Originally posted Tuesday, November 27, 2018 and updated January 22, 2019 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
Aziz Ansari emerges from a bit of a comedic exile to lead a "Road to Nowhere" tour that comes to the Fox Theatre April 18, 2019.
UPDATE, January 22, 2019: The first date sold out. A second date has been added for April 19, 2019. You can buy tickets here.
Ansari, who won an Emmy for comedy writing last year for Netflix's "Master of None," earlier this year was accused of pushing a 23-year-old woman too hard to have sex during a date. The anonymous account on Babe.net in January drew a mix of opprobrium against Ansari and a backlash against the accuser. Was it a bad date or sexual assault?
He apologized, saying he thought the exchange was “consensual.”
"I continue to support the movement that is happening in our culture,” he wrote. “It is necessary and long overdue."
Ansari then took four months off from stand up, social media and any public appearances. He popped up for five surprise shows in May at the Comedy Cellar in New York City. He has since done spots dates in Nashville, Wisconsin, Philadelphia and his home state of South Carolina.
Based on accounts of his stand-up recently, he has railed against the “social media mob” that tends to over-react to relatively minor slights and lump everything together minor and major trangressions into one thick, ugly gruel. While not referencing his own situation, it’s fair to say his issue was far milder than most others that have been in the headlines the past couple of years.
As this Mother Jones story notes, his bitterness is disappointing but not wholly unexpected given that the "social mob" can be unforgiving and relentless.
He has not done any interviews since the January story came out.
Ansari over the years has talked lot on stage about dating and has even written a book about modern romance. "Master of None" over two seasons addresses dating conundrums as well.
Netflix has yet to give Ansari a third season of “Master of None” but there has been no talk of cancellation either.
He has appeared in Atlanta several times over the years, including the Tabernacle in 2012 and the Oddball Festival at Lakewood in 2014 and 2015.
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