Manish is a software engineer by day and a comedian for life! Having grown up in a small town in Bihar, he is full of life. His keen observer eyes can spot funniness in simplistic things. He complains, most of his adulthood was whiling away finding a girlfriend and he had to take up comedy after giving up hopes. Thankfully! Humour Sapiens got into a tête-à-tête with stand-up comic Manish Chaubey, who is all set to make it big!
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