"Weeds" star Maulik Pancholy on stage nudity, and singing on "30 Rock."

Okay, that last part isn't actually brought up in this interview, but I put it out there just in case he was wondering.

Like many people, I've become a fan of actor Maulik Pancholy because of his scene-stealing role as Jonathan on NBC's 30 Rock (a character that, shall we say, shows a lot of affection at times for his boss Jack, played by Alec baldwin).

After my ill-fated experience IMHO'ing an episode of Showtime's Weeds, I learned that Maulik also played a recurring character on that show, a gay drug-dealer named Sanjay. Intrigued, I went back and viewed some of the Sanjay episodes, and was very impressed with how he was able to do so much with a minor character.

In his break-time between Weeds and 30 Rock, Maulik is again playing gay, this time on stage in NYC in The Happy Sad, from out playwright Ken Urban. The play "features several twentysomething and thirtysomething New York couples - gay and straight - who are contemplating the plausibility and perils of open relationships".

In the interview, Maulik chats about his character, and has some tasty tidbits about working on 30 Rock:

NYMAG: What can you tell me about Happy Sad?

MP: Michael Stahl-David from Cloverfield plays my boyfriend. And there’s some nudity.

NYMAG: Are you among the nude?

MP: Yeah.

NYMAG: (On 30 Rock) Tina(Fey) makes you sing!

MP: I crave those episodes. Twice now Jonathan has burst out into song, and both times it’s been directed right to Jack Donaghy. It’s like, "I have something to say to you and I’m going to say it in song!"

NYMAG: Do they know your character arcs for the season ahead of time?

MP: All I know is that Jonathan is around next season, which was left up in the air because of that episode where Jonathan got laid off.

Hmm ... he had me at "there's some nudity". These are the moments I curse not living near NYC.

You can watch Maulik when he returns as the possibly-gay Jonathan on 30 Rock this fall, and hopefully he'll return as definitely gay Sanjay in Weeds soon, and if you're in NYC this week, there's still time time to catch his performance in The Happy Sad at the Public Theater.