[Spike Jonze] is clearly interested in how a man rebirths himself into the court of public opinion.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 20, 2022

[I]n watching "Right Now," Ansari appears to be recognizing the need for growth - not just his own, but the culture at large's as well.

| Mar 18, 2020

[W]hat [Ansari] does instead is let himself off the hook without extending the same courtesy to the rest of his audience.

| Mar 18, 2020

It's not the Aziz of old - I mean how much mileage was really left in renaming foodstuffs and publicly bullying his cousin? - but the quieter, more contrite Ansari 2.0 still has plenty left to say.

| Mar 18, 2020

His show is funny and insightful, but it's also emotional. It's enough to make you forgive him for his sins.

| Aug 6, 2019

There is plenty of crowd-pleasing stuff - bits about trying to explain racism in America to his white Danish girlfriend as well as topics he has addressed before, like the unfair burden of contraception placed on women.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 25, 2019

In Right Now, Ansari is a fitting ambassador for a certain bourgeois ambivalence.

| Jul 15, 2019

The monologue of the year with an exciting reflection about the current cultural state. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 5/5 | Jul 14, 2019

Ansari's gags, whether poking fun at himself or his gullible audience, have a soul-searching feel, as if the tainted comic is exploring where he fits amidst all these debates and controversies.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 13, 2019

Ansari's special is funny, although the tone and delivery of it are less animated than his earlier material; he sounds tired at times, even when he starts laughing.

| Jul 12, 2019

Over the course of the special, Ansari hits many more predictable-feeling beats.

| Jul 11, 2019

The jokes here are by turns extremely earnest and extremely cynical, and there is insight buzzing in the messy mergers of the two.

| Jul 11, 2019

Just as [Aziz Ansari's] actions caused me to look inward, 'Right Now' has the same effect. Ansari wants people to do what the title of his special suggests: Look at who you are right now and how you live right now. It's an impressive analysis of humanity.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 11, 2019

A cynical part of me that thinks it's almost too perfect... I'll give him this much: He nails it. I'm not sure he could have delivered a better special for this moment.

| Jul 11, 2019

By framing the new special around his personal story, and also trimming and refining some weak spots, his act now coheres, taking on a new force and clarity, one that represents his finest, boldest and probably most polarizing work.

| Jul 10, 2019

[T]his is still the work of a comedy veteran who channels righteous fed-up-ness and critiques obliviousness with relatable flair.

| Jul 10, 2019

Aziz Ansari: Right Now feels like necessary viewing in 2019. He makes the case that we're living in times when the knee-jerk drive to pick a side on any loaded issue can seem overwhelming.

| Jul 10, 2019

Despite some good jokes, it's hard to see Right Now as anything but a misfire -- a critique of performative wokeness that is itself a performance of atonement, one that never fully grapples with or acknowledges what it's supposedly atoning for.

| Original Score: 6.0/10 | Jul 10, 2019

Complaining about "wokeness" could easily come off as out of touch and cranky, but Ansari largely avoids that trap by cracking slyly scathing jokes.

| Jul 10, 2019

Aziz Ansari feels guilty, grateful, angry, ashamed, bewildered and chastened. He's quite funny about some of these emotions. Not so funny about others.

| Jul 10, 2019