Gone are the days when comedians conjured up the names of a select, almost revered short list of actors – Jagdeep, Keshto Mukherjee, Tuntun. The dawn of reality shows has enlarged this horizon immensely, and today new names are making it to your drawing rooms almost every other day. Popular as their earlier counterparts, they look set to provide competition to other programmes on television. Making producers and advertisers look at them with more than just a laugh!

Laughter on air

The Indian television industry witnessed a revolution three years back, when The Great Indian Laughter Challenge (GILC) hit the screens on Star One and stand-up comedy was introduced into the small screen. The season one of GILC was a huge hit (as per TAM India, the average of 10 episodes is 2.2 TVR). Ravi Menon, Executive Vice-President, GM, Star One, shares, ?As laughter has a larger appetite, it?s a sure shot content to air on the channels. It has a stronger routine and the TRP (television rating point) guarantee is attached to it.?

Remember your favourite comedy serials such as Mungerilal Ke Haseen Sapne, Dekh Bhai Dekh, Hum Paanch and many others? ?Earlier there were only sit-coms (situational comedies) such as Hum Paanch, Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai. But laughter shows have established humour as a non-fiction format,? informs Menon.

Corroborating this, Gurdip Bhangoo, Programming Head, Sony Entertainment Television (SET), says the acceptance of stand-up comedy is tough and making such shows requires good scripting, sharp, witty dialogues and talented artistes with perfect comedy timing to take it to the next level. ?Comedy has always created a niche for itself, both in films and television. Pioneering shows such as Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, Dekh Bhai Dekh on Doordarshan are still fondly remembered by the viewers,? he adds.

Why are laughter shows popular? According to Bhangoo, ?Comedy can be made as one-off shows, but consistently doing it like in the case of Comedy Circus goes to show the popularity of the show among viewers, advertisers and the keen interest shown by the actors performing comedy.?

Raju Shrivastav, a quintessential stand-up comedian for the past 25 years, whose appeal lies in his ability to remark on the absurdities of daily life, talks about how Raju Haazir Ho! on NDTV Imagine is different from other reality shows, ?In Raju Haazir Ho!, there are no judges, no elimination. And it doesn?t give any task to the viewers. There is no wild card entry as well. It?s just for fun ? the viewers can watch it and laugh along. Here no one loses and no one wins.? Software professional Rohit Chaudhary never misses out on a laughter reality show and shares, ?I switch on the television and surf till I get a laughter show on any of the channels. After a day?s work, I need my dose of laughter.?

A broad platform

The platform not only has offered Hindi films as well as regional films to the stand-up comedians but also has given them a chance to perform in the international platform. A case in point being Ehsaan Quereshi, a stand-up comedian, who?s doing laughter shows for 23 years. He says that GILC has given him an identity that is altogether different. ?I got acting offers that did commercially well. Also, I did stage shows in 12 countries and established myself as an international identity.? Apart from this, ?I am doing TV shows such as Chinchpokali to China on SET. Bhanbnao ko Samjho is the next movie where people will get to find all their favourites, 54 stand-up comedians, starting from Johney Lever to Kapil Sharma including Raju, Ehsaan, Naveen Prabhakar,? adds Quereshi.

Laughter DVDs are a hit too. ?Fans on the cruise also get their share of laughter from these DVDs that are a compilation of the live laughter telecasts,? says RajKumar Javkar, better known as ?Raja Rancho? (the monkey puppet) in television. ?Stand-up comedians are now hosting their own shows who used to act as fillers in the orchestras,? Javkar adds.

TRP talks

Can the TRPs of other reality shows be compared with the laughter shows? Bhangoo rues, ?Comedy shows have always been popular across all age groups. However, they cannot be compared with dancing, singing and game-based reality shows that have their own positioning and TG (target group). ?Ratings and numbers are part of programming and a good show will invariably garner ratings,? he adds. Talking about Hello Kaun! Pehchaan Kaun?, Menon adds, ?Hello?has opened up with close to two TVRs (television viewer ratings). It?s the number one non-fiction show on Star One.?

Mimicry vs laughter<>

Menon explains the subtle difference between laughter and mimicry, ?Laughter is all about making people laugh and it produces stand-up comedians. But Hello… is completely different. It?s about how closely a person can imitate someone. It?s a hunt for the best mimicry artist.? About Comedy Circus, Bhangoo says, ?It is a unique concept where renowned stand up comedians from India and Pakistan were paired with Indian TV characters to give viewers loads of fun.?

A laugh race

Like soaps across the channels, do laughter shows also compete with one another? Menon answers, ?There is no competition at all as the concept of Hello? is completely different.

If we look at the other laughter shows, it?s the formula that GILC started three years back. But Hello? is another brand new idea. We have already had four seasons of GLIC and we are going to have the fifth season shortly. You can see that others are following suit,? Menon adds.

Bhangoo differs, pointing out that while Comedy Circus competes with other comedy shows, it has created a niche as a top-rated comedy show. He adds Hello?is a recent launch and the competition is yet to be decided.

And with growing number of laughter shows, the format is changing. Informs Quereshi, ?Earlier, in GILC, we used to perform solo. In Kaante ki Takkar, people performed as duets. Now, with Chichpokali to China, comedians are performing in groups.?

Looking into the future, Quereshi sums up, ?As long as the scripts are new, the public will go gaga over it – be it comedy or mimicry. As everyone does want to laugh!?