In a country bitten by the Bollywood bug, stand-up comedians are making their presence felt beyond the realms of television shows such as Seinfeld and the Drew Carey Show. And the testimony to the fact can be garnered from the thumbs up from the Indian audience that the Big Laugh Festival got in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru recently.
Stand-up, a comic act that originated in the US and largely popular in the UK, is little known in India, where laughter shows dominate instead. ?Stand-up is an act that is largely misunderstood here as mimicry and party jokes. What prevails is 60% mimicry than really what you call stand-up,? says Manuj Agarwal, COO, Big Laugh. But with the video-sharing websites such as YouTube, Metacafe, Indians are identifying stand-ups from around the world. ?Indian audience has become more tolerant and what they want now is variety ? something that goes beyond Bollywood and cricket. However, the idea is also to give Indian artists a platform,? adds Agarwal, looking at the response with tickets sold before the event.
But how receptive is the audience in India towards stand-up? Canada-based Sugar Sammy, better known as Sam Khullar off stage, who came to India for the first time as an adult, picks up his stand-up topics depending on the crowd. ?In Delhi, the language was more like English and Punjabi while in Montreal, Canada, it becomes English and French. I flow from one language to the other. I?ve to take a look at the crowd and give it to the crowd. I did ask about Indians and what makes them laugh that really helped me gear up for the act,? he says adding, ?My act revolves around life, parents, extended family, different cultures, pop, politics, sex and relationship. It?s the whole picture. I observe life and if something happens, I note it down.? Sugar Sammy has appeared at the Just For Laughs Festival for four years in a row.
Like Sammy, who credits the ?atmosphere at home, funny memories and pranks? for his act, Aron Kader, based in Hollywood at the Comedy Store, looks back at his Palestinian origin for giving him so many reasons to poke fun at Americans. As Kader puts it, ?I?m a Palestinian. When I say this in the US, they say ?Palkstelia..? err?they get confused. I make fun of them. Also about people who are not funny but they like to tell jokes and tell it terribly.? Kader is a founding member of the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour, which performed between 2003 and 2007. After performing in Mumbai, Kader feels that Indians are lively, excited and curious to find out ?if we are going to make fun of them?. It was a hefty dose of Arab humour with one-liners on politics, religion, relationships, girls, guys, music from the comedian who had the crowd asking for more at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen.
Indian stand-ups on the global map ? very few ? say appreciators. You see them only on TV. As Sammy points out, Johney Lever, Sunil Pal ? you just see them on TV but they don?t tour much, which is a pity. Kader adds that apart from few names such as Indo-Canadian Russel Peters, Anand Chulani from Bengaluru etc, Indian stand-ups are not visible. The international stand-ups are famous, quite live on YouTube and social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter etc, where the fans list just adds up each day. But are Indians ready to shell out Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 for a one-and-a-half-hour show, when they have options such as movies to catch on at a comparatively low price?
The tickets range from Rs 750 to Rs 1,500, informs Agarwal of Big Laugh, adding, ?Bollywood is a staple diet. People do eat in Rs 300 but again they do spend around Rs 2,000-3,000 for a lunch or dinner once in a while. Similarly, it has to do with quality entertainment and options. Also, movies come every Friday. But there is a premium to live entertainment ? as it?s once in a month.? Ask Rajat Singh, an advocate who was in the crowd, rolling himself over Sugar Sammy?s jokes, he quips, ?It?s worth it. At least you know you are going to have a great time that one is not sure about when it comes to watching movies. And the subjects they dwelled on shows their homework is aptly done and it?s okay to pay at least when you are indeed laughing along.?
When it comes to options of entertainment, people end up dropping at a restaurant, shaking their legs at a disc or just watching TV back home, says Papa CJ, an Indian stand-up who has an international recognition, who is organising shows in India come October. ?Stand-up is there on the cards as the mindset is changing now and getting open-ended. People would love to catch a live laughter show once in a month.?
Enjoying international stand-ups live ? no longer a distant dream!