Since starting in 2002, Aaron Aryanpur has become a star in the local comedy scene. He was even crowned the Funniest Comic in Texas in 2012. Now, Aryanpur is hitting another milestone: his first album.
On Friday, July 29, Aryanpur will release the album, which, as the title suggests, came about In Spite Of a variety of challenges and distractions. That night, at 9 p.m., Aryanpur will perform at Backdoor Comedy for his release show, where you can also snag a hard copy of his new album. The album will also be available through Amazon, iTunes, and StandUpRecords.com.
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In Spite Of was recorded at Hyena's Comedy Club at Mockingbird Station back in April 2015. Instead of "a big, elaborate theater taping," Aryanpur wanted to record a live performance, since "there are things that happen that will never happen again. Things that are very specific to that moment, very specific to that show, very specific to the audience that's there that night, very specific to what I'm going through at that time."
Sometimes Aryanpur has a great show In Spite Of these things and sometimes he has a great show because of these things; in this case, it's a little bit of both.
About halfway through this particular performance, Aryanpur explained in an interview, "There was a drunken outburst that threw everything off the rails, and, while I'm dealing with that, there's a crash." A separate, sober lady had face-planted in the middle of the showroom. "The wheels felt like they were totally off," Aryanpur admits.
Rather than losing his cool, Aryanpur took advantage of the "controlled chaos" of stand-up and made the incident part of his album:
On other tracks, he talks about how "weddings are childish." He explains: "There's cake. There's presents. You do the hokey pokey and the cupid shuffle. It's like a party for five year olds."
The D-FW native takes a shot at Lubbock on the album: "There's a lot of nothing between here and Lubbock. And then you get there and it's like, oh, okay, more nothing."
Aryanpur is a family man, and a lot of his material involves his wife or his two kids, aged 4 and 11:
My wife and BuzzFeed should team up to generate a list of the top 27 ways I'll never be right.
— Aaron Aryanpur (@aaroncomedian) June 28, 2014
My son is showing me his Minecraft house on the laptop that has a laptop in it with Minecraft on it and now I'm afraid we can never leave.
— Aaron Aryanpur (@aaroncomedian) December 24, 2015
If you're the old couple trying to read your paper in peace on the coffee shop patio, we're the family who's going to "ruin your morning."
— Aaron Aryanpur (@aaroncomedian) June 17, 2016
"I love talking about being a parent, but not feeling like I have all the answers. I'm very confident in the fact that I have zero confidence," Aryanpur says of parenting.
For example, one of the album's 14 tracks is about his child's "accidental racism," where his innocent kid gets him into some awkward situations:
For the album, Aryanpur worked with the Minneapolis-based record label Stand Up! Records, which also has comics like Hannibal Buress, Lewis Black, Marc Maron, Patton Oswalt, and Dallas' own Paul Varghese on its roster — so Aryanpur is in good company there.
He's already recorded material for a second album, which he hopes to release within the next year or so, and he's working on material for a third album.
If you're not able to catch one of his shows this weekend, you can keep up with his tour dates on his website, AaronAryanpur.com, or follow him on Twitter, @AaronComedian.
