Aziz Ansari

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Hello, everyone.

Welcome to this episode of Good Hang.

I'm very excited about my guest today.

It is Aziz Ansari.

So great to have Aziz here in the studio to talk about the past, the present, and the future.

And we're going to talk about a lot of stuff today.

We're going to talk about the fact that he skipped first grade because everyone thought he was so smart.

We're going to talk about him growing up.

as an Indian boy in the south.

We're going to talk about Parks and Wreck, of course, and all our memories there.

And we're going to talk about his cinematic directing debut, Good Fortune.

Lots to get into.

But before we do that, we want to speak to somebody who knows our guest, who has great feelings and things to say about our guest, and who has a question for me to ask our guest.

And

we just have my wife, my beautiful, beautiful wife, Rashida Jones, joining us today.

Rashida, I miss you.

I love you.

Let's get going.

Can you hear me?

Rashida, can you hear me?

Uh-oh, she can't.

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This is a disaster.

How are you guys over there?

Am I the over there?

Oh.

Oh, oh, I can look at your face now.

Yay.

Oh, you couldn't see me before it was a side view

oh no it's a terrible view

no it's great it was great this is just more direct and intimate bones polos

we just had a a tech fiasco fiasco we had a snafu i mean it still is a miracle that you can talk to each other in live time yeah like across regions.

So I'm going to, I'm going to stick with that story.

I still can't believe that we have airplanes.

Exactly.

Exactly.

So there you go.

This is a miracle.

Our meeting today is a miracle.

Where are we talking to you from right now?

I'm in my friend.

I know this sounds, every time I talk to you, I feel like

I'm in my friend's sitting room.

Okay.

In London.

Well, what makes a sitting room?

What's a sitting room?

Lots of places to sit

and

kind of no other functionality.

Like where you're just kind of sitting and staring at each other you know

you're in London I'm in London oh I miss you friend I miss you too

I'm talking to Aziz today and I'm having a lot of

I'm having a lot of nostalgic feelings today I feel that I really miss I really miss us

as a as a cast same

and I and I kind of feel like we are his aunties a little bit we are definitely totally you you especially.

The education of Aziz, I'm sorry, was sort of like the alternate title for Parks and Recreation.

I know him and Plaza feel like they were babies.

Our babies.

They were our babies that we raised.

Our beautiful family, the four of us.

Before we get to Aziz, who like you, I think has like a very specific cultured aesthetic, I'm loving the color brown that you're wearing.

Thank you so much because

somebody told me they didn't like this color.

I don't remember who it was.

And I was like, I do.

I don't know why.

It's like very 70s to me.

And I was wondering what you think the color of the

color of fall is.

I always ask Rashida these questions because she knows.

She's in the know.

Well, there's a there's a palette because, you know, like when you have, have you ever done your makeup test where you're like an autumn or spring or summer?

Yeah, I think

You're an autumn.

You are such an autumn.

You're a summer, I think.

I think you're right.

And

I wanted very much to be a winter.

It's kind of the story of my life.

You love summer polos, but you love summer.

I do, but the colors feel a little,

I don't know, not substantial.

Too playful.

Yeah, they feel a little juvenile.

And I want to, you know, and I remember looking at the palette and saying, I think I'm a winter.

And then TikTok said, no way.

No, ma'am.

They said, blondie's not allowed.

But, okay, so that's an autumnal color that you've got going on.

This, I would say, like an olive green, a wine, like a Merlot color is very the color of autumn.

Maybe even like a mustard as an accent.

I can't even get anywhere near those colors.

They do not work for me.

And with that in mind, what do you think is the

fashion?

of the of the season?

What should we be wearing?

Okay.

Because we're going to this yeah so every season rashida and i

and um we we try to like name how we're gonna dress basically and what and it's and it's it's steeped in either like a country or a vibe or

or like a trend or an or like an anti-trend what have been some past ways that we have we've got we've we've named the seasons i can think of a few um

high school art teacher High school art teacher.

Japanese winter.

Tired ballerina.

Tired ballerina.

What's the last one that we just, that we kind of found from TikTok?

It was like frugal chic.

Frugal chic, frugal chic.

Right.

Like, make your own salads, bring in the work.

Wear the same, like, gorgeous sweater every day.

Shop your closet.

Shop your closet.

Shop your closet.

What do we think is happening this fall?

What about just like a double F, like functional fall?

Or like, ooh.

I was just in Paris, which of course always, the fashion's so good in Paris.

And the way that like girls wear trousers, like it just is,

it's hard to describe why they look so much better on them than anybody else, but there's like always like a front, oh, maybe it's front pleat fall.

Okay.

You know what?

No.

Gen Z loves their front pleats.

I know.

I don't need any more help down there to feel full.

No more pleats in in the front.

Agreed.

Agreed.

Okay.

How about flat front?

Functional flat.

Flat front.

Functional flat front fall.

Okay.

You heard it here first, guys.

Hashtag trending.

Okay.

You know, we always like to talk well behind our guest's back about our guest.

What do you love about Aziz?

I'm sorry.

Aziz is

he's a very

insatiably curious human being.

He loves to absorb

art, food, fashion, film, traveling.

Like he's just, he's so open to experience.

And I love people who are like that.

I would say that you're like that too.

And then of course, like he's just so funny.

And I always want his take on something.

Um,

that makes it, uh, he's a pleasure to be around in that way.

Yeah.

What, um, I feel like you have, you two have probably gone and done some groovy

things together.

Like,

we've been in a lot of countries together.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I love being in Japan with Aziz because he'll, he'll just, he'll just bust out like the best accent and just order in Japanese with a full perfect accent.

Yes.

He speaks Japanese.

Yes, a little bit, but it's his accent so good that he convinces people that he's can like speak fluently because his accent's so good whoa that's cool

yeah very cool is it weird that every time i hear about other people speaking another language it i just feel so bad that i don't like i make it about myself fire of jealous fire of envy same well people should know that you studied french for a while and a month Babe, a month more than other people, honey.

Okay, so what question do you have for our guest Aziz today?

What do you think I should ask Aziz?

Anything you want to know?

Yeah, I was, you know, I was thinking about something that would light him up that he'd want to talk about.

And again, as we mentioned, Aziz is an extremely cultured individual.

And, you know, there's probably stuff that people don't really know about him.

One thing is that he's an excellent chef.

And also he loves food.

So A, what's his favorite thing to cook?

And B, what's his favorite thing to eat?

Love that.

Love that.

Has he ever made anything for you?

All the time.

He cooks me dinner all the time.

Everything.

My

recent favorite is he makes this thing.

It's like, it's an Indian dish that's specifically for children.

So I love it called Chicken 65.

And

it's bright red because of the like the pepper powder and it's delicious.

Yum.

Yeah.

Ooh, I want to talk to him about that.

And I want to talk about kitchen gadgets in general.

I just got for myself, I like to every once in a while get myself a kitchen gadget so that I can continue to encourage myself to cook.

I just got really long, thin tongs.

Like

not your, not your grabby tongs, but those long ones that you, where you can turn a delicate, a delicate mushroom.

Wow.

I wish we were hanging out together right now.

I miss you.

I miss you too.

I really want to do a TikTok dance with you.

Oh, yeah.

Listeners, Rashida sent me a TikTok dance and said, I wish we were learning this together.

And I watched it and I was like,

I don't think I'd be able to learn it.

It seems like 100% could do that.

It looks so cool because they're such good dancers, but they're very simple steps.

You know, no one is a bigger fan.

Could you do the TikTok dance and send it?

By myself.

I will.

I'll send it to you.

I'll send it to you.

Just don't show anybody.

I'll send it to you.

Do that thing where you make yourself a three people.

You know how you can do an effect where you can look like three people?

Yes.

Let's do that.

Let's do that.

Maybe your team, after they fix your audio issues, can help me do that.

Yeah, we're going to split this in a three

and you're going to be your own backup singer.

I'd love that.

Best career.

Thank you, Bones, for doing this.

Miss you, buddy.

Miss you.

Miss you so much.

And love you.

And have fun with.

Uzzy's, Zeezers, Baby ZZ.

Baby ZZ.

All right.

Thanks, friend.

Love you.

Love you too.

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God, this is like beat New York right now.

I know.

It's so nice to be.

People don't know.

We're recording in New York right now in the fall.

Yeah.

Wait, is this on now?

Yeah, we're recording now.

Oh, whoa.

Okay, good.

I'm glad I I didn't drop any racial slurs, as I tend to do when I, when I usually see it.

Right away, when you see me.

Right away, we usually say, what's your favorite right now?

And then I say my favorite.

And then we start hanging out.

Yeah.

So, God, thank goodness we dropped that tradition.

Yeah, no, we're rolling.

And all we've been talking about is New York in the fall.

That's it.

New York in the fall, baby.

But do you, when you come here, do you get like, do you ever want to live here?

Well, you still spend time here.

Yeah, I feel like I don't live anywhere.

I'm always just running around.

But whenever I come, like visiting New York is fun because you come for and you get a quick hit, you do all your favorite stuff, you see all your friends, and then, and, but if I stay too long, it's too crazy.

I'm too old now.

Yeah, I know what you mean.

It's, it, it is, your little ZZ is all grown up.

I know.

My ZZ is just

an old man now.

I know.

If you watch, whenever I see old parks things, I was like, I didn't know that me and Aubrey did a show when we were little kids.

Like, it's really.

How old were you when you started on this?

I was 13 in season one.

And then when we finished, I just turned 18.

I got my driver's license like in the middle of the run.

A lot of people don't know that you were 18 when you were playing Tom Hamperford on Parks and Red.

Yeah.

It is true, though.

It is, you, you look like a baby.

You were a baby.

I didn't know anything.

Yeah.

The first seasons, I didn't know how to act or anything.

I should not have been on television.

NBC should have been like, we got to get, is there any Indian guy that's done more acting?

Can we get out play this guy?

I want to get into this too, because it is, it feels like when we, we, we've met each other throughout, like we've, we've, in a bunch of different ways in a bunch of different places.

But New York City, I will say, feels like, and I don't know if you feel this way when you come here, that it, you are reminded of when you were young.

There is a feeling here, like if you were here when you were young, when you come back, you feel younger or something.

You remember your younger self.

You're you're trying to get back that energy you remember you you remember being outlaid and all this kind of stuff and and uh because you were an nyu kid i went to nyu and i started doing comedy then were you doing comedy like in high school or no i grew up in south carolina so i you know there was no outlet for anything like that yeah you know it was like you know you could dip and and

spit into a mountain you can spit into a cup and everyone laughed to a i just drank mountain dew and dipped that's all I did in high school.

And did you ever play?

I was in Four Wheelers.

Were you in a play?

I was in plays when I was a kid.

I remember there was some play I did, and I don't know what the play was, but I played like a cowboy.

And I was doing like a big southern accent.

And I remember I just crushed.

And kids were coming up to me afterwards, like, do it again.

And it was like one of those things I remember.

So were you a funny kid?

Yeah, I liked to be funny in class.

And

yeah, anytime there was anything that involved public speaking or something, I was always super comfortable.

I remember when I did like something where I was like six years old, I had to like speak in front of the whole school and it didn't like base me at all.

I don't know why.

It's so funny.

Yeah.

Because, okay, so when I was in school in South Carolina, right?

This is in the 80s.

So, you know, a lot of these people had never even seen Indian people before.

And

I skipped first grade.

I did skip first grade and second grade.

Like in the middle of first grade,

they called my parents.

they're like uh he

we gotta get him out of here he's too smart he already knows all this stuff i don't know if it's this this other culture you're from or what's happening but we got to get him the fuck out of this first grade thing he needs to go to second now

get him out of my class he's embarrassing everyone else instead i went there and uh i went to second grade and it's a little school so i'm like i'm like you know and there's like 30 kids in each class i grew up in a town of like 8 000 people yeah so they're like oh this this little this little brown wonder kid.

And so like, I'm on the radio and all this stuff.

Radio.

There's a recording somewhere.

And when I was a little kid, I had like a southern accent because that's where I grew up.

And that's what I'm around.

So

I vaguely remember being, being

on some radio program.

And I was like, my name's Aziz Ansari.

And I'm a first grader at Marlborough Academy.

When you're told at six that you're a smart kid, then you become the smart kid.

Were you the smart kid?

I think so, but I think it kind of annoyed me in a way.

Like I, I, I, I, like, I didn't want to be painted with a certain brush.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I bet.

I bet people are just projecting a lot of stuff on you.

And then I went to the school in 11th and 12th grade, which is in like a science and math school.

And it's a public school in South Carolina called a governor's school.

And there, it's like all the smartest kids from all over South Carolina.

And there, I was just like, this dumb kid that was like smoking weed and telling dumb stories.

And they were like, what happened?

I thought you skipped first grade.

Yeah, 11th grade.

You need to go back to 10.

Expecting, but yeah, they kicked you back down.

Yeah, I mean,

we talked a lot about it when we first met, like this idea of growing up in South Carolina in the 80s as a young Indian boy, one of probably the only in your class, figuring out.

Dev, not one, one of the,

there were in like first and second grade, I sometimes forget this.

There was this Thai girl.

Her name was Tisha.

Which does not sound like a Thai name.

And they used to always be like, what's up with you and Tisha?

I'm not kidding.

I remember there was a play in like first grade.

There was like, it was a play.

And for some reason, there was Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse.

And it was me and Tisha.

We were the stars.

You know, oh, oh, diversity.

No, no.

Me and Tisha in Bennettsville in like 1988.

Leads.

Leads of this mysterious play where there was Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

But there was always like, oh, you know.

Were you excited in a way to expand your horizons and go to New York?

Yeah,

I always, it's so interesting.

I was thinking about this, you know, the fact that my dad left, you know, my family is all from the southern tip of India up until me.

And my dad left India and went to

like he first came to Jersey and he was doing like, you know, residency or whatever.

And I, you know, it really, I was thinking about this a couple weeks ago, this is how remarkable it was and how scary that must have been to come over there and not know anything.

You know, this is before internet, FaceTime, nothing.

If you're there, you're really gone.

And same with my mom as well.

Did they come over together?

My dad came first and then my mom came later.

But

I was just thinking about how there was something in my dad.

I asked him about this and he was like, oh, I always wanted to go.

And it's weird because I grew up in South Carolina and I think I had a similar thing where I always wanted to go somewhere, you know, bigger with more stuff going on.

Yeah, you had that same like drive to just see more of the world.

Yeah.

Luckily,

I went to school in New York, which is the greatest place to be if you have that kind of feeling.

So when you're leaving South Carolina, you apply to NYU, you apply, you're like, I'm going to go to business school.

Yeah, I didn't know what I wanted to do.

This is how dumb I was.

Yeah, business seems to be the major that a lot of men who don't know what they want to do pick.

Like my uncle has a business.

I was like, oh, maybe I'll start my own business and I'll major in business.

That's how silly I was.

And then I get there and there's all these kids that are talking about Goldman Sachs and all this stuff.

I don't even know what Goldman Sachs is.

And I'm completely confused.

And I had friends that were in Tisch, the film and television school.

I was thinking about switching to that or maybe the Gallatin school where you make up your own major.

But I never really got it together, the little combination of laziness.

And I also started doing stand-up like the summer of my freshman year.

And I distinctly remember remember sitting in a class in my sophomore year and just thinking, I'm just going to do something with stand-up.

At the least, I'll be a comedian that does comedy clubs.

And that's fine for me.

How do you go do stand-up?

What makes you go do stand-up when you're in college?

It was one of these weird things.

I was in school in my freshman year and I was just sitting around and telling stories and people were laughing.

Someone was like, oh man, you should try to do stand-up.

And then a week later, the same thing happened.

And it was like one of these weird, ooh, maybe the universe is saying something.

And then I went to a comedy club.

I went to the comedy solar, which I still perform perform at all the time and i saw a show and i was like i think i can do this and and i tried it and i i wasn't great i did well

but i was very comfortable with it and i really enjoyed it and i just wanted to get good at it i just wanted to get better i never thought about anything further about you know acting or any of that stuff i just wanted to get good at this and it really goes back to what you were saying earlier where you get that high of like you know i i want that feeling again.

Yeah.

And so I

started there and then it just kind of went from there.

Well when we met, do you remember the first time we met?

I was trying to think today.

I mean I don't remember anything.

I have so many friends who are like, when did we first meet?

I mean one of the first times I remember meeting you was so the UCB theater and there was a Monday night stand-up show at 11, which is like a tough slot.

Monday at 11 is not the prime slot.

But they were doing a stand-up show and Matt Besser, who was part of UCB, asked me if I would want to do the stand-up show.

And I started doing it and I was booking like my favorite comedians, and

I would host it every week.

And it really took off.

And I remember one week you came, and I was like, whoa, like you just came to see it and said hi.

And that's one of the first times I remember.

That's what I was going to say: is I remember meeting you by seeing you on stage.

That's back when we could all just, you know, sleep all day and then go to do a show at 11 o'clock on Monday night.

Yeah.

Then you go on and you do,

you create your own sketch show.

Yeah, we did the sketch sketch show on mtv yeah yeah and that was kind of like 2007 which was such a cool time for i think for comedy at the time because you had mtv and comedy central and all these places like taking big risks on on green apples yeah and and adult swim and all these things yeah were you on adult swim no but but that was around and things like tim and eric and yeah and it was like here's this kind of niche vibe let's give them a show for you know like let's see what they can do for a couple of seasons.

Yeah.

And so that show was Human Giant.

Yeah.

And you wrote, and, and what did you learn from doing a sketch show?

Sketch show is really hard.

Yeah.

I mean, you know, that's one of the hardest things to do because especially even just from a production standpoint, you know, everything is different.

There's no consistency.

You're always doing new costumes.

It's new locations.

It's really

a hard thing to do.

And writing sketches is really hard.

But there was one sketch I did that I wrote.

I think, you know, we all all kind of wrote together, but it was one that I really liked.

And it was one that Greg Daniels and Mike Scher saw.

And it was because it was on YouTube or Funnier Die or whatever.

And that was what got me the gig on Parks.

Yeah.

And was it Shutterbooks?

No,

it was called Viral Videos.

And the premise was me and Rob Hubel.

And we were on a talk show that Paul was hosting.

And Hubel had just made a viral video

because he did a video where he cut his penis off.

off and it went viral.

And he was like, so excited.

I got, you know, 2 million views.

And then he's like, oh, we have this other guy.

His name's Kevin Greasler.

He has a viral video too.

And it's me.

And I got like 40 million followers.

And all I did was just make funny faces.

And so he has to reckon with the fact.

He has to come with me.

He could have just made funny faces.

And he's done something a little bit more extreme.

And

yeah, it was a fun sketch.

But that's what Greg and Mike told me they saw.

saw and they're like, oh, okay.

Yeah, because a lot of people don't know you were the first person hired for parks.

Yeah, I met with them.

Yeah, what was that meeting like?

Do you remember it?

Well, it was so mysterious what they were up to.

I had a meeting with them and I told them, I don't know what you're doing, but whatever it is, that would be a dream job.

And, you know, this was like when the office was on and Mike and Greg were both involved in that.

And that was, you know, my favorite show like that on the air.

And so I told them, whatever you're up to let me know and then of course you know when it all came together with you and Rashida and everything and well I'm kind of learning when I was talking to Plaza when Plaza was here she was talking about like her meeting with them too and yeah yeah very famous stories yeah yeah I know and it's kind of funny I kind of forgot the Avengers Assemble feeling of those guys going out and and getting people and bringing them in and and talking about like, we're going to do something very cool.

I mean,

it didn't even feel like there was a ton of auditioning.

It was more just them picking people that they thought was funny.

Not only funny, and I feel like all of us, whenever we see each other, do interviews, kind of say this kind of stuff ad nauseum, but it's so true.

But also just the best people I've ever met in my life.

Yeah.

Like, really, I cannot believe it because we've all done other stuff.

And, you know, not everybody's, you know, look, we've all done other stuff.

I don't talk about everything the way I talk about parts.

You know, you do something, and some people, it's just an energy, not necessarily mean or bad, but just something like we all just clicked, and there was a vibe that worked with all of us.

And, and, and, and just to pay respect to you and Mike, you know, when I did Masternun with Alan, and as I've become a director, I, I, you know, what I learned from you and Mike in terms of how to lead,

um, I mean, I can't thank you enough.

It was the best role model I could have ever had.

C's,

CZ, you know, I've, I, when I, I started watching your podcast, and so then Park's clips started coming on YouTube.

And when I watch it, sometimes I just think about us making it.

Same.

And

it's funnier for me to watch the bloopers because that feels more like my experience.

And oh, gosh, some of those things that came up, I hadn't thought about in so long.

They're cracking me up.

I saw this clip.

It was, it was, it was, I don't remember the context of the episode or whatever, but it's, we're in Ron's office and me and Donna, there's something called bloosh, and and and Ron has decided bronze and bloosh.

So me and Retta start just going ron's and bloosh, bronzing bloosh.

And then I jump on the table the bronze and bloosh,

and and me and reta's dancing is getting crazier and crazier.

And we're just doing, just dancing, dancing all over Offerbit, doing all the crazy stuff.

And they showed that, that was what we shot.

And then they showed the seed as it aired.

And it was just like, ron's in blosh, and they cut.

That's also my favorite thing.

It's like,

I love trying to, if I could try to get someone to break, like, you're pretty good.

I don't, I don't, you know, Peppermint's pretty high up on that.

Agree.

He never cracked up.

And, oh, man, I love, there was a couple of times where I almost, where I got like, I think he didn't lap, but I think his mustache went up a little bit.

And I remember one thing that you wrote, it was an episode you wrote.

I was doing that puppy boys.

And then

puppy started to look at his mustache.

And I was like, hi, Mr.

Ponson.

I like your mustache.

I'm just a little puppy.

And it all, I think it

almost got it.

It almost got.

You're so right.

I mean,

the setup there was like you had, you had a chance to play around.

Like, you got to try your stuff.

I mean, the fact that

treat yourself is used on, you know, cocktail napkins and in Kmart and like it's everywhere.

And

I went to some ice cream place one time, and they're like, treat yourself to a sample.

I was like, can I have a sample?

I was like, please don't, please don't connect this.

Luckily, the person did put

them together.

Yeah.

I mean,

that's become part of the lexicon.

And I can remember that moment, which, by the way, it's so funny in that moment, treat yourself, because you guys say, treat yourself, 2011.

And I'm like, oh my God.

Oh my gosh, 2011.

Remember that?

and then there was one in the future that was like treat yourself 2014 it's like it's 2025 what's happening but I remember that episode deeply because it felt like it was a great example of the writers and the producers realizing like what made you laugh what made Aziz laugh

like what would be like a what would be fun for us like that's what they started doing so well yes I think they just the more they got to know us and it was such a good group that you could just be like well what happens we put these two together and then of course we had like the greatest people coming in and doing bit parts and they were all just so funny and the characters

another clip i watched that i and i think you know talking about breaking

this was is the hardest scene i've ever had to film in my entire acting career.

And it was, and, and, and if it's, it's on YouTube, the, the blooper of this, and it's me and you remember the scene as me and Adam Scott.

And we're having lunch with Joan Calamed.

Yes, the great Mo Collins.

Mo Collins, who always is just so funny.

And she said,

we're at a lunch and she says, I'm going to go powder my nose, amongst other things.

And then she walks away.

And then Adam comes to me and goes,

Ben is supposed to say,

Dude, is she going to go powder her vagina?

And

we couldn't do it.

And this is the only time I think this ever happened on parks or anything where me and Adam were like, just let's just film the rest of this stuff and we'll come back to that.

We'll just come back to the, because we couldn't do it.

And then, because, because it's just the most absurd task because you'd be like, okay, no, no, we got it this time.

Okay.

All right.

All right, guys, ready?

Okay.

Amongst other things.

She, oh,

you know, he could just say dude.

She had to go powder her vagina.

We couldn't get through it.

And Mo was so funny doing it, how she was like stumbling out of the table yeah right and then she'd add some other thing and you're like you can't do that i just stealed myself and now you just did this other funny thing that's not fair oh i love i love a blooper i love bloopers in general i love a blooper yeah but watching these park sploopers was after i watched your thing it put me on the algorithm it was it was it was so fun oh and you know what i also want to just say when we're in the in the parks and recreation world for a second my kids loved Aziz.

They're in their late teens and when they see you on TV, they go, oh, is Turkey Sandwich in this?

So yes,

my kids were little when they, when I was shooting that show and they would come and visit.

And Aziz,

you're really good with kids.

Oh.

And you do a thing that they love, which is you kind of like, I don't know, it's funny.

You realize sometimes with kids, with people and kids, either people like come on too strong and just like want to want to interact and and kids are like,

or they just, you know, they don't know, or they're like, hello, young person.

But Aziz would basically do these bits with them that would make them laugh so much.

One of them is you would walk by my oldest and pretend to be on the phone with his best friend.

What was his name?

Watson.

Watson.

That's right.

Hell, hey, Watson.

What's going on?

Oh, I'm just on set.

Yeah, and my oldest would just kind of listen and be like, wait, he's talking to to my friend?

Like, he was like five years old.

And the other day, as you were just like doing funny bits with them, and one day you were holding or eating a turkey sandwich, and they started laughing and pointing at you and saying, turkey sandwich, turkey sandwich, whatever.

And you loved that.

I just remember you thinking it was so funny.

And the other thing I just wanted to,

you mentioned like your algorithm and your phone taking you to Parks Clips.

I did want to talk to you today about your relationship to your phone.

What is your relationship to your phone now?

I try to stay off everything as much as I can.

How do you do that?

Teach me your ways.

I don't have email.

I haven't had email for like 10 years.

Incredible.

Yeah, but I have an assistant.

Okay, all right.

But still, that means that there's also stuff like, you know, like I have a flip phone and if I get really lost, I got to either ask people or just call my wife and be like, damn.

I've had to do that before.

Like call my wife

to the point where she's like kind of used to it.

And I hail taxis and if there's not a taxi, sometimes I'll call and be like, you know, there's not one around.

So you don't use like an Uber app?

I

usually

in London, there's taxis all the time.

Yeah.

You can hail them.

And here, too.

Yeah, yeah.

Well,

why do you have that kind of relationship with your phone?

It just gives me more space to think.

I mean, I heard something about like Tarantino doesn't even have a phone.

Chris Nolan doesn't have phone.

I was like, well, those guys are able to get a lot of stuff done.

Maybe there's something to it.

It does feel like

the eventual next step will be just that, will be people like breaking up with their phones in that way.

It's pretty consuming.

And

yeah, but that's just me.

I don't know.

No, I relate and I am genuinely asking because I feel like my relationship with my phone has just gotten deeper and more intense.

Told me something about how your phone fell in the pool or something and you didn't have for a couple of days and you're like, this is the greatest thing ever.

Yeah.

It definitely feels like something that had has taken over.

It's going to be really interesting this generation like Gen Z and Gen Alpha who have grown up with a phone in their hand.

I saw a Gen Alpha kid one time at the airport and they had a flip phone.

I guess it was like, because some parents get their kid a flip phone.

I don't get a flip phone.

Sure.

So I saw that and then I had I had mine mine and I saw the kid and I went like this and dapped her flip phone.

And she was completely confused.

Can I see your flip phone?

God, this thing doesn't even work that well.

But another thing is one time I was eating in a restaurant.

in London and I heard my phone going off and I checked and nothing was going on.

But it was another dude that had a flip.

And then we just started talking.

And

he, we were talking about all this and just joking about how like, oh, what do you do when you get lost and all this kind of stuff?

And, uh, yeah, classic flip phone guy combo.

And, um,

and then he said, you know, the thing I think you got to avoid now is, is the chat bot.

And I was like, oh, 100%.

Okay, let's talk about that, the AI.

Not the AI, but just chat bot.

Chat bot, or I, I think I'm not even calling it right, but the thing where you're going to be talking about it.

Chat type is Chat GPT.

I call it chat bot.

Yeah, but it's chat GPT.

See, I don't even know the name.

I completely agree.

I think this is like, you know,

it's outsourcing critical thinking.

It's making everyone's opinions kind of saying, this is my feeling, you know?

And I think people using it instead of Google, most of the time it's wrong.

And it's just kind of like telling you what you want to hear so you can keep asking your questions.

And, you know, someone showed me some commercial where it's like someone said like, no, how do I make a dinner for this girl that makes them?

And I'm like, well,

I would rather someone.

call someone and ask someone or maybe have some sort of conversation, a human thing.

Like it just seems like it's like outsourcing

thinking and it's like killing some bit of humanity.

And I don't know.

It kind of makes you.

I was reading some article where it said like it's making everyone a little more basic.

Ooh, yeah, that's real.

I think that's real.

I've always found you, Aziz, to be a very curious person who's kind of interested in why we do things.

Like you're very interested in the why of like why people make choices.

And I feel like definitely the last few stand-up specials that I've seen you do definitely have that feeling.

And what is it?

Are you doing stand-up right now?

Are you out doing it at all?

I'm just been promoting the movie now, but I think I'm going to go out

after the movie in like October, November.

And do new, all new material or do stuff.

I've been doing stuff about like being married and,

you know.

We're trying to like have a kid and talking about all that stuff.

So what's it like being married?

Is it fun being married?

No, I I love my wife very, very much.

She's great.

She's the first thing that's ever happened to me.

Yeah, you met her a handful of times.

And yeah, she's great.

How did you meet?

We met in London and, you know, we did long distance for a while.

And then,

yeah, I was like, all right.

How has being married changed you?

I just feel like all the other stuff doesn't really matter to me anymore.

You know, I'm just like, oh, wow, this person is everything to me.

And just to have that person to come home to and told,

it kind of makes everything else seem like it's less important.

I mean, sorry.

I love it, Aziz.

I'm so happy for you.

I'm excited to hear what you say on stage about marriage and relationship because

I've always known you to be

a person who's

has who has a lot of love to give.

Oh.

Oh, thank you.

Let's get those tears going, Aziz.

Let's get those tears going.

Chop, chop.

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Before we talk about Good Fortune, your new film, which looks amazing and holy shit, the cast is great and you wrote and directed it.

It's so good.

When you were doing Master of None, Master of None feels like a show with Alan Yang that you created.

It feels like when I was looking up and going over your stuff and being reminded of, it almost feels like a different time in television that it was pre-COVID.

Yeah, I mean, it's like a time capsule in New York now, that show, you know, it's about 10 years old now.

Yeah.

We were making it.

And that was when Netflix first came out.

And this was, this was a time when Netflix was like, you remember, people would be like, oh, there's a new Netflix show.

You know, they had so few.

Yeah.

And so every show got their shine.

And, you know, when Alan and I made that show, the idea of like, whoa, this guy that's got the brown face the star in the show like that was like not really happening you know and

yeah and they let us kind of really do what we wanted like you know when people tell me oh you know getting notes they hadn't even hired people to give notes yet you know what I mean and then the first season did really well so the second season like yeah just keep doing your thing and and and and it was it was just a radically different time and now streaming and making shows and all these things have become much much different yeah the whole industry is so different.

And I remember you guys feeling

excited about

doing that.

What was it like to leave an ensemble and then be like the lead of a show?

Well, that's the other thing about parks is parks is not only

you're on this great show, but everything's taken care of.

Like you just show up and you're like, treat yourself.

Good night.

See you, Z.

Thanks so much.

Great day of work.

And that is not what you do on Mastronaut, not what I did on Good Fortune.

You have to pick.

You know, people, I think, sometimes, you know, they're like, what is directing?

You don't really, it's kind of a vague thing.

And it's really, you're just deciding everything.

You know, you're like, okay, well, okay, where does the scene take place?

Okay, a restaurant.

Okay, let's go drive around and look at how many, ever many restaurants are going to pick the restaurant.

What are the people wearing?

You're making so many decisions.

You're crafting everything and you're there.

And then, and you have to, you know, I'm writing everything too, so you have to write it.

And then you have to figure out how everything's going to look and make all these decisions and then you have to edit it and you have to make sure it all works.

And it's a much more involved process.

And just acting is a much different, you know, simpler gig.

What part of directing surprises you that you like so much?

I just love these moments where you've written something and you have your actors and, you know, you had it in your head a certain way.

And then someone does something a little surprising or it just goes to another level.

And, you know, when I was looking at some behind the stuff scenes from Good Fortune, and this I really enjoyed the stuff where I wasn't acting and I was just over to the side and like you know it was like Kiana and Seth and they were doing something that was cracking me up and I was just you know laughing and you know trying not to yeah mess up the scene and those moments are super fun I mean there's another there's a scene where they're like riding in a car and and

they were like okay do you want to follow them in the van be on the radio I was like oh those radios always cut out I'm just gonna hide in the back seat so I was like curled up like this and I was just like yelling jokes and and you know Seth and Kiana were so iconic and like hearing them say the jokes, like the way you have it in your head, but also a little funnier.

When it really feels like you're a little kid playing, those are the best parts.

Yeah, I mean, totally.

And

also to be, allow yourself to still do that.

Cause sometimes I think, you know, when you're working on anything that you created, no matter, it doesn't have to be a film.

It can be anything that you made and you like hand it over and people then start to work on it.

It's hard to not to not be too rigid about it.

Like you won't, you have an idea of how it's going to go and it's supposed to go that way.

And

the reason why we work with other people is to collaborate.

Yeah, yeah, and to play like that and to see what they have to say.

And I love collaborating with actors, which is something I learned from

our experience on parks.

You know, Mike and

all the writers, they would take all these little things like, oh, Offerman's into woodworking.

Maybe that, oh, he plays a saxophone.

Maybe, you know.

And I've always spent a lot of time trying to get to know the people that I work with and try to figure out how to put more of them into it and try to understand who they are to help write the the character better, make it feel more like them.

Let's talk about Good Fortune because that cast is okay.

So, first of all, is Keanu as nice as he seems?

He's the best.

He seems incredible.

Yeah, he's the best, and he's also, he's like the sweetest guy, but he's also like the coolest guy in the world.

Like, he kind of balances both things.

Like, you know, we'll do like rehearsals at my house or whatever, and Keanu will show up like on a motorcycle.

Like, he looks like he drove from an anime movie straight into reality.

He gets out.

He's wearing like all black.

He's got like a backpack from the future.

He takes it off.

He's got boots on.

And he's just the coolest.

And me and Seth are just like, oh.

I mean, I don't know.

I don't like that Keanu is still driving a motorcycle.

I want him off that motorcycle for insurance purposes.

He's riding that motorcycle.

I'm like, oh.

I want him to be a little bit more.

No, no.

He loves his motorcycle.

Yeah.

And Seth and Kiki, you've worked with before.

Kiki.

You got to meet Kiki.

Kiki is one of my favorite people.

I have met Kiki.

You have?

I got the privilege of doing her podcast.

Oh, you did?

We did her podcast too.

It was so fun.

So fun.

Kiki and I have had dinner, not to brag, by ourselves, just the two of us.

She's like in Australia now.

We rarely get to see each other.

She works all the time.

She's so,

she is so naturally funny.

I've described Kiki as she is

a movie star, hilarious.

She once told me her aunt died in a way that was really funny.

And I was like, how did you do that?

I'm laughing.

And you just told me your aunt died.

She is so quick.

She's so sharp.

She's so talented.

I mean, she's just as good a singer and performer as she is an actress.

We had the scene where me and Kiki are dancing.

And I was like working with some choreographer.

And then Kiki is just like, oh, yeah.

And then just does all this crazy stuff.

And I'm like, oh.

Yeah, she is.

She's so talented.

And I mean, the cast is really awesome.

How did you,

I guess.

Like, how did you let everybody play and experiment on the, like, was, did, was it a, was it that kind of set?

like did you yeah i mean i think look if you cast the right people it's all gonna come together in a gel in a nice way and and you know i spend a lot of time rehearsing with everybody so we've kind of okay so you like to rehearse i like to spend a lot of time so we because you know when you're actually on set that is the most precious time when the camera's rolling to get to that moment it's so precious and you always don't have enough time blah blah so the more time i can spend with these people beforehand and rehearse and kind of make sure everything sounds right beforehand and and you know rewrite things to make it really sound like them.

Then when we get on set, there's just less, we're already kind of almost there.

Yeah.

But of course, once you're there in the place with the clothes and everything else, you come up with new ideas.

But, you know, all those people, they're so, you know, Kiki and Seth, they're really comfortable with improvising.

And Keanu, you know, Keanu at first, I think Keanu was a little intimidated, I think, because, you know,

he's not as a comedy guy as much as me and Seth, but he got into it and he would improvise and stuff a little bit.

And I told Seth, I was like, could you imagine if like we did an action movie?

How

awkward we'd be like, Kiana, what it would,

I'm going to push back on that because I feel like we would be great at an action movie.

Because

I want us to be able to do more action.

Really?

Don't you wish you could do a film where you get to just say one line a day?

Oh,

yeah, Kiana barely speaks in those words.

What do you mean?

You know, when I was a kid, my favorite movies were all action movies.

My favorite movies were like Terminator 2 and Die Hard.

And I mean, I still love those movies.

Those are some of my favorite movies.

But I loved action movies as a kid.

When I was a little kid,

I liked comedy and all this stuff.

I feel like once you start talking, it's diminishing returns.

Like, once you actually start talking in film, everyone's like, oh, that's how they talk.

Oh, they're saying that.

But if you never talk.

Like, which are you trying to be like in a Fast and the Furious movie?

What's the action movie?

I would like more of like a boring identity.

Oh, whoa.

Just walking through the streets of a European city.

leather jacket

I feel like everyone would like if I if I did that everyone would go like having well that's a sometimes sometimes people send me stuff that's more serious I'm like they're just gonna think I'm too silly to be this guy

and it's gonna hurt the movie I can't do it for you I know what you mean I can't show up as the villain and people aren't gonna be like she's too nice she's gonna change her mind

I do think it's amazing when people like decide to do a 180 as an actor and then they play someone really horrible and you're just like, oh no, we love that person.

And now they're

even when Keanu and I one day we were doing some press stuff together and there was like a room that I was waiting in in between and it happened to be like John Wick weekend.

And like I was watching some of the wick stuff.

I was like, wow, I can't believe he did this and then plays this.

very silly guy in my movie.

And it's the same guy.

It's really impressive.

He just also has a great reputation for being a wonderful person, Keanu.

Like, it just seems like,

you know, those kind of things

just

get out into the world.

And he just seems like he's handled his giant fame and his like very long

relationship.

Long, long time.

Yeah.

I mean, when I was about to meet him, I did like a little film festival and I was re-watching like Parenthood and Parenthood.

I just saw re-watched Parenthood on the plane.

It's so good.

It's incredible.

It is.

It's so good.

During that weekend, with the John Wick weekend, they showed Parenthood too, and I was watching it in between.

And I was just like, very different from John Wick and Parenthood.

Yeah, I know.

Are there films that you go back to that are like your comfort watches?

Like if you're, if you're, if it's a rainy day and you're like, I'm going to put on a movie.

Do you like to watch films?

I, I love watching films and, and there's definitely like a film nerd element to my why, to my life.

And

yeah, the movies I go back to a lot.

I love, you know,

working on this,

and all the time when I'm writing,

I revisit like Bean John Malkovich a lot.

Yeah.

I love that.

I love Eternal Sunshine.

Smells like a sunset.

I love Eternal Sunshine.

Those two I visit a lot.

I love those.

And then I love watching just older movies too.

Me too.

I mean,

I feel like the...

The joy of getting older is like looking back and realizing, oh, there's a lot of stuff I still haven't seen.

Oh, yeah.

It never ends.

I know.

I mean, that's the thing that got me into being more diligent in my watching film was, you know, I realized, oh, all these directors that I love, whether it's like Scorsese or Paul Thomas Sanders or whatever, they've seen every movie.

And I was like, that can't be a cool thing.

I mean, I gotta be honest, sometimes it's overwhelming.

Like, the way people who make films talk about films definitely makes me feel like stressed.

Oh, I had to go on like TCM or whatever, and I was like, hey man, I might get some things wrong here because like Scorsese will be like, and the person that did the craft services here, you know, he was making these ham sandwiches that had this special kind of cheese that everybody loved.

And Greta Garbo didn't like them.

So for her, he would do it with turkey.

Totally.

It was like, I don't know.

I don't know it.

I know.

It's just,

and it definitely feels like that feeling when you have an oral exam in school.

It's Russian parks and recreation.

And, you know, any Polish kids call this easy, sorry, turkey sandwich.

How do you remember all this?

I know.

It's intense.

Okay, speaking of food, though, turkey sandwich and food, I want to talk to you about food.

Sure.

Okay, before we wrap, because I feel like the food, your relationship to food

ties in to the bigger idea of you, like trying to

open yourself up to a lot of stuff in life, like being curious.

Sure.

You growing up, what was the food you were eating growing up?

My mom would cook Indian food, and there was a woman that took care of us.

Her name was Miss Beulah, and she cooked southern food.

So there would be, you know, Indian food, like biryani or whatever, and then there'd be like chicken and dumplings.

Incredible.

Weirdly, I think we'd eat a little bit of both.

So I grew up on southern food and Indian food.

Okay, and then when did you become, when did you start realizing, like, I actually care very much about what I eat, and I want to learn how to cook and be a good cook?

It's interesting you asked, because I think people think of me as like, oh, it's easy.

And that was all the restaurants.

It's like, I know, I actually like just cook at home all the time now.

I love to cook.

And that,

I think it happened in a lot of it was during COVID.

I started cooking more and more.

And it was kind of what our day was based around.

It's like, oh, we're going to cook because I was in London during COVID and the farmers markets and stuff didn't close.

And you kind of walk around.

And so food became a way to kind of structure your day a little bit.

Yeah.

But during COVID, I wanted to learn all of my mom's recipes.

And so I asked my mom to help me because Indian food is very intimidating.

I think.

But it's not as wait.

Do I ever send you those cookbooks I I make?

I make these cookbooks for friends.

I got to send you one.

I'm sorry.

I'll send you all of them.

Wait, wait,

so you like transcribed your mom's recipes?

Not all of them, but like every year, like during Christmas time, I make this.

I'm so sorry.

I haven't sent it to you.

I'll send it to you.

No worries.

But yeah, I

just, whatever I've been cooking that year.

And I started during COVID and then I just kind of kept it going.

Oh, that's awesome.

But Indian food is what I really love to cook.

What makes Indian food, like for a person person just cooking, like hard to cook?

Why?

It's nothing hard.

It's just, you know, I would ask when I'm like, oh, how much of that coriander powder do you put in?

It's like, I don't know.

And you're like,

and you're scared that you're going to mess it up.

But it's not like baking, you know, where you're like, oh, if you put like a teaspoon too much, it's not really going to screw it up too much.

And the other thing that's super helpful is YouTube.

Because you can watch, there's all these people in like, you know, aunties and stuff in India that have YouTube channels and they show you how to cook everything.

And seeing it visually makes it a little less intimidating.

And you just got to do that first trip to the Indian store and get.

I always think that term is kind of funny.

That's what everybody calls like the Indian grocery store.

They call the Indian store, but that sounds like you're going and buying Indian people, which is not.

No, you're not.

Ingredients, ingredients.

But you just got to get all the stuff and they keep it in the pantry.

And then it's like, oh, yeah, everything's like, oh, yeah, slice of onions and some little ginger, garlic, and then some spices, and then maybe a tomato.

And then you put the chicken in, stir it around 20 minutes, and it's done.

Yeah.

Can I tell you?

So I cooked for Rashida like a week ago.

She lives really close to me.

And her family came over and she brought her little kid.

And she was like, I was like cooking Indian food.

And she's like, can you make something for him, something not too intense?

I was like, oh, I got it.

I had to make him chicken 65.

That's like, it's like chicken, like Indian chicken nuggets almost.

They're like little pieces of chicken.

Little kids love it.

And every kid loves it.

And so I made him chicks 65.

And he ate it.

And then he started going crazy.

He just like had so much energy.

And then I realized it's because the chicken 65, they put red food coloring in it to make it bright red.

And the red food coloring has that dye.

And it makes the kids go crazy.

Go crazy.

It got them pumped up.

Yeah.

So now, whenever they come over, I just make a bunch of Chicken 65 and he goes nuts.

Well, it is so funny they say that because we do a thing here on the podcast where we like to talk to somebody before the podcast.

We talk well behind their back.

Okay.

And I get a question.

And I just talked to Rashida.

Oh, wow.

And Rashida just told us that you made her Chicken 65.

She loves it.

She was like, let's come for dairy again.

I was like, what are you watching?

Chicken 65.

She loves it.

And,

you know, in many ways, we both, Rashida and I feel like we were your auntie at times on that show.

And I know Rashida and you guys, like, and she was talking about like how, you know, what we were talking about earlier, that you are,

like, what she really respects about you is the way that you're a curious person, always trying to learn more about yourself and the world.

And

her question was,

and she was, you know, saying you're a very, very good chef.

Oh.

Chef or cook?

What would you say?

Chef?

Cook?

Probably cook.

Cook a little more.

Yeah, a little bit more.

It seems like someone else has to call you a chef.

I'm not that good.

I'm not that great.

If you get the right hat, you become a chef.

You just put it on.

But as a cook, she wanted me to ask you, what is your favorite thing to cook?

I love to cook Indian food and I love cooking stuff.

I think there's something special about the food you ate growing up and the food your family made.

And

I think there's something, you know, one time I went to India and I stayed for a little extra time and I asked my family, I was like, oh, who's like really like kind of the mean cooks?

Like, who can I learn from?

And I stayed for a couple of days with some people that were a little bit distant relatives, like my.

aunt sister or something like that.

And they showed me so much stuff and

they were cooking in their home and showed you?

Yeah, and just learning like home food that comes from your family.

I think there's something special about it.

And, you know, because

I think that's something important to pass down.

And, you know, with

my own parents, you know, they're all healthy and everything.

But, you know, you start thinking about their time and just like, oh, wow, like

it's a piece of your family history that I think is cool to try to preserve.

I feel like you also took.

cooking lessons somewhere else too.

Did you go to Italy or in season two of Master Nuns?

That also gave me a big help to be comfortable in the kitchen.

So

it made it less intimidating.

But season two took place in Italy.

So before we filmed it, I went and lived in this town in Italy and I learned Italian a little bit and I worked in these kitchens and these places and

these people did not really know who I was.

And I was like, yeah, I'm working on a TV show.

And they're like, oh, okay.

And then, but

they let me work in the kitchens.

And

I learned a lot from these people that were there.

And they were so nice.

And

it kind of gave me some confidence to kind of start with the Italian food.

And then there was a couple of Indian things I could make, but then during COVID, I really started, I had more time.

I had nothing to do.

So I was just like, okay, I'm going to keep pushing this.

I always say this.

I did not grow up cooking at all.

And

I had a busy working mom who,

you know, I grew up in the 70s and early 80s.

So I didn't have a ton of, you know, we didn't have like a cooking family.

And I always say it's never too late to start trying because it is very like low risk, high high reward like try a dish and if it doesn't work you just nobody knows you can just throw it away like you can just and when it does work you feel like incredible repetition is the father of learning yes lounged that

he did he did yeah amazing i mean i don't know if he was quoting someone else

maybe

maybe maybe um we'll see we'll look it up what are you laughing at these days what are you watching reading?

I know you're not addicted to your phone.

You have a flip phone,

but

what do you do to laugh?

Where do you go?

For laugh.

What do you watch to laugh recently?

I know, because it's kind of hard when comedy is your job.

You don't watch as much comedy sometimes.

You don't.

And, you know,

when you come from the stand-up world, we all know that the way stand-ups laugh is they just watch each other and go, nice.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's a different thing.

And they go, yeah, that was funny.

What was I laughing at recently?

I know.

Anything that you do when you're trying to...

I just,

you know, every now and then my wife will show me some silly internet thing.

She

showed me something.

It was like, it was like a meme of like a dolphin.

It was like looking happy.

And it was like me letting the flight attendant know I'm ready for a snack.

And it was a dolphin.

It's like.

like just stupid stuff like that.

I think it's a dolphin.

I love a meme.

Yeah, those kind of things.

Movies stuff.

I know.

I mean,

smiling.

I love some of those old movies like The Apartment.

Like, just those things just make me laugh so hard.

You don't go on TikTok or anything like that, right?

No, I've never really been on TikTok.

I mean, I've seen videos.

I'm not like a, you know, I've seen some of the stuff.

Some of that stuff has made me laugh.

But sometimes I see the stuff I don't understand.

It's not him.

It's not him.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, it's like a cookie.

That's pretty close.

But the one my wife sent me, the dolphin had a better smile.

I got to find it.

I got to send it to you later.

Do you watch anything?

Are you watching any shows right now that like is,

you know,

I mean, it's an interesting time right now for comedy.

I mean, Good Fortune is a great example of like, there's not a lot of just straight comedies out there in the world right now.

To be like an original idea that's a comedy that's in theaters, like to have even one of those three now

is wild.

it is and i you know seth and i were always talking about this of how we wanted the mood to be theatrical and how you know i remember going in new york when i was in school going to see like anchorman and you know 40 oversion all these movies and just being in like a packed theater and just dying and and i think that's that's something i miss and i hope i hope it comes back and i hope more people get to make comedies and and um that we get that back because it's so much better to be in a group and laugh you know if you go to a live show you know if you go to a live show at like a UCB or a stand-up tour, there's so many people there and you don't realize how much the other people, that experience is part of it.

Like if you come see me do stand-up at a theater, it's, oh man, we're having a great time.

But if I just came to your house and just started doing stand-ups and you're sitting by yourself, that's, I'd be like, how did you get into my house?

This is not a good experience.

But that to me is like the, you know, streaming a movie and being on your phone at the same time is like, oh, not the same thing.

I know.

It's back to the phone.

It's back to the phone.

And the theater is still the only place where you're not allowed to be on your phone.

I love going to the movie theater.

It's so fun.

I'm so happy that you came, Z.

I got to tell you,

whenever

I was like, okay, we got to do this press tour for the movie.

I was like, oh, well, I know one thing I would be looking forward to very much.

And that was this.

And spend time with you.

Same.

It's always a pleasure when we get to see each other.

And thank you for having me.

Turkey Sandwich.

I'm so happy that you came.

Hold on one second.

Hey, Watson.

Yeah, yeah.

I'm just finishing up the pod.

Okay.

I'll see you there.

What?

How does he know what?

No, I haven't seen Archie and Abel in a long time.

What?

I don't know.

I think they're in their 20s.

All right.

Take care, Watson.

Bye.

Thank you, Aziz Ansari, for coming by and hanging.

It was so great to see you and to go down memory lane and talk about all the good things ahead.

And now it is time for a polar plunge.

And today's polar plunge is presented by BMW Certified.

In a world full of uncertainty, BMW Certified pre-owned vehicles are the real deal.

They come with a BMW certified warranty, genuine BMW parts, and an additional three years of 24-7 roadside assistance.

Visit bmwusa.com/slash certified dash pre-owned to learn more.

So for this polar plunge,

I just want to stick up for my phone a little bit.

I feel like we've been pretty hard on the phone in this episode, and we've talked about how bad it is for us.

And look, I agree, but my best friend gives me a lot of things.

It helps me track my other friends and send them creepy texts like,

I see that you're at the airport.

Have a good flight.

My phone lets me buy things

by just going beep, just sweep, swiping it across a thing and you don't even know.

You don't even have to take out your credit card.

My phone,

it just tells me about all the awful news that's happening minute by minute all over the world.

And if I missed it, it pops up to remind me.

So just take it easy on my phone, okay?

It's my best friend, and it's never let me down.

But seriously, help, help me, help me get away from it.

Please help.

So today's Polar Plunge was presented by BMW Certified as a BMW Certified Owner.

You receive the performance you expect plus the warranty and assistance you deserve.

Learn Learn more at bmwusa.com/slash certified dash pre-owned.

Thank you, Aziz.

Thank you for everyone listening.

Good hang, and we'll see you again.

Bye.

You've been listening to Good Hang.

The executive producers for this show are Bill Simmons, Jenna Weiss Berman, and me, Amy Poehler.

The show is produced by The Ringer and Paperkite.

For The Ringer, production by Jack Wilson, Kat Spillane, Kaya McMullen, and Aalaya Zanaires.

For Paperkite, production by Sam Green, Joel Lovell, and Jenna Weiss Berman.

Original music by Amy Miles.

And I ever want to hurt

him.

This episode is brought to you by Voco Hotels.

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