Who’s making you smile today and how? As platforms change and new faces take to open mics practically every weekend, six stand-up comedians tell us who’s the funniest among the new comics.
Sapan Verma, 28
Sapan Verma, co-founder of East India Company has done over 1,000 shows across the world and he’s seen both performers and the audience grow up over the last decade. “Around seven years ago the biggest punchlines were Rahul Gandhi, stingy Gujaratis and alcoholic Punjabis,” he says. “Now we can talk about what we want and find an audience for it.”
A joke that needs to go: Gujaratis get a lot of flak at comedy shows for being misers. That joke is overdone. So is the gag about engineers being single. The problem is that much of the audience still finds these jokes funny and comedians sometimes go for low hanging fruit.
{{/usCountry}}A joke that needs to go: Gujaratis get a lot of flak at comedy shows for being misers. That joke is overdone. So is the gag about engineers being single. The problem is that much of the audience still finds these jokes funny and comedians sometimes go for low hanging fruit.
{{/usCountry}}How to stay funny: The only way to do it is to work on new material. A lot of comedians repeat jokes for years, so if a returning audience feels like they wasted their money. I write about 45 minutes of good new material every year. So every 6 months, at least 50% of the jokes will be new.
Neeti Palta, 38
Neeti Palta, former senior creative director at an advertising firm took to stand-up in 2011, has performed across India and has seen the scene change from verbal humour to everyday issues.
“People who follow me from the beginning say that I have matured as a comedian,” she says. “Today’s audience is opinionated and bold enough to tell you what was genuinely funny and what was stereotypical. I remember a girl come backstage after my show and asking me how, as a woman, can I make fun of women. I responded saying feminism is about equality and I can make fun of women as much as I make of men.”
A joke that needs to go: No joke needs to die. We should maybe stop cracking engineer and Rahul Gandhi jokes, but someone should, many people still haven’t heard them.
How to stay funny: I follow the rule of never putting down my audience and try not to make bad natured jokes. I also stay updated with relevant topics current affairs while preparing my jokes.
Papa CJ, 40
When Papa CJ got on to the circuit in early 2009, the focus was more on live gigs than social media. “The biggest change is the impact of social media in getting comedy out there and increasing the popularity of both comedy and comedians,” he says. He has done over 2,000 shows across the world, a job unheard of in the previous generation!
A joke that needs to go: A line that I personally dislike is asking the audience to givethemselves a round of applause. Occasionally it can be patronising. Also if there are multiple comedians on the bill, it’s irritating when every single comedian gets on stage and asks if the audience is having a good time. Just get on with it, will you!
How to stay funny: I believe in spontaneous crowd interaction. There are times when 50 minutes of a one-hour show are made up on the spot. That’s exciting and challenging for me because I’m under pressure to make it funny.
Varun Thakur, 30
Varun Thakur was always the funny guy in college, but did his first large show in 2011, at Vir Das’s open mic night. There was no looking back after that. Today, he headlines comedy acts and is the founder of the SnG (Schitzengiggles) comedy collective. Corporate shows are the hardest,” he says. “You really have to work really hard to get a laugh. I remember how I had finished my joke once and was greeted with complete silence, followed by a loud burp from someone from the last row. Basically, the burp made everyone laugh and saved the day.”
A joke that needs to go: Delhi Vs Mumbai jokes.
How to stay funny: The golden rule to staying funny is keeping it casual. People are here to relate to you, so make it an easy conversation. The humour will follow.
Aditi Mittal, 31
Aditi Mittal has been doing stand-up comedy since 2010 and is one of the first female comedians in India. She’ll soon be on Netflix, with her show Things They Wouldn’t Let Me Say. She’s found that comedy has become an essential part of entertainment even in smaller cities. “For god’s sake Vizag has its own comedy scene and that is so cool!” she says. “Once in a hilarious turn of events, some extremely wasted dude took offence at a show and tried to spit on me. He reeled back and came forward with a dramatic move, but ended up soiling his own shoes and T-shirt. As for me? I ran but ran away laughing.”
A joke that needs to go: ‘Why do women take so long to dress up?’
How to stay funny: Tell the truth. Speak your heart out. If you are tanking and you know the energy in the room is dipping, talk about it and improvise.
Sorabh Pant, 35
Starting off as a TV writer, Pant went solo as a comedian in 2009, with his show ‘Pants on Fire’. He has been travelling across the country for his comedy show #RantOfThePant. “I’ve always been a political comedian,” says Pant. “But now people are easier to entertain and jokes have become tamer.” He frequently brings up topics like the beef ban and jokes about Narendra Modi or Rahul Gandhi. “People are waiting to troll you, so the trick is to work harder on your jokes to make it balanced, not avoid it entirely.”
A joke that needs to go: No joke is stale, if you give it the right spin. But community-centric ones are a tad boring.
How to stay funny: Keep getting on stage. The more you perform and churn out content, the funnier you get.