Parikh began improvising and writing sketches for the short-lived comedy troupe The Village Idiots at Brown University. In 2001 he wrote and produced his first film, The Courier Dodge, which was a finalist at the Ivy Film Festival for Best Comedy. He was awarded the Capstone at Brown for writing the feature screenplay Chess Wesley. After graduating, he lived in Brooklyn, New York, and wrote plays, one of which was produced at the Lower Tenement Theatre in Manhattan. Unable to ignore the calls of Hollywood, he moved to Los Angeles in 2004 and wrote, directed, and produced an independent television pilot called The Good Guys. This landed him his agent at the William Morris Agency. In July 2006 he founded Effinfunny.com where he produced stand-up comedy shows in Los Angeles and edited the best bits into digestible clips for the Internet and created profiles for the comedians for promotional purposes. While in Los Angeles, he was roommates with Milana Vayntrub.