In addition to playing Amy Poehler’s rival Tom Haverford in Parks and Recreation, comedian Aziz Ansari has had roles in a trio of major comedies this year: I Love You, Man, Observe and Report, and now Judd Apatow’s latest, Funny People, in which he plays the sex-obsessed comedian Raaaaaaaaaaaandy! The hilarious mockumentaries Ansari stars in as his alter ego have been viral sensations, and have introduced him as a comedic talent to be reckoned with. We caught up with South Carolina-born funnyman at Montreal’s Just For Laughs comedy festival, and found out that two of the major challenges of his life is writing new stand-up material and renting cars that are not PT Cruisers.

You’re at the end of your comedy tour here in Montreal. Have you been tailoring your show to the audience? My venue is across the street from a place called the Pussy Corps. C-O-R-P-S, like the one that’s deployed to Iraq. So you obviously have to comment on things like that.

The stand-up comedian you play in Funny People, Randy, has kind of developed into a full-fledged alter ego. What’s the main difference between you and him? Randy is an idiot that just talks about getting his dick sucked. I don’t talk about that much at all. I have neither a dance nor a DJ, nor any catchphrases that I know of. My stories are more about, like, walking down the street and running into a guy with a clipboard. Randy’s stories are about eating pussy in a hot tub.

Tell me about his act. I just filmed my hour special for Comedy Central. I did all my material and then at the end I did an abbreviated Randy special. So, like, I come out: there’s a DJ, dancers, smoke machines. There’s this huge sign that says “RANDY” with 8 a’s, and a big arrow pointing at me. When I finish the set I’m like, “Ladies and Gentlemen, my name’s Randy, good night!” And we had cannons that just shot money at the audience. You know like Coldplay, there’s confetti that falls on the audience slowly? Here, there’s a bunch of money.

So people definitely know when you’re in character. Yeah. When I did the special I came out in a sequin suit, sequin shoes. It’s kind of a weird thing when you try to do stuff that’s supposed to be bad. But when I do it, the reaction is people are laughing at it.

What’s the hardest thing about standup? Writing new material. The thing people don’t realize is it takes so long to write a joke and refine it to where it’s super strong. And then once you do it, no one wants to hear it again. People come to my shows and they’ve seen bootlegs. Like, I’ll do a show two weeks ago and someone has just bootlegged the whole thing and put it on YouTube. And then they watch all those clips and they’re like, “Yo man, you did all the same jokes!” So it’s hard to keep up.

You worked with Judd Apatow on Funny People. What was that like? I’d worked with Seth [Rogan] and Jonah [Hill], but I’d never worked with him before. I think the coolest thing about Judd is how collaborative it is. The first time I came to him, he told me what he thought about Randy: “I want him really confident and cocky.” And he’s like, “What do you think?” And we just started bouncing ideas off each other, fleshing out the character. A lot of people talk about the improvising stuff, but it’s more writing on the fly and figuring out scenes while we’re shooting them—on set, and we chat in between takes or in our trailers or whatever. It’s a very focused process.

You made a name for yourself with the MTV sketch comedy show Human Giant. Are you still in contact with those guys? We’re all in touch, the four of us. The thing that happened with us was we were offered a third season but we all kind of had other commitments. At the end of the second season I was kind of, “Oh, maybe I want to do something a little more grounded.” And then I met with the Parks and Recreation guys and that came together. But we’re working on getting the second season DVD out there and I’m sure we’ll work on something in the future.

Random question: what do you think about PT Cruisers? You know, before I moved to LA I’d have to rent cars when I went there. And I’d always get a fucking PT Cruiser. It’s the worst. It’s a glorified go-cart with an ugly shell on top. It’d be better if you got a go-cart because then it’d be like, “Whoa, that guy’s a badass. He’s driving on the highway in a go-cart.” Instead, you look like you’re an idiot soccer mom.

Ever not been given a PT Cruiser at a rental agency? One time I got a Chevy Lumina or something. I was like sweet, no PT Cruiser, and there’s an auxiliary input for my iPod. Awesome. And then of course someone smashes the window and steals my iPod, so I gotta drive it back. And I give it to the shop and I’m like, “I need a new car.” They’re like, “Well, all we got’s this buddy here.” Bright blue PT Cruiser. A blue you don’t see anywhere else. The only blue I can compare it to is Superman’s costume. I don’t know who likes that car. You get made fun of when you valet. They don’t sell. They all go to rental agencies.

You’ve been collaborating with some of the biggest names in comedy. Who do you want to work with next? Kevin Costner. No, it’s the usual names. I haven’t done anything with Steve Carell or Tina Fey yet, and I think they’re great. I like Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg. I love Jody Hill, Danny McBride and Ben Best. We’re all from the South—they’re from North Carolina and I’m from South Carolina—so I’ve always been really into their comedy.

How come? When I saw their first film, The Foot Fist Way, I was like, “Wow, that’s the town I grew up in.” There’s a cookie-cutter version of a southern town, and you see that everywhere. It’s just like: “Alright, well the Applebee’s is over here in Murphysboro, but in Bennettsville the Applebee’s is on this side of the street, but in Hartsville we’re gonna put it over here, next to the Chili’s—just, like, these seven different shitty chains moved around in different places. No one had hit hat in comedy.

Maybe southern comedy is the next big thing, the way southern hip hop was. We’re like Ludacris.

But you haven’t exactly defined yourself as a southern comic. I’m not as interested in, like, “Oh, I’m an Indian guy in the south.” I’d rather do something like Eastbound and Down and be a prick who lives in the South.

For a nice guy, you seem to play assholes pretty often. I do. You know, I need to start doing a bunch of things where I’m super nice to people. I can do that too!

And you still have a blog, right? Yeah, I post stuff every now and then. It’s a dumb thing to do when you’re bored, I guess, and you keep in touch with people. It’s just something I enjoy, like listening to music. I’m not just trying to market myself. I’d hate to come off like that.

But you majored in marketing at NYU. Are you over it? Marketing is kind of a silly major. It’s just coming up with jargon for common sense. I got good grades and stuff, but I was just doing standup all the time. I did it because I was too lazy to transfer to the film school. But it all worked out.