Hi everyone and thank you for tuning in to episode 55 of awards chatter the

Hollywood Reporters Awards Podcast.

I'm the host Scott Feinberg,

and I'm coming to you from the iconic Empire Hotel

on the Upper West Side of New York

with a very special guest,

one of the funniest guys in the world, Aziz Ansari.

He's a stand-up comedian who has sold out venues like Madison Square Garden and had comedy specials on Netflix.

He played a key character on the long-running NBC series Parks and Rec. He authored the book Modern

Romance and Investigation, and most recently he co-created with Alan Yang the Netflix series

Master of None, on which he also serves as a writer, occasionally a director, and always as the

star, a guy named Dev who is loosely based on himself.

Over the course of our conversation, the 33-year-old opens up about the challenges and frustrations of being an Indian actor in today's Hollywood

About the oddities and eccentricities of dating in the 21st century that so fascinate him

About why and how he champions diversity on Master of None, to an extent

that few other shows ever have, how its parents episode had a profound impact on so many viewers

and on his own family, and on his own real life

relationship with his parents about his friendship and collaboration with Harris

Wittels, the talented comedy writer who passed away of an accidental drug

overdose in 2015

after helping to shape the first season of Master of None.

And about his plans for the recently announced second season,

...