terrible blogger

PLAYBOY: On Parks and Recreation you play a small-town government employee named Tom Haverford. Like you, Tom is from South Carolina, and despite being Indian, he calls himself a redneck. Do you consider yourself a redneck?

ANSARI: I prefer to think of myself as a Southerner. I definitely have a huge affinity for Southern food. Not so much the racial issues. It’s a weird balance. We’ve got delicious fried chicken, but the Confederate flag also hangs outside the statehouse. That’s a compromise I’m willing to make. If somebody said to me, “Every day you’re gonna be called the N word, but you’ll also get a delicious fried chicken leg and a biscuit,” I’d be like, “I’ll take that trade!”

PLAYBOY: Tom has a pickup technique called “peacocking,” in which he wears something ridiculous, such as a raccoon hat, to make women notice him. Is that just crazy enough to work?

ANSARI: I got the idea from the Neil Strauss book The Game. And that stuff works, man! If you go to a club and some dude’s wearing a weird thing, people will go up and talk to him. I haven’t seen anyone take it to Tom’s level, of wearing a raccoon hat. But I’m telling you, if it’s cold outside and you pop a raccoon hat on your head and go to a bar, people will pay attention to you. Even if they’re pointing at you, laughing and saying, “Look at that goofy asshole,” they still want to talk to you. You’re halfway there!