TV Star Spotlight: Aziz Ansari

I know we just posted about last night's season finale of Saturday Night Live, but we didn't actually watching it yet (don't worry, we DVRed it.  No spoilers!).  That's because last night, we had tickets to see standup from the one and only Aziz Ansari!  Currently, Aziz stars on the NBC comedy Parks & Recreation, but he has actually been on many other TV shows in the past.  So let's take a look back at some of our favorite Aziz appearances.

Aziz Ansari's first major TV appearance was as one of the three creators and stars of the MTV sketch comedy show Human Giant.   Co-created with Paul Scheer and Rob Huebel, the show ran for 2 seasons on MTV, and featured the trio appearing in various sketches (many of them recurring throughout episodes), along with some pretty great guest stars.  This first sketch is from a recurring sketch called "Shutterbugs", which features Aziz and Rob Huebel as managers of a child talent agency.  Special guest appearance by Bobb'e J. Thomas (Role Models, Tracy Jr. on 30 Rock).

Here's another recurring sketch from Human Giant called "Illusionators", a parody of Criss Angel's Mindfreak, featuring a guest appearance from Rob Riggle (SNL, Daily Show).

After Human Giant, Aziz took on many guest starring roles on TV shows, such as his recurring role as Ed the Intern in season 8 of Scrubs.  Here's a little compilation of some of his best scenes:

Aziz also had a memorable appearance on the HBO comedy Flight of the Conchords as a racist fruit vendor.

And now, Aziz stars on the hit NBC comedy Parks and Recreation as Tom Haverford:

But Aziz has done much more than just television.  He has appeared in many movies, such as I Love You Man, The Rocker, Get Him to the Greek, Funny People (as alter ego RAAAAAAAANDY), and his first starring role in last summer's 30 Minutes or Less.  

But in addition to acting, Aziz is also a great stand-up (hence we got tickets to see him).  In his signature style, he has talked about a wide range of topics, such as marriage and children, stories about Kanye West and R Kelly, making fun of his cousins Harris and Darwish, thread counts on luxery linens, and buying ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery. Aziz released his first Comedy Central special Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening in 2010.  Here's the cleanest clip we could find from the special: (other clips are funnier, but we try to keep this site relatively clean.  You can check out tons of other Aziz standup clips on YouTube)

Aziz's second special, Dangerously Delicious, will make its TV debut tonight (May 20) at 10:00pm on Comedy Central.  But, for just $5 you can download the extended, uncensored version on Aziz's website. We bought it, and it was hysterical. Well worth the $5!

And last night, we were in attendance for Aziz's 3rd comedy show, Buried Alive.  It was a really funny show, and great to finally get to see Aziz live.  If you want to catch him on tour, check out his tour dates!  Highly recommended!

Scrubs Interns & Flight of the Conchords

Hello faithful Blog Readers (do we have any faithful readers? do we have any readers at all? Is anyone even reading this?),

Remember when we said that this year our New Year's Resolution was to start watching new shows and blogging about them? Well, that hasn't happened yet. But it will ! It's still only February, so we got 10 months left to start watching a new show! I think we can do that.

As you've probably noticed, we've been incredibly busy lately, hence, we haven't written in a few weeks. But today, I found a short pocket of time (rather found an excuse to procrastinate doing work), so you are treated to a new blog entry!

If you've been watching the new season of Scrubs on ABC (which you should be watching, cause it's really good), then you have noticed that there are a new cast of interns who have joined The Sacred Heart who are working with our usual favorite group of doctors. Coincidentally, 2 of these new interns have also been featured on Flight of the Conchords! So we thought it would be fun to show a little side by side comparison of these up-and-coming character actors, as they're working their way through our favorite TV shows. Enjoy!

Eliza Coupe



Aziz Ansari


Aziz Ansari will also be starring on the new NBC Comedy from the creators of The Office called Parks and Recreation which stars Amy Poehler (Saturday Night Live) premiering April 9 at 8:30!

TV Clip of the Day: Ted's Band from Scrubs!

We've been a little behind in our Scrubs watching lately, so tonight we watched the most recent 4 episodes of the show (the 2 from last week and the 2 from last night). We were very pleased to see that the latest episode, entitled, "My Lawyer's in Love" featured Ted's band (oftern referred to as "The Worthless Peons"). For those of you who don't know, Ted is one of the supporting characters on Scrubs, and he is the hospital's incompetent lawyer. In the first season it was revealed that Ted and 3 of the other guys from the hospital have an a cappella band, and ever since they have popped up in random episodes to sing so some classic songs in their unique style. In fact, the four actors are a real a cappella band called The Blanks, and they even have their own CD! The CD is entitled “Riding the Wave” and features many of the songs that they have sung on Scrubs as well as some hidden microphone interviews with members of the Scrubs cast. I own the album, and it’s really great!

Below, enjoy a collection of all of the appearances of Ted’s band on Scrubs, from their very first appearance back in Season 1, to their most recent episode that aired this week. Enjoy!

And from this week's episode:

Season Premier of Scrubs Tonight!

The 8th season premier of the hilarious sitcom Scrubs airs tonight, Tuesday January 6th, at 9:00pm on ABC. There are 2 back to back episodes, so it airs from 9:00-10:00. This season also features a recurring role by Friends star Cournty Cox, so you should definately check it out! Those of you who have been watching the past seasons of Scrubs have probably realized that Scrubs has always aired on NBC, and are wondering why the show is now on ABC. Well, apparently, even though the show has always aired on NBC, the show is actually produced and distributed by ABC. After last season's 7th season on NBC, the ratings were pretty low, so NBC decided not to pick up the show for an 8th season. However, due to the Writer's Strike, there weren't enough episodes left to air last season to properly end the series the way the creators wanted the show to end. So after NBC announced that they didn't want Scrubs on their 2008-2009 lineup, ABC, who already had the rights to the show, said that they'd air the final season so Scrubs can end the way it was meant to end. So, tonight's the night! Once again, tonight, January 6th, from 9:00-10:00 on ABC! Watch! And, just to get you in the mood, here's a short clip from an old episode of Scrubs that I saw on TV today and had me laughing out loud. My favorite part is the very last line before it goes into the opening:

TV Actors Doing Voices in Commercials for Random Things

Oh Blog, it's been so long. We've been so busy with finals and papers lately, that we just haven't had time to write in you. Unfortunately, we still have finals to study for and papers to write. I have a paper that's due tomorrow that I really should be writing now. And yet, I find myself thinking about a blog entry that I want to write in you. And so, in an effort to further procrastinate my schoolwork, I shall write in you.

I was watching TV the other day, as I oh so often do, not really paying attention, checking my email while a commercial was playing on TV, and I heard a familiar voice. "Jim???" I thought, instantly recognizing the voice of Jim Halper from The Office. I looked up, and it was a commercial for the new Blackberry, with a voice-over narration by John Krasinski, who plays Jim on The Office. I have noticed that this is becoming a trend, TV actors with recognizable voices not appearing in commercials, but just using their voices to talk about the product in commercials. So, this is brings us to our newest segment, "TV Actors Doing Voices in Commercials for Random Things"! Another example of a commercial that falls into this category is Zach Braff (JD from Scrubs) voicing the dog in the Cottonelle toilet paper commercials. Zach Braff also provides his voice to the new PUR Water commercials, but I can't seem to find that clip online. If I find it, or any other commercials featuring the voice of a TV actor, I'll be sure to post it here!

John Krasinski's voice in Blackberry commercial:


Zach Braff's voice in Cottonelle commercial:

TV Clip of the Day: Don’t Stop Believin’

For today’s clip of the day, we found a rare combination of a great TV Show with an amazing song. Lately, after hearing the song countless times on the radio, we have become obsessed with the song “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey. Those of you who know it know how amazing that song is. Anyway, so once we get into a song (or artist, TV show, movie, actor, or anything at all) the first place we go of course is…WIKIPEDIA! So after reading the wikipedia of the song, we discovered that the song was featured in one of our favorite NBC (and soon to be ABC) sitcoms, Scrubs! So here it is, from the aptly named episode of Scrubs “My Journey”, Don’t Stop Believin:



And, as an added bonus, JD sings a verse of the song: