Aziz Ansari Issue #28

The young New York-based comic fuses his personalized humor with his knowledge of independent music, creating a new brand of comedy

By Amber Drea
Published: June 1st, 2006 | 12:00am

Imagine if the coolest music nerd you know also happens to be the funniest guy you know. A rare breed, Aziz Ansari is making waves in both the indie rock and indie comedy scenes. The 23-year-old South Carolina native is part of the Human Giant, a collective that’s currently working on a pilot for MTV, hosts the weekly stand-up show Crash Test at NYC’s Upright Citizens Brigade, has a slot at this summer’s Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Tennessee, and plays a small role in the upcoming feature film School Of Scoundrels starring Billy Bob Thornton. He’s also shared stages with comedians David Cross, Eugene Mirman, and Patton Oswalt, co-MCd Stereogum’s music showcase at the 2006 SXSW, and sometimes DJs parties using his laptop.

What makes the Indian-American comedian unique, besides his high-pitched Southern accent, is the specificity of his material, which revolves around his obsessions with music, TV, and the entertainment industry in general. “I like talking about things that are going on in my life, because that’s always going to be different and original,” he says. “No one else is gonna be talking about my personal experiences.” For example, his skit about meeting M.I.A. (who is played by Mirman) involves various fantasies resulting from telling her that her songs are “very, very good” in the Southeastern Asian language of Tamil, all of which end by exchanging the words “I love you.”

Though he occasionally addresses race, such as the episode of Shutterbugs — a Human Giant series about a talent agency for child actors — in which he tells a potential client to come back “when you’re not Asian!,” Ansari doesn’t rely on his ethnicity as a comic resource. “A lot of Indian kids come to my shows just because I’m Indian, and it’s cool ’cause hopefully they’ll find out about other comedians like Todd Barry or Demetri [Martin] or whoever,” he says. “We’re definitely doing something different than what you have at a regular comedy club.” According to Ansari, his Indian audience finds it refreshing that he doesn’t talk about their culture. “I’d never want that to be the defining trait of my comedy,” he adds.

Not that Ansari avoids controversial subject matter. On a recent Crash Test, he and co-host Paul Scheer played editors for a new girls’ magazine called Young Bitch with articles like “Eat Whatever You Want And Never Gain Weight: Why Bulimia May Be the Answer” and “Buy It Or You’re a Loser: 467 Must-Have Items for Spring.” They also revealed that teen idols are not all they’re cracked up to be, saying that Chad Michael Murray is a rapist, Ryan Cabrera beats up kids with Downs Syndrome, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt created the AIDS virus as a joke. “Obviously, we’re not terrible people. The characters are terrible people,” Ansari says.

The most notorious of Ansari’s credits is the video he did with comedian Andy Blitz for the Plug Awards (an indie version of the Grammys), in which they play clerks at NYC record store Other Music. Highlights include telling an anecdote about trick-or-treating with Carlos D. of Interpol, slapping a girl in the face for not knowing what Pitchforkmedia is, and teaching an extreme lesson to a guy who wants to buy the Garden State soundtrack. “I don’t think anyone else has ever made a joke about Sufjan Stevens,” Ansari says. “But we knew there’d be enough people that would get it. … It’s kind of like an inside joke on a big scale.”