One thing Saturday Night Live is short of is celebrity impressions. Aping other people is a standard, go-to, bread-and-butter style sketch that’s endlessly refillable, but seldom memorable. But occasionally you get impressions that are so damned good that they break out from the show and become cultural icons in and of themselves. Think Tina Fey‘s lampooning of Sarah Palin, Will Ferrell‘s steely, determined George W. Bush, or Norm Macdonald‘s glazed over Burt Reynolds.
Recently departed SNL cast member Nasim Pedrad had more than a few of her own up her sleeve – her Kim Kardashian in particular is an absolute ripper. But as it turns out she’s got a few more up her sleeve that didn’t quite make it to air.
Whilst visiting Conan to promote the upcoming premiere of her new show Mulaney, Pedrad revealed she’d badgered SNL producers time and time again to let her bring her impression of comedian, Parks & Rec star, and all-around tiny adorable man Aziz Ansari to life. Alas, it never actually made it to air, but a version of a sketch was filmed and rescued from the cutting room floor. Conan aired it, and the results, as you can see, are so spectacularly bang-on that I’ve watched it maybe 10 times in a row and now it hurts to laugh.
You can get as much of the wonderful Nasim into your life as you want from October 6th onwards, when Mulaney starts airing. Here’s a trailer. Get excited (because it looks great, and show creator/star John Mulaney is so unbelievably funny it’s almost not fair)!
