Jokes apart...

English stand-up comedy has come of age in a country where censorship is rife and people are easily offended.

October 18, 2014 04:32 pm | Updated May 23, 2016 07:40 pm IST

Aditi Mittal

Aditi Mittal

When she first went on stage, she thought she was ‘awesome’ and ‘killing it’. But, as the evening progressed, she realised that the audience had laughed at just two jokes. “It was like a funeral,” says Aditi Mittal of her first attempt at stand-up comedy. “But, the two jokes that they laughed at kept me going. I was talking about being fat and falling in love. Generally, there are euphemisms for fat boys — ‘Oh, he is such a teddy bear’ or something like that — but I realised there are none for fat girls. The most they can say is ‘Oh, she is healthy.’ I spoke about this at the gig, the audience laughed and I thought: ‘You’ve laughed and got me excited about being a stand-up comedian and now I’m going to keep doing it!’”

This is how it all began around six years ago, when some people in India, including Mittal, began to make it their business — and living — to articulate these weird, specific, yet absolutely familiar feelings and bring out the humour in them.

English stand-up comedy today has taken advantage of a whole range of feelings that have been pillaged, mostly from urban settings. For instance, it could be the insignificant but tangible irritation that you feel when the person sitting behind you at a movie continuously kicked your seat. Or the time you realised that even 100 per cent marks may not get you a seat in a college in Delhi. Or, even something as specific as the mix of bewilderment and amusement that you experienced when you watched — for the first time, and then every single time after that — the ensemble cast of Hum Saath Saath Hain break into a song (a really catchy one at that) whose lyrics go ‘A,b,c,d,e,f, g,h,i...’

Today, you may drive across town to a restaurant or an auditorium to watch a stand-up comedian perform in your city or plug in your earphones and stroll through the virtual bystreets of YouTube to watch a plenitude of sketches online. Or, even become a comedian yourself by participating in an open-mic night at a nearby pub.

But it wasn’t always like this. “Around four years ago, there were not that many avenues for stand-up comedy,” says Mittal. “Back then, it was the question of getting stage time. We have taken trains for one plate of garlic bread. We had to produce our own shows. The responsibility was on us and it was enormous. Today, it is fairly easy. There are more avenues and many more people are willing to attend gigs. The scene has developed mainly because of the enterprising nature of the comedians themselves.”

The other factor that made and continues to make a significant contribution is the Internet. “It is the single best thing to happen to stand-up comedy. We do not have the budget for traditional marketing tools like advertisements in newspapers and radio. Social media, therefore, helps us promote our gigs and sketches free of cost,” says Rohan Joshi, a member of All India Bakchod (AIB), a group that shot to fame in recent years for its live gigs and online podcasts. “AIB is a company that was created online!” he adds.

So, now, perhaps, is indeed a fantastic time to be an English stand-up comedian in the country. Comedian and writer Sorabh Pant, in fact, brings it down to the current year specifically. “Even as recent as 2013, when I was doing corporate shows, some people were uncomfortable with certain jokes. But now there are audiences that ask for ‘dirtier’ jokes,” he argues.

Forget ‘dirtier’ jokes. During one of their initial performances, Evam Stand-up Tamasha had to pacify a member of the audience who was offended that the performers consistently poked fun at TamBrahms (Tamil brahmins). “The others in the audience came to our rescue. For instance, a Sikh gentleman spoke about how he cracks ‘Sardarji jokes’ all the time. Over the years, people have learnt to laugh at themselves,” says Bhargav Ramakrishnan of Evam.

Conceivably then, it is the dawn of an audience that is willing to take a joke on themselves and even laugh at things that they traditionally considered sacrilege.

Much before the English scene blossomed, the regional stand-up comedy circuit reached its apogee on television some years ago with shows like ‘The Great Indian Laughter Challenge’ on Star One, for instance. Even today, shows like ‘Comedy Nights with Kapil’ have an everyday audience. And, local stand-up shows in Tamil and Telugu have occupied regional television space as well. English stand-up artists say that there can be no comparison between the two circuits. “The Hindi stand-up scene, for instance, is way bigger. The reach is much more. It is infinitely wider. For instance, we can never compete with Johnny Lever’s following,” says Joshi.

Also, the audience for the two circuits is vastly different. “The audience for English stand-up comedy has watched American and British sketches and shows on the internet which consists of some of the filthiest, edgiest stuff. The genre has modelled itself on it. English comedy is more adult — in that it is blunter, freer and more democratic. But, its reach in India is extremely small right now, albeit growing,” says Joshi.

The word ‘growing’ cannot be emphasised enough. With invitations from smaller cities, the English stand-up circuit is bound to expand soon. “This year, Lucknow and Dehra Dun will have their first ever stand-up comedy events. This is an exciting phase,” says Mittal.

Even within English stand-up, there are regional variations. Evam fashions itself as a ‘proudly South Indian’ group. “We realised what made us unique was our perspective on things. Our troupe consists mostly of people from Chennai, Bangalore and Kochi. The connecting thread in our material is our perspective, which is South Indian,” says Ramakrishnan.

Among cities too, Delhi and Mumbai are far more prolific than Chennai, for instance, says Ramakrishnan. “Stand-up comedy acts began first in Delhi and Mumbai. Like any performing art, stand-up comedy too has its roots in existing performance and art spaces and culture. Now, cities such as Bangalore and Chennai are picking up and swarming with gigs.”

With a growing following comes a natural aspiration to be a stand-up comedian. Rohan talks about the genesis of this aspiration: “There are two strategies you can adopt in telling a joke,” says Joshi. “One is to offer a new perspective on something — something that your audience has never thought of. The second is to tell people something they already knew but never said. The aspiration to be a stand-up comedian comes from the thought ‘Hey! I’ve had these same thoughts’.”

Pant, who also trains upcoming stand-up artists, believes that the process of honing new talent has become slower. “There are a lot of youngsters who think if you get on stage and use a couple of swear words, you get attention and that is good enough. We got into it because we love telling a joke. It is not for the shock value of what we say but the humour in it,” he warns.

Echoing a similar point of view, Cyrus Broacha, who would be considered a ‘veteran’ of sorts in the field, feels “While there is so much more potential for stand-up comedy today, I feel that, in terms of material, a lot of them use sexual content as an easy way out.”

Writing for stand-up comedy is something that needs to be discussed. “Comedy is one of the most precise things. Sometimes it all comes down to the number of words. Its consumption is also momentary and not continuous. One of the things I’ve gotten into the practise of is to wake up in the morning and just write. There is no substitute for that,” says Mittal.

Does writing for stand-up also need to be sensitive to those who take offence? Yes, says Pant who feels that, despite a growing audience, it isn’t easy being a comedian in a country where censorship and ability to offend are factors that one needs to seriously consider while making a joke. “In India, there is always a chance that if you crack a joke that happens to offend a particular community, you may be beaten up or even killed. No joke is worth death. So, yes, we do tread on the path of caution and practice a certain amount of self-censorship,” says Pant.

Mittal offers a different take. Once the audience laughs, she says, they are as complicit as you. “This is the reason I privilege the live element in stand-up comedy. It is sacred. The audience that laughs at your joke is as guilty as you. The Internet, in contrast, lives forever. What is up there is going to remain there forever,” she says.

Broacha adds a third side. “In my experience, the aam aadmi is hardly touchy about jokes cracked on him but a well-known person generally tends to be touchy and conscious about how they look. We’ll have to work around it.”

Finally, ask what plagues stand-up comedy right now and ‘nothing, really’ comes the prompt answer. “There are opportunities and money is being pumped in too. The downside will be when someone gets arrested. And, that too for something really stupid,” says Pant.

Years later, when the history of English stand-up comedy gets written, Pant hopes that comedians like him will be counted as father or mother figures. “We are about 30 of us, established comedians who pretty much made it happen in the country. I hope we are considered the patrons of stand-up in India. You know, the first show that you’ve ever watched — however good or bad — will always stay in your memory.”

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