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MAY 2012
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HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
but he’s too afraid to move to a big city
like New York or L.A., so he tries to make
Pawnee his own li le kingdom and does
what he can to hold it down there.
HEMISPHERES:
You
made that move,
though. You came to New York to go
to school, ended up with a degree in
marketing and then started doing comedy
in 2001. Where did you first go up?
ANSARI:
I went up at a new-talent night
at this club called the Comedy Cellar.
Obviously it was my first time doing it,
so my material was horrible. But I was at
least comfortable onstage.
HEMISPHERES:
Early on, you worked at
the Upright Citizens Brigade, which your
co-star Amy Poehler helped start. Was
that an important place for you?
ANSARI:
Yes, definitely. In New York
there are two types of venues for doing
comedy. When I was coming up, there
was the comedy-club route and then
there were these smaller, alternative
rooms that generally were run by per-
formers. I did a lot of material and grew
a lot as a performer working on stuff at
the UCB Theatre. If you were a younger
guy working the comedy clubs, there
was more of an established hierarchy
that was hard to break through. But at
Upright Citizens Brigade, if they thought
you were funny they’d bring you back.
HEMISPHERES:
You’re from the South.
How do you find living in New York?
ANSARI:
I love it there. It’s my favorite
place to live. I love everything about it.
HEMISPHERES:
You were in
Funny People
,
a serious movie about the comedy business.
How was it working with Judd Apatow?
ANSARI:
It was great. He had an idea
for this character who would just
destroy with audiences, but who all
the other comedians despised because
they thought he was the worst. I think
it worked really well. Judd’s a tremen-
dous, wise talent. Any chance you get
to work with him, you steal all the
wisdom that you can.
HEMISPHERES:
Part of the reason that the
movie worked is that that jerky comedian
exists. Comedians don’t laugh easily at
one another’s jokes.
ANSARI:
Yeah, it’s tough. It’s tough to
pitch a joke in a writers’ room on a TV
show, too. You’re really pu ing yourself
out there.
HEMISPHERES:
Even if it’s good, you
hear nothing but crickets. They’re trained
not to laugh.
ANSARI:
They just nod.
HEMISPHERES:
What comedians or
performers do you admire?
ANSARI:
Louis C.K., obviously. I saw
Chris Rock at the Comedy Cellar in
New York a fewweeks ago, and he’s still
so good. He’s been doing it for so long
and he’s still up there working on new
material. You could already see the seeds
of amazing, insightful comedy.
HEMISPHERES:
You don’t traffic in
stereotypes of Indian people. You’re not
up there as “the Indian guy.”
ANSARI:
People used to send me scripts
where I would have to do an accent,
but I feel like as soon as you start doing
that, you’ll get only those kinds of roles.
So I immediately put a blanket “no” on
that stuff. To me, it’s more interesting to
analyze something like that, rather than
saying, “Blah, blah, blah … and then I
slipped on curry,” or whatever the hacky
Indian joke would be.
HEMISPHERES:
Still, a lot of Indian-
Americans are excited to see you prospering.
ANSARI:
Yeah, I get people coming up
to me all the time to say they’re glad I
don’t do any Indian-voice jokes, and
that my characters are funny because
they’re
funny
, not because they’re
caricatures. I think Indian people do
respect that a lot.
HEMISPHERES:
Lightning round. Never tell
a joke about ...
ANSARI:
Something that doesn’t make
you
laugh. There’s a certain kind of joke
people do because they know it will get
a laugh from an audience, but in their
heart they don’t think it’s funny.
HEMISPHERES:
Favorite TV shows?
ANSARI:
Adult Swim’s “Delocated” is
really funny. The creator, John Glaser,
used to be a writer on “Conan” and he
wrote on “Human Giant.” He’s one of the
very, very funny guys out there. I watch
Louis’ show, I watch a li le bit of “Curb
Your Enthusiasm.” And I really like
“Breaking Bad” and “Mad Men” as well.
HEMISPHERES:
“I can’t stand people who ...”
ANSARI:
I don’t appreciate any kind of
rudeness in general, so I guess I’d say
that. Rudeness or meanness.
HEMISPHERES:
Isn’t that a handicap for
a comedian?
ANSARI:
I don’t think so. That’s what
they write about “Parks and Recreation”
all the time. They say it’s a very positive
show. And my standup isn’t very mean.
HEMISPHERES:
“People would be surprised
that I’m good at ...”
ANSARI:
Foosball. I’m really good at
foosball.
HEMISPHERES:
That doesn’t surprise me
for some reason.
ANSARI:
It’s a sad commentary on
me that it’s not surprising I’m good
at foosball.
DAVID CARR,
a columnist and reporter for the
New York Times
, wishes Cuba Gooding Jr.
would come to his defense more often.
“I get people coming up to me all the
time to say they’re glad I don’t do any
Indian-voice jokes. That my characters
are funny because they’re
funny
.”
»
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 72
THE
HEMI
Q
&
A:
AzizAnsari