CAST: AZIZ ANSARI

BLUF

This performance is bookended by documentary footage taken of Ansari two decades earlier as a New York University student, who could only dream of the Comedy Cellar stage

THE MEAT AND THE POTATOES

Ansari hits current affairs with topics like the pandemic, anti-vaxxers, and elections in his tame jokes, dunking on the likes of Aaron Rodgers and Nicki Minaj. He also picks up topics of celebrity gossip and social media—he even pulls out his flip phone for effect to show he doesn’t indulge.

The Parks And Recreation actor was accused of sexual misconduct for which he issued a public apology. He retreated from the public eye and returned in 2019 with the stand-up tour and a Netflix special, Right Now, in which he addressed the allegations.

Ansari hits home with a lot of his statements. When he says, “we’re all stuck in our own algorithms”, suggesting we employ empathy to talk to each other again, it feels even more personal when he tells us “I’m just saying this current strategy, just shaming people, isn’t going to work.”

He gives away a lot of info about himself- like that he is now residing in London and that he has disconnected himself from tech by using a flip phone.

On the whole, quite a fun 30 mins of jokes that rang home and of course spoke of showing each other more empathy.