Aziz Ansari’s ‘Parks And Recreation’ Cred Didn’t Help Him At A Joe Biden Meet And Greet

One of the things we’ll miss most about the Obama presidency is The Onion‘s coverage of Vice President Joe Biden, which paints the veep as a bitchin’ bro who’s down for anything, like selling bootleg t-shirts in the DNC parking lot and washing his Trans Am on the White House lawn. It’s ridiculous, sure, but you get the feeling that it’s not that far off from reality. And based on a new anecdote from Aziz Ansari, it turns out that Biden is pretty much as goofy as you’d expect in real life.

Ansari dropped by The Tonight Show on Wednesday and shared a story with host Jimmy Fallon about the time he attended a state dinner at the White House honoring five Nordic countries. “Usually you have some sort of connection” to the countries involved, Ansari explained of his curious invite. ” … I think they invited me to an Indian one and I was out of town or something, so they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, just come to this Swedish one.'” The actor admitted he was starstruck by many of the political luminaries at the event, but when he spotted Biden, he thought he had an in, since the vice president had previously cameoed on Ansari’s late beloved sitcom, Parks and Recreation.

It turns out that didn’t exactly work, though, since Ansari and his mother ended up having to wait in a long line to say their hellos, and were held up even longer by an overly chatty woman ahead of them who talked the VP’s ear off, and then asked Biden to make a phone call to her friend to “freak him out.” Surely the veep has better uses for his time, right? Not so much, according to Ansari.

“Joe Biden’s like, ‘Why not? I’ve got nothing else going on,'” the actor joked about the VP agreeing to humor the odd request.

Ansari and his mother eventually got their face time with Biden, though, and all was well. But let this be a lesson to us all: If you have a chance to meet the veep and are looking for a new outgoing voicemail message, Biden’s your man.

(Via: The Tonight Show)

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