In Spite Of

Parenting stand-up usually relies on a cheap trick of performative exhaustion, but Aaron Aryanpur opts for an anxious, self-reflective frustration. He builds his jokes on the agonizing realization that no matter how hard you try to raise well-adjusted children, they will inevitably humiliate you in public. The peak of this dynamic is a bit about a trip to the pediatrician, where his toddler’s love of green toy soldiers accidentally gets misconstrued as historic xenophobia.\n\nRecorded at Hyena’s Comedy Nightclub in Dallas, the 2016 album In Spite Of earned its name from the sheer chaos of the live recording. Aryanpur, a former graphic designer who went full-time into stand-up in 2013, spent the set managing a rowdy crowd. This included a group of loud, inebriated women near the front and an entirely sober patron who managed to trip and fall face-down next to the stage. Rather than ignoring the disruptions, he treats the room like rowdy toddlers—using the same parental patience that fuels his family material.\n\nThe 48-minute set, released through Stand Up! Records, peaked at number one on the iTunes comedy chart and entered the Billboard Top Ten. Beyond the parenting material, Aryanpur addresses his own physical vulnerabilities, most notably on Funnel Cake Epiphanies, which details a gallbladder emergency triggered by Texas State Fair food, and Coconut Shrimp, where he breaks down the strange compromises of married life.