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Right Now

Aziz Ansari

Netflix · 2019 · 65 min

A subdued, grainy apology tour disguised as a comedy set.

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Instead of the tailored suits and high-energy stage pacing that defined his earlier arena tours, Aziz Ansari sits on a stool in a Metallica t-shirt, speaking in a quiet, defensive murmur. He opens by addressing the 2018 sexual misconduct allegation that temporarily derailed his career, acknowledging his embarrassment and hoping the conversation moved things forward. It is a sobering pivot designed to clear the air before he even attempts a joke.

Filmed over three nights at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in May 2019, the performance was directed by Spike Jonze. Jonze shot the set on grainy 16mm film, keeping the camera uncomfortably close to Ansari’s face and occasionally wandering into the frame. The shaky, unpolished visual texture matches the stripped-back tone of the material.

Once the initial confession is out of the way, the set shifts toward cultural performativeness and modern outrage. Ansari targets the rapid evolution of progressive norms, pointing out how quickly yesterday’s mainstream jokes became modern taboos. He skewers the white allyship that celebrated Crazy Rich Asians and jokes about the selective outrage of people who consume dark true-crime documentaries like popcorn blockbusters. Some of his strongest writing comes at the end, where he forces the audience to calculate the exact, depressing number of days they have left to spend with their aging parents.

The set list

7 bits

  1. Being mistaken for Hasan Minhaj on the street

    Ansari describes being recognized by a fan who confuses him with Hasan Minhaj, humorously trying to pin his own sexual misconduct controversy on Minhaj once the fan realizes who he actually is

  2. Addressing the sexual misconduct allegation

    Ansari speaks somberly about feeling scared, humiliated, and embarrassed, stating he felt terrible about how his date felt, hoping he has grown into a better person, and noting conversations with male friends reflecting on their own past behavior

  3. White people's performative wokeness and Crazy Rich Asians

    Ansari examines how liberal white people try excessively hard to demonstrate allyship and racial awareness, using enthusiasm for 'Crazy Rich Asians' to explore virtue signaling

  4. Old R. Kelly routine aging poorly and separating art from the artist

    Ansari revisits his first special where he praised R. Kelly, acknowledging it aged badly, and contrasts the public ostracization of Kelly with society's lingering embrace of Michael Jackson

  5. Discussing Michael Jackson with a 10-year-old audience member

    Ansari brings a 10-year-old kid named Tyler into the discussion on whether you can separate art from monstrous behavior, highlighting the grim absurdity of Tyler being the same age as Jackson's alleged victims

  6. The fabricated swastika pizza news story

    Ansari polls the Brooklyn audience on a fake news story about pepperoni arranged like a swastika, then reveals the story was completely made up to expose how people rush to react without facts

  7. The closer (spoiler). Show it

    Closing reflection on gratitude and the fragility of a career closer

    Ansari expresses genuine thankfulness to the audience for attending, remarking that he saw a world where he might never perform standup again and concluding that the old version of himself is gone

How it plays

Tone
Introspective, earnest, vulnerable, and witty, balanced with social satire
On stage
Contrite, reflective, and subdued; seated on a stool wearing a casual Metallica T-shirt and jeans to deconstruct his former arena-spectacle persona
Pace
Softer, quieter, and more measured conversational cadence with intentional pauses for sincere and vulnerable moments
About
The Babe.net sexual misconduct controversy and personal growth, Performative wokeness and virtue signaling, Evaluating art by disgraced artists (R. Kelly, Michael Jackson), Aging, mortality, and appreciating family, Manufactured internet outrage and rush to judgment, Gratitude

What the critics said

Positive reception, with critics praising Spike Jonze's intimate Super 16mm camera work and Ansari's balance of self-reckoning with sharp social critique, though some noted Ansari occasionally seemed preachy or self-satisfied

In the room: Welcoming and supportive, greeting him with a standing ovation, though occasionally called out during participatory experiments on outrage culture

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: en.wikipedia.org, kodak.com, romper.com, vulture.com, chortle.co.uk, nytimes.com, time.com, imdb.com.

Backstory

In January 2018, a Babe.net article accused Ansari of sexual misconduct during a date, sparking intense public debate around the boundaries and nuances of the #MeToo movement and leading Ansari to step away from the public eye before mounting his 'Working Out New Material' and 'Road to Nowhere' tours

Details

Released
Taped
Brooklyn Academy of Music
Runtime
65 min
Where
Netflix
Director
Spike Jonze
Honors
Grammy Award nomination for Best Comedy Album (2020)
Topics
Before
Live at Madison Square Garden (2015)
After
Nightclub Comedian (2022)

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