South India is not just the land of Carnatic Music and Rajnikant (like most North Indian perceive); it is also the land of awesome comedy, with of course, a touch of South Indian-ness to it! From the music culture to the Mylapore mamis, from Bangalore Traffic to even politics, there is nothing ‘conservative’ about these comedians down South.
Aravind SA
This guy is a class apart. His jokes are not only believable, but his whole demeanour is so likeable. Every time, he is up on the stage, the hooting and the laughing from the audience never stops. Be it his act on long distance relationships or the one on dressing sense of Indians – he tells it like it is. His best act so far has to be the one where he decodes the song ‘Lungi Dance’ from a South Indian’s perspective, more so from a Tamilian’s perspective and trust us when we say that you might actually fall of your chair laughing while watching this one.
Karthik Kumar
“People from North India, my name is Karthik Kumar, with an H in the middle”. That’s right people. This lad from Chennai is breaking all myths people ever had of South India, through his numerous acts. If the stand-up comedy scene in South India is prominent now, it is because of him. He started Evam way back in 2003, with his friend Sunil Vishnu, which was mainly into theatre. They forayed into stand-up in 2010, when it was unheard of down South. Since then, there has been no looking back and people down South have no qualms of laughing at themselves anymore. His first stand-up Poke Me, is one of his best.
Praveen Kumar
Yet another Kumar and this one is as hilarious as the other one. His style of comedy is rather different though, where his jokes come in the way of a casual conversation and that one sentence or word sticks with you. His act on Education and Raising kids does just that; where he asks the crowd “How many educated people here?” and then he goes on to say, “I was just checking if there were any Delhi people in the crowd!” …LOL! Watch his hilarious take on the subject here.
Alexander Babu
He is a Christian and a stand-up comedian; when he combines both into his acts, it is nothing but a laughter riot. Alex, as he is called, is easy to connect to as his acts brings characters to life, whom we would have also met and interacted with, at some point in our lives. A proof to this is the act on ‘Mamas, Minorities and Music’; his mimicry of a Mama (South Indian uncle) hits the right spot and you can see how the audience bursts out in laughter, including the other mamas present there!
Jagdish Chaturvedi
“I was born in Bangalore and raised in traffic” – that’s how this doctor-cum- stand up introduces himself in every act. Every time he does so, he gets a roaring laughter from the audience. He has put laughter therapy to the best use possible. He uses a mix of Hindi, Kannada and English in most of his acts and that is why people from anywhere can relate to his performance. Here is one act where he talks about Bangalore traffic and road rage – simply amusing!