Dangerously Funny

Dangerously Funny

This past weekend I ventured to the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” (Minnesota) to take a brief but much needed vacation. Specifically I went to go to see comedian Aziz Ansari. I know what you’re thinking, “why in the hell would I make a 7 hour drive to Minneapolis?” and “if he performed in Minneapolis, wouldn’t he perform in Chicago?” Well, he did two shows in Chicago and they both sold out shortly after they went on sale. They then added 2 more shows, which I didn’t find out about until after I bough the tickets for Minnesota, and they sold out. I’ve seen him in Adam Sandler’s “Funny People,” I watch “Parks and Recreation” every Thursday and have send his stand-up on TV and wanted to see him in person. Plus, I’ve never been to Minnesota or the Mall of America (the country’s largest mall) and don’t mind driving long-distances. And as I previously stated, I needed the vacation.

A friend made the trip with me so the little over 6 hour trip (Mapquest said should have been closer to 7/7.5), wasn’t all that lonely. The opening act, whose name escapes me, was pretty good, and did a good job warming up the crowd for Aziz. Much to my surprise when he left the stage less than 5 minutes later, Aziz came. Normally when the opening act says “(enter artist/comedian’s name here) will be out shortly” it means you have enough time to go to the bathroom, the bar, grab a smoke and post on Twitter and Facebook that you’re at the Aziz show. I don’t know if he was in a hurry to get the show over and done with or if does that all the time, whatever his motivation it was greatly appreciated.

What further surprised me was the fact that Aziz allowed us to take pictures before his act started. When we walked in the ushers warned us about taking pictures and that we needed to cut off our phones. Of course, I didn’t listen. I don’t turn off my phone unless the Secret Service tells me too. But I did politely put it on silent. So he walks out, tells the audience he’s going to allow us to take pictures for a couple of minutes while he mimics being in the middle of his act. He then proceeded to do hilarious poses like he was literally in the middle of his act. Perhaps my favorite poses, were the ones where he pretended to yell at audience members and then jump off the stage to kill some guy. He didn’t have to do it and I’ve never heard of a comedian doing it before. So 2 Thumbs up for Aziz.

The only problem was that after Aziz told us it was cool to take all the pics we wanted during this 2 minute window, there was this annoying usher walking around threatening to take our cameras if we didn’t turn them off and put them away. First of all sir, you’re an usher at a theater. You have a job, because the theatre employs you; they can afford to employ you because they have acts that come and attract audiences. The act in question, Aziz Ansari, said we could take pictures, so I think it’s ok. He makes your yearly salary in one show and can afford to pay you if your psycho boss decided to fire you for not doing your job. But I digress.

The moral of the story is, is that I cried laughing (seriously) during the show. I’m glad he lived up to the hype and I look forward to seeing him again. If you get a chance I implore you to take it! He’s a really funny guy and appears to still be pretty cool. Aziz Ansari’s Dangerously Delicious Tour is Dangerously Funny!