My buddy Tara Schroeder at Tampa Theatre hustled to book the indie comedy Today's Special for Thanksgiving weekend, hoping that the film's star and co-writer Aasif Mandvi might attend. Mandvi is a former Tampa resident and USF grad, who still has family ties here. You probably know him from his hilarious work as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Tara's work paid off. Mandvi will be at Saturday night's 7:30 p.m. screening of Today's Special, sticking around after the show to answer questions and greet fans. He should have plenty, judging from the buzz from his recent comedy show at his alma mater. You can check out my colleague Eric Deggans' interview with Mandvi before that appearance here.

Mandvi stars as a Manhattan chef and assimilated Indian whose career in the kitchen brings him closer to his cultural roots. You can find the movie's official site here. 

As an added treat, Friday night's 7:30 p.m. show will be acccompanied by the film's associate producer Kimberly Wetherell, who relocated from New York to St. Petersburg to work on her own directing project. Full disclosure: Kimberly joined Princess Di and me at RibFest two weeks ago, where I learned of her involvement with Today's Special, passing the info along to Tara and resulting in the invitation. She may not be as funny as Mandvi but she's delightful nonetheless, and savvy about the film biz.

Tickets for Today's Special are $9 for adults, with discounts for children, seniors, military personel and, of course, Tampa Theatre members.