Humour Sapiens got into a Tête-à-Tête with Harsh Gujral. Read more about the boy next door here!

1. How did you develop interest in stand-up comedy? What was your first stage experience like?

Comedy always interested me. During school too, I was one of the mischievous kids and made my friends laugh. When I first visited London; yes, I got a chance to stay there for a year *insert ahem ahem*. It was there that I saw stand-up comedy live for the first time. That made me sit up and look for comedy videos, and it was the videos of Jeeveshu bhai that I saw first. Instantly, I marked him an email and I told him that I was keen on performing with him. To which he responded saying, “write your comedy material and start performing at open mics to start with.” When I searched for places that host open mics, Canvas Laugh Club came up and I looked more about it. After calling them up, I got to know what open mic really was. But I didn’t start immediately. I went to watch an open mic and checked out how was it done. It was an entirely different ambiance, I realised. Completely baffling. I waited for a week, wrote content and then performed at an open mic. Now you know how talented I am. I had to Win and I Won. *insert another ahem ahem* As I won that open mic, my first open mic, it gave me some confidence that yes, I can do this and maybe this was something I always wanted to do. So, yea, I was always interested in comedy, but Canvas gave me a platform to kickstart this as a career.

My first stage experience was mind-blowing. Any and every dirty joke I could think of, I did them all in under 4 mins, and Delhi audience was having a great time, undoubtedly! They thoroughly enjoyed the non-veg kind of jokes and were applauding endlessly. It left me wondering…what’s the matter with these guys. But I was enjoying too.

I still have that snippet video of my first performence that I got filmed secretly. It wasn’t that great in comparison to how I perform now. But that’s how a stage works. The more you perform, the better to become. But all in all, it was a great experience.

2. How has the journey been so far? Were there any challenges that you had to face?

Up till now, my journey has been quite satisfactory. And I am very thankful to God almighty for it. I used to watch other artists’ videos on YouTube and wondered how those people could be so talented and creative to carry out such a difficult art form in front of so many people. Now that I share stage with them, I feel happy about how far I have come. It has been great till now and if god willing, it will be such in future too!

If I talk about challenges, in my opinion stand-up is an individual challenge that you face every time you get on to that stage to perform. You have to create jokes and keep the audience entertained. Though there are phases when you can’t think of anything and you begin to feel that it is over, but it is not! No one helps you in that moment and says, “okay buddy, I can perform on your behalf.” You have to pull yourself together and keep the show going. It’s a continuous challenge for you; an everyday challenge. You fall back, you lose, you get up and try again. Just keep doing your bit, things will automatically fall into place.

3. What was the reaction of your family when they got to know about your encounter with stand-up comedy?

My parents were not able to understand initially as to what I was actually doing. Whenever I told them I am going to perform at an open mic, they seemed clueless about it. Eventually, they understood that I perform on stage and do comedy. But weren’t quite sure as to what do I do. They felt, I go and perform everyday but never come back with any money. This was an alien concept to them.

It was quite funny that they didn’t understand that why did they have to send me money while I was in college and even when I was working.

My mom used to ask me every day after shows if I got some money, and when I responded saying that I had to spend a few hundred, she used to laugh at me saying, “you are the first comic who pays to perform.” Things were different back then; she had a hard time understanding the concept of open mics. The situation is different now, she feels better. Earlier when I used to say, I will quit my job, they discouraged saying, “you shouldn’t let go off a fixed monthly salary amount.” But now parents are happy and supportive of what I am doing. Now they say, “do whatever you love. Don’t do job if you don’t like.” Things have changed with time.

4. Any take on regional comedy?

Regional comedy is definitely good for India, because most of us do comedy in Hindi and can cater to a wide set of audience pan India. But regional comedy allows people to have references from their colloquial language in the jokes, and that immediately becomes a connecting factor. Regional comedy has a bright future. Slowly you will see people performing more and more in their local dialects. But I will still be doing Hindi comedy. Whenever anyone asks me to even say a punch in English, I say no! But I don’t deny, regional comedy is good for the scene, good for the art form. When people will do regional comedy, more people will get attracted to this art form, more audience will be seen appreciating it.

5. Any experience with annoying audience member?

The audience cannot really annoy you if you are annoying enough, right? When it comes to my shows, I am more annoying than the people who come to see my shows. I try my best that none of them leaves the premises alive.

See, the logic is simple, if they cannot breathe, they cannot annoy! Up till now, I have been pretty successful in sucking up the last straw of life in them.

But it happens. Like, in one of the shows I did for doctors, really aged doctors – the kind who would need doctors to accompany them to ensure their well-being. It was hard to make them understand any kind of jokes.

One of the aged doctors, started walking, real slow, and kept walking until he reached me. I was oblivious to the fact that the tortoise had me as the target. He came towards me, snatched my mic and said, “this pretention of jokes and mimicry must end right now. Now I will tell the jokes.” (Ye chutkule sunaane ka jo dhong kiya jaa raha hai, usey abhi samapt kiya jaye. Ab hum chutkule sunayenge.) I was stunned. The next thing he did left me speechless…

He took his phone out from his pocket and started reading whatsapp forwards. It wasn’t that he memorised those jokes. If he’d done that, I would have let him tell jokes. But you cannot really mess with oldies. They are the kings in their own sweet world. They can do whatever they wish.

So, yes, apart from this, there has hardly been a case where anyone other than me has been so annoying, be it at school, college or office. I take pride in it.

6. Any bombing moment you’d like to share?

Bombing is inevitable. Everyone bombs.

By the blessing of the god, there have been extremely insignificant bombing moments in my life. There hasn’t been any such moment where I destroyed my act beyond repair. So, when the jokes aren’t working, I switch to talking to the audience. Because I know, once I talk, I will find something to joke about from it and then return to my original pace and carry on with jokes from there on. There are times when jokes fall flat, but I manage then! Isn’t that what we call experience?

The day you try everything and attempts to make them laugh by hook or crook are not working…understand that day…It’s the audience that’s bad.

7. Who is your favourite comic?

My favourite comic from India has to be Kapil Sharma. When I used to see him perform on TV and say certain lines, I realised, some of the lines were what I had already used in my life, and now I saw him saying those on TV which people seemed to like. I was able to relate and found that my style is similar to his. I feel he is the legend in the TV comedy scene.

When it comes to YouTube and other stand-up comics in the scene, I really like Anubhav Bassi. We have performed together, and I have seen him become a star from the start of his journey. When you see someone rise up, their journey, you appreciate their efforts even more. I like other comics too…I like Zakir Khan. Recently, I shared the stage with him and realised that this man was meant to be a success.

I like myself too, I like my comedy as well. “Mai apna favourite hun” This is the lesson I have learnt from girls. You should better be your favourite, don’t care if anyone else likes you or not.

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He has performed at Canvas Laugh Club and Comics yeh bindaas hai, and can be often seen in open mics and corporate events. He also loves to pen down his thoughts in his blog: www.mytwonhalfcents.com. Humour Sapiens got into a tête-à-tête with Pratik Jain. Know more about this Delhi comic here.

1. How did you develop interest in stand-up comedy?

Few years ago, I started writing my blog (www.mytwonhalfcents.com). It is largely my (humorous) take on life, which received a good response. Also, I used to be master of ceremony (MC) in my official events and few people used to laugh at my jokes (now at times I think they did it on purpose to create a delusion). Then someone suggested that I should try auditioning at Canvas Laugh Club for Open Mics and gradually my interest developed further.

2. What was your first stage experience like?

I was quite nervous on my first open mic, though I had been on stage earlier (in official gatherings). There were a couple of my office colleagues in the audience and I couldn’t complete my set in allotted 4 minutes and the buzzer went off! I was hugely embarrassed and avoided eye contact with my colleagues for next few days.

3. How has the journey been so far? Were there any challenges that you had to face? And key achievements?

Well, it’s been almost a year now and the journey has seen its own highs and lows. Initially open mics were tough. Sometimes I would need to stop for using a cuss word on a ‘clean comedy’ event and sometimes I would forget the punches. Gradually, things started improving though and I started preparing more. Other challenge was that my genre of comedy is more observational and corporate style, whereas many times audiences were college going kids or youngsters. I had to therefore learn a bit of ‘elephant & ant’ jokes and also things people of that age could relate to.

Over last few months, I have started getting some recognition. The first show in September 2019 (with couple of others) was a ‘sold out’ and that gave me a lot of confidence and I also got a ‘certificate of awesomeness’ in an Open Mic. Now, I am getting called for some corporate gigs and that’s the space I really like.

I feel that bringing smiles to people’s faces is Godly and should qualify as a ‘religion’. Everytime I am able to do this, it feels like an achievement.

4. Any experience with annoying audience member?

Every time when the audience doesn’t laugh, I find them super annoying. I tell them that my jokes are good but it needs ‘intelligence’ to understand

I remember one time while doing a joke on ‘Commander Abhinandan’ (who was held captive in Pakistan) about him being a ‘Jain’ where an audience member shouted ‘he is from south India’. At first, I ignored him but he again repeated himself after a minute. It was difficult telling him to shut up…you see there is great power in alcohol.

5. Any bombing moment you’d like to share?

Lots of them actually. I have had cases where there has not been a single laugh in my 5 minutes on stage and people staring at me as if I am an alien. I have had instances where I have forgotten the set on stage and also where I got off in 2 minutes. Each time when I bomb, I say to myself…’apna time aayega’!

For sure, Pratik! Humour Sapiens wishes you good luck on this funny journey!

Follow him on Facebook.

The post Tête-à-Tête with Pratik Jain appeared first on Humour Sapiens.

How did you get into comedy?

I have always been that guy in the group who loves to make people laugh but never had enough confidence to perform in front of strangers. I used to watch videos of funny stand-up comics on facebook and YouTube. All was okay, except the frustrating work life, which made me want to vent out. And what better way than laughing it off! I looked up for a venue for open mic and bang! my first open mic in Enerjuvate Jayanagar happened on 8th October 2017. That’s how the journey into the world of comedy began.

What have been your key achievements?

There are not many, but all are special. I have a long way to go!

However, appreciation from Manish Tyagi for whom I opened when he was in Bangalore was precious.

Apart from that, I once performed at a common ground event organised by Art Khoj and people loved my performance to an extent that they followed me on social media and started attending my shows. Art Khoj gave me an opportunity to perform at Jindal Steel Plant at Bellary.

Any bombing moments you could think of?

There are quite a few. But the one that I remember clearly is of a performance at one of the finest comedy clubs of the country. It was 2017 Comedy Festival open mic at ‘That Comedy Club’ and I bombed so bad that I could hear people yawning during my set.

What have been the challenges faced by you?

Before starting stand-up, the last time I was on stage was in my school days to sing National Anthem. So, overcoming stage fear was difficult. However, I sometimes feel it coming back before I have to make an appearance on the stage. But one gets better each day! Also, another challenge which wasn’t much of a challenge for me until I was told of my habit of speaking really fast and audience failing to follow what I said. Slowly and gradually, I am getting better in that too.

Any experience with any annoying audience member?

Not directly, but the beer mug incident that happened with Akshay Laxman (where an enraged patron flanged beer mug at him), I was in that lineup. It made me feel, people really should learn to take jokes. It would be quite interesting to see a course being added in Indian Education System  but I loved the attitude with which Akshay, Abhinav and Hippo Laugh Club dealt with the whole issue.

Connect with Rahul Robin on Instagram: @rahulrobin2611

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How did you get into comedy?

I always wanted to do comedy and was keen on writing for faking news. However, I was very hesitant to be on stage and perform in front of people staring right back at me. I was introduced to Toastmasters by my colleague and friend Kaushal. I tried a few humorous speeches and landed to the open mics, which of course I bombed. But I took liking to this process and kept hitting open mics. And I believe, I am doing fairly well. Nevertheless, there is a long way to go.

What challenges did you face?

Initially, it was very hard to get spots. But luckily, at that time there were few open mics which I used to register for by taking leave from office. Being a comedian with a day job, getting to the shows was one of the biggest challenges I faced. But once the jokes work, everything is fine, the world is back to normal.

Your key achievements?

I recently did my 30 mins of jokes, I consider it as one of my achievements.

Any bombing moments you remember?

Hahaha. I remember I had a bet with Sparsh who kills harder than anyone I know that I will rock it. It was a show in the Big Pitcher, Indiranagar and under the pressure of performing well I bombed. Everyone was doing so well, and I had everyone looking at me with a poker face. It was embarrassing. But the next spot I got in the Big Pitcher I didn’t disappoint. I had people giving me laughs. My bombing heart understood what peace meant.

Any experiences with annoying audience members?

I recently had an open mic where one dude began hackling. Apparently, he was drunk and accompanying a female friend. I tackled him a bit and luckily, he received a call and stepped out. Later, after the open mic, he came to me and he sportingly said that he was just checking my capabilities of responding to a hackler. He mentioned how he was attempting to make me a better comic. However, he did get a wee bit nice later and complimented me on handling it well, at the same time suggested a few things I could possibly do to better myself.

Connect with Manish Chaubey on Instagram: @chaubey9001

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How did you develop interest in comedy? When did you decide to pursue it as a stand-up comic?

I have been an introvert trapped in the body of an extrovert. Back in school, I used to be that naughty kid of the class, who had an expert yet funny opinion on every thing happening in the classroom. Often tagged as the funny kid amid friends, I always had that funniness inside wanting to come out wherever it saw the opportunity. To top that funny side of mine, I was a state-level basketball player.

However, things changed after 10^th standard, seriousness came into life, subduing the funniness. After entering the engineering college, and having some time at hand, a friend and I created two videos. One out of those was on girls reacting to friend requests on social media. It happened to be quite raw and was apparently liked by all in my college. This motivated us to create a second one, which was well thought than the previous video and shot in a better manner as well. This video too was loved by most.

Back then, stand-up comedy wasn’t a career, this art form was visible only in hasya kavi sammelans (poetry meets).

But when I came to Bangalore, seeds were sowed when a friend showed me Russel Peters videos. And looking at him made me feel, I could do that too. When I look back, I laugh at my audacity to think that I could pull of acts like Russel Peters. Soon enough, I got engrossed into this art.

It was in 2017 that I started giving it a serious thought, and started watching comedy properly in order to understand the nitty-gritties of the art. I realized, being fun and funny are two different things. Being a fun person sitting at the back bench in a classroom is absolutely different than being funny while standing in front of a room full of spectators.  I decided to stop being a procrastinator and write something funny, but I needed an audience to test my content. Having written two jokes, which still work well for me, I decided to perform at my first open mic at the Jagriti Theatre.

With shaky legs and sweaty palms, I approached the mic, but by the time my turn came, only a handful people were left. It goes with saying, I bombed. The very next day, I joined the comedy workshop, and after a few weeks, the improvement was pretty much visible.

In this process, what started as an interest, became something I loved doing. Thereafter, I did several shows at events hosted by The Orange Octopus. And performed for a larger audience of close to 40.

Since then, I am a regular at stand-up open mics and associated with Suno Bey, a comedy group.

How did you meet your team from Suno Bey?

I met my team at the workshop I attended. The workshop was led by Ram, and that was where I got a chance to meet like-minded people, people who didn’t just think it was cool but were passionate about this art form as well. These people were genuinely interested in comedy. And we hit instantly! Resultant, Suno Bey!

Suno Bey does free shows. Don’t you think that makes things difficult for those who earn a living through stand-up?

We started off at the Cubbon park, crowd sourcing the audience. We narrate our jokes in front of them in order to get an idea about the joke we have written. There is one thing that I have learnt, ‘Never test your content with friends, but with strangers’, for your friends know who you are and where the joke is coming from. While a complete stranger who doesn’t have a background of that story will be able to give you a reality check.

So, what we perform at Cubbon is free because it is for testing waters, while the rest of our comedy events are Open Mics, and thus Free! We realize that it was a mistake at our end to have called our open mics as shows. Now, we are wary about not mentioning our events as shows and have started giving spots to other stand-up comics as well.

The intent is not to spoil the scene for those pursuing it full time, but to encourage more people to attend our events.

It has been cool, full of learnings about the length of the spot, maintaining the sequence of the jokes and the way stories are to be narrated. These things affect the laughter. However, one year is a too small a period to restrict the learnings in the journey. There’s a long road to travel and a lot to be learnt.

Worst Bombing moment?

Bombing is fine, you’ll bomb more than you kill. One of the worst bombing moments has been at FoxTrot. Event was in a weekday and no one seemed interested. I was confident that I will go on the stage and kill it, but unfortunately, no one was interested even then. Though I don’t think my set was bad at all, because there was one group who was aware of someone talking with a mic in hand. Regrettably, in the middle of my act, they too left. I watched them leaving and in an impulse decided to get off the stage.

Another learning here was; you have to be so good that the audience listens. You cannot really blame the audience for being disinterested.

Any encounters with annoying audience members?

I encourage audience interaction; I do get replies from spectators. But as far as annoying people are concerned who keep on interfering and have an expert opinion on whatever is being said on the stage. These people think they are funnier than the person holding the mic. So, I invite such people on stage to share their funniness or politely tell them that they are in a wrong show. It’s not really a debate show. This mostly has been working for me till now.

Connect with Rishabh Kanishka on Instagram: rishabhkanishka

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The last weekend of 2018 was spent at the wonderful Zee5 Loft, Bengaluru amid the promising stand-up comics, at a show organized by The BlackBuck Comedy. Watching the house packed with heads enjoying and appreciating the power-packed performers was indeed a delight.

Good food, Great show, what else would you want on a Sunday night?

Maninder Singh aka Funny Manney was our host for the evening, and oh boy, what a host he was! Full of energy, crazy thoughts and the charm to keep you hooked whenever he stepped on stage. Being a North Indian living in the South, he sure had an insight. For the starters, he screwed up the famous Bollywood song “Kundi Matt Khadkao Raja…”, for ‘Kundi’ in Kannada means ‘Ass’ and in the North means ‘Latch’. We’d leave the rest to your imagination.

The lineup included Anand Rathnam, Manish Chaubey, Joteen Patro, Gautham Govindan, Arun Kiran, Lakshaya Malhotra and Sumit Sourav.

The first performer for the night, well technically, the second was Gautham, who broke the ice with the audience by making fun, of himself of course. He talked about his teeth being so crooked that it appeared to be the inside of a zip file. You got to see him to believe him, and that’s not it, he has other quirky tales to share too.

Then came Arun Kiran who could make you giggle just by the way he delivers his sets. This 26-year-old has a passion for poverty, or so he says, which is why he decided to pursue engineering and comedy. Big fan of Shaktiman, Arun is a kickass performer.

Manish Chaubey came next and left us all rolling with laughter. He shared about the atrocities that hit him, the struggles of his parents to recover from identity crisis by getting him kidnapped, and his tough work life where he is his own manager. But there’s a good thing that happened for him in the shitty traffic of Bengaluru, he found a girlfriend. Well, nope. We aren’t going to tell you how. You have to hear him out and go ‘awww’.

It was then time for Lakshaya Malhotra to keep the laugh riot going. And he didn’t disappoint us. The row of atrocities continued when he shared about his experience of watching Marvel & DC English movies dubbed in Hindi. He is certain that Thanos is somewhere here in Bengaluru enjoying Dosas. He signed off with an amazing piece of ‘Relationshit’ advice. Want to know, babu? Head over to his next show.

Joteen Patro came on stage with a mental note of taking autographs of whoever finds him funny. We could have given him ours. He told us that he quit his job, and his girlfriend didn’t, which is why she needs him more than ever, or so he thinks. Sounds strange? Well, not! Watch him to know his secret!

Anand Rathnam came complaining on the stage about how tinder happens to be the most horrible place. More so because, you can be a tea lover, a book lover but not really a kid-lover there. The complaints didn’t end there. He further talked about women and their deceptive leggings. Catch him live to know what’s so deceptive about the leggings.

Last, because late, was Sumit Sourav of the Star Plus’ Great Indian Laughter Challenge fame who talked about how his fans want to see him perform live only if he pays for their train tickets. He also mentioned how you have to parent the parents when they decide to explore the world of social media, because “humne duniya dekhi hai.”

There were a lot more fun jokes and anecdotes in their store, which you can indulge into in The BlackBuck Comedy’s next show.

Book The Tix

Jan 1: The New Year Comedy Show at the Enerjuvate (Jayanagar)

Jan 5: Saturday Comedy Dose 1.0 at Bearfoot Cafe

Humour Sapiens wishes you a year packed with jokes and laughter. Happy New Year!

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How did you develop interest in stand-up comedy?

I enjoyed watching comedy shows since childhood, and seeing those, I too wanted to make people laugh. Even during my school and college days, I used to be the go-to guy for laughs. A bunch of friends used to gather around me and I kept them entertained with jokes, and also roasting them at the same time. I had a certain level of comfort with them, so cracking jokes around them was easy. However, in reality, I suffered stage fright.

My sisters played a major role in me taking the humour route, as interacting with them brought out the funny inside me. Any conversation we had was bound to take a funny twist.

While growing up, I always pictured myself on stage and people listening to me attentively, whenever I said, “Mitronn”. And then one day, I went on stage, thinking that it would be the first and the last time I am being here on stage. I proved myself wrong the day I stepped on it for the second time.

Your first step into the comedy world?

It was during the school time, 8th standard to be precise, when I was asked to read the news during the morning assembly. Something took over me, and all I said was, “India defeated New Zealand by 28 runs. Now prayer by the person behind me.” Naturally, I ended up making fun of myself. The whole batch laughed and I became famous for such creative news reading. I sure was a little embarrassed later, but now, I can still pull such stunts with ease. Perks of being a budding stand-up comic, I guess.

How did you get into stand-up comedy?

The moment anyone asks me this question, I instantly go, “mera breakup ho gaya tha.”

But in reality, I wanted people to listen to me and my perspective of things. Yes, stage fear was always there, I did go on the stage with shaky legs for the first time, but prepared to tell people my perspective of things, whether they judge me or not.

I began attending live comedy shows to gain an idea on how to and what to do on stage. Then came the part where I got to perform at open mics and had amazing audiences to perform to. Which was mostly in single digit. Reality hit me hard!

What pulled me into comedy quite literally was that one open mic where the audience showed up in double digits, some 30 odd people, for a change. This first open gig of mine went pretty good. And gave me a confidence boost. Since then, I have been performing regularly at open mics, hosting shows and loving it!

What are the challenges that you have faced in the journey so far?

There have been quite a number of challenges that I have faced, like ‘single-digit audience members’ or No audience during open mics at all. People not supporting live shows or budding artists feel pretty demoralising. But we comics are on it to change it.

As an aspiring comic, I have faced the lack of opportunities, and this is the reason I decided to do something to attract the audience towards live comedy shows. So, I started a small production house named ‘THE BLACKBUCK COMEDY’. Under this name, I organize various comedy shows and comedy open mics at different venues across Bangalore. Everyone should get a fair chance to showcase the talent they possess. TBC is still growing as a production house, and I hope, it becomes well-recognised one day.

Your key achievements?

I performed for an NGO and contributed to raising funds for the cancer patients.

Opened the show for some big names like Jeeveshu Ahluwalia, who was an idol for me during my initial days of comedy, and still is.

Any bombing moment?

First of all, many people think that bombing is when you do good, just to clarify, bombing in terms of comedy means exactly the opposite of that.

Coming back to the question of bombing ‘moment’, I would say there were ‘moments’ with an ‘S’. And there always will be.

Any comedian who says that they haven’t bombed. Don’t trust, it’s a lie! Bombing is an inseparable part of a comedian’s journey.

I have bombed in front of audience ranging from 300 people to 1 odd person. There have been many instances and there will be in future. It’s just that, the best part of performing at open mics is, your ego goes down to zero or rather, negative. So, you eventually become all cool about bombing. It’s a part and parcel of the comedy world.

There’s a thing, I won’t stop because there are good shows too, where I don’t bomb but crack people up. Not every day is the same.

Any experiences with annoying members?

Not yet! And I hope this doesn’t happen in future. If at all it does, I will have another interesting story to tell at yet another show.

Connect with Lakshaya Malhotra on Instagram: pirated__punjabi

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How did you develop interest in comedy?

Raised in a family that enjoyed watching comedy serials and sitcoms, inclination towards comedy had to happen. Also, TV was not really an idiot box before K serials appeared and took over. We used to watch every comedy serial broadcasted back then; like, Flop Show, Shrimaan Shrimati, Dekh Bhai Dekh, Hum Paanch, Tu Tu Main Main, Hadd Kar Di, Family No. 1, Hum Sab Ek Hai, Zabaan Sambhal Ke, and the likes.  I still believe Gudgudee on Zee, Aflatoon on SabTV, and The Great Indian *Comedy* Show were the most underrated shows of our times. Enough nostalgia.

To top that all, my family is pretty much into liking live comedy in different forms. My father got me interested in comedy, and he was my companion in discovering comedy shows on TV. He used to take me to Kavi Sammelan (Poetry Recitals). I feel Kavi Sammelans laid the foundation of stand-up comedy culture in India, as it used to be a place where 12-15 poets gathered on stage to recite poems and anecdotes that were either funny or nationalistic. In fact, Kavi Sammelan is the proof that India was always interested in comedy, stand-up comedy just gave it a proper tag and made it a viable career option.

What do you consider was your first step into the comedy world?

I remember my first tryst with comedy. It was in the 4th standard when I became a news reporter for a fancy dress competition. My Mom had my dress sorted but had no idea what I will say on stage to complement my outfit. The only thing I knew was, it had to be something funny. It was the day of the competition, and I still had no material to present. But something clicked, and just half-an-hour before leaving for school I wrote random lines on things that I was aware of; a few jokes from Current Affairs section, Sports, Weather, and the likes. I recited those jokes to my mom and she laughed. I went on stage and won hearts. And luckily, the prize too. Looking back, I can say that, that was a really tight set.

Apparently, I pulled of a ‘Last Week Tonight’ before John Oliver made it a famous thing. Here’s the proof that I was way ahead in time.

How did you get into stand-up comedy?

As I grew up, I kept up with comedy through Shekhar Suman’s satire, pre-memes twitter era, and AIB podcasts. But I still never knew that I will do stand-up at some point in time.

It took two ‘Biswa’s (Biswapati Sarkar & Biswa Kalyan Rath) and regrets-to-taste to get me into stand-up comedy. In 2015, I was a big TVF fan and a bigger Biswapati Sarkar fan, I met him at the Permanent Roommates success party. We talked for a good 15-20 minutes about the craft of writing and many things profound.

This conversation inspired me to start a podcast channel in IIT Madras along with two other friends.  I was a writer-editor of the podcast and wanted the podcast to reach the masses. So in order to advertise the podcast, we started a facebook page where I used to put funny observations related to the institute, which people related-to, to a great extent and the page started to get good traction. I liked the validation and started observing things keenly, to look for pattern that would be relatable to everyone. Eventually, I started sharing content about not just the institute by also about life in general.

Meanwhile, my girlfriend and I attended a stand-up show in Canvas Laugh Club, which had then not-so-popular Biswa Kalyan Rath in the lineup. We were left impressed! I became so much interested in comedy that I started following everything that had comedy associated with it. I attempted mimicking Arnub and got a chance to roast the Director of IIT Madras. My impression of Arnub wasn’t really impressive, but the jokes worked! This gave me confidence that I can translate the written jokes into a performance as well.

After passing from the IITM, I went to an open mic with 10 odd jokes that were written while collecting material for the facebook page, and to my surprise, people laughed and enjoyed. That was it! I haven’t looked back ever since. Now, this human being needs more and more validation from people every week by saying things that mostly make no sense at all.

What are the challenges you’ve faced in your journey?

I was not getting enough open mics to perform initially but everything changed as I started a room for open mic. Now, I make sure there are enough spots for new open mic-ers at my venue as I can relate to their pain.

Your key achievements?

A few achievements which deserve a mention are: (a) Successfully Roasting the Director of IIT Madras, (b) Got laughs in my very first open mic, boosted my confidence, (c) My joke made it to Reddit front page.

Any bombing moment?

Bars and naïve comedy audience are what I sometimes find difficult to perform to. Once in a bar, the crowd was so dead in my set that I got off the stage in 2.5 minutes from a 7-minute slot. My words before getting off stage were, “Okay then”, which apparently was the biggest laugh of the evening.

That night I considered leaving comedy, but I went to another open mic the next day and the jokes worked Confidence regained!

Any experiences with annoying audience members?

None, yet! Thankfully.

Connect with Manish on Instagram & facebook

The post Tête-à-Tête with Manish Jain appeared first on Humour Sapiens.

How did you get into comedy?

I always had a knack for humour. However, I was not aware of the comedy scene in India. I was fascinated by the fact that people have taken comedy as a profession. The only comedians I knew were Russell Peters, Jerry Seinfeld, Rowan Atkinson, Ellen DeGeneres and the great Jim Carey. I followed more of Indian comedy back in my school days and used to love “The Great Indian Laughter Challenge”. That was the only platform that I was aware of. I started YouTubing more in 2013, and I came across the channels “The Viral Fever” and “All India Bakchod”. TVF and AIB used to make spoofs/sketches and I loved them. I became a religious follower. I started writing funny one-liners and stuff and shared on social media. The first few stand-up videos I had seen were of Amit Tandon, Zakir Khan, and Jeeveshu Ahluwalia. I could relate to the jokes, which led to me watching one after the other. In 2015, I witnessed the Weirdass Comedy Festival live in Bangalore with 20 hilarious comics in the lineup.

It was then, that I decided to hit the stage someday. I happened to find out about the open mics. I did my first open mic in November 2016. However, for me to get on-stage again, I took 8 months (courtesy: JOB). I switched my job to focus on comedy as well. Since July 2017, I have been on stage every week working and struggling to find the funny stuff.

What are the challenges that you have faced?

Though I am a writer, but a budding comedy writer. I take time to build jokes, which unfortunately end up being non-funny sometimes. That’s the most challenging part. Some of my peers are better writers than me and I am striving hard to reach that level, and go beyond. Hopefully, I will.

Also, the number of people performing at open mics has exponentially increased over the years. Another challenge has always been to find stage time. Even if we find stage, we seldom see audience.

Your key achievements?

In a short span of a year, I am not sure of any achievements. Whenever a joke works, I feel accomplished that I could connect to the audience. However, I have performed for 80-200 people at different instances and I did manage to make them happy. That certainly motivates me to write better jokes. Even then, it’s a long road to travel and I hope I achieve the goal of making people laugh and have a good time on stage.

Any bombing moments?

The first few bombing moments were disheartening and then I got used to it. I feel that this art will always keep you grounded. I bombed at an open mic where the audience just stared at me and all I could manage was 5 minutes of silence. One of the worst evenings of my stage life. I was so apologetic that I went to each one of them and said sorry after the show. I know there will be more such experiences and I am working on how to get back the audience in those situations.

Experiences with annoying audience members?

I can give it in writing, that in every show there will be one. I was hosting one of the open mics and there was a guy who proclaimed to be a journalist. He started heckling us comedians, and we had to give him back by taking a jibe at him. By the end of the show, he had given up and was listening to the jokes. But, he never laughed. He was annoyed to such an extent, that he forced his partner not to laugh either.

In another show, a couple of ladies were not letting us narrate the jokes and were getting offended at everything we said. We made them understand that these jokes are on us and not on them, and they can relax. They eventually left the venue and we had a great show after that.

Connect with him on Instagram.

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Read on to know how it all began for the 27-year old, and how he is working hard to make a mark for himself.

How did the journey to stand-up comedy begin?

It all started back in school in the 6th grade. I still remember reading jokes from a small joke book I had, on a daily basis, and sharing those with my friends during breaks. The laughter I got was contagious and it made me happy. Though those weren’t the jokes written by me, but I still managed to get laughs through my delivery. It went on for quite some time, after which it started fading away.

Never at any point in time, I had thought of it to be a career option for me. A suitable career for a middle-class home-oriented guy was either becoming a doctor or engineer. Time went by, I focused on my engineering and secured myself with a decent job. I was satisfied and my parents, happy.

This went on, until I came across stand-up videos on the internet in the early 2017, and memories of me narrating jokes to my friends started coming back. Now I was wanting to do the same, make people smile and be happy and earn with time.

How did you bring yourself back into the spotlight?

Managing time out of office, I started attending live shows first. Rahul Subramanian and Neville Shah were my first live acts. From thereon, it became an addiction and I started frequenting to live acts. Finally, in July 2017, I was determined to start out, and began by visiting open mics to test the waters and get a fair idea of the stage.

Though I have loved the attention, but have avoided the stage all my life. However, this was not the time to dwell over stage fear, it was time to own the stage. The stage was my only destination and I had to perform for the people, all alone in the spotlight. The thought of going on stage took 2 months, but I was certain of doing it, and getting over the fear.

Your first on-stage experience?

September 2017 was the first time when I went on stage, with my own, self-written, set of jokes, and I bombed it. It was indeed a very bad start. Going up on stage in all confidence, but forgetting it all as soon as you hold the mic? Yeah, that’s what happened! I had forgotten everything, and as if that wasn’t enough, there was no mic to mouth coordination. I started shivering.

3 minutes on stage were enough to have shaken my confidence. I came back home, and had constant thoughts of not going back again, not facing the audience again!

How did you make up your mind to go back on-stage?

Though my confidence was shaken, it wasn’t broken. That determination with which I had decided to make comedy an important part of my like, was still there. And then I self-assuredly resolved that, this was something I was going to do for myself and my happiness.

October 2017, was when I officially started out with open mics.

How was returning to the stage like?

I met a lot of people, understood the process, spoke about it and that was it. I realized, the only way to learn and excel at this was hitting as many open mics as possible, and better the writing every time.

It has been a year now, and the journey is wonderful. I am enjoying every bit of it. I love the art of writing, the entire process of delivering it in front of people and putting in my best to make people laugh.

Having said that, not all times are good times, but it’s a part of the process. The best thing about this art form is “You are the only person responsible and the whole act is dependent on you. There is no one else to blame for.” We may win the applause sometimes, brickbats the other times, but isn’t it all that would make us better?

Connect with him:

Instagram: middle_class_insaan
Facebook: Ritesh Banerjee

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