Aziz Ansari stuns crowd with his take on # MeToo accusation

In Mumbai for a special tour, US comedian Aziz Ansari addresses sexual misconduct charges. Suman Mahfuz Quazi reports

American actor, humorist and protagonist of the much-liked web series Master of None, Aziz Ansari, who was also accused in the #MeToo movement, was at the Todi Mill Social on Wednesday night, surprising the audience by steering a joke in the direction of the accusation. "I felt scared and humiliated and ultimately I felt terrible. It was an intense experience," he told the crowd that suddenly fell silent.

His performance was the surprise element at the stand-up do at Social that also saw Mumbai-based comedian Varun Thakur perform. Ansari seemed awkward at first but soon glided into the flow leaving the audience roaring, but also dumbfounded in parts.

He opened the set humouring people about his own scepticism around performing in India, in what was a first at the venue and sort of a warm-up for his on-going tour with performances in Mumbai and Delhi this weekend.

Ansari's credibility as a stand-up artiste shone through the night, as he jumped from American politics, to the quirks of being an Indian to the contradictions of being a woke adult with seamless flow.

At the event, the security was tight, the audience was requested not to take pictures and a team with a hawk eye and torches spent the entire duration of the hour-long set flashing lights on people using their phones.

At the end of the show, when asked if he prepared differently for the performances in India, the comedian shared, "No, I did not. I had no idea which is why I did this gig. There are so many things that you forget while performing so I thought doing it for a smaller crowd would help," adding, "I loved performing for this audience."

City comedian, Sumit Sourav, who was attending the show and interacted with Ansari, said, "There were some bits I connected to and was noticing the structure and flow. There was emotional tension and he breaks it with a punchline. I enjoyed the gig."

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