He studied graphic design at theUniversity of Texas at Dallas, graduating in 2000. In 1998, he created the university's mascot Temoc, a flame-haired anthropomorphic comet originally named "Blaze."[9][10]
Aryanpur first performed stand-up in 2002,[11][12] and became a full-time comic in 2013.[13] His material is often about his family life as a father and husband. Jeremy Hallock of theDallas Observer has noted that Aryanpur's style, typified by long-form stories with an "impeccable sense of rhythm", avoids the lack of edginess associated with family comedy by "capturing the anger and frustration that goes with the territory while making it hilarious".[14] He usually does not focus on his ethnicity in his comedy,[15][16] although he has stated that "One of the reasons I wanted to do stand-up at the beginning was to give voice to that [Iranian-American] part of myself."[1] Critic Amy Martin of TheaterJones has stated that Aryanpur's comedy gains an extra level due to his "ability to be serious. ... Audiences respond to the sense of coiled power and solid equilibrium. Aryanpur emanates a gravity that draws them in. ... Relaying his everyman frustrations with dry, precise humor, Aryanpur's thought-provoking observations convey clever wordplay and logical twists."[3]
In 2002, he was invited by fellow comics Raj Sharma andPaul Varghese to join their Indians at the Improv tour, a first for Indian-American stand-ups.[17] Aryanpur himself is not Indian but of Iranian descent, but was invited because, as Aryanpur said jokingly in an interview, "they looked around for Indian comics and ran out after only two," but needed a third for the tour's theme to work. Varghese also joked to one interviewer that "I said, 'I know this Iranian guy, his name ends with -pur. Close enough.'"[1]
Aryanpur won the 2012 Funniest Comic in Texas contest.[6][15][18][19]
TheDallas Observer has frequently singled him out for praise, most notably by naming him the city's best comic in 2017.[20] It also included him in a list of "10 Dallas Comedians You Need to Know" in 2015,[14] and profiled him in the "100 Dallas Creatives" series in 2014.[21] The newspaper noted that his success has helped the city as a whole, saying "Aryanpur is one of the reasons why Dallas has a comedy scene."[22]
His 2016 debutIn Spite Of reached No. 10 on theBillboard comedy chart August 10, 2016,[35] and No. 1 on the iTunes comedy chart.[36][20]In Spite Of is a live recording of a set at Hyena's Comedy Club in Dallas in 2015.[36][11][37][22]
His 2018 albumEmployee of the Day is an exploration of fatherhood from both sides, juxtaposing Aryanpur's life with his children and his father, who died shortly after the recording of the album.[38] Richard Lanoie of The Serious Comedy Site calledEmployee "excellent through and through" and that Aryanpur was "immediately likable."[39] The album cover features Aryanpur's own illustration.[1]
His cartooning work includes the stripsNext Window Please,[38][40] andBite the Bullet.[41] He often draws caricatures of other comedians.[2] He has also created posters for comics including J.T. Habersaat andEddie Pepitone.[42] He has worked in the advertising industry as a creative director.[3]
