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Comedian Aziz Ansari has a great bit in his standup routine on the truth behind factory farms that’s as funny as it is tragic. You know when Homer Simpson uttered the classic line, “It’s funny because it’s true”? Well, that basically sums up Ansari’s riff on factory farming. “You know how they make eggs? They genetically engineer chickens,” starts the former “Parks and Recreation” star who breaks down the difference between a layer chicken and a broiler chicken. “They throw the layer male chickens in a chicken wood chipper and another thing they do is stuff them in a big plastic big and suffocate them, and, yeah, it’s a bummer. None of us are into that. We all check ‘no’ on that box.” But Ansari, who is a vegan, has a plan. He thinks obscure documentaries and books aren’t doing much to illicit the mass outrage that would result in changes. Instead, he suggests CNN doing “a mad raid” at rapper Ja Rule‘s house. “And then they saw he had a massive plastic bag with which he suffocates chickens and we would all be like, ‘Ja Rule! What are you doing?'” Ansari says. “And he’d say, ‘I’m sorry! I just wanted some eggs! I had to make some ethical compromises…it’s murder!'” Next, the comedian imagines the rapper calling him up about his bit and telling him how he never knew eggs were made that way, and how he’s now suddenly interested in veganism and vegetarianism and doing PSAs against factory farming. “Every day millions of chickens are in tiny cages the size of a piece of paper. They’re sh*ting all over each other in these disease-ridden factory farms,” Ansari says as Ja Rule. “This the meat we put in our mouths! This is the meat we put in our children’s mouths! If you think the government should regulate the meat industry: holla! holla!” The act is very funny, and puts a comical and relatable spin on an important issue that needs to be discussed publicly more often. If Ja Rule doing PSAs will spread the word on the horrific nature of factory farms, we wholeheartedly approve! Regardless, we definitely give a “holla” to Ansari’s act.
