On this day on February 23, 1983, Comedian, Actor, Writer, Aziz Ansari is born in Columbia, SC
Taking a different career path than his gastroenterologist father, the versatile Ansari got his start in comedy while still in school at the New York University. He performed in clubs in New York and furthered his comedic education at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theatre. To date he has headlined several national tours and released four comedy CD / DVDs. He takes the approach of talking about his own personal experiences, so no other comedians can steal his act or bits. He’s performed at such prestigious venues as Madison Square garden and Carnegie Hall.
His television credits include Uncle Morty’s Dub Shack, Reno 911!, Scrubs, MTV’s Human Giant, which he created as a vehicle for himself, HBO’s Flight of the Conchords, and NBC’s Parks and Recreation.
He created Master of None for Netflix and formed a strong relationship with MTV (he hosted the MTV Movie Awards in 201) and Comedy Central which yielded many of Ansari created projects and collaborations.
Ansari has worked in numerous films such as Funny People, I Love You, Man. Get Him to the Greek, Observe and Report and 30 Minutes or Less.
Ansari is also an author with his first book Modern Romance: An Investigation which dropped in 2015. It’s about dating and was co-written with Eric Klinenberg, an actual sociologist.
He has done voice-over work as the recurring, Darryl on Bob’s Burgers, Mub in Epic, Martin in The Ventura Bros., Billy Billions in Ben 10: Omniverse, DMO in Adventure Time, Charles in Animals and on music videos (“Otis” by Jay-Z and Kanye West). In the latter, he played himself (as in the film, This is the End, Comedy Bang! Bang! and the animated feature, Ice Age: Continental Drift)
Ansari has earned a lot of industry nominations and has won the Variety Power of Comedy Award, a Critics’ Choice Television Award and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
Check out this clip:
