It’s an Aziz tease!

An Indian-origin American comedian keeps the audience in splits

Comedian and actor Aziz Ansari’s show on October 9 at the newly refurbished Hamer Hall in Melbourne was a thumping success. The Hall that accommodates 2464 patrons was almost full, with the audience a mix of all sexes, ages and races. Of course, in this age of the internet, news spreads fast, and Ansari’s cyber fan club already has a large following, especially among young people. It was no surprise, therefore, to see young people queuing up for the show well before time for his stand-up comedy show, Buried Alive. Ansari regaled the audience for more than an hour, keeping them in stitches with jokes and witticisms coming in fast and furious! He held it together under a broad theme which embraced datingmarriage-sex – so there was never a dull moment, no long pauses –and somehow was also a kind of social commentary. This is his first tour of Australia, and despite the largely American slant, he seemed to have no trouble at all relating to the Melbourne audience which gave him a standing ovation at the end of the show.

Aziz Ansari was born in Columbia, South Carolina, US, to Tamil parents who emigrated from India. His father is a gastroenterologist, and his mother Fatima works in a medical office.

Ansari grew up in Bennettsville, South Carolina where he attended the Marlboro Academy. He began his career performing stand-up comedy in New York while attending New York University, at venues such as the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre frequently. In 2005, Rolling Stone included him in their annual ‘Hot List’ as their choice for the ‘Hot Standup’, and he won the Jury Award for ‘Best Standup’ at HBO’s 2006 U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado. Ansari tours colleges and music festivals occasionally, and has also toured with the Comedians of Comedy and the Flight of the Conchords. Ansari headlined his own comedy tour, the Glow in the