As a “Parks and Recreation” fan, when I heard Aziz Ansari was coming to town, it was a no brainer that I was one of the first to buy a ticket. Not only is Ansari hilarious in his role of ‘Tom Haverford’ on the show, I’ve also heard from friends that he’s a great stand-up comedian – not a surprise as his comedic timing on Parks is impeccable!
On his ‘Modern Romance’ tour, Ansari did two shows at the River Rock Theatre in Richmond, BC on Saturday, March 29.
Joe Mande, who is also involved with ‘Parks and Recreation,’ is an award-winning writer for the NBC sitcom, and opened the night with an excellent set.
Mande elaborated on the comical intricacies of his long-time relationship with his girlfriend, and commented on Hip Hop’s current prominent artist Kendrick Lamar’s continuous crowd control during recent concerts. Mande was solid for the whole routine and really amped up the audience for the headliner.
Then it was time for South Carolina’s biggest little deal, the “Human Giant,” Aziz Ansari aka ‘Tom Haverford.’ Ansari was brilliant from the beginning to end, starting with a very funny photo-op where he allowed the audience to take pictures before
the show as he mocked us.
Ansari dove deep into the details of his past single adventures and highlighted the many pitfalls of the flawed bachelor life. His societal description of how young adults communicate, interact and mingle when out on the town was not only hilarious but disturbingly accurate.
Ansari continued his sociological comedy describing his current relationship and how his behaviour and past preferences have completely changed. He finished his dynamic set after a lengthy routine, but was not done yet, and even came out for an
encore for this early show. He called out to the audience and asked for us to offer up requests for his past bits and jokes from previous shows, which the whole crowd loved and gave him numerous options.
His entire set was entertaining, educating, inspiring, witty and unpredictable.
Aziz Ansari is one of the best comics that I have seen in years, and he is one of the smoothest, most natural comics on tour today. I call him the “Brown Bill Cosby” because he can deliver exceptional comedy, keep it clean and teach you some paramount lessons along the way!
Written by Daniel Joseph, contributing writer for DARPAN Magazine
