The core aspect to Aziz Ansari's standup, from his previous specials Dangerously Delicious and Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening, is his ability to create random tangents. Here is the structure: 1) Aziz encounters something absurd or silly. 2) He deconstructs it with logic. 3) He then expands the absurd concept on imaginary random tangents. For his last special, this got repetitive and I distinctly remember zoning out until he changed it up. They're funny anecdotes, but the core message under his bits don't hold water because we know these imaginary tangents he exits his jokes on never happened. More importantly, they never could happen.
He has improved upon this for Buried Alive, no longer relying on anecdotes of meeting strange people or talking about his oddball cousin Harris or Kayne West stories. Instead he focuses his logic and ability to create imaginary scenarios onto real life. In Buried Alive, it's mostly centered upon the subjects of dating, marriage and raising a family. The difference is, he has a point of view and uses his humor to highlight his fears and trepidations about marriage, the massive responsibilities of marriage and raising a child and how strange dating has become in the day of modern technology.
My two favorite segments where Aziz does crowd work, a considerably risky move for a comedian taping a comedy special. He interviews a couple on how they got engaged and another woman about receiving obscene penis photos from men. It's in these segments where he displays his immediate comedic reflexes, quickly spinning jokes out of people's answers. He probably has performed this a thousand times touring the country with this hour, but it still had a raw quality to it that brought genuine surprises. These were the highlights of the special.
There's one portion where Aziz boasts how many white women he beds to argue how pointless it is for people being against interracial dating. I agree with his point. I don't even like the word 'interracial' as a concept. But the fact that he put himself above the audience for a laugh seemed off color for a moment.
Part of the fun of following an artist is watching them grow. For that reason, fans that have watched Aziz's two previous specials will probably enjoy this one more. This is Aziz Ansari's best comedy hour thus far and he knows it. He has found meaningful things to say and more clever ways to deliver them.
