On June 9, when comedian Aashish Solanki uploaded the final episode of his roast comedy series, Pretty Good Roast Show, featuring influencer and actor Kusha Kapila, it unfurled a controversy that hasn’t still died down almost three months later.
In the video uploaded on YouTube, as per the show’s format, when comic Samay Raina got up on the stage to roast Kapila, some bits of what he said were censored—with a disclaimer that read, “Some jokes had to be removed because we were not ready for them.”
Others that did make the cut were misogynistic jokes about Kapila’s recent divorce and weight loss. Even as rumours floated on the internet about the censored jokes, well-meaning folks called the comedian out for his ‘objectionable humour’.
Weeks later, in a statement, Kapila mentioned that “some jokes straight up dehumanised me. It was shockingly unkind.”
Offence is an inherent part of the routine in comedy. But when it crosses the unsaid boundaries, there are repercussions, sometimes regrets. Not seemingly in Raina’s case, though.
In an Instagram story, while doing an ‘Ask me anything’, when Raina was asked for his take on ‘Reddit girlies crying on the jokes you didn’t even crack’, the comic response was: “They’re a bunch of jealous low-lifers. Some day when this is old news I will release those stupid roast jokes and they will be the first ones to apologise to me for getting ‘triggered’ and spewing hate based on false information.”
Raina isn’t the only comedian who has been criticised for his insensitive jokes or lack of ‘political correctness’. There have been many others.
In 2021, comedian and actor Vir Das was also called out for his transphobic jokes. In a set, Das had said, “Transpeople have the courage to discard an organ if it isn’t working properly (…) it just means that your kids will have a longer chapter in school when they learn pronouns.”
A 2024 study in the European Journal of Humour Research says, “Humour has always interacted with social hierarchies or dimensions of power.” And what’s now combatting against it? Political correctness.
But, contrary to what some people will have you believe—that political correctness is killing comedy—the art form is “quite alive and kicking,” says Shreeja Chaturvedi, a 30-year-old Mumbai-based stand-up comedian.
“Offence is part of comedy, I don’t think it will stop comedy in its tracks. Sure it may cause us to reassess our jokes or takes, but that’s not necessarily bad,” she says.
The only rule: Punching up
Ask any comedian what their main intent through their work is, and the answer you’ll receive is that to make the audience laugh. Very rarely would their intention be to provoke a reaction— whether of shock or surprise.
But that doesn’t mean that in the time it takes to “reach the perfect way to craft what we want to say,” comedians don’t say the wrong things, says Chaturvedi, adding, “It takes time to form a comedy set, and that process might include phases of saying the wrong things to get to the right one.”
Daahab Chishti, a Delhi-based comic who’s been in the circuit for over six years now, agrees. Her funda while working on her set is writing about something that is her truth in any sense of the word, which she feels helps the audience connect with her jokes in an organic way.
She adds that it’s of course the responsibility of the comic to also use the right words while building what the audience might find a “relatable narrative.”
However, the focus for a comic should be expressing their own voice rather than preemptively considering what the audience might find acceptable or objectionable, says Aanchal Agrawal, a 32-year-old Mumbai-based comedian.
For Mohammed Hussain, 29-year-old stand-up comedian from Mumbai, this rings true too. He derives his comedy from the absurdity of any event he observes. He’s not consciously trying to be politically correct, he says. That, of course, doesn’t mean though that he’ll use derogatory terms in any set. That limitation is pretty basic, he adds.
But does the fear of saying something that could be construed as controversial hold comics back?
Not all restrictions are bad
Chishti says there are two sides to the coin when it comes to this. Some comedians have for long now taken the liberty to punch down on people in the name of light humour, and it’s good that the audience now doesn’t take it lying down.
But she does say that there is also no dearth of folks (who think they are woke but are actually not) who try to check a comic’s freedom of speech “political correctness ka choga pehen ke.”
“Political correctness has put some reasonable restrictions on us. But we, of course, still can talk about anything and everything. Those who tell you otherwise are people who write only objectionable things,” laughs Chishti.
For Agrawal though, the “pressures of political correctness,” sometimes mean overthinking her jokes—which she says can take out the fun and spontaneity out of what makes comedy enjoyable in the first place.
But yes, what comedians do have in place now are quality checks for their material—for instance Abishek Kumar, a Bengaluru-based comic who’s been doing comedy for over five years now, has two parameters for every set he writes. One, it shouldn’t say anything insensitive, politically incorrect, or humiliate anyone. And second, it should be humorous.
Kumar’s golden words while performing are: “You have a responsibility to be aware and conscious. You can’t be oblivious.”
The go-to rule, says Kumar, should be that they be open to feedback and to evolving with their audience. Being rigid or stubborn is not going to help anyone, he says.
Interestingly, there have been jokes that have been called out for both parameters that Kumar follows—for being unfunny and insensitive at the same time. In 2021, comedian Neville Shah made a casteist remark about the reservation and quota system, saying the same shouldn’t be there in the medical setup. Understandably, it blew up and was criticised.
The other side
On the other hand, there is also the undeniable reality that when certain jokes can be taken out of context—with the internet lacking nuance and what not—and the repercussions can be scary, laments Agrawal.
And as it turns out, the less talked about reason why comedy is suffering in India is not the political correctness or wokeness of the comedian, it’s the response of some people in the online (and sometimes offline) audience.
Chaturvedi agrees with Agrawal. He says, “What ‘kills comedy’ is threatening comedians, implying physical harm, and harassing them and their family. This is a summary of any comment section right now, especially on jokes made by female comedians.”
To top it off, the bigger problem is that it’s not in your control who you offend. Hussain says he has performed jokes on his Muslim identity and received hate from some Muslims about the material.
For him, the realisation is also present that being politically correct would mean different things to different people. He explains, “Being politically correct doesn’t water down my material or the way I think and that is easy. Being liked by everyone, now that is the hard part.”
So is there a way out that works for both the audience and the comic? “Yes,” Kumar almost yells in excitement over the phone, adding, “Stop taking comedians so seriously, we are only making jokes. Don’t overanalyse it, don’t try to give each word we utter a deeper meaning. Just laugh if it’s funny.”