Aziz Ansari

In 2009, Aziz Ansari came to nationwide attention as the character Tom Haverford on the sitcom Parks and Recreation, but he has performed standup, been a member of a sketch troupe and appeared in films and on TV since the beginning of the '00s. As a member of the troupe Human Giant, Ansari collaborated with Rob Huebel, Jason Woliner and Paul Scheer on short films; a show eventually ran for two seasons on MTV. As a standup, he became a familiar figure in the NYC scene while still a student at NYU, and he eventually traveled with both the Flight of the Conchords and the Comedians of Comedy tours. While the fact that Ansari's parents immigrated to South Carolina from Tamil Nadu, India, does provide the comic some material, Ansari's routines never devolve into mediocre racial material. Instead, he tells stories from his life with pure curveball jokes thrown in. In 2009, he won rave reviews for his portrayal of Raaaaaaaandy, a terrible comedian in the Judd Apatow vehicle Funny People. An album chronicling Ansari's set from the Comedians of Comedy tour, Intimate Moments from a Sensual Evening, appeared in 2010.