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HUMOUR SAPIENS: MARKET DOWN HAI: GAURAV GUPTA

Tête-à-Tête with the ace comic Gaurav Gupta

Amazon Prime Video on May 10 announced their upcoming Amazon Funnies stand-up special ‘Market Down Hai’ featuring popular stand-up comic Gaurav Gupta. The show premiers on May 14, 2021.

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

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