Ansari brings humor to MSE series

The MSE Symposium continued its speaker series by hosting comedian and actor, Aziz Ansari this past Wednesday. Rather than having a philosophical lecture or address about the state of the economy, Ansari brought comedic relief to the Shriver Hall audience with his stand up routine while connecting with students and highlighting the importance of smart decision making.

"It's good to have a balance between serious speakers and seeing acts for pure enjoyment like stand-up comedy," senior Jonathan Kornblau, MSE co-chair, said. "These performances allow students to get out of the library and have some fun."

MSE collaborated with The HOP to plan this event. The HOP assisted in the promotion, set up, clean up and organization of Ansari's arrival to Homewood.

"The HOP enjoys co-sponsoring events to make student life a more cohesive movement," sophomore and HOP member Paul Tershakovec said. "MSE is great to co-sponsor with because they're organized — they brought in Aziz, but we helped with the organizing and it's been a combined effort."

MSE and The Hop saw Ansari as a key speaker because of the way he can captivate his audience.

"He resonated most with Hopkins students. He's an up and coming star and incredibly funny," senior Erin Reilly, a member of the MSE team, said.

Ansari tried to relate to the student body by incorporating some of Hopkins' characteristics into his act.

"I had a great time performing at Hopkins. I usually have a similar set for all the colleges I go to, but I tried to talk about research in particular. I know that's big at this school" Ansari said to The News-Letter after his show.

Ansari can empathize with many students on campus. He knows how difficult research can be and how frustrating it is when a hypothesis is refuted. In high school, Ansari spent a summer conducting lupus research. By the end of his time interning at a lab, he concluded that his theories about particular aspects of the disease were wrong.

"When I was done [conducting research] I said, ‘Wow, this sucks,'" Ansari said during his act.

Ansari was able to incorporate other aspects of science into his lewd humor as well. He made a joke about how a man trying to slip drugs into a woman's drink may be impeded by the chemicals in it. The drink could negate the potency of the particular drug.

"This isn't exactly the type of guy who would say to himself, ‘It's time to go back to the bimolecular lab!'" Ansari joked.

In addition, other aspects of Ansari's repertoire alluded to challenges that many college students currently face. He spent much of his time talking about decision making, particularly on the subjects of dating, marriage and starting a family — issues students have faced or will face in the future.

His often sensational jokes had a more serious underlying message: Be careful about the decisions you make because many of them will remain with you for the rest of your life. When discussing marriage, Ansari used the metaphor of throwing away a two-year-old sweater he did not like anymore to emphasize the fragility of new marriages.

Ansari also brought up the cruel humor of having two shows on MTV that portray lives that are polar opposites. In particular he contrasted the situation of teens in the show 16 and Pregnant and the young girls in My Super Sweet Sixteen.

Many students thoroughly enjoyed Ansari's performance.  

"I was anticipating a major turnout, but this event exceeded all expectations," freshman Josh Goodstein said. "I thought this was going to be the highlight of the year — I was proven right".  

Senior PK Smith lauded the performance.

"I loved the show. It's great to have acts like that contrasting the more serious tone of MSE, especially at Hopkins where everyone's stressed out all the time. It's a good reminder not to take ourselves too seriously," Smith said.   

Hopkins students also had the opportunity to hear stand up from opener Joe Mande, a young comedian currently touring with Ansari. At the end of Mande's performance he received resounding applause from the audience. He connected with students by comparing the rough neighborhood surrounding Emerson College in Boston with the dangerous parts of Baltimore as portrayed on the show The Wire. He also challenged students to think about things they take for granted. To do this he posed two questions: Who was the first guy to try milk? How did he come up with the idea to drink it?

"He was absolutely hilarious," freshman Megan Carney said.

The event was exclusively for Hopkins students, faculty and staff.

"We required Hopkins ID for this event because we wanted it to be only for the Hopkins community. Seeing Aziz perform gives students a chance to sit back and relax. This was a very different event from the intellectual speakers we usually bring in," MSE co-chair Elizabeth Goodstein, a junior, said.