There is no shortage of new dramas this time of year, so it’s nice when new comedies pop up just when we need them the most. Hulu’s new series Deli Boys is a welcome respite from the seriousness of Emmy season, despite the fact that creator Abdullah Saeed’s show is set against the backdrop of the Philadelphia gangster underworld. Even with a setting as dark, foreboding and, yes, murder and crime-filled as this, Saeed’s fresh take on some familiar tropes makes for one fresh, funny, and thoroughly entertaining new show.
Deli Boys’ story arc will feel quite familiar: head of a mob family dies unexpectedly, leaving his two ill-prepared sons to take the helm. They must navigate the complicated world 
their father left behind, which includes rivals who want to take over their turf, family members who want to take over the family, with their own lack of experience and, frankly, incompetence, being their biggest obstacles to success. But they slowly figure it out, despite their worst intentions, eventually coming into their own.
When do clichés work? When they are leaned into and then subverted. And then made hilarious. Deli Boys leans into every cliché of the gangster family turmoil trope, but what makes this story different is in the family the story is about. They aren’t Italian, they aren’t in Boston, and they aren’t even in Chicago. They are in Philly, but they are Pakistani-Americans who are the gangsters running the town, and Deli Boys gets lots of mileage from the cultural references and never shies from neither obvious nor subtle opportunities for laughs.
These are characters you’ve never seen before, this is humor you’ve never laughed at before, and this all feels so fresh and new, even though the story is as basic as it gets. And that’s why Deli Boys works. The writers knew they had a solid foundation of story, so they could build their show with style, humor and character, which is absolutely what they’ve done.
The two lead characters, Mir and Raj, played by Asif Ali and Saagar Shaikh, are perfect in their bumbling chemistry, brothers who are opposites, one a nerdy book smart do-gooder and the other a ditzy but charming party boy. Even though they have nothing in common, what they do share is a total lack of preparation to handle what is coming at them when their beloved father, played by Iqbal Theba, dies, leaving them in charge of his drug empire. Mir and Raj had no clue their Dad was a drug kingpin but they are given no choice but to take over. They are given tough love and a crash course in mob life from their no-nonsense aunt, played with hilarious zest by Poorna Jagannathan, but Mir and Raj pretty much have to figure things out on their own, and the mistakes they make along the way are stupidly funny, but their infinite charm and seemingly endless luck help them evade most pitfalls.
Deli Boys is witty and clever, led by a delightfully charming pair of actors who make a winning combo, more than enough to make you overlook a weak and overly formulaic story (and a secondary story of an FBI investigation that never really clicks). Appreciate it for all it is, something new and different, often hilarious and always charming—Deli Boys is a delight.
All episodes of season 1 (10 episodes) of Deli Boys are currently available on Hulu.