Karunesh’s usual style of delivering punches, his body language and expressions are so good that even if there is nothing funny in what he is saying, the way he says it makes you go ROFL.

Humour Sapiens got into a Tête-à-Tête with the rocking stand-up comic Karunesh Talwar. Get to know him with us.

How was your first stage experience?

10 years ago on 13 June 2011 was the first time I stepped on stage. To my surprise, people laughed at my set. I was stupefied because I was screaming, and people were laughing and wondering as to who’s this angry kid.

Over time, I gained confidence and tried the same jokes, but no one laughed. That’s when I realised, it was because of my nervous energy that people laughed back then.

But yes, first time on stage was a great experience. When I got off stage, I had so much adrenalin and so much energy. I remember, this show was in Bandra, I just got out started walking on the road for kilometres at a stretch. With an excitement of something unexpected happening!

You’ve also been a part of Weird Ass Comedy. How has the journey been?

I started with them in 2012, it’s Vir Das’s company. So, Vir, obviously, Rohan Joshi, Tanmay Bhat, Gursimran Khamba, Ashish Shakya and I were a part of it. Then they started at AIB, and I began collaborating with them.

Do you remember any of your bombing experiences?

Oh yes, I remember many. The most painful bombing experience was the one at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2018. And it is embarrassing to relive it that at this time. So basically what happened was, I was doing 28 shows in the festival, along with 4 other Asian comics. The first 15 shows went really well, we even got a five-star rating, and we all were really excited.

On the 16th day, I decided to perform some new material, which was a terrible decision because I had just written it. I get on stage, and man, you could hear the silence. I’m not sure how to describe it, but sannata sunayi de raha tha! I could see the tears of disappointment in the eyes of audience. One person even heckled me and I didn’t have an answer to that. I got off stage, after somehow managing to get a few laughs – and I get to know that there’s a reviewer in the audience. It was a bad bad day.

I woke up the next day, and things hadn’t gotten any better. As I opened the newspaper, it was a disaster. The whole Melbourne was duly informed that the man named Karunesh Talwar is no go for stand-up comedy. The review was titled – 4 out of 5 comics make the cut. Clearly, I was the fifth comedian who couldn’t please the audience.

But, let me tell you, something good came out of it!

Of course, I was having a row of bad days, but worked really hard on those new jokes and a lot of them made it to my future comedy sets, some of which I have done in India as well.

So, I worked overnight on those jokes and performed them the next day and managed to get a good response. Rest of the festival went very well because of that, and I bagged the opportunity to perform on Australian television too.

I was a real rollercoaster that one month – full of highlights and lowlights back to back.

When you got into comedy, the scene wasn’t developed so much. What challenges did you face back then?

I didn’t get into comedy to earn money. There was no expectation of doing this for a living. I just started doing it because I was very passionate about it – so I thought I am gonna do it, but eventually, I will have to get a job. That was my perspective on it.

I was never looking at it as a source of income, but today I feel very grateful that it’s my livelihood and I have not taken it for granted.

The challenges have not changed. My challenges are what they were when I started off. Things like – this line isn’t as funny, what should be the next line, people laughed at this joke but the other one didn’t get as many laughs, I should find another angle to this story, new material was looking good enough yesterday but crappy today – these don’t change. At any level, these challenges are always the same.

Have you struggled for spots in your early days?

When I started doing comedy, there were hardly 15-20 comics, so getting spots wasn’t that much of a problem. Guess I was lucky. If I had to enter stand-up now, it would have been a tough cookie. As long as you could make someone laugh, you used to get the spots. But now it’s a whole different scene, you have to sell tickets, get people, then make them laugh.

It was comparatively easier to get on stage back then because you were responsible for making people laugh, that’s it.

Experience with annoying audience member or a heckling experience?

There have been many. And there are some, which cannot be told on this platform

So, there was this one girl – she was drunk and it was her birthday. She kept yelling ‘it’s my birthday’ again and again, and had bugged around four comics who performed before me which derailed their sets. I went on stage, she started again with her ‘it’s my birthday’ anthem. I said, “usually the maturity increases with age, but guess it’s the opposite with you”. Because I said, you are becoming dumber as you getting older – the audience that was equally annoyed with her laughed and applauded at this. It was then her birthday express came to a halt.

Tell us something about your new special ‘Aalas Motaapa Ghabraahat’. We saw the trailer and loved it, especially the bit where you nudge us to confront our parents.

*laughs* Kar dena chahiye confront, definitely!

It’s important to set boundaries with the parents too, show them the real you. The love won’t vanish, you won’t become a bad child if you have a healthy argument with your parents.

This special is basically on two topics, one, on my relationship with my parents and second, on my relationship with my girlfriend.

Watching this didn’t bode well with both my parents and girlfriend.

I have taken many pot shots at my parents and then I went into a self-depreciation mode.

Watch the Amazon Prime special here!

The post TÊTE-À-TÊTE WITH THE ROCKING COMIC KARUNESH TALWAR appeared first on Humour Sapiens.

Gaurav Gupta, stand-up comic artist said:

“I am delighted to associate with a global platform like Amazon Prime Video and amuse stand-up enthusiasts all across the world with my comedy special. Thanks to them, a host of comedians have entered the limelight and I too look forward to reaching a larger audience and garner new fans. Everyone wants to watch a show if they know it’s on Amazon Prime Video. That said, “Market  Down Hai” is really special for me  as it is my first stand up special on Amazon prime video and also as I used my life experiences that are hilarious in nature in the stand-up. I am a Baniya and cracking jokes on the Baniya community never gets old for me. I hope the audience will love “Market Down Hai” as much as they loved my other work of stand up.”

In the trailer, Gaurav Gupta can be seen talking about his hilarious experiences as a parent, husband, son, a Delhiite, and above all, a Baniya! Watch the trailer here:

We got an opportunity to interact with this amazing dentist-comedian prior to the launch of his special ‘Market Down Hai’. Humour Sapiens got into a Tête-à-Tête with the ace comic Gaurav Gupta. Get to know him with us.

Q. How did you get into comedy?

A. I was a dentist and followed a routine. Just like most of us, the need for change and the want to break my monotonous routine led me into comedy in 2015. I took a chance and I’ve been here ever since.

Q. How was your first stage experience?

A. Just one word – Pathetic. I did so bad, I don’t even want to recall or discuss that.
I had no clue what happens in a stand-up, I just went on stage and did some ‘sansani’ and practically tanked.

Q.Experience with annoying audience member or a heckling experience?

A. Looking at my personality, no one usually heckles me. I look like a ‘biwi-bachhon wala aadmi, jo job se aa raha hoga’. So, no one messes around with me but I have people having a picnic in the midst of my gig – ‘mere show ke beech mein, khaa-pee rahe hote hain’.

I remember one time when I was doing a private show – my baniya act was on and one uncle stood up from the audience, with his stick in tow. Vo boodhe uncle khade ho gaye, and said, “ ek minute bhaisaab, ye bhadkau bhaashan band kijiye”. I tried telling him that it’s comedy, but it fell on deaf ears.

Q. What challenges did you face while starting up?

A. Spots. This was one of the main challenges I faced. When I was starting up in 2015, Delhi had only a few venues to perform. Though comics were a handful, but audience was less as well – you could hardly get 10-12 audience members, and stage time was very less too. There were just about 2 prominent rooms to perform and we had to hustle a lot for getting spots in those. Writing emails to get one spot, and many times our confirmed spots used to get cancelled when any seasoned comic came to perform.

Q. What has been your worst bombing experience?

A. You mean, ‘Sannata’ – total silence? That has happened a lot many times. One that I remember was a corporate show in Goa. I was really excited and happy to do this big show. As I got on stage, I saw all the uncles staring at me and they remained that way all through my act. I used all my energy, spoke at the top of my voice, narrated my best jokes – no one laughed and everything I said fell flat.

When that happens, it breaks your confidence, drains your energy. So, I had a 45 minute spot and I came back to my room after 20 minutes of attempting to make them laugh.

Happens to the best of us. Right?

Q. Tell us something about ‘Market Down Hai’? How is it different from ‘Not Just Baniya’?

A. “Market Down Hai” is my father’s pet peeve. This is what he says all the time. You go to him asking for money, he’s all like, “abhi ruk ja, abhi dekh le, market down hai, dhanda down hai.” And this is what he used to say before the pandemic happened and market actually crashed. But now pandemic has made the situation such that people are able to relate to this line.

How’s it different? You can say, the pizza base is same, toppings have changed and gotten better. The theme is same, naturally, because the genre of any artist doesn’t change. It started with my ‘Baniya’ acts and since then a lot of changes have happened in my life. I have tried to inculcate all that and more in this special.

You can follow Gaurav Gupta on Instagram: @gaurav_comic

The post Tête-à-Tête with the ace comic Gaurav Gupta appeared first on Humour Sapiens.

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.

The post Tête-à-Tête with Harsh Gujral appeared first on Humour Sapiens.

Humour Sapiens got into a Tête-à-Tête with Subhashish Bharuka. Read more about the man right here!

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

I was 8 years old when I got on stage in a fancy dress competition in my school, dressed as a scarecrow. I thought, everyone would make fun of me. Instead, all the kids found it hilarious and I won the first prize. That’s when I developed the love for stage and to perform in front of an audience. Post that, I did theater in school and later on went on to do it professionally. I wrote scripts for the plays in which I would play the protagonist. (Self obsession you see. Lol.)

Cut to 2008, I went to see a show of Papa CJ in Delhi and instantly realised that’s what I’d like to do. I tried a few open mics in Delhi but dropped and went on to pursue my masters in Leeds University. At the summer ball for my batch, I performed a 20-minute set which everyone loved except the Chinese students, because I had made fun of them.

After returning to India, I moved to Bangalore in 2015. That’s when I found out about the open mics happening in the city. My first open mic was at Urban Solace. Since then, it’s been a continual journey to keep writing and working to improve my art.

2. What was your first stage experience like?

Most first timers have a stage fear, I was sort of used to being in the spot. I went to watch an open mic at Urban Solace and back then there were open mic spots available easily. I registered to perform for the same gig. It was an instant high, though my thoughts were raw and totally unstructured as a first time open micer.

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

To say the least, it’s been extremely fulfilling. I’ve produced 22 shows in Bangalore with WEDx being the show that would be house-full every time. I have been doing open mics as regularly I can. There are challenges in every field. Stand-up being one of the most challenging performing art forms. It takes a hell lot of patience and practice to perfect the art, and can even take a decade or more. It’s an ongoing process and I hope to continue it for as long as it takes to get somewhere in the circuit.

4. Your key achievements?

I had the opportunity to open for Jeeveshu, Atul Sir, Kunal Kamra and the latest sensation Anubhav Singh Bassi. In addition to the these, Comedy Barrel is a small stand-up comedy production company, under which I’ve produced WEDx and Let’s Do the 90s show across packed rooms and the audiences simply loved the line up and the show concept.

5. Any experience with annoying audience member?

Not particularly. Thankfully, I’ve had no hecklers to deal with yet. Hopefully, when I do record a couple videos and release it online, there’s going to be online heckling for sure.

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

Oh. Bombing is very close to my heart and mind. Haha. I have bombed so much, it’s not even funny. And it’s a good thing because I had a full time corporate job and my writing time would not be more than half an hour a day. To hash out content was the toughest part of it. I feel comics who are younger and have no responsibilities are the luckiest. They can pursue this full time and can attend all mics happening.

Thankfully, I’ve been able to put together a 30 minutes set now which has been tested with multiple audiences. But without bombing a comedian cannot grow on comedy.

With so much done & dusted, and a lot yet to be tasted, Subhashish rocks everything he does. We wish him luck! Connect with him on facebook.

The post Tête-à-Tête with Subhashish Bharuka appeared first on Humour Sapiens.

Humour Sapiens got into a tête-à-tête with Appurv Gupta aka Gupta Ji. Know more about him.

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

Basically, I’m an engineer, when I was in my engineering college, I realized that engineering is not my cup of tea, so I started doing something else. One day, someone told me about Toastmasters International, a non-profit public speaking organization. I got curious about what it is. Since I had a fear of public speaking, I started pursuing toastmasters International and eventually, I realized that I’m a funny guy in the circuit. People around me started coming up to me and telling me that I’m funny. Eventually things got smooth and I realized I can do standup.

My first stage experience of doing a stand-up was very good. Overall during Toastmasters when I went on stage for the first time it was a disaster, a nightmare that I had. My mind was blank, my hands were shivering. It was very tough at the beginning, but the stand-up experience was good because I performed comedy after at least 3 years of being in Toastmasters.

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

The journey was very good. I started doing standup in 2012, it has been over 7 and a half years. There were many challenges initially. Not many people knew about what stand-up was. So, I had to brief them about it, I had to teach them. Over a period of time, these challenges changed. Now people have seen stand-up so much that you have to be unique and different for the audience to come and see your show and people to invite you for their events. Every time you get to see a new challenge, but that’s a part of the game, a part of the life you’ve chosen. So, I’m kind of happy about everything.

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

My family knew that I’m doing something different other than B.Tech. So, I got the job in my last year, and after I got the offer letter, I told my family that I wanted to do stand-up for some time. They said okay and asked me for a deadline. I told them, give me 2 years, if I’m able to succeed then it’s fine, otherwise I’ll do MBA and do a job in an MNC or some Bank. But luckily, those two years I was able to succeed, and the rest is in front of you all

4. Do you write your own scripts?

Yes, I do write my own scripts. It’s been 7 years that I’m writing on my own. I think the reason why I started doing standup is that I like making people laugh and doing creative stuff. Hopefully, I will continue writing for myself in future too.

5. How much time did it take for you to develop the content for your video ‘Hotel Wala Experience‘?

The Hotel bit took me around 4 to 5 months to create it wholly, but yes, I’ve been performing this bit for almost 2 years. It took me 2 years to create that kind of performance with all the body language and voice modulation. As far as the content is concerned, I was able to build it around 3 to 5 months.

6. Unlike conventional art forms, comedy as a career is relatively new. How do you see the future of stand-up comedy and open mic culture?

I think comedy is going well. Every second day you’ll see a new video, every next person in engineering college wants to become a standup comedian. It’s a new career choice but yes, the future is kind of good as far as all the OTT platforms are coming and they want to acquire comedy content. They want standup specials on their platform. The future is bright, open mic culture is the beginning of any standup scene. If in your city, there’s no standup happening then definitely open-mic culture is the thing you should look for, but I think yes, right now if you’re talented and can do justice to your artform, then you’ll be able to survive in this field for sure.

7. Any take on regional comedy?

Yes, I believe regional comedy is the next big thing because India is a diverse country, so people want to be as comfortable in their language. If you’re a regional comedian I say that you should focus on doing regional stand-up. You’ll see a tremendous growth in your career as compared to Hindi or English is what I feel.

8. Any experience with annoying audience member? How do you deal with hecklers?

They buy a ticket and attend our show, so I try being a performer and talk to them. I try to handle their issue since they talk to me, I love to talk back. In most cases, I’m able to make sure they have a good time. I haven’t seen any audience in my show who’s irritating or annoying me, so I’m kind of happy. That’s the part of the game though, you have to handle them politely. You have to make sure that they are with you.

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

The bombing moments are as many as your website can be filled with numbers of pages. Many times, I’ve bombed on stage. The more you try and become better, the more experiments you do on stage and you get bombed. There are many bombing moments, like in 2012, I got bombed and thrown out of stage in College and corporate show, they told me to just shut my mouth. It’s just part of my job.

10. Suggestion for upcoming comics?

The only 3 suggestions I have for upcoming comedians are

A) Be original

B) Be hard working

C) Be Persistent

These are the only 3 things for any creative art form or life, to be honest. You’ll see a massive change in your growth and eventually in your life.

Follow him on Facebook & Instagram.

The post Tête-à-Tête with Appurv Gupta aka Gupta Ji appeared first on Humour Sapiens.

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

Ah, well. I was in college, we always used to do things like mad ads and skits partly. They all seemed fun and safe. It never occurred to me that as a person I could go upon stage and say “This is what I think”, except when we all saw Russell Peters, when we were like 18 years old.

Fast forward to 24, that is four years ago , I saw the explosion of stand-up in India. By then, my engineering job had already left me brain dead and heartless. The stage just seemed like a place where I could vent my frustrations. It was catharsis. Helped. After the first few times on stage , money or no money, I was hooked. Watched every video I could find from Dave Chappelle to Bill Burr, who in my opinion are the best in the world. Even though I didn’t quit my day job, I kept on doing it for the next three years without any plans of stopping anytime soon I started it out of frustration and ended up liking it.

The first few times on the stage were quite bittersweet. My very first time on stage was in front of a couple of retired army personnel, just chilling and here I was going on and on about ISIS and how Malayalis shouldn’t join them because their accents aren’t good for terrorism. It got laughs and a middle aged woman came up to me after the show only to tell me, “Hmm, You have great confidence.” And she walked away. It was brutal and re-assuring at the same time. Well that was enough for me to keep me going next three years. I’m blunt, I know. The next few times, it got easier as I was learning how to actually construct jokes.

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

The journey was been wonderful, never regretted my time on stage, be it in an open mic in front of one person on a rainy weekday or performing in front of five hundred people as part of a festival. My day job kept pulling me away and I wasn’t in a position to leave and pursue stand-up full time. This is something I regret. I had to leave comedy for a year in between to take care of things at home and at work.

But doing stand-up and travelling and telling jokes for a living is the ultimate dream. Nothing more satisfying than that for me, and I am slowly, organically getting there. Coming back and starting from scratch again was challenging, stand up is like a muscle, if you are not on stage for at least 3-4 times a week, you will become rusty, you won’t hit all the punches. Although the stand up landscape changed when I came back, there are so many aspiring comedians in the city now, so many open mics, which is fantastic although now the competition is very high. Comics push each other now. Which is kind of a good thing. Some survive the grind, many don’t.

3. Your key achievements?

Well, I have been playing colleges around the city. Traveled around South India to Pondicherry, Coimbatore, Wayanad, Kochi just to showcase my material to see if it works everywhere and to know if it is universally relatable. Went to Sri Lanka to perform, where I got called which ended up being more fun than I thought. I do corporate shows around the city too for companies like Bosch, Cognizant. I get calls from many start ups, they have more relaxed rules than big corporates which I prefer more. Planning on releasing a video soon, when I think its ready within in the next two months.

4. Any experience with annoying audience member?

Weirdly, I was known around the circuit as the “dark black” guy. Sadly. It wasn’t due to my complexion. Well, mostly it was. Sometimes my perspective goes, a little on the other side. I don’t feel bad about anything I say on stage. Approval and disapproval both work for me. I have always believed that 50 percent disapproval means the joke is great and on the fence, as long all the facts are right. But there have been times when people got offended when I least expected it. The weirdest would be when I got anonymous messages to stop doing “Anti-government” jokes through SMS, well I did use the “M” word. (Mitrooon). It was funny though, it was all threatening but without grammar. Nowadays, we have to dissent without using actual names, not that I do a lot Modi jokes, but at times it is inevitable that you have to dissent. Sometimes Dissent is art. Example: Kunal Kamra.

And there was once this visibly christian person (Collared T shirt, tucked into his jeans with a very visible rosary) walked off the venue, because I said “Tsunami’s are like Mass Baptism”. Ooops. So that has happened. I think I kind of justified the name given to me.

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

Ah, Bombing stories, Hmm, I guess every comic can share a weekly bombing story from the first year of their career. At least. I remember the most brutal one for me was when I was doing a open mic, and there was a entire joint family of orthodox Christians, with kids, grand kids, adopted kids, second uncle twice removed. You know the usual. They were close to easily 30 people, filled up the room, and I was closing the show. Just saw the other comics bomb so badly, because nothing worked and I was trying to re-write all my material within an span of 30 minutes. Ended up singing happy birthday to one of their kids. The biggest applause we got was when we walked off stage. It was brutal.

At this point I should clarify, I have nothing against Christians. Ssshh.
I love everybody, so everyone will get made fun of.

Follow him on Facebook & Instagram.

The post Tête-à-Tête with Krishna Subramanian appeared first on Humour Sapiens.

रोजमर्रा की अनुभवों से प्रेरित उनकी कॉमेडी बहुत वास्तविक होती है। उनके पर्फॉर्मन्सेस में उनका अंदाज़ लोगो को काफी पसंद आता है।  पेश है Priyesh Sinha के साथ Humour Sapiens की गयी बातचीत।

1. आपकी जन्मभूमि चम्पारण रही है तथा मुंबई कर्मभूमि – अनुभव कैसा रहा?

ये काफी मिला जुला अनुभव रहा है अभी तक काम करते वक़्त फैंस से मिले प्यार और स्नेह से आनंद मिलता रहा और आगे काम करने का मोटिवेशन मिलता रहा वही दूसरी ओर घर से दूरी और हर बार अगले काम के लिए स्ट्रगल भी चलता रहा। हर किसी को घर से दूर अपनी पहचान बनाने के लिए अच्छे बुरे समय से गुजरना होता है। मेरे साथ भी वो सब हुआ।

2. क्या आप बचपन से ही कलाकार बनना चाहते थे ? स्टैंड अप कॉमेडियन बनने का ख़्याल कब आया?

नहीं, बचपन में मैंने ऐसा नहीं सोचा था कि मैं कभी मुंबई आऊंगा और ग्लैमरस फ़िल्म जगत् का हिस्सा बनूँगा। कॉमेडी के साथ मेरा हमेशा से एक इतिहास रहा है। स्कूल में आयोजित होने वाले नाटक कार्यक्रम में हमेशा से मैं हिस्सा लिया करता था। नाटक लिखना, निर्देश करना, यहाँ तक की एक्टर की कमी होने पर अपने दोस्तों को जबरदस्ती पात्र बनाना मेरा काम था। मेरे लिखे हुए नाटक काफी पसंद किये जाते थे।  जब मैं इंजीनियरिंग कॉलेज में आ गया तब नाटक करने का मौका नहीं मिला।  तभी मुझे स्टैंड उप कॉमेडी की जानकारी हुई और मुझे लगा ये मेरे लिए सही है। इसमें मुझे किसी ग्रुप की ज़रूरत नहीं। मैं अकेला ही  लोगो को एंटरटेन कर सकता हूँ। मेरा पहला शो काफी अच्छा रहा और लोगों ने इसे खूब पसंद किया। जयपुर में उस वक़्त करीब 26 इंजीनियरिंग कॉलेज थे और मेरा वीडियो सारे कॉलेजेस में वायरल हो गया। उसी दौरान ग्रेट इंडियन लाफ्टर चैलेंज आया और भगवान की कृपा से मुझे कपिल शर्मा, सुधेश लाहिरी, राजीव ठाकुर जैसे नामचीन कलाकारों  के साथ करीयर शुरू करने का मौका मिला। चूकि उस वक़्त मुझे अपनी पढ़ाई पूरी करनी थी, मैं वापिस जयपुर आ गया। मेरे आने के तुरंत बाद कॉमेडी सर्कस प्रोग्राम शुरु हुआ, और ये मौका मेरे हाथ से निकल गया। जयपुर में मुझे लोकल प्रोग्राम मिलने लगे। FM पिंक सिटी, BigFM जैसे प्रसिद्ध रेडियो चैनेलो पर मेरा प्रोग्राम प्रसारित किया गया। मुझे पहली बार अपने कलाकार होने का एहसास तब हुआ जब राजस्थान पत्रिका, प्रभातख़बर जैसी बड़े अख़बारों में मेरे बारे में लिखा गया। तब लगा की अब मुझे इसी क्षेत्र में आगे बढ़ना चाहिए।

3. आपके परिवार वालो की क्या प्रतिक्रिया रही? क्या वो आपके कलाकार बनने के समर्थन में थे या आपको उन्हें मनाना पड़ा ?

हाँ, घरवालों का सप्पोर्ट और मोटिवेशन हमेशा से था, लेकिन मैंने कभी यह नहीं सोचा था के मैं मुंबई जाऊंगा और कलकार बनूँगा।
मुझे हसाना पसंद था, मम्मी पापा को भी कॉमेडी का काफी शौक था। वो लोग जॉनी लीवर साहब के कैसेट को सुनते थे, उस समय कैसेट हुआ करता था, जो मुझे भी सुन्ना पसंद था। सुनते सुनते मुझे मिमिक्री भी आ गयी थी और स्कूल कॉलेज में जो दोस्तों और पप्रोफेसरों से प्रतिक्रिया मिलती थी, उसकी वजह से मम्मी पापा ने मेरे टैलेंट को समझा और हमेशा बढ़ावा दिया। उन्होंने कहा कि जब सब लोग इतना पसंद करते हैं तो आप उसको हमेशा अपने अंदर बनाये रखें। मैं रिलायंस में सॉफ्टवेयर इंजीनियर था; जॉब छूट गयी और जो कॉमेडी मैं पार्ट-टाइम करता था, वही फुल-टाइम प्रोफेशन बन गया।

4. आप अपने अनुभव को ग्रेट इंडियन लाफ्टर चैलेंज 3 पर कैसे रेट करेंगे, जहां आपने ऐसे लोगों के साथ प्रदर्शन किया, जो अब इंडस्ट्री के कुछ बेहतरीन नामों में से हैं। और आप हसी का अखाड़ा (जो आपने जीता) पर प्रदर्शन करने के अपने अनुभव को कैसे आकेंगे?

5. हंसी का अखाड़ा के बाद जीवन कैसे बदल गया है? क्या आपने कभी नौकरी पर वापस जाने के बारे में सोचा?

6.  स्टैंड-अप कॉमिक के रूप में आपके सामने क्या चुनौतियाँ आयीं?

सबसे बड़ी प्रॉब्लम जो फेस करनी पड़ी और अभी भी करनी पड़ती है, वो यही है कि कुछ भी निश्चित नहीं होता।  जब आपके पास काम है तो आप व्यस्त रहते हैं, आमदनी भी होती रहती है। लेकिन जब काम नहीं होता तो आप घर पे रहते हैं, बोर होते हैं और नए काम की तलाश में लगे रहते हैं। एक रचनात्मक व्यक्ति का या एक अभिनेता का घर पे बैठना आसान नहीं होता।

7. अभी के कॉमेडी सीन के बारे में आपको क्या पसंद है?

अभी के कॉमेडी सीन के लिए यही कहूंगा कि अब कॉमेडियन को किसी टीवी शो का या किसी बड़े प्लेटफार्म का मोहताज नहीं होना पड़ता। अब बहुत सारे ऐसे क्लब हैं, जहाँ वो परफॉर्म करके अपना फैन-बेस बना सकते हैं।

8. क्षेत्रीय कॉमेडी पर कोई टिप्पणी?

कॉमेडी किसी भी राज्य की क्षेत्रीय हो या हिंदी और इंग्लिश, उसमें मज़ा आना चाहिए, हंसी आनी चाहिए, और थोड़ा आकर्षक भी हो। क्यूंकि टेलीविज़न पर मैंने 10 साल गुज़ारे हैं, हाल ही में 2018 में Zee टीवी का क्षेत्रीय सा रे गा मा पा भी होस्ट किया है, तो मुझे एहसास है कि कलाकारी क्षेत्रीय स्तर पर हो या राष्ट्रीय स्तर पर, उसका मकसद ऑडियंस का मनोरंजन करना होना चाहिए।

9. किसी नटखट दर्शक के साथ कोई अनुभव?

फैन हर तरह के होते हैं। हम उनके बारे में कुछ भी बुरा भला नहीं कह सकते क्यूंकि वो जो भी करते हैं, वो प्यार में, या इमोशनल होके कर जाते हैं। मैं उनके भावनाओं की कदर करता हूँ और YouTube पर जो भी लोग मुझे कमेंट करते हैं, मई उन्हें जवाब ज़रूर देता हूँ, और उनमें से जो कमेंट दिल के बेहद करीब हैं, उन्हें अपने फ़ेसबुक, ट्विटर और इंस्टाग्राम पर ज़रूर शेयर करता हूँ। बहुत सारे ऐसे फैन हैं जो मेरे शुरुवाती दिनों से मेरे साथ जुड़े हुए हैं, वो अब बिलकुल फॅमिली के जैसे लगते हैं।

The post Tête-à-Tête with Priyesh Sinha appeared first on Humour Sapiens.

Humour Sapiens got into a Tête-à-Tête with The Blackbuck Comedy team. Read on to know more about the people who are working to make you laugh!

Who all started The Blackbuck Comedy? How many members in the team now?

Initially, there were just two of us, Lakshaya Malhotra and Maninder Singh. We created this comedy production house. However, after Manish Jain, Pronoy Chowdhury and Ritesh Banerjee joining us, we are a team of five now.

So, how did you start it? How did the idea develop and when did you start hosting shows as a team?

We used to organise open mics in a café in Bangalore, but not under the banner of TBC. After a few months into organising the open mics, we thought of going by the name ‘The Blackbuck Comedy’. April 7, 2018 was when the first show went live under The Blackbuck Comedy banner.

Tell us a little bit about the background of the team.

We are a team who are corporate slaves by the day and stand-up comics by the night, and organisers on all days. None of us is a full-time comedian as of now, but we have high hopes from us.

Where all do you organise the shows?

We are pretty aggressive when it comes to organising shows in Bangalore. However, we are slowly spreading our branches across India, starting with Pune, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Chandigarh.

How did you create your space in the comedy industry?

It was never easy. To start off, we became a platform where new faces could display their talent. We gave chances to aspiring comics through open mics. We did make mistakes, but we learnt from them about what should be our next steps. It sure took some time but eventually we grew stronger. We are still learning, and still growing. As they say, the learning goes on.

The Blackbuck Comedy is a fairly recognised name in the comedy industry, especially in Bangalore. Reaching here has always been a team effort. But we are still working hard to gain acceptance in other cities and aim to grow further.

How do you all manage shows with your current jobs?

We usually have our shows or open mics during the evening. It was a little tough in the beginning, but it eventually turned out fine. And now we seamlessly manage TBC with our day jobs.

Big names you have worked with? And the names you want to work with?

We have worked with Aakash Gupta (of the Comicstaan fame), Gaurav Gupta, Manish Tyagi, Nishant Tanwar, Vijay Yadav, Rajat Chauhan, Anubhav Singh Bassi… and many more to come.

Humour Sapiens would like to wish The Blackbuck Comedy good luck for their future endeavours.

The post Tête-à-Tête with The Blackbuck Comedy 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

The post Tête-à-Tête with Rahul Robin appeared first on Humour Sapiens.

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

The post Tête-à-Tête with stand-up comic Manish Chaubey appeared first on Humour Sapiens.