:
There could be. Yeah. I mean, it could be a variety of plays. Yeah. Yeah.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:09:08]:
So that’s something. But, also, this is a comedy slant as well on this, but 37 is a number that’s funny because it’s high enough to be believable, but not so high. Like, you know, I had 37 mosquito bites after a night out in Kenya or something. Right. Right.

John Garrett [00:09:28]:
Yeah. Yeah. No. That’s true. Yeah. It’s not a gazillion. You know? Yeah.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:09:31]:
Absolutely. Yeah.

John Garrett [00:09:33]:
Yeah. Okay. I like it. What’s a typical breakfast?

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:09:38]:
I would say coffee with protein powder. It’s a power coffee. Okay. I didn’t do it. And butter.

John Garrett [00:09:46]:
But why not? Right?

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:09:47]:
Yeah. Absolutely.

John Garrett [00:09:48]:
Okay. And two more. Toilet paper roll. Does it go over or under?

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:09:53]:
It’s one way. It doesn’t really matter. The more version question is, do they have toilet paper? Right.

John Garrett [00:10:02]:
Is it within arm’s reach?

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:10:04]:
Yeah. Exactly. Like, exactly. Alright.

John Garrett [00:10:07]:
And the last one, the favorite thing you have or the favorite thing that you own?

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:10:11]:
Well, that goes back to an earlier question, which is well, I feel most creative and alive when I’m at my PC. You know? It could be writing jokes. It could be finding a tax angle or something. It there are different ways of being creative. It’s almost like one is, you know, making yourself, yeah. I got that joke, and the other one is more, Yeah. I I found it. It’s like it’s like finding something, isn’t it? When that you have couldn’t find for in ages.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:10:43]:
That’s that’s what happens in when you’re in front of a PC.

John Garrett [00:10:47]:
Your PC and and your creativity. And and that

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:10:50]:
Exactly. Yeah.

John Garrett [00:10:51]:
Yeah. I love it. That’s a great answer. Alright. So let’s talk comedy. And how did you get started with that? I mean, that’s not something that you do accidentally.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:11:01]:
Let’s say as a as a kid and then fast forward quite a

John Garrett [00:11:04]:
bit. Yeah.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:11:04]:
So I coauthored a joke book with my brother.

John Garrett [00:11:11]:
Nice. Yeah.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:11:13]:
Because you see, his handwriting and drawing skills were better, and I had the gift of the gab.

John Garrett [00:11:22]:
I hope he’s listening to this, and he knows who the funny one is.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:11:26]:
Sibling rivalry. I I know. He will say he’s the funny one, and then I can write better or something. I

John Garrett [00:11:33]:
Right. Right. Right. But he’s not on what’s your hand, so it’s all you, man. It’s all

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:11:37]:
Exactly. So fast forward to five, six years ago, and I’ve been starting up writing jokes on Twitter, and then I’ve been write posting jokes in Facebook groups. And then thought, I’ve actually got quite a lot of jokes and just fancy going on a course, a comedy course over a weekend. Literally didn’t have anything until 4AM until, oh, that’s what it is. And then I wrote the whole thing, rehearsed it, and all my friends came to see me. And my friends and family came to see my first gig, and it was either a bucket list that evening, but I was in it for the long haul.

John Garrett [00:12:23]:
Yeah. No. That’s that’s awesome. I mean and that’s the greatest show that maybe you’ll have ever of your career because everyone’s on your side. You know, the whole audience is, you know, there’s no hecklers really. There’s everyone’s there because their friends or family of everyone else that’s on the show. And so it’s very supportive audience and it’s and it’s always awesome. And you leave feeling like you’re the king of the world.

John Garrett [00:12:45]:
Right? I mean, you’re like, I’m I’m I’m the next Dave Chappelle. Look out, everybody. You know? Like, look out, Russell Peters. Here I come. You know, like, type of thing. And and that had to be the greatest feeling for you.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:12:57]:
Oh, absolutely. And it was as in now that it’s done, I’ve got to do more of this. So Yeah. In the first year and did you ever find that it was, like, even for London, you’d think there would be a lot. It’s fairly underground because finding any of these open mics was quite tricky. I did music open mics. You could sign up and be the comic. I did all jokes about music, basically.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:13:32]:
It would be in keeping with the evening. Then the second year, I think I did, like, close to a hundred. So after that, yeah, yeah, it was all over the world as well. So it was quite a fun

John Garrett [00:13:47]:
Yeah. Because I was gonna ask, like, how does the multilingual come into play? I mean, is it because you were traveling and you were like, well, let’s just do it? Or was it something that you’ve set out to do on purpose?

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:13:58]:
I would say I already knew a fair number of languages before, but not all at the same level. So I can speak about six languages conversationally and another three or four at a a basic level.

John Garrett [00:14:18]:
Wow. Okay. Alright. That’s impressive because I’m on English, and we’re at a basic level there. So, but but to know comedy, I mean, that’s that’s a whole different level of knowing society norms and I mean, there’s all different other things, intangibles there beyond knowing the proper verb tenses.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:14:38]:
Yeah. Cheers, John. And I would add that it isn’t dissimilar to, actually, to learning a song. So someone who can sing in multiple languages, they for example, I an opera that you might learn an Italian opera as a kid, you may not learn what the deeper meaning is, but you just know it from or you might know the words to La Bamba. Right? But

John Garrett [00:15:08]:
don’t know what they mean.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:15:10]:
What does that actually mean, La Bamba?

John Garrett [00:15:14]:
That’s a good point. That’s awesome. Do you have some of your favorite shows that come to mind that you’ve done?

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:15:20]:
Yeah. So the most recent one, I think that was as good as it gets and almost, you know, recreating that first gig feeling because it was first time performing in Mandarin in London

John Garrett [00:15:36]:
Oh my goodness.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:15:37]:
At a comedy club. Yeah. So I had started in April. It was more of a challenge for me because I wanted a new totally new language, and I learned, first of all, the basics through textbooks, through online classes. And then I started to go to this Chinese speaking comedy club and performing in English because they live in London and just building up a set of jokes. So I actually performed and gained confidence at that, and I must have performed, say, even five or six times in English. But as my Mandarin got better, I started to throw in the odd joke in Mandarin. And then after a while, I got my I think it was about seven minutes set.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:16:27]:
And later, it couldn’t have been written better, actually. It was near the Tower Of London, Halloween. I was dressed up as Freddy Krueger.

John Garrett [00:16:40]:
You’re doing Mandarin.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:16:42]:
Doing Mandarin at a comedy club.

John Garrett [00:16:47]:
This is like a sitcom. This is a TV show.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:16:49]:
I know. Yeah. Yeah. I’ve I’ve got the video, and I’m I’m gonna put it up at some point. And thing is I off the back of my night language, I was perhaps a little too overconfident. I thought last year, you know, that I could be in running for Chinese comedian of the year in England.

John Garrett [00:17:13]:
There you go.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:17:14]:
Yeah. Exactly.

John Garrett [00:17:17]:
The Indian guy living in London who is speaking Mandarin is the Chinese comedian of the year.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:17:24]:
I like that. Exactly.

John Garrett [00:17:25]:
I mean, why not? It’s 2025. Right?

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:17:28]:
I don’t know if it was overconfidence or wouldn’t it be nice kind of thing, but it is so like, it’s quite a tricky feat. So, usually, even any of the other languages, I had a certain level, but I had to start four weeks before and just do one joke at a time and then combine them and and test as well with I used apps to test with people from all over the world who could speak Mandarin and is that joke funny, why is it funny. And you got something called it’s a tonal language as well. So if you the best way to describe it is, you know, how you might say right or alright? So your pitch goes up and down. And depending on that, the way you say it, it’s got a different meaning.

John Garrett [00:18:24]:
Right.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:18:25]:
Exactly. There you go.

John Garrett [00:18:26]:
It’s exact same words. I just proved your point.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:18:29]:
Yeah. Exactly.

John Garrett [00:18:31]:
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it’s hard enough to do comedy in English or your native language, whatever that is, whoever’s listening. But to do it in someone else’s language in in front of them

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:18:41]:
Yeah.

John Garrett [00:18:42]:
Man, that’s bold.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:18:43]:
I surprised myself, and it was like, did I just do that? And it’s like,

John Garrett [00:18:48]:
yeah. No. And and so is this something that you’ve shared with coworkers and colleagues over the last five, six years since you’ve been doing comedy? Did they know this side of you?

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:18:58]:
That’s a good question. So in the first year, I didn’t share it as much, but I started sharing it more when I was getting better and, you know, the getting better laughs and, you know, yeah, come and see me. Yeah. And then a business trip took me to Barcelona, and then a couple of colleagues well, they were visiting from The UK as well, one local, one from The UK. I said, well, if you’ve got nothing else, why not come and see a variety show at which I’ll be performing stand up comedy in Spanish? So

John Garrett [00:19:39]:
Right? Why not?

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:19:41]:
Exactly. It was a bit of a unique experience as well. Yeah.

John Garrett [00:19:45]:
That’s awesome, man. And and what is it that, I guess, made you get over that hump? Was it were you telling yourself, oh, people are gonna judge me? Or is it I’m not very good, so they’re gonna I don’t want them to come see me if I’m gonna bomb or if I’m not quite got my legs under me on doing comedy. You know, is there something in your head that that you said that then you flipped the switch where you’re like, yeah. Whatever. Like, I’m doing comedy. Come see me.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:20:08]:
You know, it’s like you notice a leap in your comedy. I had a good gig. I got a good demo video, and I got invited to a wedding in Hong Kong. And I managed to find a comedy night as well in Hong Kong. So I thought, how cool to tell people that, guess what, I performed comedy in Hong Kong, and I I was only about 25 gigs in as well. So it was

John Garrett [00:20:36]:
Okay. Okay. Yeah. That’s early for people listening that don’t know. That’s very, very early.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:20:41]:
Yeah.

John Garrett [00:20:42]:
So then what happened then? Did that lead to more conversations, people asking you more about it and and curiosity, or were they more like, you’re fired. Get out of here. You’re the worst tax person I know. Like, what what what resulted from you sharing?

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:20:57]:
The best part is that it’s a great conversation opener, and the other colleagues are doing the asking. So if you haven’t seen someone in a while, then it’s a great opener, which you do even have to try. So they’ll they’ll say, oh, how’s the comedy? How’s your latest gig? Sometimes even, you know, what’s your latest joke? That comes by. You know? So I think that’s the biggest difference that I noticed.

John Garrett [00:21:25]:
Yeah. Yeah. And and also too, even if it’s someone you see on the regular, it’s still a great thing because it’s it’s I see Neeraj for Neeraj, not I don’t see Neeraj as tax person, which is such a small percentage of who you are as a human being. I see you for you, you know, this deeper thing that lights up your soul.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:21:44]:
Yeah. That makes the heart sing. And, you know, international tax, there’s a time and a place for it. Absolutely. And I can get just as enthusiastic at a conference, you know, talking how to reduce people’s taxes to a good amount.

John Garrett [00:22:03]:
Right. In in legal ways and all those things.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:22:05]:
Yeah. Exactly. Absolutely. In the tax code. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:22:09]:
Yeah. That’s one thing. But we all have second or third outside of work passions, and multilingual comedy is an and and almost, isn’t it? Right?

John Garrett [00:22:23]:
Yeah. It really is. I mean, learning a language would be an and, and then doing comedy in that language is is an and on top of that and, which is impressive for sure. And and how much do you think it’s it matters that people have an and as opposed to just only international tax. And that’s all I do and all I think and breathe and eat and sleep and how important is it to have these other dimensions to who you are?

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:22:47]:
It’s, essential, really, because if you have a single thing, it’s like, your identity or oh, and you’re the only person who does tax as well as in, oh, he’s the tax guy. And, yes, I know I’ve created a, like, I guess, an identity, which happens to be, like, global tax geek. It was more like a business concept, but definitely is important with other people. So for example, there was this, tax inspector in Switzerland, and they were very serious and professional, shall we say, almost, you know, very, like, formal. But when you looked up their Instagram or LinkedIn, blimey. He was like a a rock guitarist or something. And he was like, oh my god. That that is the coolest tax inspector I’ve ever seen.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:23:47]:
You know?

John Garrett [00:23:48]:
Right. Yeah. It’s like, bring more of that. Like, why are you hiding this? This is awesome. Like and then that’s think of all the tax inspectors and all the tax people you’ve met, and that’s the one that comes to the top of the stack. And it’s not because of their tax expertise or whatever. It’s because of they do they’re rock guitarist. Did you see this?

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:24:09]:
Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. So if if you could sort of, you know, get that into a conversation, It’s it might not, what do you call it, get you any leeway because they’re they’re part of a team and, you know, they’ve got to respect that they’re working for the tax authority. But it breaks the ice, and, you know, it doesn’t have to be so confrontational and serious and things like that, really.

John Garrett [00:24:36]:
Yeah. No. I I agree. I mean, you know, it’s it’s it really doesn’t. I mean, you know, they we’re human beings that do this work. You know, and and I think we forget that. We we let the job title lead as opposed to the human lead. And, you know, it’s like pull that human out and let that let that lead first, and then we’ll get to the work stuff just fine, you know, type of thing.

John Garrett [00:24:57]:
Do you have any words of advice to anyone listening that has an and or an and on top of an and that they think doesn’t matter and no one no one’s gonna care about at work because it has nothing to do with my job?

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:25:08]:
There could be a way to start a club or something like that. So I suppose with languages, it is fairly easy, especially in a multinational, to we could say, let’s have a a language exchange, for example, with someone from Spain who wants to improve their English. And I’m English and speaker, and I want to improve my Spanish. So see if there’s, like, an online chess community or, like, a fantasy football community. And in a way, offices and workplaces already have, like, a sports team or, like, an interest group. So it’s to find what there’s two ways. Either see what’s company activities are and see what interests you. It might be badminton or squash or see what your interests are.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:26:00]:
It could be mixing or baking, and then just see who’s the bakers in the group. That would be great.

John Garrett [00:26:06]:
Yeah. I mean, you’d be surprised how many people like to do something that you like to do or at least they’re interested in hearing about it. I mean, I remember once I was speaking at an organization and I asked the audience. I said, hey, who thinks they have the most boring aunt in the room? And a lady raised her hand and I said, what is it? She said, genealogy, like, the history of her family going back hundreds and hundreds of years. And I was like, wow. Like, that actually sounds really awesome. And a lady on the other side of the room yelled out, that’s not boring. I do it too.

John Garrett [00:26:36]:
And come to find out they sat like three cubicles apart and had worked together for years and neither of them knew that they both love genealogy. And I was joking. I said, I secretly hope that in the seventeen hundreds, you guys are first cousins or something. Like, it goes back to where you guys cross paths because this would be amazing. And because, I mean, you just think in your head, well, no one cares or no one’s no one else likes to do this, but you’d be surprised. And maybe they don’t do multilingual comedy, but they’re interested in it. That’s for sure. Or they’re interested in comedy or maybe they do comedy or maybe they’re multilingual.

John Garrett [00:27:09]:
Like, whatever it is, you can find those

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:27:12]:
Oh, yeah. There’s parts. There’s always a way to even explain to people who maybe aren’t into languages or even aren’t into comedy to you know there’s definitely interesting stuff going on. For example, how a joke would work in England or English, but how it doesn’t translate into French or Spanish or whatever. Or is there a joke which works pretty much in every language? Or, you know, it’s it’s a real interesting conversation piece.

John Garrett [00:27:47]:
Yeah. No. That’s wild, man. I love it. And that that’s so great. I mean, you know, we all have those things, so, share it and and you you’d be surprised who comes who comes to it. So that’s awesome. Well, Neeraj, this has been so fun.

John Garrett [00:27:58]:
But I feel like since I rudely peppered you with questions at the beginning, I should turn this around. We’ll make it the Neeraj Nagarkatti podcast. And thanks for having me on episode one, your first guest. I booked myself. Thanks for having me on. What do you got for me? I’m all yours.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:28:14]:
We’ve got the toughest international tax CBA question of all, which I’m happy, of course. So I’ve made it a bit simpler. We basically, we’ve cut out the international and cut out the tax, should we say.

John Garrett [00:28:29]:
Oh, excellent. Okay. It’s still tough, though.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:28:32]:
So in a plane, is it the aisle seat or the window seat?

John Garrett [00:28:39]:
Ah, yeah. So if it’s an early if I’m gonna fall asleep, then it’s a window seat. Because then I’m just against the wall and I’m out and there we go. But typically, I go aisle. I don’t know why because you can’t really stick your leg. I’m tall, so it’s all exit row for sure. But it’s not like you can stick your feet out because you’re gonna get clocked by the the drink cart or somebody coming down the aisle. So, yeah, I don’t know.

John Garrett [00:29:04]:
I I guess I think it’s because also airplanes, they kinda round they’re rounded. And I don’t know if I fly too much to notice these things, but it’s a little bit less space against the against the window. But But if it’s if I’m gonna fall asleep, then it’s it’s window.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:29:18]:
Absolutely. That’s a that’s an awesome answer.

John Garrett [00:29:22]:
Alright.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:29:24]:
Next one up is, what’s your favorite animal?

John Garrett [00:29:29]:
Dolphin. All day, every day. People make fun of me all the time for it. They’re wicked smart. They’re super funny. They’re awesome animals. Dolphins all day.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:29:39]:
And does that mean that you’re a supporter of the Miami Dolphins or what?

John Garrett [00:29:43]:
No. Even before the Miami Dolphins, dolphins. But Ace Ventura one, I am a fan of that movie where he goes and rescues the dolphin. So from the Miami Dolphin, dolphin. Yeah. Just ever since I was a kid, just always a dolphin. And, yeah, everybody makes fun of me for it all the time, but I don’t care. They’re awesome.

John Garrett [00:30:00]:
And they will save me one day when I need it, so don’t worry about it.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:30:07]:
Last one, which is single field specialist or polymath.

John Garrett [00:30:13]:
Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah. I mean, I think I’m gonna go polymath on that because in the same way that the whole what’s your end message that all the parts of who we are make us better. I mean, if we are only one thing, I mean, even research has shown it’s greater sense of anxiety and and depression. If if your whole identity is one thing, then you’re you’re you’re always on eggshells. You’re always on the edge of, like, they might not choose me to be promoted. They might not pick me as the client or whatever.

John Garrett [00:30:46]:
And then and then if you don’t get picked, then it’s a it’s a spiral because your whole identity just got rejected. You know? But then if you have other skills and and other things that other people don’t have, and that combination becomes one plus one equals eight, you know, not one plus one equals three, you know, type of thing. It’s it’s exponential. And so I I truly believe that and even with athletes, I mean, Roger Federer grew up playing soccer and all these other sports, and that helped him with his footwork. It makes him a a significantly better tennis player from these things. And so, so yeah. So it applies to, I think, all of life, whether it’s your professional skills, having multiple, you know, dimensions to that, but also, you know, the other parts of you as well. And it’s it’s making sure that you go back and collect all these parts of you and kind of a Voltron of sorts, like, going back to the eighties cartoon where they all come together and, like, this awesome thing, you know.

John Garrett [00:31:41]:
And so yeah. So I I would say that for sure all day every day. Yeah. Good question, though.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:31:47]:
Absolutely. I would say variety is a spice of life, isn’t

John Garrett [00:31:51]:
it? Yeah. There you go. And it makes you different than the other people, you know, that are around you. You have a different skill set. And sometimes theirs is needed, but sometimes yours is needed. You know? And and if people don’t know that you do comedy, well, if we have a presentation to give to, you know, a client or to at a conference or whatever, well, the person that loves jigsaw puzzles should not be doing it. Neeraj should be doing it. Right? And so but if they don’t know that that’s what you do and you’ve been exercising this muscle outside of work all this time, then they won’t pick you, you know, type of thing, wherein you’re a slam dunk.

John Garrett [00:32:30]:
And so, you know, it’s just and it’s also making sure that people know. Like, hey. I have all these skills. Let’s use them.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:32:35]:
Absolutely. And literally, just in the last literally today, there was, like, a need to draft a document in Spanish. And I’ve done something very similar from six years ago, almost identical, and those skills literally just came back today and is an urgent thing. We got it out the door, and it was like yeah. If that’s when they know that I know Spanish, that I can help them with that. So I I felt quite pat on the back, shall we say?

John Garrett [00:33:10]:
Yeah. No. Absolutely. Plus then it lights you up because that’s a thing that you’re doing outside of work for free. I mean, that’s something that you cannot do. You know, it’s that side of you. And so, oh, I get to do this at work? Sweet. Because this is something that lights me up.

John Garrett [00:33:25]:
You know, like you said earlier, but it, you know, makes the heart sing. You know, that that’s let’s yeah. Okay. Imagine if we could have our heart sing at work every day. Like, how great would accounting be? How great would law be? How great would banking? How great would all of our professional, you know, lives be if we could have our hearts sing at once.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:33:45]:
I know. I don’t use tax offer. I use a toaster. I use a

John Garrett [00:33:54]:
There you go. There you go. Well, thank you so much, Neeraj, for being a part of this.

Neeraj Nagarkatti [00:33:59]:
Pleasure.

John Garrett [00:34:04]:
And everyone listening, if you wanna see some pictures of Neeraj on stage or connect with him on social media, be sure to go to www.WhatsYourAnd.com. All the links are there. And while you’re on the page, please click that big button, do the anonymous research survey about corporate culture, and don’t forget to read the book. So thanks again for subscribing on Apple Podcasts or whatever app you use and for sharing this with your friends so they get the message that we’re all trying to spread, that who you are is so much more than what you do.