Abhay Kumar Sharma, 24, is a specially-abled stand-up comedian, someone who feels he turned his being specially-abled into his strength.
“I was among the top -seven participants in The Great Indian Laughter Challenge (2017). Judges and audience appreciated my performance and that’s why I was able to climb the ladder of success. I am fully visually challenged since birth, but I don’t consider it as my weakness or a desire to gain sympathy. I have made my shortcoming turn into my strength,” he says.
He was in city with co-participant Hemant Pandey from Kanpur and poet Shambhu Shikhar from Bihar.
Sharma also earned praise from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Modi ji had come to Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW) campus in Varanasi where I presented a skit on his Maan Ki Baat. The PM praised my performance and motivated me,” says Sharma, a student of political science from Banaras Hindu University.
He feels that had the Covid pandemic not happened, he would have established himself in his career.
“After my reality show, I had started getting shows. However, then pandemic happened and everything came to a standstill. Now, that I have again got an opportunity with India’s Laughter Champion I won’t let this opportunity go. I want to make my own standing in the comedy scene on the basis of my talent and not on anyone’s sympathy,” says Sharma.