isatruc’s posterous

A friend of mine posted this video on Facebook. After I overlooked it 10 times, I finally decided to watch. In it is Aziz Ansari, one of the stars of the new TV shows "Parks and Recreation." Rolling Stone Entertainment Weekly, and NY Magazine have all dubbed him "a comedian to watch."

While watching the video, I couldn't stop laughing. By the end of the interview I was in tears.

As I watched, I couldn't help feel like I knew him from somewhere...like I had seen him before. After I replayed the video 3 more times, it finally hit me!

8 years ago, during my first year at NYU, my friends and I went to a famous club called Comedy Cellar. All the comedians were semi-famous and really funny, except for the opening act--a young Indian kid, who stood out like a sore thumb. It looked like his very first time performing. His jokes were horrible, his timing sucked, and he was close to getting booed off stage. "He doesn't belong in the business" I remember people saying.

Ever since, that comedian has been a running joke among me and my friends. We would retell his horrible jokes sarcastically to make each other laugh. As time passed, the jokes survived, but the origin of the jokes and the memory of that horrible comedian did not. Until...

8 years later I'm watching him on Jimmy Kimmel as an up and coming superstar. The reason I didn't recognize Aziz more quickly is because he's like a completely different comedian. His comedy has improved so much. I guess that's what 8 years of practice does.

There's no clever or original moral to this story. Just an inspirational one. Other people will always judge you and tell you that "you can't". But practice makes perfect. Never let failure (or other people)stop you from achieving your dreams. Aziz clearly didn't.