AN INTERVIEW WITH AZIZ ANSARI

Aziz Ansari is young, smart, sweet and funny. There I said it, sue me. I know it’s not a unique perspective, I mean the kid is getting huge. He’s already extremely successful in the New York comedy scene, is building a reputation in L.A. and is poised to reach the rest of the country via a Premium Blend spot and the kind of press that can make people hate you. People who like him practically fellate him with praise; those who don’t grumble under their breaths at the mere mention of his name. I suppose that's par for the course when you become successful at such a young age, particularly in an industry that gets much of its creative fuel from insecurity and bitterness.

As for me, I think he’s got something very special. There’s an undeniable charm, recklessness and bravado that he brings to every performance that makes you giggle hours later. And he has a way of bringing the audience into a show that’s fairly singular. He makes you feel like you’re hanging out in the basement with your funniest, best friend drinking beers and swapping stories. He sat down with me last September (yes, it has taken me that long to get around to writing this up) and I asked him about his southern roots, how he found comedy and where he’s going with it.

Drink at Work: You grew up in the South, right?

Aziz Ansari: Yeah, South Carolina. I moved to New York in 2000 to go to NYU.

DW: What was South Carolina like?

AA: You know, it wasn’t as weird as it would seem because that was all I ever knew. It wasn’t until after I’d already left that it seemed like this strange redneck little bubble. When you’re there and you’ve never experienced anything other than that, it doesn’t seem as weird.

DW: So you don’t really consider yourself a “southerner”?

AA: [laughs] Maybe in subtle ways. Like southern manners, things like that. Other than southern hospitality, I don’t know…I’m not racist.

DW: [laughing] Oh, well that’s good. So what we’re you like in high school?

AA: I used to play guitar all the time, so people just knew me as the guy who played guitar. And then like, well…yeah most of high school I was just known as somebody who played guitar all the time.

DW: Were you in a band?

AA: No. [laughs] There’s limited band capabilities in Bennettsville. It’s hard to get people to pick up instruments. But what else did I do? I mean, you know, I tried to be funny in class all the time and try to joke around a lot. People thought I was funny…a funny guy that played guitar a lot.

DW: What did you study at NYU?

AA: Marketing. I just went for the business school I didn’t really know what
I wanted to do so I just thought I’d do business, something general. I went to a science and math school in 11th and 12th grade and I didn’t want to do biology or anything, so I thought I’ll just do business, that’ll be easy, something general. And then when I came here it was so weird. You know at Stern, the NYU business school, all these kids are like “Finance!” “Goldman Sachs!” “I’m gonna make a million dollars!” And that’s not me at all. So I just did Marketing cause it’s kind of creative and I knew it would be pretty easy.

DW: Did you look for a marketing job after you graduated?

AA: Well, I had this internet business I started during my senior year and by the time I graduated it was enough for me to live off of, so I just did that. I never looked for a job. I got really lucky.

DW: How did you get into comedy?

AA: My friends were just, like, “Oh you’re really funny you should try stand-up.” That happened one time and then a couple of days later with a completely different group of friends it happened again. So I was really, like, “Whoa, maybe I should. That’s weird that it happened so close together.” So I called up the clubs and did one of their new talent and nights and I really had a good time, so I kept doing it and trying to get better. This was in summer of 2001 after freshmen year.

DW: Where was the first place you performed?

AA: At the Comedy Cellar’s new talent thing. And I would do a bunch of open mics. Then after you do that for a while you do those shows where you pass out fliers, and that’s awful. Passing out fliers in Times Square…oh my God, just awful. And then I got past at the Comic Strip maybe a year after I started and I did stuff there a little bit. And finally I found the alternative scene in the past couple of years and that’s been what’s helped me the most, that’s where I’ve really been able to grow.

DW: Was your comedy always personal?

AA: No that’s only been really recent. Yeah, only this year has my stuff gotten so personal. Last year I was trying to do a lot of political stuff and only this year have I really been able to mine my personal tribulations into stuff. It’s really weird. I used to never think I’d be able to do that. And then I did really dumb things and it makes it a lot easier, I guess. I guess I wasn’t doing as outrageously dumb things last year.

DW: Do you have a big family?

AA: Just one little brother and my parents.

DW: Are they funny?

AA: My dad tries to be funny and my brother’s pretty funny. He doesn’t care as much about being funny as I do, I guess. But yeah we joke around all the time and stuff.

DW: You made a video with your brother, right?

AA: Yeah, that was a really haphazard thing. We just got a digital camera and me and my brother were bored so I was just trying to think of something to do. We did that in two hours. So many people think that’s so great. Like it’s the greatest thing I’ve done. And I’m just like, I didn’t think that was that funny. [pause] No, it’s pretty funny. [pause] That sounds really arrogant. So many people think that’s great and I did it in like 10 minutes. I don’t mean it like that. I just mean, I was just doing it to waste time in Bennettsville, I wasn’t trying to make anything.

DW: Do your parents like that you’re a comedian or are they wondering where that marketing degree went?

AA: Now that I’ve been finding some success with TV stuff they’re more accepting of it as a real career. And I had that internet business thing so they didn’t have to pay for me to do this and I didn’t drop out of school or anything. So I made it pretty easy on them as far as that, you know. And I only quit the internet business thing a couple of months ago once I started making money doing this.

DW: Does your business and marketing background help you with promoting yourself?

AA: Yeah, maybe…I hope not. I don’t know, that feels kinda lame to be like, “Yeah, I’m a marketing genius.” But I knew it would be cool if I could get all these blogs and stuff I read to write about me. I look to those places to read about bands and stuff. So my thing was, if I can get those people to write about me that would be cool. The people who read those sites, we’re similar mindsets, so it would be cool if those people were into my stuff.

DW: Yeah, and I think everybody does that. But what’s cool about your blog is that it adds this extra level that sort of extends the performance. People see you on stage and then they check out your site and suddenly you’re everybody’s cool, funny friend who knows all the great bands and has ridiculous stories. You even had a recipe on there the other day.

AA: Yeah I guess you don’t really get to hear from many of the other guys because they’re more successful and busier than I am. You know, I have time to come home and just fuck around and type something on there everyday. But if you notice nowadays it’s like, “I’m doing this tonight, come down.” “We’re doing this thing next week.” “This is what we did last night at the show.” I try to post about music because I like music a lot, and I like posting random things.

DW: How did you start doing Shutterbugs?

AA: Me and Huebel did a bit at the first Crash Test show. Something like Shutterbugs kind of, where we said we had a talent agency and we shot these headshots. And we were trying to think of something to shoot for a short 5 minute film like maybe for channel 102 and I was like man, we should just do Shutterbugs. So we basically just did that and came up with two little book ends. And then the second episode we brought in Scheer and Ali and just really made it way more intense.

DW: So where do you want to go with comedy?

AA: I try to focus on short-term things like, “Ok, I need to find another good bit,” or “I need to make another good 5 minute short film.” And I feel like the rest of those opportunities will come to me if I just work on short term things and put out good stuff. I just want to have a big library of strong, funny shit. As far as other stuff, I don’t know. I don’t know what I want to do with writing or performing. I just like what I’m doing right now and want to be really good at what I’m doing now. And I feel like other doors will open from that. That’s what happened in the past. You watch how other people try to work on their stuff, and it’s so stupid. So many people starting out are like “Dude I gotta get headshots, man I gotta get headshots.” Dude, you don’t need headshots. I just got headshots a couple of months ago because I HAD to and I hated having to go to that trouble. And I got my friend to take a picture of me and did it myself that’s how little I care about that stuff. None of that stuff matters. Some people are trying to get agents and managers and shit and it’s like, man, just worry about doing really good stand-up, get good bits. That’s all I ever care about, having good bits and doing funny little short films or whatever. That kind of stuff is what’s important.

DW: Do you spend a lot of time writing everyday?

AA: Um…no, not really. A lot of my stuff is just whatever’s on my mind. Whatever’s dwelling on my mind I try to take that and convert it into something funny. Yesterday I was doing that whole thing about God being against me. That’s something I’d just like to keep expanding. A lot of the time it’s just waiting until something dumb or interesting happens and turning that into something. Which is kind of dangerous because what if nothing happens? What do you then? Then I really try to focus on what’s in my head and write about that.

DW: You have a really natural presence on stage. Does it get to you when you bomb or something just doesn’t go well or do you just shrug it off and do the next show?

AA: No I mean it sucks if you’re not doing well. Nobody likes bombing. I do get kind of pissed off if I have a mediocre set or something, and I’ll be pissed off until I have a really good set. But if you do a lot of shows it’s not hard.

DW: How many shows do you do a week?

AA: It depends. I try to do at least 4 or 5 a week?

DW: Who are your favorite comedians?

AA: In New York, I love watching Eugene Mirman, Todd Barry, Demetri Martin, basically all the people I have at Crash Test all the time. But Eugene, Todd and Demetri are probably my favorites, they’re always doing stand-up, they’re always doing new stuff and they’re just really fucking good. Those are the guys I watch and look up to. You sit there and watch Todd do crowd work and you’re like, “Wow, this guy is on another level.” He just really knows what he’s doing. And you can see Eugene and Demetri are getting there too, to that next level. I’ve just seen them grow so much even in just the past year or so. Just watching them I can see how they’re getting better. And I’m so much younger, but I’m still trying to catch up with them I just feel like they’re so far ahead of me and I’m sitting there wasted trying to catch up with them somehow. And I won’t catch up, but if you set your level that high, you won’t reach them, but you’ll still get a little higher than you were. I’m really way too ambitious for myself.

DW: Who would you like to work with?

AA: You know, I like the people I work with for Crash Test. I love working with Huebel and Scheer. Slovin, Allen…co hosting with those guys has been really fun. I’m definitely going to co-host with Blitz sometime and Demetri and that’ll be fun to work with those guys. I think that’s what’s fun about that show. Stand-up’s are very solo, so it’s interesting when you see two characters that you like working together on something.

DW: Regarding the whole wall-punching incident, given everything that’s come out of it, do you regret doing that to yourself?

AA: No, I don’t regret it. I was really upset that night, I needed some sort of release. I was settling in to a pretty monotonous, mundane routine and that definitely broke it up, being bed-ridden and not being able to use my right hand for a couple months. That definitely changes things up.

DW: Was it in the back of your mind, as you’re punching the wall, “Man, this is going to make a great story.”?

AA: No, I was just very upset. And that wasn’t the only punch. I punched the wall in the bathroom a few times and punched some other stuff. I did some other dumb stuff. That last punch though I was just really letting it all out and just punched as hard as I can. I didn’t think I’d break my hand though, I never thought I’d break anything. I never thought there’d be any story coming out of it. I thought, "Oh, I just punched the wall," and went on with my day. I didn’t realize I broke my hand.

DW: When did you go to the hospital?

AA: Let’s see I punched the wall on Feb. 26 and I went to the hospital on March 1st cause I just got health insurance that month and so I went the first day my health insurance started. I went to the emergency room.

DW: What did you do until then?

AA: Oh, I fashioned some shitty splint on my hand. It was stupid.

DW: Do you get more out of writing personal material than other kinds of material?

AA: No, I mean, I was talking to another interviewer about this and I think my whole stand-up act is just a venting of different frustrations and things that are dwelling on my mind. Like last year what was on my mind was a lot of politics cause I was just reading the news all the time, and reading about all this bad news and it was just pissing me off and I was trying to release that somehow and I just released that frustration through stand-up. Same thing this year, you know things in my personal life have been frustrating me so I write about that. I’m kind of ready to find my next thing, though.

DW: Sick of talking about yourself?

AA: Yeah. Or of just relating embarrassing stories all the time. It’s like, "Oh, my career will keep going well, just keep coasting as long as I develop my personal life into a trainwreck."

DW: Do you like living in NY? Do you see yourself staying here?

AA: Definitely, yeah, I’m actually bummed that all these people are moving for the UCB theater in LA. Yeah, I definitely like it here, I couldn’t imagine living out there. Anything I have to do there I’m just gonna go and come back.

DW: Do you have a crazy New York story that you haven’t told yet?

AA: No, that’s my act really. The Scarlett Johannson thing was probably the craziest one. I saw Eric Neis at Key Food. That’s probably the funniest one I haven’t told, cause nothing really happened. Well, I just saw him and I just started laughing. I thought, what must Eric Neis think, I mean it’s one thing for people to just come up and be like, “Hey are you Eric Neis from The Grind.” And then I just make eye contact with him and start laughing, like, “Oh shit, that’s Eric Neis. At Key Food. At a grocery store.”

DW: What’s your favorite cheesy movie?

AA: Oh, that’s a really good question cause I like cheesy movies a lot. I’ll watch really shitty movies over and over. I mean, any of those movies that are on TNT or TBS all the time. Like if Die Hard is on, I’ll watch it through from any point. Kindergarten Cop, if that’s on I’ll zip through that, that one’s great. Every now and then they’ll show She’s All That on USA, I’ll zip through that one just cause I saw that in high school. At my high school in 11th and 12th grade there was nothing to do, it was a public boarding school, so we would just go to movies at this $2 theater and a big squad of us went and saw She’s All That. So I know that movie so I’ll just watch that. These aren’t cheesy —some people would call them cheesy — I really like Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Vanilla Sky…

DW: Well my next question was what good movies do you like?

AA: Well, those three. Spinal Tap. And I’ll watch The Office at any time, even though that’s not a movie. The Office is probably my favorite thing ever.

[That would have been the British version at the time of this interview…don’t know what Aziz thinks of the American version, but I like it. —CRH]

Visit Aziz's Web site at http://www.azizisbored.com

For more info on Crash Test, visit the UCB Web site.

Previous Interviews:

Mike Birbiglia

Kent Jones, The New York Film Festival