Aziz Ansari (Parks & Recreation, Let’s Do This) : Exclusive Interview

It is safe to say that Aziz Ansari is fast becoming one of the most talked about and in demand comedians in Hollywood.

After scene stealing roles in cult classic TV series’ Human Giant, Scrubs, Flight Of The Conchords and Parks & Recreation as well as turns in big screen hits such as Judd Apatow’s Funny People and the upcoming Get Him To The Greek, there is little left for the bearded funny man to conquer.

However, despite signing a multi-picture deal with Judd Apatow and Universal Studios, Aziz is still finding time to travel the globe and tread the boards – heading to Australia to perform a one-night-only stand up show.

WATCH OUT FOR | COMEDY’s Sean Lynch caught up with Aziz Ansari to talk all things comedy ahead of his debut performance at Sydney’s Comedy Store…

You’re heading to Australia to perform a one off show… what the hell inspired that Aziz?

My friend James told me he was traveling to Tokyo and Australia to do some DJ gigs over the holidays. I’d never been to either place and a week or so ago, a friend and I decide to take a trip and join.

I’m such a workaholic that I couldn’t take a break from standup during the vacation, so I set up the gig in Sydney.

What’s the biggest myth you’ve heard about Australia that you hope will be true, but know probably won’t be?

That women in Australia are very attracted to men with beards and due to some genetic anomaly, no native Australian men are able to grow beards, putting bearded visitors such as myself at a tremendous advantage.

So no chance of returning for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival?

I would love to. Its just tough to take off that much time off from my filming commitments in the US.

I want to try to take maybe two weeks off and come do shows there when I can. I also love food, and the food in Melbourne is supposed to be tops from what I hear.

Melbourne is “The Balls”. Do you know much about Australian comedy or comedians?

Not really. I’m friends with Arj Barker from Conchords, but that’s about it.

I heard its mostly a lot of puppets and stuff with dudes tricking audience members into opening cans with snakes, that’s not true right?

That’s pretty much it… Did the Flight of the Conchords guys have anything to do with that bounty / lack of knowledge?

I actually spent Christmas holiday last year with Bret in New Zealand. He swore if I ever spent a Christmas / New Year in Australia, he’d have my head.

Please don’t tell him.

Word is that there is a Flight of the Conchords movie on the way – are you aware if your “racist fruiterer” character will be returning and how he might be involved in the films plot?

This is the first I’ve heard of that rumor, so no clue. I’d be happy to work with those guys again.

We are big fans of Human Giant at WATCH OUT FOR | COMEDY. What is your favourite skit or gag that you’ve written, but for whatever reason, never ended up being aired or filmed?

I’m glad that the Human Giant stuff made it over to Australia. Nothing really comes to mind as something that we didn’t get to film or air.

MTV, the channel we did it for in the US, was ridiculous with the amount of creative freedom they gave us, so we got on what we wanted. If there was anything we couldn’t get on season one, we were able to shove into season two.

Also – great to hear you and Jason [Woliner] have just signed a deal with Universal and Judd for Let’s Do This and the cosmonaut flick (if that’s still the plan… unless its turned into Space Buddies 3).
Can you tell us a bit more about what those two flicks entail?

At this point, Let’s Do This is a road movie about two guys at a motivational speaking company. The astronaut film is about 2 disgraced astronauts that have to go back to space to clear their names.

The third is a film centered around the Randy character I did in Funny People. All three films take place on the planet of Pandora from Avatar.

I hope James Cameron is cool with that.

I spoke with Judd Apatow earlier in the year when he was in Australia for Funny People, and he mentioned his love of RAAAAAAANDY. But also suggested you are hesitant turning it into a movie for fear of being known ONLY as Randy? What have you got in mind for the film to avoid such a problem?

In the opening titles, it will have title cards: “Starring Aziz Ansari as Randy.”

Next card: “To be clear, this film stars an actor named Aziz Ansari PLAYING Randy.”

Next card: “He’s a separate entity. He is NOT an idiot named Randy, if you see him in public after seeing this film, treat him as such. Thank You.”

Did you ever expect the character to become as big as it has (bigger than Funny People itself)?

No way, its’ unreal. We didn’t even put it on TV! Judd [Apatow] made the call that we should put it out online only because we’d have complete creative control and more people would find it there anyway, and he was right on the money.

I know in a lot of interviews I joke about people yelling “Raaaaaaaandy” at me or whatever, but it’s one of the most well received things I’ve done in my career, so I’m very proud of it.

The other day Quentin Tarantino told me he loved Randy! That’s one of the coolest things that’s ever happened to me. That’s worth a few people every now and then yelling “Randy” at me when I’m in my car.

What’s your favourite Raaaaaaaandy gag, how does that compare to your favourite gag from your “normal” set?

I probably like the Randy joke about how every time you’re about to have sex – you have to “Take a huge Shiiiiiiiit!!”. It’s such a dumb premise and over the course of filming I added all these idiotic touches like spinning around and jumping to make it a fun bit to perform.

Of my own set… hmmm. I guess I always just like the last joke I wrote that works. As a comic, maybe the most satisfying moment is writing that new joke that really crushes. Then you do it a bunch, get tired of it, and need to repeat the process ad nauseam.

Will the movie tie in with this mysterious project with Dave Sitek?

The mixtape is a small project I’m doing with Dave from TV On The Radio. We were just hanging out a while back and came up with this idea where he’d do the beats, we’d get all these great MCs we’re
friends with, and I’d do a few skits as Randy in between (with DJ Ol’ Youngin’).

It’ll be out in February 2010.

Now you’ve got the foot in the door – have you already got a few further movie ideas in mind? Who would be the most random cameo you would love to have appear in it?

Right now I just want to make sure the stuff we have cooking with Judd [Apatow] is as good as it can be. As far as a random cameos – I’m a huge fan of The Wire – so any cameos from those actors would be great.

Also Bruce Willis in an in-character cameo as John McClane from Die Hard…

How did the shoot for Get Him To The Greek go? Are there any particular gags we should keep an eye out for?

It has been wrapped for a few months, but it was very fun. I have a small, small role, but it was great to work with Jonah [Hill] again.

As far as what to keep an eye out for, my friend Nick Kroll is in the film and was improvising some stuff that was killing us, I hope that makes it in.

What’s your beef with your Chubby Cousin Harris?

Harris is one of the strangest, most fascinating people I’ve ever met. I’m glad I’ve been able to translate that into material where millions of people hear me call him chubby. The unfortunate truth though is that Harris has hit a growth spurt since I started doing that bit and now he’s all stretched out and not chubby.

Any people that meet Harris and expect him to have the chubbiness I mention in my act, will unfortunately be in for a disappointment.

Parks & Recreation has only just hit Australian shores this month (along with electricity and penicillin), if these new movies hit big too - do you plan to go all “Hollywood” and just quit the show?

Parks and Recreation has been so fun. I have no plans on quitting, especially since I’m under contract and couldn’t anyway. Its great having a steady gig where all the work I have to do is come in and act.

Compared to the workload on Human Giant, where I acted, wrote, executive produced, etc. It’s such a breeze. I really think the show is one of the best comedies on TV (especially in the second season). To be in that situation is very rare and I feel incredibly lucky to be a part of the show.

If you were going to quit all Diva-like, how would you like that event to go down?

“Someone get me a strawberry yogurt, I’m getting the fuck out of here!”

We love our Viral Videos at WATCH OUT FOR | COMEDY. Do you have any particular favourite internet viral videos?

There is an incredible clip from a teen drama called One Tree Hill where someone needs a heart transplant and a nurse comes running in with the heart. Let’s just say things don’t go according to plan.

Your character Big Ed was the stand-out on the final season of Scrubs, will you have any involvement in the new re-vamp of the series?

No, I got hired for Parks and Recreation pretty soon after I started filming Scrubs, so I was written off after a few episodes. (The shows are on different networks and it would be a conflict contractually).

That’s the story the network told the press anyway, the real story is I was let go because I stole incredible amounts of craft services while I was there including 100 granola bars, 25 boxes of cereal, and 75 plums.

Was there ever a point in time where you were meant to (prior to movies and P & R) be involved, did Bill Lawrence outline anything to you when you joined the cast?

I had to leave pretty soon, so we never really got into any discussions like that. I loved working with Bill though, it was a great experience and I learned a lot.

Finally – a question we ask everyone – if you were about to die a horrible graphic history making death and the last words you heard was someone yelling out to save you… what would you like this unfinished sentence to say “AZIZ, WATCH OUT FOR…..??? “

“AZIZ, WATCH OUT FOR THAT AVALANCHE OF GRAPEFRUITS AND CANTALOUPES,
THERE’S HUNDREDS OF THEM AND THEY’RE ROLLING STRAIGHT TOWARDS YOU AT A
SPEED THAT WILL PROBABLY KILL—- NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

AZIZ ANSARI
Makes his Australian Debut at
The Comedy Store in Sydney
SATURDAY JANUARY 2nd, 2010
BOOK TICKETS HERE