I have to admit, I wasn't too familiar with Ansari's other works and besides his role in Funny People, he is also known from Human Giant, Parks and Recreation, as well as last season's Scrubs. Even without knowing his normal comedy style, I found his act to be a fun experience. Granted, there weren't too many laugh-out-loud moments, but there wasn't any part that I felt like I wasn't enjoying myself. Well, that isn't entirely true, I found the show's final segment where he reprises his role of Randy from Funny People to be a bit annoying, but I'm sure fans of his that loved that character will be thrilled by those last few minutes of the show.
Ansari doesn't stick to any one topic for very long and rarely uses call backs, but even so, the entire experience from his discussions on gay rights, to when a guy left his kid with him even though they didn't really know each other, were all great. Most of the show has Ansari presenting most normal everyday experiences in some startling new and unexpected ways. At one point, he talks about the ads he has seen on Craigslist, while another segment goes pretty deep into experiences with a bad roommate. Most of these early bits are amusing, but it isn't until he starts talking about messing with harassing his cousin on Facebook when the show really picks up. What was great was how well the topic of his cousin flowed into using his Blackberry while driving, to his time befriending Kanye West and then a hilarious segment about going to an R. Kelly concert. As I mentioned above, the last bit of the evening has Ansari taking on the role of Randy again and going through a few of that persona's jokes as if he had a Comedy Central Special. While it was amusing to see this obnoxious character in action, it was my least favorite portion of the show.
What I really enjoyed was the much more laid back special feature. In this 30-minute segment, Ansari gathers a smaller audience and goes through jokes that he struck from the special beforehand. He explains that these jokes didn't make it because they were too offensive, not well practiced or simply not refined enough, but I found I enjoyed a lot of these bits more than most of Ansari's special. I don't know if it was the chilled nature of the show, or the material, but it was very enjoyable and definitely worth watching. I especially loved a good 10 minute section where he learned about the videogame composer, Tommy Tallarico, and the man's fan base, not to mention his surprise to find that his younger brother is a frequent visitor to www.tallarico.com's message board. Maybe I just found this funny because I happen to fall in the niche that knows who/what he is talking about, maybe its just because I remember seeing Tallarico pulled over for speeding in his Ferrari outside of E3 one year, but either way, I found this bit hilarious.
Overall, I enjoyed Aziz Ansari: Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening, and while it wasn't the best stand up Comedy Central has put out, it was still a great experience. Unless you are a huge fan of stand up, or of Ansari himself, this DVD isn't really worth a purchase. A rental, on the other hand, is definitely called for.
