Personal Cookbooks and Closing Thoughts

This episode is brought to you by Expedia and Visit Scotland. Start your story in Scotland. Experience the pool of wide untamed landscapes and fresh cuisine that feels rooted in place. Discover castles steeped in legend and feel the genuine warmth from locals you meet in a place that will stay with you long after you leave. Start planning your own Scottish holiday. Today at expedia.co.uk slash visit scotland. I want to apologize. I'm like 30 minutes late. Okay. And so right now it's about three o'clock, a little after three, I think. I was supposed to be here at 2:30. I had uh uh a fertility appointment at two o'clock where I just had to I had to make a little bit of test tube with you I left it there. I had the appointment at 2 and they were like, hey, can you get there at 2 30? I was like, yeah, because it wasn't far from the clinic's not far from your studio. So I was like, yeah, I'll do my thing. I'll get in the car and and I'll be here. And then some guy at this clinic was taking a really long time to jerk off. It's in the waiting room. And meanwhile, there's people here, they're like, I thought you were gonna be here. I'm like, and I was joking around, I was like, yeah, I just gotta go to the fertility clinic, it'll be a quick visit, you know? And then they're they must be here like, man, it's taken this guy a long time to get it going. It's been like thirty minutes, he's not in the car yet? He's still in there? But it was another guy. Right. There was another guy who's having a problem. This is Ezan Sorry, and I'm gonna be on the Roman show. This episode is brought to you by Virgin R ed. So, Virgin Red means go. That's the whole idea. And I'm telling that because I am by nature someone who does not go. I'm world-class at talking myself out of things. Someone says let's go away for the weekend, and within 30 seconds, I've already ta mugyselfht out of it. So I stay home, thinking about all the things I want to be doing. Which is why Virgin Red is, honestly, brilliant for people like me. Virgin Red offers epic rewards from the brands you love, and you earn virgin points from doing things you're already doing, your travel, your shopping, your day-to-day spending, and those points unlock trips away, hotel stays, live music, and experiences that become the story you're telling for years, moments that become memories. All you have to do is go. Go somewhere you've been meaning to. Go do something you never knew you could. And once you're there, you remember exactly why you said yes. Even better, your virgin points don't expire, so you can let them build up until something epic comes along and it will. Ready to dive in? Become a member and start unlocking rewards that make life feel a little more epic . I'm gonna do your intro now as easy. Sure, sure. And i if there's anything if you don't feel like I'm bigging you up enough or anything like that, just please feel free to jump in, okay? I want you to feel like great and boosted and all that good shit. Okay. My guest today is an Emmy and Golden Globe winning comedian, actor, writer, and director. Happy so far? That's that's all accurate. Okay, great. He started in the MTV sketch show Human Giant and cult comedy Scrubs before becoming a household name in parks and recreation. He went on to create and star in his own Netflix original series, Master of None. He has made six hit Netflix specials and is part of an elite group of stand-ups to sell out Madison Square Garden. He wrote, starred in and directed his first film, Good Fortune, with Seth Rogan, Keanu Reeves, and Kiki Palmer. Now he is bringing his hypothetical tour to the Royal Albert Hall. It's the trailblazing, the hilarious, the incredible, the peerless, the beyond compare, Azizanzari, everybody. I I'm just gonna keep that recorded by my bed. So whenever I'm feeling bad about myself, I'll just play that and be like, hey. You should do it. It's all true. So correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe we've ever met before. Never. Which is seems crazy to me. I know. I know when I when when this came up I was like I've gotta do this, I gotta meet this guy. Yeah. The industry tries to keep Browns apart. So where where is he? I don't know if you're a But because what they're worried is that we if we start to if we start to communicate too much, do you mean who knows what might happen Wait, so where is where is your family from? Yeah, my family are from T Tamil Sri Lankan. Okay. Okay. Do you sp spe speak Tamil? You know my family you don't. So you know my family's from Tamil Nadu, Kerala. Yes. Yeah. So you speak Tamil? Conjunct. Okay. A little bit. Yeah. I it's You none. No. You sound like you're one ac you're an accent away from sounding like my mum here. Do you know, do you know do you know do you know the truth is, so my mum and dad was so deeply paranoid about when when my mum and dad first moved to England , they were so paranoid about fitting in and our family fitting in, right? Deep like so paranoid. So then they became obsessed with the idea that if they spoke Tamil around the house, that we for some reason that when we spoke English we would have an accent, which is obviously not true because so many of my friends had like you know, I've got loads of Indian friends who their f their parents are speaking their mother tongue around them and they can speak both languages. And so my mum never spoke mum and dad never spoke Tamil around us, never taught us, and now my mum is deeply furious with me that I can't speak Tamil. So that's that's where I'm at. That sounds about right. Yeah. And then I think over time as I started going to school and everything I kinda lost it. But now if I go back to India it it starts it starts coming back, but it it's still pretty rough. Yeah. But kids pick up accents. I have I have a friend who moved from America and her kids only been here a couple of months and got a British accent. Yeah, I know. I the the theory wasn't true, but my mum's really annoyed about it. And then she wanted me to learn later on and then I just didn't. So she's you know, it's a tricky language. It is tricky. And uh it's it's just it's led to a lot of embarrassment to be honest with you. It's like whenever I go to like a Sri Lankan restaurant they start speak you know, they assume that you can speak Tamil, then they start and then you have to go, I'm really sorry, and then they go, How come? And you go Well my parents when they first come over they had this thing about like they wanted us to really fit it, you know, and then they go, Oh, that's a shame and I go, Yeah, it is. We're not we're kind of in between. We're not enough for either either party. I know, I know. And then and then you go You know, when I I've not been to Sri Lanka for a long time, but when I do when you do go back, th that's really I find that really embarrassing. The the the discovery Yeah, they can tell you're you're not supposed to be there. Or they could tell they could tell you're off. I I I've compared it to to like uh uh what people see a white rapper. They're like, Yeah, but it's not the real thing Yeah, and it's strange because you don't feel that until you get older that you're you're different and and it's something I never really thought about till I got older, how you know, when you go there it's like, oh, you're still not in a place that you fully fit in. Yeah. uh w what's made me really reflect on it is uh you know m my uh my wife is white English white and uh so my parents were worried about me assimilating now my mum Is she from England? Yeah she's from England so my ch so I can't speak Tamil . My children uh This is all I think about. All my shows about. Because my wife is she's not British, but we met in London. Okay. She's Danish. Yeah. But we're married and and we're uh we're trying to have kids. We're on a fertility journey. Right. Three boys. Three boys? Oh my god, what are their names? Theo, Alex, and Charlie . No Indian tree Yeah. This is another thing I you know it's you know it's so funny. You've got to come to see the show because this is all I talk about. It's all the Yeah. And then you get married and like, oh if we have kids, which way are we gonna go with the names and and it and it's something that you just don't think about. Well it's it's it's a tricky one actually. I've never really s talked about this that much, but the you know, the I I've sort of become more I don't know how y I think you talked about it as you get older. As you get older you start to think about your culture more. And like when when you're when you're young you just want to fit in right so you almost like I remember like this is really embarrassing to say but I remember like my dad this is really embarrassing to say but I remember my dad coming to pick me up from school and me feeling embarrassed by his accent, you know, because you sort of you don't wanna you're you're so desperate you don't want any point of difference from all the other kids at school. So as soon as your your dad gets out or your mum gets out and they've got you sort of think, oh God, this is is are they gonna And the kids didn't have shit. Do you know what I mean but i it's a perception thing. And then as I got older I was like, well actually my culture and you know all of that is something that I've wanna sell you know I feel really privileged to have those origins. Do you know what I mean? Well it's it's become cooler as we've gotten older. People have been I mean, white people have been more into it. When we were younger they weren't into it. Now they're like, ooh, cool . It wasn't like that when you but did you not have any kind of community? Because I grew up in South Carolina, so there was no no one else to really you know band together with. I was really by myself. And God, I know what you mean. You know, kids would come over, my dad's wearing a lungie. And you're like, all right, well this is this is gonna be a problem this week. Yeah. Thanks for that. Lungie I'd I'd still explain a luggage, it's basically how would you explain a luggage? Yeah, it's kinda like a sarong, but for for kids that want to make funny, oh your dad's wearing a dress. Yeah, yeah. I mean now I'm like I think Lungies are pretty cool. Re do you wear a lungie? No. Do I wear occasionally, yeah. Really? Yeah on my birthday. Well when I'm feeling frisky. But you know, I r I remember like when I used uh when when I was younger, I used to take g girls you know, I'd have a get uh bring a girlfriend back to my house. Uh-huh. And it was a good five or six visits to my house before any girl that came to my house saw my dad with a top on because he'd just be wearing a sarong with no shirt . And he's like, you know, it's my house. Why should I change my behavior? Because he decided to bring somebody off. That seems like I don't know if you could you could paint all brown dads with that brush. My dad would put a shirt on if company was over you'd have a shirt on. To be clear, that's uh that's very specific to my dad But but yeah as you as you as you get older you uh you sort of wanna engage with that a lot more and you feel more comfortable about doing that and actually it's something to celebrate. But now I don't you know I don't he and now I'm having to retrospectively kind of engage with it in a way that I feel like I can deliver something to my children. My children are don't really have that much of an in you know, like they they know what their background is, but are they that bothered about engaging with it? No, not particularly do you I mean unless I make an active decision to do that, you know. It's tricky. These things go through my head a lot and and the other day I had this thought of you know, my worry was, oh well I I've just watered down I'm gonna give a watered down version of the culture 'cause I'm so watered down from you know what my parents were just in terms of culture. But the thing that's cool is okay, well, I know a bunch of other stuff from just being someone that's traveled around the world. I you know I I have uh I know a lot about Italian culture, French culture, and and you know, you can bring all that to the kid. Yeah. And and and it's just something different. And same with my wife. It's like, okay, so you have, you know, Danish culture and and I don't know, I guess my my saw was like, well my parents will be around hopefully and uh can can they'll do their part and then you know you you uh you do what you can and and uh it'll be something different, just as it was for for me, and I'm sure my parents thought about this. I mean I mean the the good the good news for you is that you're trying for kids. For me the ship has already sailed. How old are the kids? Sixteen, fourteen, 11. So they're Whoa. How old were you when you you seem like a very young guy? Did we have kids at all? No, I was like th must have been thirty-two or something when I had we had but but my um you know, they're done. Culturally. Wait so you're it's over for yeah, forty seven, almost forty eight. I'm forty eight now. Fuck I'm forty eight now. Fuck There's white fans watching this that are about to blow their head off 'cause they cannot believe you're for I can't believe you're forty eight. You know, people I it's crazy. People don't realize how old we are because of our youthful glow. I know. I mean, I was doing a show the other night and I was talking to some kid, and and he was 23, and I was like, I've been doing stand-up longer than you've been alive. Yeah. I've been doing stand-up twenty-five years. I just realized that today. Oh, congratulations. Twenty-five years. I started summer it it may be twenty-five years like to the day. Who knows? 'Cause it was the summer of my fresh man year in college, which would have been two thousand one. So I mean that's why. So I can go talk to a British man who also does comedy. Now we've got your present. Now I'm gonna be I'm gonna be honest with you, the first one of the presents we strongly suspect you've already got. Oh. Wait, I have this. I was just looking. I'm not kidding. I just looked at this book like an hour ago. To get you off. That's why it took so long. I was like, I thought there was I mean it's really hard when you're working with Lapras guinea pal curry. That's no, I was looking at this book because I had some some curry and I was gonna make uh I made Kotoroto. Oh ti, yeah. And I was looking at the case. So you're you so Karen who owns hoppers, you're good friends with him, aren't you Yeah, I know Karen, I've met him a few times and and and we're pals and he he's such a sweet guy and and um, you know, when I edited Good Fortune, you know, all the editing facilities are in in Soho and we were editing in Soho and we were right down the street from Hopper's. So me and my editor, Daniel, we go there like three times a week. It's difficult in Hoppers because Hoppers is an incredible restaurant. Yeah. Obviously. But it's difficult to not overeat there, I think. So like you know when you're talking about it. You gotta really hold back. Yeah. So you talk to get like a dosa and sambar and say that's it. Well, 'cause if you're coming if you're going back to an edit, that's you you''rere playing a dangerous game now. Yeah, yeah. You don't wanna you don't wanna be with with the fool Tommy trying to try to figure out the jokes. Yeah. Um and then we've got a second present for you. Okay, let's see. I don't know if you let's see how you feel about this. The Ribman hol,y fuck sauce. Whoa, what's this? So there's a guy called the Ribman. Okay. And he he is always outside the West Ham Stadium. He's he does he does ribs, but he also started doing hot sauce. Uh-huh. And he does like loads there's h holy fuck is one there's uh Judas it's scary hot there's Christ on the bike. Anyway, that is the one of the best hot sauces I've ever tried. Nice. Alright. Really good. But I would warn you, it does pack a punch. I I I won't eat it before I go on the edit. No. No. I wouldn't certainly wouldn't knock back a shot of it. But you know, I just you know, uh how how good are you with hot sauces? Are you Well, I'm not that that uh you know, my mom's food uh is pretty mild and and my dad is not very uh into spice, so I I I ate milder stuff growing up, but as I got older and I started eating more Thai food and stuff, living in LA and everything, I think my spice tolerance has gone up a little bit, but I I'm not in that, you know, crazy zone of loving. You've never been through that phase that I think typically guys go through of like going, I can f I can handle anything, man, trust me, like no. Give me the hot give me the hottest shit like scrape the bottom of the pan and give me the hottest shit you possibly can. You're not like that guy. You've never been that guy. That's not my vibe, no. Uh is it true you hate the term food? Are you you don't like the term foodie ? Um Well I just think it sounds a little silly, but I I mean I I I I feel like everybody likes food and and uh I mean not everybody, but you know what I mean. It's generally people are into things that are good food. Do you think London food's good? I I think London 's got a great scene. Yeah. Do you think 'cause a m cause whenever we talk to Americans, particularly 'cause I do a a a a hip hop radio show. Whenever we talk to rappers , whenever you go, what's it like to be playing London? They always talk about how shit the food is. I think it's like maybe a dated stereotype , right? Yeah. I think London to me is on par with New York and LA. There you go. Come on. Yeah. So you're I don't want immigration. Yeah, no. My wife and I met nine years ago in October and uh we uh I moved here however many years ago, like right around before COVID, like twenty nineteen maybe. Um but I still go back all the time. Like when I had made good fortune, I was in LA all the time and um so I'm still in America quite a bit so technically I do live here though yeah. And how much how immersed are you in sort of Britishness? Are you do you feel like a do you feel part of it or do you still feel like a visitor? I still feel like a visitor. Right. But uh yeah, I I I there's still a lot of stuff I'm gonna do. No, I I I've I've been to a couple of games with uh friends and and it's really fun to go, but I don't like a team or anything. Who did you go to watch? I went to watch Chelsea with a friend of mine who's who's really the Chelsea. He's grown up watching Chelsea, Chelsea fan. You don't like Chelsea, you're making a face. No, no, no. Nothing against them, but I would end that relationship. And you know, they were down. Yeah. And I was like, you know, there was a couple of minutes left. I said, hey, should should we just leave to beat the traffic? And he couldn't believe I said this. He's like, no. And I was like, okay, sure. And then we stayed. And then they came, it was so exciting. They came back. Yeah. And they won, they got like two or three goals at the you know one of these things you never see. It really happened at the last minute they they got a few goals and and and we were just fucking child Who who's your team? Well you'll three of us in the room well, four of us in the room are Arsenal. And one is I went to an Arsenal game too, I think. And they and they can't imagine that was as exciting. They they it was the same thing. They won at the last minute. Right, okay. Yeah, but the difference is they did fuck all for the first night I imagine. Um now I'd I would love to talk to you about Master of None. First of all, incredible show. Thanks. One of those shows that I'm sure uh people have told you it is annoying ly good. You know, uh you sort of watched that and it was so many beautiful themes ta ta tackled in it. Incredibly short. I mean, Ben, you Ben's a director, you found it Jizworthy, didn't you? I didn't know. No, but you were not aware you were you were talking around that that area, weren't you? You loved it though, didn't you? For you. D w and and so different from you know, like Parks and Rec for example. What made you just start to make a show of that nature? Because it's it was so it felt so different to anything that came out before as well. I think uh I was on doing Parks and Rec and I was good friends with one of the writers, uh Alan Yang, and when I first started Parks, I remember someone said, you know, often people do these shows and then they find a writer they're they're kind of connect with and then they go make their own show. And and Alan was a guy who was around my age. We had similar interests. We got along really well. We were both pretty young. I I can't believe how young I was when I did Parks and Rec. Like me and Aubrey were like in our early 20s, which just seems so cra zy to me. And uh so I got along well with Alan. We started talking about a show, and uh it was just you know, there's so many things when you when you're working on a project, there's so many things that are out of your control that if they go the right way, it can make a big difference. You know, being in the right place, in the right time, in the right moment culturally, and and master kind of had all those things. You know, Netflix had just come out, and this was an era Netflix when like anytime a new Netflix show came out, I don't think Netflix was even here yet at the time, but whenever a new Netflix show came out, people were excited that, oh, there's there's there's a there's a new Netflix show, which this seems crazy now, right? Yeah, yeah. And uh everybody was getting into it and the idea of watching shows on there. And then you know, then the idea of a show like that starring a guy that looked like me, talking about the things we were talking on about, it just didn't happen. And um and Netflix, you know, the w they were giving us so much creative freedom. Uh and cause Netflix was so small, they didn't even have people to tell you you can't do stuff. I mean I I tell this story a lot where we we pitched the show. We pitched it to Serandos. Like he was the guy. Now he's like a famous guy. Like we pitched directly to him. And he was sitting behind three posters. It was it was Orange is a new black, House of Cards, and Lily Hammer. And and and he was like ready to do it. He was ready to give us 10 episodes. Um and uh and you know we uh we got to make the show we wanted to make and then the second season I think we really knew second season of a show like that I think y you you kind of have an advantage 'cause you you know what you wanna do and you can really push it and and and make an even better show, which I think we Was like was there a turning point where you're like, oh holy shit, we've made something really great. I you know, when that first season came out, it was it was kinda nuts. Like every the reviews are very effusive. It seemed like everyone was was watching it and I remember being with Alan at the premiere, and I was like, man, we should really enjoy this because there are some great careers, and and sometimes people don't get multiple things that kind of pop this well. Like, I I you know, even someone like Mike Nichols, right? Like you look at oh who's a Virginia who afraid of Virginia Wolf and the graduate the that was uh you know those were peaks that he probably maybe never really reached that high again. And that guy is is a legend. He's done so much stuff . So those moments where you really kind of hit everything where it's like the thing is good, people like it, critics like it, and you know, it's having this cultural moment, that's that's rare. So I you you could feel that. And uh and then the second season when that came out, it just felt like you know, now it just feels like there's just so much stuff and like it seems so hard to break through like that. It just felt like oh this it just felt like everybody in New York. I was walk I lived in New York at the time and it was like I mean it was all a little bit overwhelming for me. Like it just felt like, oh wow, everybody has seen this and and it's you know, I you know, I went away for a while and went and stayed in uh Paris for a bit in Japan because I I it was it was a lot. Yeah, yeah. W with with the the the parents episode. Yeah . That um that episode is like uh it It's an incredible encapsulation of what it's like to be a child of immigrants, right? In terms of like taking for granted what your parents have gone through to get to to to get you to a position of privilege and then how much we then take that for granted and don't pay that any respect at all. Uh and then and also your actual parents are in that. So so how important was it first of all to tell that kind of that kind of part of your story? I remember so we were supposed to do the show at a certain point and then Parks and Rec got picked up for another few episodes so we had to delay starting work on our show and it was a little frustrating for Alan and I because I think we were ready to do this, but it was a great gift because it gave us more time to keep thinking about it. And we wrote a version of the show, like a episode, and you know, in that time, we we eventually threw that away and just wrote something, and the show became different. It became much different than what we originally pitched, you know. Um but I remember I was with Alan. We were in New York, I was staying in some hotel there , and we were just talking about different ideas and Alan started saying something, a story about his his father about how you know it's crazy. We're sitting here in New York in this beautiful hotel room and we're trying to come up with ideas for a TV show. You know, a generation ago, my dad, you know, grew up with a dirt floor, and he had to kill his pet chicken for dinner. He had a pet chicken and one day his dad told him he had to kill it so they could cook the chicken for dinner. And then here we are, just one generation later. And we just we just went towards that and then you know we we it's weird because it that doing that episode, you know, my parents saw that. And and I think other parents saw that. And I don't think they ever thought about some of those things. Like, there's a thing in there where he's like, oh Oh, my parents never say I'm proud . They you know, if I landed on the moon, they'd be like, why didn't you Mars? You know, and I think, you know, I my parents they started saying they were proud of me more often after that. Really? Yeah. Yeah. 'Cause I don't think they thought about it like that. What did they think about you 'cause you know, I was I t I taught maths before I became a comedian. And that is like one of the brown respect jobs. Do you know what I mean? Like my my my you know, my m my mum and dad were so not so I mean my dad was a bit more blase, as you know, he topped us a lot of the time. But my mum was like really it was really important to her how the jobs that her children were doing were seen by the community and and all of those things. So then when I made the move to comedy , they went my mum was in particular was not that happy about it. How old were you when you did starting to go? I mean it must have been thirty thirty one, something like that. Oh wow. So so I went into a I've been doing as like a little hobby, and then it occurred to me that I could do it for a job, and so I started doing it for a job. And when I quit teaching, my mum was not happy, you know, and now she's obviously delighted it's worked out very financially well for her and she's on the podcast as well. But she was concerned. Look how supportive were your parents about you about you doing this ? Well I was thinking about this the other day. I was with some comedians uh here and one of them had told me they started maybe four years ago and I was thinking about you know and this this goes for when you started as well . Um if someone starts now there's a real path to you can see like all these people that are doing theaters and and making a lot of money or doing podcasts and and it it seems like , you know, I think there's people that start now, they're like, oh I can make a lot of money doing this, right? And when I started and I think when you started, it's it was like telling people you're starting to juggle. It's like what are you doing? I'm juggling. I'm going to some juggling open I I'm I'm just trying to get good at juggling . Really? Why? I I like juggling . There was no thought of making money or any kind of real future. I had no thought of acting or any of that, much less directing, screenwriting. That all kind of evolved as I evolved in my career. Um, but my parents, you know, I was in college when I started doing it, but I never was like I'm dropping out of college to pursue and by the time I was finished college, enough things were in play. I started being in magazines and things like that, and it started getting more legitimate. But you know , at first it's it's a weird it's a weird industry and and it's hard to kind of really convey when you're doing well. You know, like I I opened up for Patton Oswald to Carolines. Okay, great. Yeah. But eventually , you know, uh it it uh you know once you know what is what once everything starts going well. The'yre like, I was there beside him the whole time. I told him, I told him, you gotta stop being a math teacher. You gotta devote yourself to this. Well, no, I had that exact conversation with my mum because like I I had all I wanted to do is like I just want to get to a point where I can pay the bills from doing comedy, right? That's that was the ambition, right? If I can pa if I'm gonna pay for my groceries from doing stand up, that's amazing, right? And then and then when I was started doing t like T V and stuff, then my mum said, I, you know, it's all good, it's worked out. And I but I said to her, if I'd have been paying my bills but I wasn't on TV, that's still it still worked out, right? Yeah. It's that's still a success. But for my mum, it's like you know, she won't admit it now. But I think it's very much like what her friends are telling her. You know, her friends are saying to her, it's it's r Rome you know, she lo she wants that. That that to her is success, you know. Like whereas if I'd have been working the circuit and and stuff and not made it to whatever you want to call it, getting profile or whatever, I don't think she would have reacted the same way. I think she still would have had doubts, you know. Your but your parents aren't like that ? Uh I I think I was very young and things just started coming to me pretty quickly and and um you know once they start coming to show like I remember I don't think I'd really brought 'em to a big theater show until I did Carnegie Hall. And you know, this is me being stupid as a younger guy. Like I was like, oh my God, I they should see one of these shows. I'd been doing theaters and she'd never my mom and dad had they'd never seen it. And so I I I told them they should come out. Um I remember I had this one kind of oh man, I was really sad. I I I hosted the MTV movie awards, which is a big deal. Yeah. And um it was really fun. And my brother was with me, and we were at like this whole after party and everything. And uh my brother and I we called my parents and I was like, what am I doing? Like they should have been here for this. I should have asked them to come out. And after that, anytime I do anything that has any, you know, feels like a fun night like that, I always bring them out and make sure they come. And and they always do and they end up staying late at all the parties and everything. Everyone's so excited to see in there, especially after the show. So excited uh to see them and uh so yeah. Was it important for you to put them in the show? Well, I I originally was gonna get actors and I I auditioned people and I just couldn't find anyone that really felt like what I was trying to convey. They felt like actors and it felt like someone doing an impression of my someone doing kind of a bad impression of my parents. And I didn't me thatan in a disrespectful way to the actors, but there's a difference between getting the real deal. You know? I mean, there's you know, I I I uh I've I've watched a couple episodes of your podcast, but I didn't see the one with um the stuff with your mom, but like there's something fun about that and there's something very real about it. And you know, to capture their real dynamic, which I think that episode does, like their real silliness and how ridiculous and my dad is very funny. He's he's a really fun he's a really funny actor because what makes something funny is is someone doing something unexpected or making an odd choice in a scene and he does things that make no sense to me. And uh and so where did you even we did good fortune, he did a little thing and that and I was like, hey, just just start dancing and you start doing this thing like this. I was like, What what is this? And I and he had like a long so that there's a scene in Good Fortune where he's in and he he had like a long thing and it was just too long for him to memorize. And I was like, okay, just just walk up to Keanu . Like the bit is basically like you know, Keanu sees my dad at this party and then he realiz es something about my character that I've been deceitful about something because my dad is there. So I was like, okay, just just go up to just go up to Keanu and just say whatever. Yeah. And then he just walked around and went, Hello , and then walked away. And then and and Keanu just rolled with it. He was like, hi But it was just I remember I was being with I was with Alan and I was like there you go we wouldn't have why we wouldn't have thought that would work just writing hello, but he just did it in a funny way and it worked. Uh how much of Dev is how close is Dev to you in terms of To me? Uh I don't know. I mean that you know that guy now it's it's ten years ago, you know? Um I I mean it'd say it's probably not the same as like Larry David and and the Larry David and Curb. You know, that's pretty close. I think the guy in Master None and me, it's like, you know, a little different. Yeah, yeah. There's a degree of separ ation. Yeah. Um okay. We've got a c actually t we've got a question from my mother. Oh great. But I don't know what the question is. So it's a voice note. So please don't uh embarrassingly try to interact. She's not on the line. Hi, Aziz . I'm Shanti , Romesha's mom . I have heard a lot about you. Fantastic care er. And I understand. Do you have any tips for America . Rome once tried to do a gig at Greek theater in LA , but nobody wanted to buy tickets. Made me sad as well. I heard you always sell out. Any tips? Welcome. Thank you. Have a wonderful day. I love to watch your program one day. And uh I I hope it will happen. Have a wonderful day I feel like it's really sweet and then she said she might watch your program one day, like it's really difficult to do. You can't cast someone to do that. That's that's the real deal . Um what did she ask? She was asked. Oh, you you tried to do a sh I don't think you can try to do a show. You did the gig. It sounds like it didn't sell. Well well no, we did we did a thing we did uh we did a thing for showtime whereas I I was gonna try and sell out the Greek theatre uh three months after arriving in LA. Oh wow. And so we we did this like series of stunts and stuff. And it was like but you directed, didn't you? We had a nice time. It was kind of like a comedy documentary thing. Anyway, we and then we were just we the the whole aim was we were just gonna see what happens, and what happened was uh we sold so few tickets that we could fit everybody that attended onto the stage. And so it was nice, shut up. It was intimate. We shut the curtain, there was no need for any of the seats, uh, and everyone just sat on the stage. I mean it was a very expensive experiment, I think. You know, I it was like we all said it was sweet afterwards, but really that was to talk me off the ledge. But you sold out Madison Square Garden. Well, I mean that is cr what was that like? I mean that's crazy. Which seems insane to me because I you know I I I I don't think I could do that today. That was a lot of tickets. That was that all came together at the right moment. Yeah. I mean it was insane. Did you have to disassociate from the what was going on? How do you handle that kind of thing? I think that period uh you know even, when you start, you know, just doing theaters and all this stuff, it it it all kind of becomes a blur. You never take a minute to really sit down and be like, oh wow, this is pretty crazy. You know? I mean when I'm planning a tour now, like I've looked back at like old tour schedules and been like, Whoa, that's that was a lot. I really traveled a lot that year. I can't believe I did all that. Yeah. So how where where does stand-ups sit in your do you consider yourself primarily a stand-up? Like what's the what's your kind of I mean you're a polymath, but like what w where does stand-up sit? Is it your first love, do you think? I think the the the frustrating thing for me at this moment is I love two things. I love stand-up and I love film making. And they're both things, the more you give them your all, the better they're gonna go. Yeah, yeah. And I'm kind of trying to do both at the same time and it and it's really hard. Like I want to tour, but I'm also trying to make this movie and the fall. Yeah. But you know, filmmaking is so it's so frustrating because there's so many things you can't control . You know, you're you're waiting on actors to read a script and decide if they want to do your movie, you're waiting on financiers to decide if those actors are famous enough, you've got enough all that kind of stuff. Whereas stand up you're in full control and and there's something really beautiful about how it's it's so uh pure. It's just it's just you talking to microphone. And you know, I'm I'm sure you go through this too, like sometimes you're like, eh, I don't feel like doing stand-up. Last night I didn't I I I I don't really do a lot of stand-up when I'm in London, but I've slowly started to do a couple of shows. Have you been doing I think somebody saw you that was it the Bill? Did you do the Bill Murray? Yeah, yeah. Right . And um I just dropped in there and and I didn't really have anything and I was like, uh and then you know, sometimes you do those shows and the crowd and something it just starts going and then you have this one thing that you try that works and then you're like, ooh, that's good. Now I gotta now I gotta get obsessed and figure out that bit. And that that's a fun feeling. So I'm going to New York on Sunday for a couple weeks and I'm gonna do a lot of stand-up while I'm there and I'm I'm gonna try to write some new stuff. You you came up in the New York scene, right? Stand-up scene. I did. I started doing stand-up uh summer two thousand one. You know, I started doing open mics and all those kind of things and those shows where you pass up flyers and all these things and then slowly worked my way up through the club scene and and uh and also, you know, alternative rooms. There was uh there was that scene and um and uh and yeah, I came I came up doing all that stuff and then, you know, I kinda moved to LA when when parks and all that stuff was happening. But I was always doing stand up and you know, whenever parks had break off seasons, I would always do a lot of touring. I wouldn't do I get offered, you know, movies or different products, but they were never anything that felt as exciting as just going on tour and doing stand-up. comic you know like I started to I didn't go to the States to do stand up for a while and then when I first started trying to gig in New York I mean I feel like the general perception is that New York has the best comedians in the world, you know, in terms of the standard. And I remember and and then when you start going and work in the clubs in New York, everybody's really, really good, right? And and and it feels like if you're if you can if you can emerge from there then you must be pretty decent right I mean it it's like uh it's New York is kind of the standard is incredibly high right i I mean if you notice the difference between New York and other pla I mean New York they're definitely I don't know I I I I I think there's some merit to that. I I feel like I'm a little bit of a old guy now, you know. I go and I don't know a lot of the people there. Yeah. There you know, there's people that opened up for me like two tours ago. Now they're doing theaters. Like things move so fast now . Um but yeah you go and you can watch people that are really crushing. Yeah. I remember like going to I I was like doing a documentary out there and then I thought I'd go and get on stage while I was out there. And then I got booked to do uh some gig or got managed to get some gig at uh and I was like the ninth act on. First of all that's What was the show? It was the it I think it was Mark Norman's show at the the Black Cat Black Fat Black Pussycat. That's the one. Okay, yeah, yeah. So it was The Little Room. Yeah, the Little Room, yeah. And it was a great it's a great room. Yeah. I was on ninth. Yeah. All of the eight people on before me were unbelievable. And just as I watched each person, I just thought, I I don't think I want to do it this much. Like the normally, I'll be honest with you, is these, you have some shit people, and there's a couple of people that are good, and you think,, okay uh this will be all right. When you watch fucking eight killers and then you'll go it's like I do think it's like pretty mad standing in New York. It's so interesting because I used to go to the comedy cellar when I was first starting out and just watch people and the way it's changed, it it used to be that you know, someone would have their act and it would be 15 minutes, and every time you saw them, they'd do those same 15 minutes. And now it's like all these people are trying to, you know, tour and churn out and and develop new material, have a new hour and go on tour, and it and it's and it's all changed. And now the seller, like the seller used to be like you'd have the 730 show and the 930 show. Yeah. Right. And sometimes they wouldn't sell enough tickets for the 9:30 show that they would tell the 7:30 people, hey, you can just stay and watch the 9:30. And this is even after it got to the point where I had reached a level where they would let me d rop in, right? So I drop in on the 730 and I'd be like, hey, can I drop in on the nine thirty? Like, no, no, no. It's the same it's the same people. Don't do it. And now they have how many? They have the comedy cellar, they have the village underground, they have the fat black pussy cat, they have the bar, they have like four or five different rooms that they have multiple shows a night, they're always sold out. Yeah. And it's it's it's just crazy how popular Do you know just comedy and and that place is I di I did that or you know when you do the audit the audition for the for the seller. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. That was that was one of the most What so you you did the audition for for Esty? Yeah, so I went you know, you go and do the thing and then you don't sit with the other comics because you haven't done the audition yet, so you go sit at the bar and then they come over, you know, you go down the stairs, it's terrifying. When the light comes on, you know, you got five minutes, good luck. Whatever. It's like it's like deliberately host it's willfully hostile, right? The the the it feels like it felt like it to me. And then I got introduced on, one British guy lost his shit. Love that. Nobody else gave a fuck. And then the set went fine, like had a good set. And then as I walked off, it was like I was a different I was like I was made. It felt incredible man. That's great. It was so but that whole experience just it was so it's a mad experience. That that that's a special room and and you know it's why I'm going to New York to work on stuff there because I it it it's got a certain energy and um you know I love look I you know I love doing bigger venues, but uh I I really love a small comedy club. Yeah, even like Bill Murray in London, yeah. You know, it's that say there's something about those intimate shows that's I I I've always uh in my heart I kinda pr I feel more at home there. Yeah, it's just a shame they're not as lucrative, isn't it yeah they're not. Yeah. Um so so how was your how would you say I mean you described yourself as one of the older guys? What how has your stand-up changed, do you think, over the over the years? Like what what are you now compared to how you were even a few years ago? Well, you know, I was doing stand-up a lot when I I I I I you know, was pretty young to be doing some of the stuff I was doing. I was pretty young when I was doing theaters and stuff. Which I think was part of the reason I was able to gain an audience because there wasn't a lot of, you know, people that were talking about the stuff that someone my age could relate to when I was then and now I'm just older. I just don't know as much stuff and I'm like a little bit more old guard, but in a cool way. And and you kinda grow with your audience, you know, like I you know, this tour I I you know, come out and talk about how I'm married now and everything and I I I I I think if I came out and I was like, Yeah, so anyway, these dating apps people be like, damn man, come on like let's let's get it together, is ease. So it's good to kind of um you know, grow with your audience a bit and and you have new things you're talking about, and it's fun to see the audience and you kind of grow together. There there's something interesting about comedy where I remember I I saw uh I think Ben Stiller was talking about some interview and he said like after Zoolander 2, he was like, Whoa, I I can't believe I was that off. Like I I thought I understood what people thought was funny. He was a little bit taken aback with the reception of that film. And I think comedy is something you know a lot of times it's hard to really keep up as you get older. Yeah. And I think that's something that's really valuable about stand up is like you're you're there, you're with the people. So y hopefully that keeps you a little bit sharper. Yeah, d yeah, definitely. And I uh but I do think that stand up I feel like it moves so quickly and I think if you spend uh t too long out of the clubs or not doing it for a while , you can get left behind super quick or or you know, like it just it just whips along so quickly, you know. Stan's one of those things the more you do it, the better you're gonna be. And it's that simple. And what gets tough is as you get older, you know, for me now, it's like, oh, I'm you know, I'm married. If I go to New York and you know, I my wife is here, and you know, if I wasn't married, I'd probably be like, well, let's stay in New York for if if I wasn't married and I could I could just be gone as much as I want, I'd be like, all right, let's go to New York and then let's go to let's go to Zany's and Nashville. Let's go to the punchline set, let's really get this set in such good shape. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, and I try to do my best to get to that amount of reps. Um but if you have responsibilities, you know, whether it's kids, you know, marriage, whatever, you can't go quite that hard. No, you can't. And also you hopefully are are just better You got more chops. I think definitely that's true. You don't need to work a little bit fast. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I remember I I I was at the cellar and I saw Trevor Noah and it was like maybe eight thirty and he was just sitting there having dinner and I was like, Are you going up later? And he was like, No, I'm done. I was like, What? And he was like, Oh, I just asked him if I could do a show at like six and I do that and then I'm done. And I was like, I'm doing that. I'll do the Trevor mode. I'll just go six o'clock, do it, and then maybe do one show at eight thirty and then and then I'm done. Cause I, you know, also with chad lag and all this stuff, I I I can't I can't stay up till one doing the sets and stuff. I you know, I'm not as uh I don't have the energy and then it's I'm just kinda tired and it's just not as good. But every now and then I'll get you know you get fueled by that you know, energy of trying to figure out a bit. I know, yeah. And then you then you can keep going. I mean, that's what's crazy about the seller, right? You can start at like eight o'clock and you have like this little germ and you can do like five shows in one night and then by the end, it's like, oh whoa, I got it.. Yeah Which is really fun. Um so hypothetical. Yeah. What's the what's the what's the gist of that show? I mean it's a lot of the things we've been talking about now, about you know, being married and and try you know it's about trying us trying to have a family which which is so interesting to see you know people react to that because you can tell a lot of people have been dealing with this and not a lot of people talk about it. They get pretty private about it. Um And um yeah, and it's just kind of just um it's kind of where I'm at now and um it's it's just fun to be touring again. I hadn't done it in a while and to to have that immediate reaction and you know the it i 's interesting with a movie, you like write a joke in a script, and by the time you get to hear the laugh, it could be years. You know, I I I wrote a joke in Good Fortune and it was years before I heard it play in a theater and heard a big laugh, but it's super cool. It's like, oh shit, Keanu said that, and it got a big laugh from like, you know, 300 people in Burbank. That's awesome. But it's a long lead time. Yeah. You know, where it's like, oh man, there's just something about the energy of being in a stand up show and just you know it's great. I mean I think there's something so special about you know, seeing a live show and and and it's why it's exploded, you know, there's so many people are touring and and um it's a really special thing to be able to do it and I'm really grateful that people come out and and um I I I try not to check it for granted. What what uh what are your rules about what you how open you're willing to be . Like, you know, some people like their other halves say don't I don't really talk about this, don't need to mention us at all. Or like how exp how how exposing are you willing to let your stand-up be? Uh there's been there hasn't been anything my wife is I think my rule is like my wife's like, hey, don't do that. Then I'm not gonna do it. Sure. That feels that feels pretty bloody-minded. Yeah, that there there's been nothing yeah, I guess that'd be pretty bad if I was like my wife's like, don't say it, but I just say it. I don't care . No rules. No, my wife's like, hey, don't but she's been pretty chill about all this stuff. Yeah. I don't think she loves it You know what's weird is like sh the stand up she doesn't mind as much, but sometimes when we're like writing screenplays we're like, oh my character is like cheating on his wife and she's like, Yeah, don't love this Don't love reading this with you . Um and you're doing the roll out by hole. Yeah, which is which is one of the greatest venues to do stand up in the world. I did it uh I I think five years ago on the when I did a tour called Road to Nowhere and it was one of my favorite shows and and it's a hard venue to lock in. There's it's and so whenever this date opened up in July I was like, Oh man, yeah, let's do it. It's gonna be amazing, man. Roll out of all great to to do anything really. But not do anything, I mean, you know. But stand up great. Yeah. Yeah. No, I'm really excited. Um now can we talk about parks and recreation a little bit? Of course. Yeah. Cult favorite, are you sick of talking about it yet? No. I I I uh uh that was a great experience and and the best part of the experience is is those people and and I still keep up with them. I see them and we we're in contact and uh it's always a joy whenever uh we get to see each other. That show the chemistry between the cast of that show uh it just felt like you're watching something kinda unique, right? In terms of everybody fizzing off of each other and all that stuff. I ge I guess you can't ever know if that's gonna happen, you know. So y you cast good people people c you cast good people in hope for the best. Yeah. Did it feel um like very, very quickly that this was a special group of people that had got together? I think it always felt like a special group, but when the show was on, you know, every season we thought we were gonna get cancelled.. Right Every season, are we doing season two? Are we doing season three? It was never certain. And we kinda just kept trudging along and and now uh the show has got a second life from streaming and all these things and, it's a really uh beloved show. But at the time we were making it, it was it we were like, Oh my god, are we gonna be able to keep making this? Yeah. So but yeah, I I I love all those people and um yeah, it it was was a great experience. How uh because obviously now there's a you talked about having a second life, you can watch infinite uh videos online of like bloopers and impro improvised lines and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, yeah. That gives you the impression that that shit was happening like left, right, and center. Uh uh have we just watched all of the clips and actually it was quite straight. I mean like those are the clips that are really fun to watch because you know every now and then if I'm on tour and in a hotel room and have cable the show pop up and and I'll watch a few minutes of it and you know that's just kind of a blur but when you watch those behind the scenes bloopers things, that that really feels like, oh man, that was that was that I remember that stuff and that was what the day to day felt like. I mean, was every scene like that where there's a funny blooper? No, no. But like we had a great time. We all got along well and it was just such a dream gig, you know? And and those kind of shows were oh, you're gonna do a hundred episodes and and you just it it I don't know if those kind of jobs really exist anymore. It's so much different than than making a film or even a show like Master and Un. Yeah. I I mean I just showed up, said the lines, and went home. It was a really easy gig. It was and and you're working with great people behind the camera and in front of the camera and it wa it you know it it was a great experience. Parks and rec to Master and I mean obviously completely different but did you did mu did did being in Parks and Wreck and how big that show became, did that exert any pressure on you in terms of what you were gonna do with Master and Nun? I think there's something about There's something about the bravado of youth. Right . And me and Alan were just young guys and we just didn't we didn't think about uh a world where the thing we were doing wasn't gonna work. We were just so confident because we didn't know anything. Yeah. And it's a huge advantage. You don't think about. You know, when I'm making a uh you know, I'm trying to put together a movie now, and whenever you you know, I'm looking at the budget and all this stuff and and and I'm really in the weeds and I'm worried about this and that and I didn't worry about anything when I made Master Not. Not that it was easy. It was really both of those seasons, it was a lot of work and it really took a lot out of me. And um uh and then the third three we did three third seasons well, which is just a little bit of a different thing, but uh it was a lot. Um but in those early seasons we didn't really we hadn't done enough to know what could go wrong. Yeah. Does that make sense? Yeah, and that's an advantage, right? Yeah. And Netflix was also just letting us do stuff, you know, stuff that like, you know, hey, we want to do an episode where I'm not in it at all. Yeah. A lot of shows do that kind of thing now, but back then they were like, uh, are you What you know there were there were things that uh uh we were just excited about doing that normally I don't think you'd be allowed to do, but they just I don't know, they just didn't have anybody to tell us no, and then we did it and then it went well, so then we we we got to keep doing it. And then how did that how did uh that move on to you're now a filmmaker and you've you're making movies. Uh how did that come about ? Well I you know I I made two seasons of that show and they wanted us to keep doing more and and I kind of just by the time we'd finished the second season it just felt like there was a lot of that type of show. Whereas when we first started doing it there wasn't many shows like that. Aaron P Yeowellah. But then you cre you you made an impact, didn't you? I mean, uh like you changed w those what those type of shows were, right? Aaron Ross Powell , you know, with our show at Atlanta, all these things, it kind of was a model of like, hey, this can work. And like you know, it there's something cool about you know, having a a a person kind of have their vision of these kind of shows. And then whenever we did the third season, Master and I was like, okay, this would be what's interesting to me. Like take everything people like about the show and get rid of it . Make it into a lesbian drama. Don't tell anybody. Just piss everybody off. It was very nihilistic. And uh but I I I love it. I mean I it's one of these things I look back, I'm like, wow, I can't believe we pulled that off. Like it you know, it got great reviews. I I got to work with Naomi aki uh and Lena who was s they're both such amazing actresses and and uh but it was much different than what we were doing and you know, if I could do it again I probably would have just said, Hey, let's do this and call it something else. We're gonna piss people off too much. But whatever. It's fine. Um but I I wanted to uh y you know do something. What's cool about films is like you live in this world for a bit and then you move on. It's hard for me to like do a show and like you gotta keep coming up. You' youre're in this world for a long time. And I wanted to do something where it's like, okay, you can get in and get out and then just do something completely different about whatever whatever I feel like writing about now. So you know I, I had uh good fortune and now I've been writing a couple other things that I want to try to do, but it it's hard to make movies now. I mean and um How how difficult is it for Aziz Anzari to make a movie? Like Good Fortune, was that a tough seller were people just ready to throw money at you? Well I had Seth and so me and Seth uh were kind of the package and then um we were kind of set up and then Keanu came on board and once Keanu comes on board that's you know, then you're playing kind of sad. But just me by myself, it's not easy. I mean, I used to think like, oh, like just being an actor, that's were that seems insane to me for for me. Because okay, what are the chan like how many movies came out last year that you even liked? Yeah. Okay, and in those, how many of those was there a part you could even do? And okay, if you could even do it, how how far down the list are you? How many people have to say no before they really get to you? Yeah. So it seems like a game you're gonna lose. But then a couple months ago I had the other thought, which is like on the other end, if you're trying to make something , there's only a few people that really kick the door open, right? So what are the chances one of them is right to play a part in the movie? What are the chances they're even available because everybody's chasing these people. There's only a few of them. Because we're in a weird zone where there's not a ton of those people. There used to be a lot of people that could kind of help you. But now it's like there's a very limited pool of people to pull from. So what are the chances they make sense that they want to do it, that they're available? And the other thing is I'm trying to be in the in all the movies. You know, I wanna act. I gotta get myself a plum part So it gets tough. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And do and do you think films uh film so films and stand-up are the things you're gonna be doing for the foreseeable, right? I guess. You know, I'm I listened to your podcast you did with uh James A caster and you said something that it was really interesting to listen to you guys speak because it obviously I related to so much because I'm a comedian like you guys and you were saying something about how you're like, yeah, I'm gonna put it out, we'll see what happens. It was like you weren't chasing like you didn't have that demon that was making you chase. No. No. That guy's still in me. I don't know how to get rid of him. Uh but I did just you know, I spent a lot of time. You know what I do that's kinda meditative for me is I cook a lot. Right. And uh I was like, you know, if my wife and I have a kid and I just I'm just kind of a guy that cooks and takes care of the kid and maybe that's enough. Maybe I don't need to make stuff, but I don't know. I sometimes I the the the it movie stuff especially, it gets there's so many parts that are not fun that like all the kind of lead up to actually getting on the set. It's just not fun. But once you're there, it's it's the funnest thing. And if you can actually pull it off, it's a it's a lot of fun. But uh sometimes it gets frustrating. But getting rid of that demon is not like getting rid of the demon of like wanting to like you know, I I I can't imagine a time when I will not want to do stand up. The the difference is is not caring about what the result is. Like like what I mean and I don't mean creatively, I mean how it does. So like for example you, you you make good fortune. Yeah. How invested how worried and anxious are you about how that film does? Like, you know, wha what how b how big a part of that process is that for you? Well it's scary because you you know how much goes into a movie, you know how much work it is. And you see these movies that come out and no one cares about 'em. They're just like a fart in the wind. Yeah. And you're like, oh my God, I hope that doesn't happen with me. And um yeah, you want it to you want it to have some sort of uh impact. You want people to see it because you put so much work into it. You don't want it to just go into a void and no one see it. You know I I I I it and it's tough to figure out how to do that today because there's so much stuff and it's so hard to break through. Um , but yeah, so anytime like a friend text me, hey, I saw a good portion, I'm like, oh my god, I'm so glad you saw it. Thanks so much. I'm so thrilled. You know, it's it's it's you know, it's funny. You go through phases of your career where people are like, hey man, love parks and rec, like you gotta watch Master Not. And then they're like, hey man, love Master Not, like, you gotta watch Good Fortune. But I'm always just kind of like you know, I'm excited about Good Fortune, but you know, that was like something I wrote a long time ago. I'm already like two movies ahead in my head. And it takes a while to catch up. But no, I I don't think I would ever I I you know, I say that stuff, but I I would always want to be creative, especially with stand-up, because that's such a low barrier to entry. Just to go up and do stand-up that that's that is so it's so beautiful how simple that is. I know. You know, like that it's it's that's that's addictive, you know, to try and do the stand- thatup you really want to do is hard. Do you know what I mean? And like every time I've done a show at the time I'm doing the show, I think this is really good. And then I reckon thirty seconds after I walk off stage after I've done the last one, I think, oh that was a shit show. I need to do a good show, man. Do you know what I mean? Like why do you feel the show's bad? I just I my I I just get I I just every time you d every time you do it, you just sort of think that isn't you you're trying to I I feel like I'm trying to get the show. You know, I the show that when I finish an hour. Like like the show that when I look back on my career I go that was the sh that's the show that I want p to point people at. I haven't done that show yet. I I feel the same way. When I look at my old stuff I don't I don't fully love it. And not not uh I just don't think it's as good as I am now. And which makes sense 'cause I'm a lot older and I I I haven't put out a real special in a few years. I I did a little special during COVID, but that was was so in in that moment, you know, that's why I I'm excited about this tour and and recording it eventually. But doing an hour, it it it's interesting. And and I've done shows where, you know, you do showing Atlanta, you're like, that was amazing. And then you then you do National Like, oh that one didn't feel right. And it's like I bet if you asked the people in the audience, they thought it was the same thing. I know, I know. That is definitely true. And and um yeah, I I I uh I'm trying to do that show like you're talking about. Yeah. And I don't I I I think this this will be that I hope. And the other thing is that you want to make something that feels like, oh, it'll make sense to people a long time from now, and that's tough 'cause you you kinda want to do some stuff that's about what's happening in the world right now. That's tricky. I've got to lock in on on this, right? And but then that'll obviously time stamp it or whatever. It's it's difficult. Yeah. Um right, we're gonna play a little game as these. Sure, tell me. It's called misquoted. I'm gonna read four Wait, I saw you do this. I'm gonna I'm gonna hate hearing these things I said. So five things, some of them you said, some of them you didn't. Okay. Good luck. There's no stakes whatsoever. Okay . It's misquoted. Here's your first one. When the iPhone eighteen Pro Max comes out, it'll be the third time I've camped outside the Apple store I definitely didn't say that. That one was easy. Yeah. You're you're you're into flip phones, is that right? I I have a flip phone, yeah. Yeah. Why do you like flip phone so much? I just I I just uh I like it just gives me more space. I I just don't like all that stuff. So would do you so do are you a dumb phone guy? I mean this is the one I have. It's uh it's um this like a Nokia one. And it's it's so bad. Like if I press the number zero, the phone turns off. So if I wanna call a number that says zero, like it's oh two oh, I have to text my wife the number and then call it from from the chain . Can you flick it in a cool way though? Can you flick it open in a kind of No, that's it's more about the that 's the Yeah the shot. That's powerful shot. It's a great way to end the meeting. Yeah. Um what um so how long have you been a how long have you been that feels like a almost like a religious decision. But so how how how long ago do you decide that you wanted to stick with that kind of phone? I don't know. I think it first started with I used to have like a second phone that didn't have anything on it. Yeah. Like a dumb phone. And then and that like had no browser and everything, which I remember at first like, what am I gonna do without a browser? And then you realize, oh I don't need a browser. I used to not have a browser. It's okay. I don't need to look stuff up. And then I went from that to the to the to the flip phone. Right. And and apart from the zero thing, uh there's no marked disadvantages. Oh, there's plenty. There's there's no you know there's no Uber or anything, so you know, there there's no Google Maps, there there's nothing on there. There's no Spotify, there's nothing. But I I'm okay. I uh to me it's all it's it's worth it to just kind of I I I find like just being able to focus is a huge luxury and and and not being distracted by other stuff. You know, we w it it's we've set up a uh an environment that really encourages multitasking, which we know we're bad at. I know. I know. that's a good point Fuck. Shall we all smash our phones after this? Feels like it could be a moment. Okay. Here's your next one. Correct. By the way, that's correct. Well done. You must feel very proud of yourself. Okay. Did you or did you not say this? I was certain this dude was a dildo . I did say that. That was from my SNL monologue, Chris. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh the the uh the day after Trump's inaugur ation um and how it made you reflect differently on the presidency of George W. Bush. Yeah, yes. That was that was I remember the tr tr when n nobody in the UK believed that Trump was going to win that election. And even and even I remember I was in I was on tour when it w the that US election was happening and I went to bed with like obviously with the time difference and the polls were it is looking like Trump was like doing really well and I thought, oh god, that's gonna I guess all the states that uh would go the other way have not come in yet. Then went to bed then woke up and was like fuck like couldn't believe it. That's all I talked about for the first twenty minutes of my show that night 'cause everybody was just in shock. But I mean, yeah, I mean as as were we. That was I I remember that night. I mean, that was I was filming Master Nun season two, and that happened, and we'd all we'd had like a a party because we thought first female president, everyone's oh, what are we gonna play? Aretha Franklin? What are we gonna it was that level of confidence and then people started coming in, they're like everyone's leaving the Hillary And then the next day we had to film some scene where some dude was being racist to me and I was like, this is weird. But I remember I landed in London when Brexit happened. Right. And everyone was a similar thing, yeah. And everyone was thrown and I was like, you gotta explain this to me, I don't fully understand. And some lady said, this is like if Donald Trump became president. And I said doing SNL? I'm you're aware that there's a UK one now. Yeah I went to the uh the taping of the first one. It was so fun. And and I I'm so glad that uh that the SNL UK thing is happening. I think anything that's it that's nurturing young talent and exposing people uh to that is great. And and I I I think that show's really good and and the cast is super talente d. Um but yeah I hosted the uh US S NL um and that was so fun. Definitely a highlight of the You're there the whole week, right? Getting involved in all the things and yeah it was super fun. Yeah. Um, okay. You're two for two. Okay well done. Here's your third one . Whenever I see Keanu, he still gives Major Neo energy. No, I didn't say that. I didn't say that. If if I did it's misquoted. No, you didn't you didn't say that. It sa you the real quote about him you said is he looks like he drove straight from an anime he looks like he drove straight from an anime movie into reality. That's what that's what you actually said. Yeah, 'cause he would he like we would just rehearse at my house and and and he would just show up on his motorcycle and he just looked like an anime character. He's the coolest guy. And me and Seth are just sitting there like we're we're dorks. Is he as is he as cool as we've been all led to believe? He's the best. Right. He's the best. And he's he's just done so much. He's he I was watching him this morning. I watched the Devil's Advocate. It was on Criterion Channel and I hadn't seen it in so long. It's great. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um it must and and how long did it take you to sort of 'cause we always British people we always get really starstruck with Americans. Uh huh. And Kiana would be like somebody it would change your behaviour. D did that happen to you ? He's like one of the few people that , you know, at a certain point you kind of see all these people. Sure. And then there's like a really , you know, select group that still have that mystique. And he's one of those people. But over time you kinda get used to it. And he's such a sweet guy and very helpful guy. Yeah, yeah. And he's aware of it, you know, he kinda knows. Yeah, he knows that he's gonna have an effect, yeah. Uh okay, here's your next one. The big advantage of writing for myself is I always agree to do my projects and I don't drop out. Yeah, I definitely said that . I was in variety last year. Um I mean that's a good guarantee, isn't it? I mean that's that's the thing I think about uh when you are working with people who are actors and actors alone. Yeah. Is that I find it uh really I I I I I find it so difficult to think of that you're at the mercy of other people deciding whether you should do this thing or not, and that's your only way of getting work, right? It feels pretty mad, right? Wait if you're the director? If you're the actor and you're waiting for something. Yeah. In a really competitive. Some of those people that are super successful, they're just sitting there going, Yeah, I don't want to do this. You know, they're getting a lot of stuff. And and some people I mean, Keanu has been that guy for so long. The guy's been working since he was a kid. Yeah. And it's never stopped. Uh okay, you're four for four. Well done. Really proud of you. This is your last one. Okay . Did you or did you not say this ? Sal ads aren't bringing it hard enough . This is this is from one of my specials. I remember that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um just you ever listen to old stand-up and you forgot the bits? Yeah, loads of times. Or sometimes somebody will quote a bit back to Oh yeah, yeah. That happens to me. Someone someone will be drunk and just say some bit that I don't remember to have no clue what they're doing. And they're like, You said that. I'm like, sorry . Um Do you still stand by that? Salads aren't bringing it hard enough. Yeah. Yeah, they need to need to come a little harder. Yeah. It's um I mean I do think salads are done better in America than over here. That bit was a while ago. So this this is before all this this kind of uh the sweet green and all these kind of things started coming. Okay, fine, fine, fine. Okay. I'm not gonna hold you accountable for that. Uh you are five for five. Well done, Aziz. That was great work. That's incredible. It's one of the best. I'll say that most people get five out of five. But uh um look, it's been a it's been a real pleasure to talk to you, man. Thank you so much. And a real honor. I'm such a fan. We're all massive fans. Well, same for me to you, and I'm so glad we found Yeah, yeah, same. Yeah, that'd be amazing. Yeah. Um now we like to try and end the podcast on a big moment. Could you give us like a we're after an exclusive really. Like do you have like a a dream you have, a hidden talent, uh something you haven't said publicly? Okay, so yes, I I brought something for you. Great news. Here's something I don't think I've talked about ever before. I every year I started doing during COVID, I started making a uh a cookbook for my friends, and now I've done like six of them. So I I brought you you could take one of these because I don't have extras, but I I you could take any of these. I wanted to give you this one this is real. Yeah these are real. This is the one that's uh the Indian recipes, but I only have one. I can get this for you. I have extra somewhere in a chart that I can get. But any of these you can take. Okay. But this was this was last year. Yeah. This was uh 2021. These are your cookbooks. Yeah, yeah. But I never never I just make them for my friends Yeah that's true doesn't it I mean we you this is like this is like you deliberately went I'm gonna shit on your gift. Yeah. There's way too much production value. The so can I just uh do you mind if I just these this is an example of a book that Aziz has done for his friend He's got an introduction You've got a little thing about breakfast, what you like to do with break and then it's the recipe it's illustration This is incredible. Yeah, photos, everything, yeah. Frittata with mushrooms and rosemary. I do my zucchini. Do you mind if I read a bit? I do my zucchini frittatas mostly in summer, and this is one I switch over to Wait, you gotta do the audiobook. Because it sounds it sounds ridiculous hearing it out loud. This is why I don't release them publicly, because it's truly absurd. You could put these out though. Come on, man. I kind of like that it's it's something that uh just for me This is so cool. This is like oh wow man. How many of them do you get made at each time? Yeah, I guess when you get to bigger numbers it makes it more cost-effective, doesn't it? But I the key to this heartwarming soup is some nice big butterbeans Also uh in general, gotta give a shout out to nice jars of beans. I've never I've never been able to get into the whole soak the beans overnight madness. Who the fuck knows they want beans the day before? This is funny shit man . Oh, it's fun. Oh, thank you so much. Please, can you give it up for Azizanzari ? That was great, man. Thank you so much. Yo, thanks for watching and listening to the Romish Rang and Nathan show.. Sup, y'all It's genuinely lovely that so many of you keep coming back. But I'm hearing rumors, nay, hearsay, and conjecture that some of you haven't subscribed yet. If you haven't, now's the time. Follow the show wherever you get your podcasts so you don't miss episodes. We've got new episodes every Monday and Thursday. Mondays are big guest conversations where we talk about what they're up to and have a laugh. And Thursdays are me and my mum Shanti answering your questions and family dilemmas, as well as burning off any self-esteem I've got knocking about. So I'll see you on Thursday when Mum takes over. If you've got a problem, a story or family dilemma, send it to podcast at rangabe .com, voice note or text us on 077 31-623355. That's 07731-623-355. We love getting you involved and you might hear yourself in a future episode. Plus, it means less content for us to generate. See you next time . Oh shut up, Romesh