Some torch-happy critics of the book publishing world are throwing Aziz Ansari's debut comedy book Modern Romance: An Investigation italics into the fire for its stand-up jokes that fall 2D flat when put through the printing press , and for good reason - there is nothing like a good audiobook. NPR’s Linda Holmes placed Ansari’s audiobook on a high shelf with the likes of comedic talents (and most powerful women) Tina Fey’s Bossypants italics and Amy Poehler’s Yes Please italics and reinforces a common belief; books by performers should be performed.
The rambunctious author's audible voice in your ears, over any other pseudo imitative Aziz voice that narrates the text as you physically read, is vital to the effective telling of the Digital Age’s “decide ‘til death do us part” romance narrative. Even Aziz concedes this point in the sultry introduction (e.g. trailer) of the audiobook.
Comedy’s best translation is hard to find in its purest textual form, but the best punchlines are performed. And Aziz Ansari performs the resolved, evolved, and self-involved generations of research subjects, mediating uber douchey Straight White Boy texts; “hey”…”heyy” …“heyyy” (just add y), the compulsive scheduler and no action secretarial couple, and old man Arthur, the original Homer Simpson who got hitched in the name of eternal donuts.
Throughout the six hour and fourteen minute recording, Ansari plays the “wise beyond his years” kid, who through his child-like tenor says the damnedest things, as heard in his account of inserting a certain Southern appendage into a large silicone egg. He prefers those presumed up and down motions to the side to side soulmate-seeking thumb swipes across Tinder and Grindr interfaces – the virtual make up of our rocky digital dating terrain.
He interrupts these acts with a dose of alien wisdom and ponders what has been lost in translation. The answer? The original meaning of a made-with-love BLT, now “the inanimate Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato” couple. Yes, we have lost an entire generation of sandwich.
Links
http://straightwhiteboystexting.tumblr.com/
http://www.npr.org/sections/monkeysee/2015/06/16/414703875/modern-romance-and-the-emerging-audiobook
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jun/04/modern-romance-aziz-ansari-review
http://amysaysyesplease.com/
http://www.amazon.com/Bossypants-Tina-Fey/dp/0316056898