Geez Aziz

The other night at the Upright Citizens' Brigade Theatre, 22-year-old comedian Aziz Ansari welcomed a girl onstage. As she sat awkwardly in a chair, he related to the audience how he had recently (and drunkenly) confessed to said girl that he like-liked her. (As is often the case in Ansari's stories, the girl already had a boyfriend.)

The story had been part of his act for sometime, but this was the first time the story's main character had heard it. After he told the story, Ansari asked the girl about her boyfriend. He mocked his major (English) and his name (Bosco, like the syrup), and reminded her that, "Aziz means precious."

The moment may have been pathetic or noble, but it was undoubtedly hilarious. Ansari's act blends the personal and the political, giving a comic voice to all socially awkward, downtown feys and the girls who love them. The Bennettsville, SC-native has been honing his act since making his debut at the Comic Strip as a 19-year-old NYU freshman. Since then, he has risen through New York's alt-comedy ranks to host his own weekly shows at UCBT (Aziz Ansari Punched a Wall and Crash Test, which features a rotating co-host). He's appeared alongside members of New York's established cool comedy clique on VH-1's Best Week Ever and will make his Comedy Central debut this month on Premium Blend. PAPERMAG recently caught up with Ansari, and here is what we learned.

1. Aziz Ansaris is a ladies' man.

100 percent of respondents polled -- including PAPERMAG's S.O. --would describe Ansari as "cute." "He puts himself down," one lady-friend told us, "and girls just want to take care of him, make him feel better." It's exactly this kind of sentiment that frustrates Ansari. "None of these people fucking find me," Ansari says, only half joking. When a friend told him comics are the new rock stars, he corrected her: "Yeah, rock stars that get no ladies."

Part of the cuteness stems from the persona Ansari cultivates on stage. Like a less neurotic Woody Allen, Ansari plays the guy who makes the wrong moves, loses the girl and thereby wins the hearts of his audience. He doesn't use the observational comedy of mainstream comics ("Did you ever notice..."), and avoids the absurd non-sequiturs of many alt-comics (such as the late Mitch Hedberg). Instead, he tells often heartbreaking stories culled from his own life. "It's all true," Ansari says. "It's all dangerously true. It'd be nice if something worked out for me, and then I'd have to get material out of that."

Over the past year, Ansari's act has gone from making jokes about the president masturbating to punching a wall over losing a girl. When we suggest that Ansari uses his act to vent frustration over things he can't control, he doesn't disagree. "That's so sad," Ansari says. "I'm in a situation with this girl that's as hopeless as overthrowing the Bush administration."

He's also a pro with the hipster references; his infamous bit about M.I.A comes to mind. In this sketch, Ansari explains how both he and the Sri Lankan pop star both speak the Southeast Asian language Tamil. He recalls a run-in with her after a recent concert. Hoping to connect over a shared heritage, Ansari told her, "very, very good songs!" in Tamil, which briefly confused her before she smiled politely, got into a car and drove off. Aziz imagines what should have happened between him and his "Sri Lankan Princess": Ansari plays himself, the doting fan, opposite round-faced, Russian comic-about-town Eugene Mirman in the M.I.A. role. Hilarity ensues. A video of the sketch spread through the Web like a virus -- an incredibly funny virus.

Things came full circle when a friend bumped into M.I.A. at a post-Coachella party and called Ansari at three in the morning. Recalls Ansari, "He was like, 'Aziz, I'm with M.I.A., she's seen your video. She thinks it's really funny. I'll put her on the phone!' Then she's like, 'Aziz, it's M.I.A.' And I think it's someone fucking with me. Like 'what's going on here?' And she's like, 'I just wanna say I really support what you're doing. I'm glad to hear you're making noise.'" Her management company even offered to have M.I.A. read her part with Ansari the next time she's in town.

The recent college grad has his finger on the pulse of cool (for example, on his website, www.azizisbored.com, he gives shout outs to Ariel Pink and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah). In other words, Ansari is not your alcoholic uncle's favorite comic. "A lot of people my age think that stand-up comedy is lame or live comedy is lame," Ansari says. "David Cross has this credibility with the indie-rock community, and I want that same kind of credibility." An upcoming appearance at Seattle's annual hipster convention Bumbershoot should help.

2. Aziz Ansari is a total fucking badass.

When New York blog-bible Gothamist.com interviewed Ansari, the introductory paragraph characterized him as that "nerdy guy you went to high school with." This, of course, became the most popular site to come up when you Googled Ansari. After making a joke about being the nerdy guy who gets a hand job from the head of the cheerleading squad, Ansari asked bloggers in the audience to write instead that "Aziz Ansari is a total fucking badass." The above story shows a man who is still concerned about his public image.

3. Aziz Ansari likes to say Aziz Ansari.

Whether it's in the M.I.A. bit, or in a routine about racist graffiti, or even in the title of his wall-punching routine, Ansari gets a lot of comedy mileage out of saying his own name. It's always "Aziz Ansari this" and "Aziz Ansari that" with the comic. "It's the marketing major put to use," Ansari says sarcastically. Well, it seems to be catching on.

See Aziz's one-man show, "Aziz Ansari Punched a Wall," on Sept. 8th at 9:30 p.m. at the Upright Citizen's Brigade Theatre. Buy tickets online at www.ucbtheatre.com.