Aziz Ansari
It's weird seeing your favorite local comics yucking it up outside of your hometown. In the last several months, I've seen Aziz Ansari all over the place: Crash Test at UCB, his solo show at Pianos, and nearly every single indie rock showcase or benefit. So I have to keep reminding myself and most people don't know who he is or known him only through the Indie Record Store Clerks video, which in my opinion is nowhere near his best video work (which is the Illusionators, of course). He was MCing the Stereogum party in between bands and at SXSW to hang out and have a good time, like the rest of his indie rock brethren.
For the local appearances Ansari oftentimes doesn't prepare well in advance or relies on testing new jokes or skits. But when in Austin, he brings out the best of the best. And when he's on, he's really really on. No matter how many times I've heard the material, I still have to laugh at the MIA or Kanye West bits.
Photographs on this site are © Kathryn Yu. Don't steal.
