Reviewed by: Emanuel Caros

Between Human Giant, Parks and Recreation, and two golden minutes in Observe & Report (video after the jump), Aziz Ansari has skyrocketed into my good graces over the past couple of years.  Based on the sold out show at the Colony Theater in Miami Beach, other people are pretty fond of him as well.   Having just released his CD/DVD Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening, I assumed he’d do a very similar, if not identical, set.  But, because Aziz is the man, he started the show with a solid 20-30 minutes of new material.  With topics ranging from miscommunication via text message, and mean people on airplanes, he is far from avant garde, but what makes him stand-out as opposed to the Jeff Dunhams of the world (“LOOK AT ALL MY PUPPETS!”) are his Shyamalan-esque twists, and endearing delivery.  The guy is straight up likeable!  You find yourself rooting for him while he macks by complimenting a girl’s purse, and then have his back even more when he steals said girl’s purse after some bitchiness on her part.  Later on he shoots two dogs in the face, and comes out as the hero.

His most notable role is probably that of “RAAAAAAAANDY” (with eight A’s) a hysterical parody of schtick-ey comedians that rely on gimmicks and dick jokes to stand out.   After he had gotten through most of the new stuff, he turned to request from the audience, most of which were Randy bits.  Aziz made a clear distinction between Randy and his fellatio-heavy puns and the actual Aziz Ansari, making it seem like he wanted to drop the act all together.  Regardless, the cat calls were blurted out, and Aziz got huge laughs.  After a few more Randy requests, and a couple bits from his special, he closed out the show with a hilarious joke questioning what things would be like if people were racist through Star Wars characters. 

The thing about Aziz Ansari is that he is quickly launching into mainstream stardom.  What comes with that are fans who also love Carlos Mencia.  Where he supersedes such comics is that Aziz does a great job of avoiding the easy joke, while still appealing to the masses with clever and original humor.  Nothing groundbreaking here, but definitely a lot of laughs.

7/10