A power outage forced comedian Aziz Ansari to finish his set in the dark Monday night.

Nashville Electric Service confirmed a downed power line in the Melrose area affected more than 3,700 customers—including all of Eighth Avenue South where Ansari was performing at a sold-out Zanies show.

"He was doing the show when the power went out," attendee Chloe Shah said after the set finished. "He was on for probably an hour and a half, and most of the time it was in the dark."

Residents reported the power went out about 7:35 p.m. and affected an area south of downtown Nashville, including Berry Hill and Melrose.

The show must go on

Ansari ended up doing an unamplified set for most of the show, Shah said, before someone handed him a battery-operated microphone.

His security team came out with flashlights to use as makeshift spotlights, before Ansari grabbed one and handed it to Shah's husband, Saumil, to shine on him.

"He found a fellow Indian and trusted him with the spotlight," Saumil Shah joked.

As soon as it became clear that the blackout had spread beyond the club, the Zanies staff brought candles and flashlights into the crowd of approximately 250 people, Chloe Shah said.

Power back on

Monday's later shows were canceled, according to Zanies employee Chesney Hensley, but the club has already rescheduled the 11:30 show and was working out the details for the other show.

"We're still in the process of figuring it out, but we will let everybody know as soon as we have the information for them," Hensley said. "We did the best we could, we made the first show work with everything that was happening."

The NES media team reported crews were on scene trying to find the source of the outage and repair lines that were sitting on Interstate 65. Residents reported the lights came back on around 9:15 p.m.

Even thought the whole block was unlit, the Shahs said people were still lined up outside the comedy club, waiting for a show in the dark.

Reach Mariah Timms at mtimms@tennessean.com or 615-259-8344 and on Twitter @MariahTimms.