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The Romesh Ranganathan Show

Aziz Ansari on Parks and Rec, Master of None & Living in London

The Romesh Ranganathan Show

Ranga Bee & Platform Media

Society & Culture, Comedy

4.6715 Ratings

🗓️ 24 May 2026

⏱️ 76 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What happens when one of the world’s biggest comedians swaps Hollywood for a flip phone and a quieter life? Comedian, writer, actor and director Aziz Ansari joins Romesh Ranganathan for a wide-ranging conversation about stand-up, identity, culture, creativity and getting older. From selling out Madison Square Garden to creating one of the most renowned Netflix comedy-dramas, Master of None, Aziz reflects on the pressure of chasing great work. He discusses his career from starting in stand-up, to Parks And Recreation, to directing his new film Good Fortune starring Keanu Reeves and Seth Rogen, looking at how the comedy scene has changed over time. The pair also discuss growing up in immigrant families, blending cultures, working with parents and all-things UK, from settling in to football culture. Plus Aziz's passion for cooking and cookbooks. As always expect an unhinged questions from Shanthi and a good game of Misquoted finish. A Ranga Bee Production in partnership with Platform. 00:00 Intro 03:39 Have Aziz and Rom met? 04:05 Tamil and blending cultures 12:38 On age 13:38 A gift for Aziz 15:49 Can Aziz handle hot sauce? 17:20 Moving to the UK 18:05 Football 19:22 On Master of None 25:55 Parents and support 31:34 Working with parents 34:09 A question from Shanthi 36:10 Selling out Madison Square Garden 37:00 Finding creative balance 39:22 Stand up in New York 43:56 How has Aziz’s standup changed? 50:50 On Parks And Recreation 57:10 How hard is it to make a movie? 1:01:57 Chasing your best work 1:03:42 Misquoted 1:12:30 An exclusive 1:15:25 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

I want to apologize, I'm like 30 minutes late.

0:02.6

Okay.

0:03.0

And so right now it's about 3 o'clock, a little after 3, I think.

0:06.6

I was supposed to be here at 2.30.

0:08.5

I had a fertility appointment at 2 o'clock where I just had to, I had to make a little donation.

0:15.1

No, no, no.

0:16.1

I left it there.

0:18.1

If there's a refrigeration thing, we could, we got a kitchen here.

0:22.7

I had the appointment at two and they were like, hey, can you get there at 2.30?

0:26.4

I was like, yeah, because it wasn't far from, the clinic's not far from your studio.

0:31.4

So I was like, yeah, I'll do my thing.

0:33.3

I'll get in the car and I'll be here.

0:35.5

And then some guy at this clinic was taking a really long time to jerk off. I was just in the waiting group. And meanwhile, there's people here. They're like, I thought you were going to be here. I'm like, and I was joked around. I was like, yeah, I just got to go to the fertility clinic. It'll be a quick visit, you know. And then they must be here like, man, it's taking this guy a long time to get it going.

0:57.0

It's been like 30 minutes. clinic, it'll be a quick visit, you know, and then they must be here like, man, it's taking

0:54.4

this guy a long time to get it going.

0:57.0

It's been like 30 minutes.

0:58.2

He's not in the car yet.

0:59.5

He's still in there.

1:02.5

But it was another guy.

1:04.5

Right.

1:05.0

There was another guy who was having a problem.

1:07.0

This is Zizansari, and I'm going to be on the Romest show.

...

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