“I know every comedian has that one special where they wear the leather suit,” Vir Das says on a recent morning via video call. “I haven’t had that special yet.”

Given Das’ talent and drive, a leather-suit-clad comedy special, a la his hero Eddie Murphy’s iconic 1987 special “Raw,” seems in his future though. Das is one of the most interesting comics going right now. The word-play, rhythm and observations in his stand-up act are funny, daring, insightful and sometimes profound.

Take his recent performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington, where he closed his show with a jaw-dropping bit called “I Come From Two Indias,” which expressed both his love and disillusionment for this homeland.

The contrast in tradition and potential was stirring, as heard in excerpts from the performance, including: “I come from an India where we worship women during the day and gang-rape them at night”; “I come from an India that has the largest working population under 30 on the planet but still listens to 75-year-old leaders with 150-year-old ideas”; and, “I come from an India where women wear saris and sneakers and yet have to take advice from old men who have never worn a saree and will never get to take one-off in their entire lives.”

The fallout from “Two Indias” back home has been significant. For example, Das was called a terrorist on three different Indian news channels. In his latest Netflix special, titled “Landing,” Das makes light of the situation, making jokes about having an awkward conversation with his mom about being branded a terrorist, and how real terrorists must be offended that Das is being called one now.

Although Das isn’t totally a household name yet in the U.S., his fanbase is mushrooming, particularly on today’s all-important social media. He has more than 7 million followers on Twitter and more than 1.2 million each on Instagram and Facebook. Das recently was a guest on comedy legend Conan O’Brien’s podcast, “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend.” He’s appeared in a few U.S. TV and film projects including ABC’s “Fresh Off The Boat” and Netflix’s “The Bubble,” following more extensive acting work overseas.

Das is now out on “The Greenlight Tour,” taking his stand-up to cities like Huntsville, Nashville, Milwaukee, Austin, Texas, Atlantic City, Houston, Pittsburgh, Phoenix, Sacramento, etc. Complete tour dates at virdas.in. On a recent morning, Das checked in with AL.com from his office in Mumbai. Edited excerpts from that chat are below.

Vir, I saw on social media you had some posters for comedy tour designed by A.I. What fascinates or scares you the most about artificial intelligence these days?

Vir Das: I wish I had a more profound reason for using A.I. Unfortunately, I’ve just shut down a company and opened up a new production company and I don’t have a graphic designer. Do I think A.I. is going to take over in some sort of apocalyptic scenario where we’re all heading for the first part of “Terminator”? I don’t think so. I think at best A.I. is going to enable, you know, unintelligent servitude. How about that?

As someone from the South, I related to your “I Come From Two Indias” bit from your recent Kennedy Center performance. I love the South and there are many great things about life here but there are also some outdated and not great stuff that still hasn’t changed here. What was the most difficult decision you had about writing or performing “Two Indias? Was there a part you cut or added in the last minute?

Oh, I wish I could tell you that it was really profoundly put together artistic piece. I wrote it at 4 p.m. and I performed it at 8 p.m., and we hired like a wedding photographer off of Yelp to shoot it. I think if it had been a really well thought-out piece and really well edited and crafted, it possibly wouldn’t have worked.

You know, I don’t think you get to predict when something you do work or creates a conversation or becomes popular. But if you allow yourself in the luxury of retrospect, I think, possibly the one thing that worked for that piece is that it was very raw and kind of unformed and un-thought-out.

Did you write it in your hotel room?

Yeah, pretty much. My wife and I were just touring D.C. And it was, you know, the end of the tour and I’d been away for like six weeks, and I was just missing on and it’s something that came up.

What are some of the themes you’ll be talking in your show here in Alabama?

It’s a very relatable show. We just rescued two stray dogs, so I live with two wild dogs in my life now. So there’s everything from that to learning the difference between sexism and misogyny as a man, to some stories about heartbreak, to changing therapists and some stories about mental health.

I’m definitely talking about Alabama. Fun fact: I was enrolled at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival in Montgomery, Alabama, which is part of the University of Alabama, in an MFA (Master of Fine Arts degree) program and dropped out in two and a half months because I met a girl and wanted to go back to India. But I have actually done Alabama time. So I’ve spent two and a half months of my life in Montgomery.

Since you’ve spent some time here, what are some things that fascinate you about Alabama culture, about Southern culture?

I have a great story about how one day a lady just gave me a bicycle. I didn’t have a lot of money, to be very honest, and the reason I went to the Alabama Shakespeare Festival is because they give you like a scholarship, they pay you to come to grad school in Alabama, right? I had to walk like maybe four miles every day from my apartment to the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and I had to walk down the side of a highway. And I was shopping for most of my groceries at like one of those gas station grocery things, right?

Then one day, this lady showed up at my house with like a bicycle. And she’s like, “I bought this for you, because I see you walking down the highway and I just worry about you all the time. Because you cannot walk down a highway in America. Just don’t do that.” And so she gave me a bicycle, which I think is still one of the kindest sort of human acts I’ve had, you know, as a young man.

“Landing” is your fourth Netflix special. Comedy specials are traditionally a brass ring for rising comedians. You’ve also done some TV and film. As a comedian in this era, what’s the next step for you?

I just want to get better. Like I’m not thinking about it in terms of tangible goals. I think one of the reasons to start working in America and spending time at the Comedy Cellar or the Comedy Store that I do now is at some point I was just like, “Where are the best people in the world? And can I go there? And would they be willing to listen to me?” So I think that’s a large part of it, is to kind of get better at my craft. Will I star in an American movie soon? I hope so. Will I start on an American TV show soon? I hope so. But whether those happen, don’t happen, work or don’t work, the goal is just to keep getting better at this thing.

Are there any unwritten rules among comics for what’s cool or uncool to wear when doing stand-up?

I am a minimalist. So I have five T-shirts, two sweaters and two pairs of pants. And that’s what I traveled the world with. I’m very proud to say I did 25 countries last year without checking luggage. It was just a hand carry-on. That’s a lot of different climates and terrains to do, you know, with just one carry-on suitcase. For this special, I don’t know what I wore. Like, I know that my shoes came from a fan who designs shoes and then I think the rest who is like I think the shirt is from Amazon and the jeans are from a hotel room across from a place across my hotel in SoHo in New York. I don’t think about it too much.

You mentioned the Comedy Cellar and Comedy Store. For those of us who’ve read about or seen performances from those iconic American comedy clubs, what makes those places special?

I think the fact that the crowd is a discerning comedy crowd. I think the fact that fame is not your ally it is often your enemy when you get on that stage. On any given day, the man or woman who’s five years into stand up can be better than the headliner who’s popping-in or the big star who’s popping-in.

But most of all, I think it’s because only comics help you get into these clubs. You have to come recommended from comics, right? So everybody’s just really good. If there are six comedians on the lineup maybe you know one of them, maybe you know two of them. But there are five comedians who are assassins. And have been doing it for 20 years, and you have the tightest most hard to follow 20 minutes you’ve ever seen. Now we may not know what their names are, but they’re all the best of the best. And that’s why you want to go up there.

Vir Das performs at Stand Up Live, address 2012 Memorial Pkwy. S.W. in Huntsville, March 10 (7 and 9:15 p.m. shows) and March 11 (6:30 p.m. and 8:45 p.m.). Tickets are $25 – $35 (plus fees and two-item minimum) via huntsville.standuplive.com.

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