Aziz Ansari: ‘Settling Down’ is Like Being ‘Buried Alive’

Don’t expect Parks and Recreation star Aziz Ansari to be romantically linked to anyone anytime soon.

In a revealing Los Angeles Times feature, Ansari tells Deborah Vankin that he’s a self-described “indecisive commitment-phobe” and that domestic responsibility is “terrifying.”

Ansari is using this fear as fodder for his upcoming Buried Alive tour, which hits Los Angeles this Thursday and Friday at the Orpheum Theatre.

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“It’s about being scared of hitting that point in life where you’re settling down and the feeling is almost like being buried alive. I couldn’t imagine having a baby … or getting married now,” he tells Vankin. “But I love hearing about other peoples’ lives, their relationship stories. That stuff is always super fascinating to me.”

In contrast, Ansari, who grew up in South Carolina and is of Indian descent, also spoke of his parents’ arranged marriage, saying, “My dad says they talked for 30 minutes and a week later got married.” He adds, “People hear that and it’s like, ‘Oh my God! Are they OK?! Do they hate each other?!’ But their marriage is great.”

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Ansari also touched upon his love of food (calling himself a “general man of good taste”), his avoidance of easy Indian jokes, and growing up as the only person of color in elementary school in the South, saying, “People hear [how I grew up] and think: ‘Oh my God! Are you OK?!’ But it wasn’t bad. There’s plenty of ignorant, dumb people everywhere, and there’s plenty of thoughtful, super-nice people everywhere.”

Ansari is currently developing a pitch he sold to Judd Apatow about “two disgraced astronauts who travel back to the moon to clear their names,” according to Vankin. He’ll also play himself in The End of the World with Seth Rogen, about the apocalypse hitting during a celebrity-filled party at James Franco‘s house. 

You can read the entire interview here.