What are you waiting for? Get set to lighten up your mood and grin widely.

Amazon Funnies (Amazon Prime Video)

What better than having 14 stand-up comics working together to entertain you and spread some laughter? Amazon added a cherry on top of the cake of festivities with Amazon Funnies – Prime Day Special.  It featured a stellar line-up of 14 comedians – Sumit Sourav, Karthik Kumar, Aishwarya Mohanraj, Shreeja Chaturvedi, Nishant Tanwar, Neeti Palta, Sapan Verma, Sumukhi Suresh, Gaurav Kapoor, Urooj Ashfaq, Rahul Subramanian, Nishant Suri, Rahul Dua, and Anubhav Singh Bassi – who performed a 10-minute set every hour. They covered everything from movies to breakups, to gymming and wedding. If you haven’t watched it yet, you are missing the miniature doses of happiness.

Vir Das for India (Netflix)

After the release of two comedy specials on Netflix – Losing It and Abroad Understanding, Vir Das came up with another special ‘Vir Das for India’ early this year. The special talks about his life spent growing up in India, mentioning India’s favourite Parle G, Old Monk and chyawanprash. What’s amazing about this man is, he finds the funny side about everyday things that make us truly Indian. This special is truly special. Why? Because it is filled with some hearty laughs and nostalgia.

Yours Sincerely, Kanan Gill (Netflix)

This show is all about Kanan Gill revisiting his 15-year-old self by the means of a letter that he wrote to himself – the older-Kanan, when he was 15. He goes through the letter which included a list of goals; he evaluates his achievement count and how far he has come in life. The tone Kanan maintains throughout is certainly a poignant one, but his subtle and witty comments rolled into one leaves everyone rolling with laughter.

Comicstaan (Amazon Prime Video)

Comicstaan, both Season 1 and 2 are the reality shows that feature aspiring comics – most of them are widely recognised now. So, Comicstaan showcases the talent of budding comedians who are groomed under the guidance of Kaneez Surka, Biswa Kalyan Rath, Kanan Gill, Kenny Sebastian, Abish Mathew, Sumukhi Suresh, Zakir Khan, Neeti Patla and Urooj Ashfaq. Their comic timing and extra-ordinary sets will leave you splits. What’s more? You also get to these contestants rehearse for their shows, yes, the behind the scenes part, and how they structure a perfect laughter-inducing set.

Pushpavalli (Amazon Prime Video)

Are you looking for a comedy show and not really a stand-up special? Then Pushpavalli, both Season 1 and 2 are your go-to options. Starring Sumukhi Suresh, Pushapavalli is the story of a girl who is obsessed with a boy she has never dated. The show is laced with witty one-liners and relatable situations which will plaster a smile on your face. Sumukhi’s impeccable comic timing steals the show and she delivers a performance to remember. If you haven’t watched it yet, this show could offer you some light-hearted laughter.

The post Shun the gloom, laugh heartily with these top 5 comedy shows appeared first on Humour Sapiens.

Humour Sapiens shares some lesser known things about Kenny Sebastian!

• Kenneth Sebastian is a stand-up comedian, actor, musician, and a filmmaker. He has collaborated with many famous comedians like Kanan Gill, Phil Nicol, Scott Capurro, Kaneez Surka and Vir Das.
• Born to a Malayali family in Kerala in 1990, he was born and brought up in Bangalore, and shuttles between Mumbai and Bangalore. His father was an Indian Navy personnel
• Kenny is colour-blind and carries a bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts. He also studied painting for four years at ‘Chitrakala Parishath’.
• Kenny got into filmmaking at an early age of 15 years and has direction credits for 12 short films and 2 feature films. He also owns a production house by the name of ‘SuperHuman Studioz’.
• With no formal training in music, Kenny is an accomplished vocalist and guitarist. He also brings his guitar during his comedy gigs. He released a self-produced acoustical blues album called ‘Balance’.
• Kenny is a travel lover and has been to United States, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, London and apart from travelling through India. You can also find some of his travel vlogs on his YouTube channel.
• He got into stand-up comedy while in college when he participated in IIT Mumbai’s Mood Indigo festival and ended up winning. Not only did he receive a 10 grand cash prize, he even won a chance to perform at the ‘The Comedy Store’.
• The Improvisers – that’s India’s highest rates comedy group and Kenny is a part of it, along with Kanan Gill, Kaneez Surka, and Abish Mathew. Kenny Sebastian has also created a sketch show for Comedy Central.
• In 2016, Kenny started a monthly live video blog called ‘Chai Time with Kenny Sebastian’ wherein he interacts with the audience. The topics are usually from day to day life and discussed over a cup of tea and served with his witty takes.
• Being a huge Batman fan, Kenny owns a huge number of Batman merchandise. He even made a video to introduce his father to superheroes.
• His hobbies comprise music production, painting, performing arts, playing basketball, dancing, reading, doing photography, performing live music, and travelling.
• He is fluent in English, Hindi, Malayalam, and Kannada.
• Kenny has been earning since he was in Class 11 and became financially independent by the time he entered college.
• Kenny is an avid dog lover and often shares his pictures with dogs. He also has a comic ‘Ken and Chip’ that features Kenny’s childhood dog Chip and their imaginary conversations.
• Kenny has made cameos in the web series Humorously Yours, Better Life Foundation, Son Of Abish, and Pushpavalli.
• He co-scripted and acted in the web series ‘Star Boyz’ and ‘Sketchy Behaviour’. ‘Die Trying’ and ‘Sketchy Behaviour’ aired on Amazon Prime Video.
• Kenny Sebastian is currently working on the second season of ‘Star Boyz’ alongside comics Naveen Richard and Mani Prasad.

The post Know your comic: Kenny Sebastian appeared first on Humour Sapiens.

He has been featured in some of the top newspapers namely Deccan Chronicle and a popular magazine, Yo! Vizag.

He talks about his journey as a small-town boy to a big city and all the weird situations he comes face to face with. With his clean comedy, this topper talks about other aspects of a topper’s life and tries to shun the stereotype of toppers being giant pricks.

Apart from being a comedian, Shridhar works as the Product Revenue Strategy Manager at Star Sports! He has a typical topper trait of loving whatever he does. He loves job and loves comedy and has no plans of quitting job for full time comedy anytime soon. In his free time, instead of indulging in non-productive activities like sleeping or watching TV, he does comedy shows. He wishes to be ‘the funniest CEO there will be’.

This Punny man is known for his Prime Time Jokes. It is a series of Stand-Up Comedy videos based on the Prime Time news events that happened around us. He started with the intent to share thought provoking, intellectually stimulating idea which are hilarious at the same time.

Some of Shridhar Venkataramana’s hilarious acts are:

Man vs. Wild, Amazon Fire & Article 370

He talks about the person who’s the poster boy for South Indian Education System – Shashi Tharoor, and the wonderful things he does with his mouth. He goes on to talk about PV Sindhu win, Modi ji’s appearance on Man vs Wild, and more. Every line is a pun redefined which sure takes time to set in, but once you understand, his intelligent puns leave you in awe. Check out his latest video.

Elections & World Cup

He talks about the interviews that happen pre and post elections, specifically highlighting the one where Modi ji mentioned clouds stop the radar from detecting signals. He is confident that Modi ji was hinting that one guy in Pakistan who stands at the border and acts as a human radar. Naturally, clouds can stop the radar from detecting signals here. Check out as he talks about not just elections, but cricket world cup and football too.

Politics, Padmavati & Other News

Herein, Sridhar talks about the brilliance of Aryabhatta on inventing the figure for total number of jokes Indians can take. He even talks about the work of legendary Rabindranath Tagore, that gets standing ovation even today (wink wink). Sridhar warns that his jokes do take time and of course education to sink in. He grills the political parties and leaves us in splits. Further goes on to talk about the movie Padmavati, and the protests around it. These Prime Time jokes are about things happening around us, how could he not talk about the great Ambani wedding. There’s more to it, check out the video.

The post The IIM Comic: Shridhar Venkataramana appeared first on Humour Sapiens.

He is a regular face at comedy clubs, such as Canvas Laugh Club, The Comedy Store, Blue Frog and High Spirits. Daniel Fernandes has performed in collaboration with several Indian stand-up comedians, namely, Gursimran Khamba, Aditi Mittal, Biswa Kalyan Rath, Sundeep Rao, Radhika Vaz, Abish Mathew and Kanan Gill.

So here we share some jokes By Daniel Fernandes that will make you stop and rethink.

Cows on beef ban.

The condition of mitron on Nov 8, 2016.

Need we say more?

On point.

On violence and TV shows.

The post Thoughtful 5 from Daniel Fernandes appeared first on Humour Sapiens.

Kanan Gill, known for his sharp wit and brilliant sketches and came to light with his YouTube series Pretentious Movie Reviews wherein he hilariously reviewed Bollywood films with fellow stand-up comic Biswas Kalyan Rath. His recent special on Amazon Prime ‘Sketchy Behaviour’ with comedian Kenny Sebastian which was another popular one from him.

Check out the 5 Hilarious Quotes by Kanan Gill. Here you go!

Every Indian Parent Ever.

And this is what we call, “relatable AF”.

Is it true, or is it true?

Kanan shares his wisdom on relationships!

Ever thought about it?

The post 5 Hilarious Quotes by Kanan Gill that are relatable AF appeared first on Humour Sapiens.

It starts off with both Kanan and Kenny stuck in a writer’s purgatory. Why? Neither did we know, nor did they.

Let’s take you through the sketches.

1. Kenny, a slow waiter wearing worn out rubber slippers, gets Bubble-less flat lime soda only because he is out of fresh. And Kanan, the customer wasn’t really going through trauma in the beginning, but by the end of this sketch, he sure was.

2. Kenny is driving, on call with mom, who asks him not to give lift to random people. But Kanan, dressed a creepy uncle manages to get lift from Charles Ghode Jaisi, ends up scaring the shit out of Kenny. And then Plot Twist!

3. When Placcy and Yuvi decide to break up, and then there’s a series of sneezes. The reset Sneezes! Yuvi try mending things but Placcy isn’t really convinced. Watch out to know who won.

4. Kanan is a chair, sharing how he has to inhale the but fumes of people and how people blame him for their farts.
   Kenny 1 doesn’t want to study and triggers the frustration of Kanan – the average chair.
   Kenny 2 was abandoned by the love of his life and triggers the frustration of Kanan – the lone chair.
   Kenny 3 is the Shakespeare and the Dino Morea combined of the house and triggers the frustration of Kanan – the broken-from-inside chair.

5. The funniest exorcism you will see. The demon, Bathsheeba is a free spirit, and the possessed Sukrit is horrified by the Father who likes Bathsheeba. So do we! We cannot blame him, Bathsheeba is sweet.

6. A therapy session is what comes up next. A sadist Kenny is all of us who are not social media enthusiasts. But it gets exciting when Kanan – the therapist doesn’t drop character, when Kenny’s mustache comes off. You have to watch it to laud him.

It ends with them rewriting scripts in the writer’s purgatory. And all we could do was smile and giggle through the Sketchy Behaviour of theirs.

The post Kenny & Kanan’s Sketchy Behaviour appeared first on Humour Sapiens.

Russell Peters

When you mention stand-up, Russell Peters’s name features right on the top. The Anglo-Indian from Canada, has full-house shows all the year round. And why not! His stand-up performances are based on his observations on being brought up by a very traditional Indian father and always ends with ‘Somebody gonna get a hurt real bad’. Not just that; he also does good impressions of various ethnic groups. He might not be born and brought up in India, but also had an ‘Indian’ parent and very well understands the plight of Indian children. See his set on ‘Beating the Children’ and you will realize how Indian he is at heart.

Aasif Mandvi

One thing common with most of Indian-origin comedians abroad is the inspiration for their acts – it comes from their own ethnicity, their personal experiences of growing up as an Indian in a foreign land. The same holds true for Aasif too. He is best known for his acts on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, but Aasif is much more than that. He is an actor, writer and a comedian. His acts too are based on an Indian living abroad, hilarious and at the same time, makes you think. Go watch ‘Flight Safety rules for Brown People’ and you will know what we are talking about.

Aziz Ansari

Who doesn’t know him? An actor, writer, producer, director, and a comedian; he has donned the hats of all these roles perfectly. Aziz is known for his role as Tom Haverford on the NBC series Parks and Recreation. He has won many awards, one among them was the Golden Globe Award, where he became the first Indian American actor to win a Golden Globe for acting in television. His acts too are from his personal experiences and the way he talks is like the way he would talk to his friends – jovial and colloquial.

Lilly Singh

She belongs to a different league of comedians, but that does not take away the fact that she is indeed a ‘Superwoman’! With three million subscribers for her YouTube channel, Lilly does vlogs, skits and stand-up acts in which she gives adds her own ‘Indian’ touch. The 25-year-old has stayed in touch with her ancestral roots and that is quite evident in almost all her acts. Check out her channel ‘Superwoman’ and we assure you that some of you might even cry hard laughing.

Mindy Kaling

Identified as ‘One of the 100 most influential people in the world’ by Time magazine, Mindy is best known as Kelly Kapoor on NBC’s sitcom ‘The Office’. Born to Indian parents the talented actor, comedian, writer, producer and director has been nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series as a producer of The Office five times in a row. In 2011, Mindy Kaling’s witty book ‘Is everyone hanging out without me? (And other concerns)’ was well received by the readers.

The post Foreign comedians with Indian links appeared first on Humour Sapiens.

Shaurya Tyagi

A writer, and comedian, and an actor, Shaurya prefers observing people just like any other comedian. Holding an MBA degree, he follows his passion of being a stand-up comic as well.

Samay Raina

With jokes ranging from him being a secular Kashmiri Pandit and him changing cities more than Vijay Mallya, he radiates laughing gas. He is hilarious and his distinct delivery style, makes him funnier.

Masoom Rajwani

Contrary to his name, Masoom is one of the youngest comedians and absolutely not-innocent. His jokes are about things that normal people find messed up.

Rahul Dua

Rahul hails from Punjab and claims to have left it before it started to ‘fly’. He has performed in three cities Mumbai, Delhi/Gurgaon and Pune, and has won NDTV’s Rising Star of Comedy 2016.

Raunaq Rajani

Raunaq is a vegetarian and he loves to joke about it. Also, his jokes about how his family operates makes those relevant to most Indians. He comes with honest observations and sarcasm that you’d really want to give a try.

Last but the best is…

Gaurav Kapoor

Having performed on the biggest of stages including opening for Vir Das and Russell Brand on his India tour, Gaurav is a regular featured act at comedy clubs across the country. He knows how to poke fun at ‘Jaats’ and his favourite ones revolve around Royal Enfields and poverty.

There are a lot many who are introduced every day at an open mic somewhere. These humour sapiens, the less-known stand-up comedians, are pure gems and ARE gearing up to make you fall off your chair, of course laughing.

Hold up till you encounter next!

ALSO READ: BOOK STAND-UP COMEDIANS FOR EVENTS IN INDIA

The post 6 Less-Known Stand-Up Comedians Who Are Pure Gems appeared first on Humour Sapiens.

The finale started with all the seven mentors doing a stand-up act for exactly two minutes each. Then, without much further ado, the stage (at the prestigious Royal Opera, Mumbai) was set for the final battle. We have nothing to comment on the final episode, as it was top notch comedy from all the five contestants; it was really difficult to say which one was actually the best. New terms were also discovered in this episode with them using words like Cheekalicious and Co-Ed Bath. The ‘fantastic’ five are also, co-incidentally, our top five picks from Comicstaan too. That is something, isn’t it!!!

Here’s what we loved about them.

Rahul Dua:

The runner-up of Comicstaan and a Delhi munda, his beginning in the show was just about average. But, the way he picked up around the third act was just amazing. From then on, it was only growth for him. His finale act was obviously hilarious. He spoke about having a girlfriend and how taking a bath together in a 2×2 bathroom is not all that romantic as it seems. But, his funniest act has to be where he talks about how he does not have opinions anymore, after watching a couple of news channel and finds solace in cutting Bhindi instead…that was just amazing.

Shankar Chugani:

This guy from Coonoor was consistent right from the beginning, each act surpassing the other. The last episode before the finale though, did not go so well for him and hardly was funny. He made an effort in the Finale too, where he started off on a positive note, but then the jokes fell flat too. But, in spite of all these minor glitches, he still remains one of our favourites. The one act that stands out is the one where he draws parallels between our Indian dance forms and Hip-Hop…that was phenomenal.

Prashashti Singh:

If you need to see what girl-power is, you need to watch her acts. Her ‘lazy’ kind of striking a conversation is truly appealing and she is a cracker of a performer. She was one of the very few contestants who took topics which were out-of-the-box and made the most out of it. For instance, her act in the finale, which was about a letter that her older self has written to her younger self – difficult to perform, but she did it with utmost expertise. But, her best act, according to me, is the one before the finale, where she comes as death. Dark but absolutely hilarious.

Saurav Mehta:

This chubby boy from Kolkata has such a positive outlook and has an eternal smile on his face. All his acts were consistently good and he is one of those contestants who never actually had a bad day. Yes, he is the one who came up with the term Cheekalicious which I have mentioned before, and he has done it time and again. His best act has to be the one where he talks about the Taj Mahal and how UP Government has scrapped it from the state tourism booklet. Thought-provoking, yet slyly comical.

Nishant Suri:

Ladies and Gentlemen, the winner of the first instalment of Comicstaan, the guy from Delhi, did not exactly have a dreamy start. His performance peaked only during the end and that really worked for him. His best act, for me, was the one in the finale. Talking about four things that he hates the most, he starts off with how annoying the Bollywood songs are, especially the army songs, since it is not the way it happens at the borders. Another thing he talks about in length is about dancing and how he hates when people bring you to the centre of the circle to dance and then disappear themselves. I do not want to say anything more or else it might ruin the moment for you when you watch it and you definitely should watch it…it was epic!

WATCH COMICSTAAN ON AMAZON PRIME

The post The Grand Finale of ‘Comicstaan’ appeared first on Humour Sapiens.

AN IITIAN TURNED COMEDIAN

Born in 1990 in Bhubaneswar, Biswa completed his early education from Odisha and later went to be an IITian at IIT-Kharagpur. A stand-up comedian was born when he decided to quit his job at Oracle and take the unconventional route.

This stand-up comic and the YouTuber knows how to tickle a funny bone while oozing extreme confidence on stage and in his videos. Not just this, he is one of the funniest people on twitter.

Well, true!

Khud ke description main 'sarcastic' likhne waale log sarcastic nahi, wannabe hote hain.

— Biswa Kalyan Rath (@kalyanrath) September 5, 2017

Must be difficult!

I didn't choose the thug life, the thug life also didn't choose me.

— Biswa Kalyan Rath (@kalyanrath) January 19, 2017

PRETENTIOUS MOVIE REVIEWS

Biswa and Kanan Gill, with their slapstick punches on Bollywood movies in the ‘Pretentious Movie Reviews’ rose to fame as Youtubers. It was post that, that Biswa built a large loyal fan following. If you haven’t yet checked those snarky movie reviews, here’s this video to make you laugh like a maniac!

THE LINK BETWEEN ENGLISH & REPRODUCTION

Biswa Kalyan Rath takes it on his shoulders, the responsibility to enlighten us on how English helps the youth these days to reproduce! Also, India is not just the land of colours, it’s as well a land of funny stereotypes, most of which are inherited and others customised by the cool ones.

THE BIGGEST TROLL IS HIM BEING AN ODIA

The self-proclaimed fattest guy in Odisha, Biswa’s doesn’t mind cracking puns about him and Odisha – his birth land and an outlandish state on the map of India.  Many Odias must have mimicked his, “Jibana ta dukho, Sansara ta mohmaya” for the Odia feel!

THE INCEPTION OF NAILCUTTER

Have you ever, in your idle time wondered the story behind the inception of nailcutter? Or are you aware about the fan and blanket disease? We are sure not! Biswa, however, with his honest observations quenches our inquisition about these lifeless yet immensely useful objects. Check out!

A DIG ON CENSORED MATERIALS

Because no one knows what the star in F*CK stands for?! Well, Biswa made it clear that the exclusive star is redundant in his impeccable stand-up, so much for the censored materials that all your awkward moments will seem a waterdown. Here’s his open dig on the dirty jokes.

LAAKHON MEIN EK

While Biswa started off as of the Pretentious Movie Reviews duo, he has inexplicably turned his open mic nights into a cameo in a Netflix movie into an Amazon stand-up special. And now we have ‘Lakhon mein ek.’

Created by Biswa Kalyan Rath, this web series is a story of a kid sent away by his parents to prepare for IIT entrance exams. A dark yet relatable and enjoyable story about the IIT dream, and the life of Akash and many like him. Let ‘Mast Aadmi’ Biswa take you on a fun tour in this series.

Just when you thought it ended, he became one of the judges and mentors in ‘Comicstaan’, a special comic hunt on Amazon Prime.

So, let’s put our jaws together for Biswa Kalyan Rath and fingers crossed hoping more stand-up comics emerge from Odisha.

The post ‘Mast Aadmi’ Biswa Kalyan Rath – Comedian, Actor, Creator, YouTuber, Judge appeared first on Humour Sapiens.