"Parks and Recreation" actor Aziz Ansari, who recently signed a book deal, has announced that he'll be releasing his third stand-up special, "Buried Alive," straight to Netflix on Nov. 1. The special is based on his current comedy tour of the same name.
In 2012, Ansari released his second stand-up special, "Dangerously Delicious," direct-to-consumers, charging $5 per download following Louis C.K.'s highly successful model. Ansari will again release his special via the same method, but will make it available on Netflix first. Echoing "House of Cards" star Kevin Spacey's recent comments, Ansari told the New York Times that Netflix "seems like it’s the closest delivery service of media we have that actually matches up to our preferences and expectations."
And Netflix is just as excited about hosting Ansari. The Times reports that Ansari's release "will be the biggest stand-up special distributed by Netflix to date," as the online streaming company continues to expand into releasing original content. From the Times:
Netflix has comedy specials by Marc Maron and Kathleen Madigan in the works. Mr. Ansari’s show is unlike those before it, a Netflix spokeswoman said, because the company intends to put a significant promotional campaign behind “Buried Alive,” billing it as original programming on par with “Arrested Development” or “Orange Is the New Black.”
“We’ve been working to make Netflix a great home for comedians to do their best work and to support their live performance careers, and having Aziz debut his new show with us is a validation of that strategy,” Ted Sarandos, the chief content officer for Netflix, said in an e-mail.
The material for Ansari's special, in a similar vein as his upcoming book about how technology has changed dating, will focus on "the differences between the friends his age who are getting married and having children, and himself, a commitment-phobic comedian," according to the Times.
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