Stand-up comic Amrita Sethi: Some men just don’t like a woman cracking jokes on them

Stand-up artiste Amrita Sethi says being a women performer she has a lot of scope in her field

Stand-up comic Amrita Sethi says women performers have a lot of scope in her field. “There’s competition, but since the number of women artistes is quite less compared to men, that gives us a greater leverage in the field,” she says.

Stand-up artiste Amrita Sethi

The comedian adds that thriving in the field isn’t easy. “It’s a tough job for sure,” she says, adding, “Men cracking jokes is a normal norm for all of us. It’s like anybody can do it and it has been happening for ages now. Weddings are the best example, where you always find that one man cracking jokes on his wife, cousins or guests. I started making jokes on my father, hence the name of my show Gareeb Baap Ki Bidgi Hui Aulad. He is such a sport, otherwise usually, men don’t take jokes on them easily.”

Ask her to explain this further and she says, “In a packed house, it’s fine. But as I love interacting with the audience, I have realised some men just don’t like a woman cracking jokes on them. If it was vice versa, I know they would have loved it. That’s what at times surprises me. But it’s okay, as people are not very used to women comics doing crowd work.”