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Did you know that Parsis in Mumbai, instead of being left at the Tower of Silence after
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they die, are now cremated?
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Because a cow fell sick in the early 1990s?
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Did you know that the smog in Delhi is caused by something that farmers in Punjab do, and
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that there's no way to stop them?
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Did you know that there wasn't one gas tragedy in Bhopal, but three?
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One of them was seen, but two were unseen.
#
Did you know that many well-intentioned government policies hurt the people they're supposed
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Why was demonetization a bad idea?
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How should GST have been implemented?
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Why are all our politicians so corrupt when not all of them are bad people?
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I'm Amit Verma, and in my weekly podcast, The Seen and the Unseen, I take a shot at
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answering all these questions and many more.
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I aim to go beyond the seen and show you the unseen effects of public policy and private
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I speak to experts on economics, political philosophy, cognitive neuroscience, and constitutional
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law so that their insights can blow not only my mind, but also yours.
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The Seen and the Unseen releases every Monday, so do check out the archives and follow the
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You can also subscribe to The Seen and the Unseen on whatever podcast app you happen
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And now, let's move on to the show.
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There is an old quote often attributed to Horace Walpole, the world is a tragedy to
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those who feel and a comedy to those who think.
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And indeed, often the best way to deal with difficulty or sadness is through humor.
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And the best comedy is always much more than merely funny.
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It's no surprise then that a society can be at its funniest when things look really
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Soviet humor was renowned during the dark communist years of the Soviet Union.
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There was no other way to cope, and the only alternative to a hearty laugh was to descend
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into a deep, never-ending funk.
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And for those of us who believe that Indian society and Indian democracy is going through
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a difficult phase, it's no surprise that the quality of our humor is getting better and
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Because when things get so bleak that they are no laughing matter, that's when they
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are indeed a laughing matter.
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Welcome to The Seen and the Unseen.
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Our weekly podcast on economics, politics, and behavioral science.
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Please welcome your host, Amit Padma.
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Welcome to The Seen and the Unseen.
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When stand-up comedy first came to India, it was shallow and derivative, performed by
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privileged kids who lacked life experience and an understanding of what India was really
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The best stand-up comics in India today are both deeply self-aware and engaging with the
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world around them, feeding off it and feeding into it.
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To discuss the evolution of both comedy in general and stand-up comedy in particular,
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I have invited Aditi Mittal onto the show.
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Aditi needs no introduction from me.
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Google her, see her videos on YouTube, browse her YouTube channel especially, I recommend,
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and you'll get a sense of what she's all about.
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Also, the producer of The Seen and the Unseen, Abbas Momin, also happens to be a stand-up
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So I asked him to sit in as a guest and co-host with me and come in front of the mic for once.
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For what is worth, I wanted to record two episodes with Aditi.
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I wanted one whole episode on the subject of misogyny in entertainment and in Indian
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But that'll be the next episode.
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In this one, we'll talk more about the comedy scene in India than just this aspect of it.
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But first, let's take a small break.
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If this happens to be the only podcast you listen to, well, you need to listen to some
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Check out the ones from IVM Podcast who co-produced the show with me.
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Go to ivmpodcast.com or download the IVM app and you'll find a host of great Indian
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podcasts that cover every subject you could think of.
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From the magazine I edit, Pragati, I think, pragati.com, there is the Pragati podcast
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hosted by Hamsini Hariharan and Pawan Srinath.
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There is a brilliant Hindi podcast, Puliya Baazi, hosted by Pranay Kutaswamy and Saurabh
#
And apart from these policy podcasts, IVM has shows that cover music, films, finance,
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sports, sci-fi, tech and the LGBT community all under one roof or rather all in one app.
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So download the IVM Podcast app today.
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Aditi, welcome to the Scene in the Unseen.
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Hi, this is so incredibly exciting.
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And not just Aditi Abbas, welcome to the Scene in the Unseen as well.
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Good to be on the show I produce once again.
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Yeah, good to be in front of the mic instead of behind it.
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So Aditi, we have this, and you're going to probably find this a little disconcerting,
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but we started this new custom on the Scene in the Unseen that before we get down to whatever
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the serious subject of the day is, macroeconomics or protectionism or whatever, we ask the guests
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a few personal questions about themselves so that, you know, I always assume.
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So it's long walks on the beach, dogs, candlelight dinners and dinners at candlelight dogs.
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Those are my preferences.
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Okay, I'll take a few moments to fathom that.
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But in this case, actually, there's a natural segue from sort of your personal journey to
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the subject of today's episode, which is, you know, the history of stand-up comedy and
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comedy in general, which you have a lot of thoughts and feelings on.
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So tell us a little bit about yourself.
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What did the eight-year-old Aditi want to be?
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How did the eight-year-old Aditi get here?
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You know, the eight-year-old Aditi wanted to be a rickshaw driver because I was just
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I was like, oh my God, you get to go places and people will pay you.
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And I just thought it was genius.
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I was like, oh my God, it's the whole day with the wind in your hair and a meter on
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And a meter on your shoulder.
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Just that made, I thought it was the ultimate sort of like, like I would feel very jaunty
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if I was a rickshaw driver.
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And then I think I sort of grew out of that ambition.
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And then I, you know, I think I wanted to be an elephant.
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That was my childhood aim, which I think I achieved.
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You're giving your stand-up routine now, come, come, come.
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Shed the mask, show us a real Aditi.
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So I wanted to be a nun.
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No, I wanted to be, I don't know.
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You didn't have wanted to be anything per se, but
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But as you went through school and college and all that, you know, what were you studying?
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What were you looking at?
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What kind of person were you?
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I think, yeah, I, I've, I don't know if I was always funny, but surely I was a no-tunky.
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Like I was that kid, you know, when your relatives come over and your parents are like uncle
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aunty ke liye dance karo.
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I was that kid who was like kaunsa genre, mere paas sad song hai, happy song hai and
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I know kahuna pyaar hai by heart.
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And did they ever call your bluff and say salsa dance karo?
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I would make it up on this spot.
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And they wouldn't know because they're Indian uncles.
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Yes, and they would just clap along politely.
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Like to the point that when my dad owed people money, he used to just call them home.
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Because they were like, rene do Mittal ke bache ka 6 gante ka chaiya chaiya dekhna
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They don't collect his daughter.
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So Abbas, I've got to give you some trivia that I found out about her before the show.
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That in, both of us did, went to school in Pune and I studied in this place called Bishop
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And many years after me, of course, she studied in this neighboring school called St. Mary's.
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And bishops and St. Bishop's was a boys school.
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St. Mary's was a girls school.
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And bishops and Mary's used to have a social area where boys and girls would get together.
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And I don't know what the girls would think, but the boys would like the only social I
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I didn't talk to any girl because I was too scared.
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I found the guitarist of the band and asked her for tips on how to play the guitar, which
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I still don't know, by the way.
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So Aditi told me that she was like the school marmi presence among the girls and she would
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make sure that none of them, you know, danced with any of the boys or held hands with them
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She was used that kind of push.
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I've been preventing people from getting laid for like decades now.
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I think, yeah, but it's true.
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And our schools, by the way, Abbas was separated by one single wall.
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There was one single wall in between bishops.
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Like Israel and Palestine.
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Which was, I mean, not as tragic, clearly, or fraught with sexual tension as our girls
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schools and boys schools.
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Nobody tried to climb over the walls or anything?
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I was, I was one of the sort of, as I said, the asexual moms that would be like, sister,
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sister, someone is trying to go on the wall.
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I saw that one staring at that one.
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I was a very popular kid among the teachers.
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Not so much among the girls.
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So after your early school career as a spoilsport and messing with everyone's fun, where did
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I went to Sophia College in Bombay.
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A girls college after a girls school.
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Now we know why you're so twisted.
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Actually, I think, you know, one of the advantages of being in an all girls environment for me
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personally have been the fact that whenever you're in a co-ed environment, the class
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clown would always be a guy.
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You know, because any sort of clownish behavior from girls was never rewarded with laughs.
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It was always, what are you doing, you're crazy.
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And I think with, with the fact that I was in an all girls environment till very later
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So you were the class gesture.
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I was sort of the one who would like raise my hand and give a smart ass answer.
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Like 80% of my school life was spent kneeling outside class, just waiting for the break
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bell to ring so that I could be the first one in the canteen for the samosas before
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But yeah, I think it really helped.
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It really helped to be in an environment where there was a constant also reinforcement of
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the things that women found funny.
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And I think so if anyone, if you want to blame anyone for my career, that's where your bad
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carbohydrate habits started first one to the samosas, it seems, but that's really interesting.
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So what you mean is if you were in a normal, not a normal, but say a co-ed environment
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where they were both boys and girls, you may not ever really have had the confidence to
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you're saying express your comedy and find your voice.
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Oh, clearly, clearly 100%.
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And you know, I know that the conversation about single sex environments in schools is
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a sort of is very important to have.
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But I think that in this particular aspect, it really helped.
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It made sort of actually going back, I met my first non-relative man when I was 19, and
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like met as in like interacted.
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And I remember being blown away that I was like, oh my God, they have hair on their neck.
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You know, they smell like this in this one particular way, their toes have hair on them.
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I just remember being sort of blown away by the male form at the age of 19, which I think
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was still kind of late in the day.
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But I think the natural shutups that could have come to me till I was 19, didn't come.
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What do you mean the natural shutups or people saying shut up to you, enough people telling
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you to shut up or policing you into a confined gender role that no, no, no, girls don't behave
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like this, or women don't behave like this.
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We were able to sort of occupy more roles than just the prescribed act out of the gender
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that you are supposed to be.
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What changed after you left at all girls environment?
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Did you have to adjust?
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Yeah, I was I was genuinely confused.
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I was genuinely sort of like frazzled and taken aback, sort of, but I think it helped
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also again in that way that I was very, I was a little bit too self assured.
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When I was placed then, in an environment where there were men as well, is that I was
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like, I know, I know that I am sort of my voice is worth listening to, I the things
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I am saying are not like just our talking, I just, I felt I had my sense of validation
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So then by the time I went out into a world where there were all sorts of genders, I was
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And we will talk about, you know, more about being a woman in this kind of an environment
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in sort of the next episode.
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But just to kind of continue with that, you know, whenever I would go to a bookstore and
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there would be a section called humor, and there would be books there and I would be
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like, humor is a part of everything.
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It makes no sense to have a section which is called humor.
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And so okay, obviously, then as a schoolgirl and a, you know, as a college going person,
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you're someone who's naturally funny and you're making your voice cracks and you're sort of,
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At what point did you become aware of comedy as a genre by itself, which you could consume
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and which had value and B as something that you could do?
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So A, I think it was because, you know, my family is like, my dad was hilarious.
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My dad was the funniest guy I ever knew.
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He I think he brought us up sarcastically, like I remember there was he used to have
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Okay, and backscratchers were a rare commodity at some point.
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So I was totally fascinated with it.
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And one day I was chatting with you and I was just banging the back scratcher on the
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I was like thak thak thak thak thak.
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So dad, something something.
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He looks at me and he's like, Aditi, what's going on?
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Why are you doing that?
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I said, no, just like that.
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He's like, do me a favor?
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If you want to break it, at least hit it hard enough.
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And I just stood there.
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I was so confused for a second.
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I was like, wait, should I hit it or not?
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But he sort of was a very clever and very, like he, I think.
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You know, ultimately, I did.
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I did five years later. Yeah, but I mean that had that backstache had a long life. Thanks that one sarcastic comment
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And he sort of attributed a lot more intelligence to us than I think we had to be very honest
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And did that make you more intelligent and I'm asking that seriously
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Yeah, cuz you I really I did want to sort of whenever he put an expectation in front of me
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I wanted to fulfill it. I think one of the main functions of humor is to dispel tension
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I sort of had a fairly unconventional life, you know, not from just the general nuclear or joint family
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so we constantly found ourselves in situations with a lot of adults and
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slightly tense situations and I realized the only way out of it was to make a joke about it or to sort of do a
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silly dance or something like that and
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I realized that would dispel the tension and make me more acceptable to sit around in the room
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Long enough till it came time for me to crack the next joke or say something silly again
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And so just sort of became it was a service a defense mechanism as well as a way to appeal to people
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I switched schools when I was in 9th standard because the boarding school I was in St. Mary's sorry
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They shut down and so my father was like, oh you have we have to put you in another boarding school
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And they took me to Panchkani and I had had all these friends for me
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It's you know from like junior KG to 8th standard and now suddenly I'm in this new school 9th standard 10th standard
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I was totally confused. Also a girl's school, haan je
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I remember that weekend when I was going to school
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Kahona pyaar hai had come out
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That movie is my spirit animal. Kahona pyaar hai had come out. I memorized the entire movie
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Every single word of that movie. You saw it once or? Like maybe three times on Monday
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And I memorized that entire movie including like transitions like the don't ask me dad. I'm in love
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Just song to dialogue dialogue to song you remember it all now kind of yeah
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Cuz the the first day that I got into school, you know, all the other new girls were sort of unpacking and being sort of bummed out
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I just put on my best performers hat and I acted out the movie for like a bunch of 10th standard girls
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Who were just confused? They're like who the f**k is this girl? She's new here, but she's not crying
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She's sitting and doing don't ask me dad. I'm in love. I'm in love. I
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And I still have friends from that time who remember me for that
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Oh my god, you know, we became friends with Aditi because she just was ridiculous and telling this story
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And it's both very funny and in some way very sad as well
#
Oh, I think yeah, I think in fact one of the I think comedy is one of the most deeply tragic things in the world
#
It was sort of finding survival. It was finding a way to make yourself fit in that may not necessarily
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Be about asserting authority or asserting superiority
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Or finding empathy, which is hard for a new girl in a new school. So instead you do this
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And also just the value of the funny person is
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I mean, I love I enjoy that mid-range where
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Nobody cares who you are. But the moment you pipe up, they'll be like they'll acknowledge you and move on
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I love that that that temporary ability to hold someone's attention and have it gone back
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Have it gone back. Um, so
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Yes, yes, you know it was about survival it was and as we discussed earlier
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I think that comedy is sort of the other end of the coin of every other emotion whether it's fear whether it's anger whether it's sadness
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Whether it's humiliation
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Everything plus time. So essentially what you're saying is you cope with every kind of anxiety by bringing comedy into it and dispelling
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Oh, yes. Yes, surely. In fact, one of the greatest examples of that is in
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Johnny leaver's new show which he's doing right now. It's a two-hour special
#
it is mind-boggling that a 62 year old man is standing on stage for one and a half hours and
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sort of you know having at it with the audience and he one of the bits he talks about is how
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you know, he had this drinking problem and then he gave it up and
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How everyone reacted to him giving up alcohol and that whole set is hilarious
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Like, you know that people are like no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
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The offense that people feel when you say you've given up alcohol
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But just the fact that he was talking about something that was so deeply tragic
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I mean his sort of addiction to alcohol is what led him to
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Christianity which is the religion he practices right now and has got a lot of stability to his life
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But the fact that he was able to channel something so profoundly tragic into
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Just a room where 600 people were screaming
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We were screaming at the back because we bought the cheap tickets at the back
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There were just people being like Gio Johnny Bhai Gio and I thought where else would a story of such utter vulnerability?
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Get these kind of just like air punching whoops
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And would you say that the best way to process such pain such tragedy is comedy? It's the only way. Otherwise, you'll be crushed by the weight
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I think in fact comedy is one of the best ways to move on from something
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You know that you find tragic. They say that comedy is tragedy plus time
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Yeah, right and so it's so just adding time to what is
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Um is what propels you to move on? Uh, even that's why uh
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Have you by the way, I know we spoke about this earlier, but uh, hannah gadsby's new special
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Nanette, did you watch it? I haven't watched it. Oh my god
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Everybody's been everybody's been recommending it to me
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Oh my god Abbas. Oh my god
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So you must watch it. Oh, please amit if you have the time. Um
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But she sort of discusses that she discusses how
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At the base of comedy every funny comedy
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At the base of comedy every funny story you tell
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Actually has something really sad in it
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um, and I can actually tell you my personal story that I decided to do on stage was uh,
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I one day I I asked my dad to drop me to the airport
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And my dad was reading the newspaper and so, you know, he puts away the newspaper
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He's looking for his you know glasses. He goes looks for the keys, you know, he was sitting in his lungi
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So he went and he changed into his pants. He opens the door and he's waiting there
#
And because that generation I think they're not used to airline travel as we are
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He started getting anxious. He was like get to the airport early
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Just get to the f***ing airport like just get there before the Wright brothers invent the airplane. Just get there
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I feel like you're talking about me
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That generation like you know, I mean, yeah
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I'm not offended by it and I will find a way to cope with the sadness. I feel now in the due course of time
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But he uh, and so he was getting really anxious
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And I was just sort of like goofing off
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And he got so angry he slapped himself
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Because I mean he couldn't raise his hand on me because I was clearly a 30 year old woman
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And who can't leave the house without being like papa susu karna
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And it's funny now, it's really funny now
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But that moment like I think that was my reckoning. That was my moment when I was like I can't
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Uh, I think that was my big growing up moment and I was sort of distraught about that incident for a very long time
#
But I think I managed to find a funny way to tell it
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and it I mean, of course later on improved relations between me and my dad, you know when I was like
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Papa, I'm so sorry that I put you through this and
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And he was just like, you know, it's fine. It's you know, how we process things and how we grow up and
#
I mean, but that's not that's not an interesting punch line
#
He was probably in the middle of solving a sudoku or something to disturb someone in the middle of that
#
You are asking for trouble. He was doing a crossword. He was doing a crossword. You go name dead. I know what men are like
#
So that's what like but me saying that you know, well that that my relationship between my dad improved
#
It's not a punch line. Your dad saw you do that bit. No. Oh, he hasn't seen it. Yeah
#
I mean he passed away in july last year. So he didn't see a lot of the stuff
#
But um, what did he think of your I mean when you it is astonishing actually that he thought
#
I mean, he was one of those key. He would sit in a comedy show second row
#
Tears running down his face because he's so proud
#
I was like that is not the desired reaction
#
Um, because he gets to the essence of comedy strategy
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Like and he was one of those that would like
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um sort of every show I did he would be like
#
And then sometimes come and then sit at the back and pass out
#
And i'm like papa so rich and he's like, oh yeah
#
You guys you kids these days also take so many things for granted including AC
#
AC is such a big freaking deal
#
You know, I remember when I was in college in pune ferguson college sweltering summer every afternoon
#
I would go to the british council library sit for five six hours people would say boy likes reading it
#
It gave us this podcast. I think it all worked out
#
It all worked out in the end you guys take AC for granted gps for granted. I see people taking how can you yeah?
#
So he was he was super supportive and um, my mom, um
#
In spite of the fact that she she also works a very unconventional job
#
She is a production controller at fireworks films, which does cid and ahut on sony
#
Knew that I mean she had no idea she's like you're going out in the middle of the night
#
You know at nine o'clock in the evening with these notes and then you're coming back
#
You're saying you're going to a club and then you're coming back and you're sober and you have more notes in your hand
#
What is going on? What are you doing in these clubs?
#
Uh, but she sort of and as I was telling uh, i'm with for the first three years
#
It was just a labor of love we were doing stand-up comedy for like garlic bread and a glass pepsi and all was our payment. Okay?
#
They sort of stuck with me through it and I realized
#
That that deadly combination of two people who have that unending faith and trust in you
#
Propelled me personally for sure if they had not had if they were not supportive. I would not be doing this
#
So our shout out to mrs. Mittal and thank you so much
#
Uh, so the question here is that how did they then look upon your comedy per se because the kind of comedy that you did and and
#
It was very different from what we'll talk about soon
#
Which is the kind of comedy that otherwise existed in india before that
#
Worlds apart where you're essentially mining the personal for you know for using the those insights and making people laugh
#
How did they react to that? I think they were thrilled. I I think I like that was personally thrilled
#
He just but thrilled at the response that oh betty stage be here or also did they enjoy the form?
#
Oh, oh, I used to read out everything to my dad every line that I like if I wrote something new
#
And then he would do the like
#
I wish this bit wasn't video
#
Fantastic fantastic though it was sort of
#
Like this and then I realized that reaction actually was also very similar to what you said
#
On stage in the beginning um is sometimes I used to hear one and because the audience is in the dark right when you're on stage
#
I used to hear the yeah, and I used to wonder like people don't like it. Like should I stop when it's your daddy?
#
Um, but I realized it also came from the fact that they were sometimes titch-titching at themselves
#
For laughing at something that they thought was inappropriate
#
Uh, so if you're talking about say sanitary napkins or eve teasing or you know penis enlargement cream
#
They they would find it funny, but they would be shocked that they're laughing at it themselves
#
And would they be shocked at what the story says about them because they're in the story
#
Oh, no, they are too secure for that. It's embarrassing. It's embarrassing how they don't care like I my my market value at home is zero
#
My market value is zero
#
Like I my my market value at home is zero. My mother was just like why do they pay you for this when you're doing this?
#
nonsense for free at home
#
I think that would be almost every comic. I don't think they're very appreciated at home
#
Which is why they go out and make themselves on stage
#
Look for us probably comics of this generation because we are passing through that transitional phase where the older generation is like
#
Not 20 years older than you but mentally maybe a century older than you right?
#
Yes, also like you said the form previously was was different than than what has been happening the last 10 years or so
#
Doing a bit of on stage was its own thing rather than expressing your opinions or talking about issues
#
Which is which is what what's been happening in the last decade or so in indian stand-up comedy
#
So yeah, you know, yeah and that actually was uh, very dependent on the
#
The method of disbursement of said comedy, uh, because most of the comedy that was coming to us prior to the 10 years was
#
Uh sort of this mainstream mass
#
Exactly, and so it had to be beamed out to a lot of people and be inoffensive to a lot of people and so it
#
Would catch the lowest common denominator and in most cases that would be misogynistic classes or even
#
Conceptions of what the lowest common denominator is which you probably might not have had any way of testing
#
You know in the sense that you had a vision of this is what the people want
#
But do the people really want it and you don't really know that because there's no way to test that so those preconceived notions just get
#
Pushed further and further. Yeah. Yeah. I mean till of course the era of feedback, which is 10 years ago
#
And yeah, I think that's why uh the stand-up comedy industry as
#
Of I think we are experiencing it Abbas and I are experiencing it
#
Is looked at with that much disdain or with that much awe because
#
It suddenly has a very deeply personal opinion attached to it, which was not the case before
#
Yeah, and so now suddenly you're like, oh comedians are upstarts and they're you know
#
Because people feel outraged that their conventional views of the world being challenged because earlier earlier comedians were entertainers
#
Ski, oh maza karo slapstick karo. We want to laugh fall down in a funny way
#
But now they are the voice of society in a sense. Yeah, and people who are sort of find themselves
#
Targets of that. I agree with that. I would also like to add so
#
When the comedy scene started the comedy scene that we are part of 10 years ago
#
It was primarily English comedy and Hindi comedy. So your Hindi comedy would be looked upon like the Masi
#
Kind of thing now what's happening is this opinionated comedy about social issues?
#
Is also happening in India a lot of comics from delhi and the north or even mumbai comics
#
Are doing that kind of comedy in hindi also. So now it's reaching out to that Masi crowd
#
But with opinions and thought and well-crafted jokes
#
So now that change is coming because more people understand it more people conceive it more people demand for it
#
so I think that's where the
#
Crowd is growing more and more for comedy
#
And that change is coming and that old guard versus new guard sort of friction
#
Exists, but that's where it is now and it'll be interesting to see how great point
#
And that's something aditi brought up earlier when I was telling her about how when I first like I in the 90s
#
I used to I've written for javed jaffrey's time x time pass and I also wrote for cyrus brocha and
#
The predominant notion of comedy then was puns and slapstick and the cheapest form of humor
#
And when stand-up comedy first started coming to india
#
In the early 2000s, I had a very low opinion of it because it was done by these privileged kids with accents
#
And it was very derivative of american stand-up comedy and not rooted in any way to the
#
Indian experience people like ash chandler and so on right and I used to think that was the first name drop has happened
#
And then I sort of went into a cave for five years around to 2009 for various reasons
#
I won't go into but when I came out of the cave, I suddenly found that my god
#
There is this explosion of talent all over the place
#
And you have some genuinely good stand-up comedy and even if a lot of these people are doing it in english
#
They are still speaking about it's no longer so derivative exactly. Yeah, how did that happen? What was that process?
#
So the history of stand-up comedy and I you know
#
If I may sort of do a like a quick this thing on the different kinds of comedy, right?
#
The genre is comedy the methods of practicing it are
#
You know one there is sketch comedy
#
Which is little sketches characters you put them in a little scene a good example of that would be the flop show
#
Which we all know jaspal bhatti's show
#
Flop show where you put a character in a situation and he
#
Overcomes it and that is where the comedy or tries to overcome it and that is where the comedy is
#
The other one is say improv which has only come to india in the past sort of two three years
#
Even I would say is where uh, you know
#
Four players come on stage. You tell them array name puja, you know favorite place of puja beach
#
Okay, puja on the beaches enjoying the sunshine improv
#
And then there is stand-up and the difference I think in stand-up and the other forms is that
#
Uh, it's very like you think the thought you write the thought you perform the thought
#
It's all you so when the bouquets or the brickpats come they are all you
#
So it's a comedian as otter in a sense where everything is you you're the director producer or whatever of the thought otters do
#
My pronunciation is very
#
Now I'm going to ask you
#
Now I'm imagining an otter doing stand-up comedy and it's hilarious
#
How do you spell it a-u-t-e-u-r
#
The Stanley Kubrick kind
#
There is a there is a sense of
#
Because of the origins of stand-up comedy also
#
Stand-up comedy was sort of the response
#
It is very simple in that
#
It requires no set construction
#
Big stage all you need is a
#
Microphone and a person
#
So anyone who is anyone
#
Um you know without access to
#
These systems that normally propel you into the
#
Can come and do stand-up
#
And that is why it was fiercely independent
#
And I think fiercely anti-establishment
#
What was called haasya kavi sammelans
#
You know just groups of poets
#
Sitting around on gaddas
#
And then a microphone in the center
#
Sitting around on gaddas and then
#
You know one by one coming out to
#
Tell a funny poem or a story
#
It caught the public imagination like nothing else
#
In 2001 with the launch
#
Great Indian laughter challenge
#
Comedy in all its iterations
#
Of making statements on society and stuff
#
Had existed in our theater
#
And on a local level I mean we have the funny
#
That would sort of stand out always
#
You know during Diwali celebrations also
#
Small small things happening
#
Great Indian laughter challenge hit our TV
#
Screens and lasted I think 13 seasons
#
The problem was of course then it fell back
#
Into the same trap of catering to the lowest common
#
Most of this stuff was derivative and sexist
#
But would you say the shift that happened
#
Happened that earlier the funny guy in a Bollywood movie
#
For example was someone you laughed at
#
Who was behaving like a clown or whatever
#
And that changed and instead
#
It became something else
#
I think Bollywood wise I think
#
Was still a long way to go to capture
#
But you know sorry sorry may I interrupt
#
With Johnny Bhai's origin
#
I'll meet him a week later and I'll be like
#
Johnny Bhai I did a podcast with Aditi
#
And he'll be like who who
#
He's called Johnny Lever because he worked with Hindustan Lever
#
Things that they did was during
#
You know worker meetings and stuff like that
#
Go and entertain Johnny Bhai
#
Found his footing as a comedian
#
Single man behind a microphone
#
Just pulled out from the audience
#
Tell a story and make everyone laugh
#
I think that's what's happening to us also
#
As an industry is even though we might be
#
Speaking in the language of what is the urban elite
#
In English because we exist in Bombay
#
We are being co-opted into
#
The Bollywood entertainment
#
You'll often see comedians
#
Collaborating with you know
#
Filmmakers or production houses
#
To either promote a film or to
#
Be in a film or to write dialogue for a film
#
This is an excellent point for me to segway
#
Into your forthcoming collaboration with Shah Rukh Khan
#
But we'll take a small commercial break first
#
Welcome back to The Scene In The Unseen
#
I'm here with Aditi Mittal and Abbas Momin
#
We're talking about the history of stand up comedy
#
Aditi, so my next question to you is
#
And Abbas, tell us about your
#
Experiences in this also
#
Figure out that you wanted to do stand up comedy
#
When did it actually strike you that rather than
#
Just make voice cracks in front of the class
#
I want to actually go on a stage and do this
#
Went to an open mic and I was watching
#
Some slam poetry happen
#
And I was like I can do this
#
Around which year was this?
#
And I saw this and I was like oh I can do this
#
Literally the next week was a stand up comedy
#
Open mic and the thing is
#
And I was in college in the US
#
I had watched a bunch of stand up comedy
#
I used to go to clubs all the time because they would have these
#
Five dollar nights where you just paid five dollars
#
And you would get to watch like three shows back to back
#
And I had nothing to do so I used to sit and watch
#
Hour long shows of just comedians
#
Who would just come and do these hour long sets and
#
So when I moved to India I saw this
#
I said I gotta try this
#
And who were the guys you liked or who were the guys you could relate to
#
I don't mean here, I mean there
#
Oh there, if I say it right now
#
Because I don't believe, I'm not inspired by
#
I was like what kind of person is he
#
My thoughts have changed
#
The tone has changed, what kind of person is he
#
I was really taken in by
#
The ability to speak again truth
#
To power and to do it as simply
#
And directly as you can
#
One of the things I was confused about
#
Hindi and the way we speak in
#
India, like it's a very euphemistic
#
Will sometimes find a veneer
#
And covering of 3000 different
#
And that becomes exhausting
#
Just to even process it while listening to it
#
And I remember that was
#
My first impulse with Stand Up, I was like just go say it directly
#
Just go say it directly and see
#
What effect it has, because it's not like the whole world
#
Is not talking about these things already or
#
Someone is not saying these things already
#
It directly and see what
#
Feedback that comes to you
#
And so I remember my first set was
#
Again trying to process tragedy
#
Was I, you know, I've always been
#
A slightly chubby person and
#
Went on stage and I talked about how
#
Fat guys, you know, whenever friends
#
If a friend is hooking you up with a fat guy
#
She'll always be like, oh my god, you know
#
You know, he's amazing, he has a heart of gold
#
Or he's amazing, he's like a teddy bear or whatever
#
But there were no euphemisms for fat girls
#
There was nothing that was like
#
Slightly sweaty all the time
#
And so I went and did this set
#
And it got two laughs, it wasn't great
#
And like, oh my god, they carried me off on their shoulders
#
And signed me up for a Hollywood movie immediately
#
That was that one moment when I realized
#
Then it just became a pursuit
#
There was no time consciously that I was like
#
And once you start doing it, does it change the way
#
You sort of think about the world? Like are you then
#
Processing everything through can this be part of my material?
#
Started putting pressure on myself
#
I can't believe this, but at the age of 32
#
I'm one of those people that says, I want to live
#
My mother's like, dude, what a 90
#
And I'm like, no, no, I want to live
#
I want to experience life
#
Because I think one of the things that stand-up does
#
Or comedy does, is it makes you want
#
So you can filter those experiences
#
So I've pushed myself into tons of uncomfortable
#
Situations, just because I'm like, material milega yaar
#
Kyunai, kyunai, I've done
#
Corporate shows, like I went for this one
#
I got asked if I wanted to be, because
#
I mean, initially when they called me, they were like, oh, you know
#
Like, you're so bold and open-minded and we love
#
How bold and open-minded you are, and I should have
#
Picked up on the fact that they were really
#
Honing in on the fact that I was bold and
#
Open-minded. So they wanted that or they were warning
#
You against that? So, no, they were like, no, we love
#
It, we love it, so I went and do this, I do this
#
Fairly bold and open-minded set at their
#
Event, and then I come out, and then they invited me into a
#
Threesome, and I was like, oh
#
I don't know if my bold and
#
Open mind extends to my bold and open
#
That happens at corporate shows, I've been saying no
#
To all corporate shows, I didn't say yes to them
#
Yeah, two sweaty boiled
#
Potbellied men will invite you to a
#
When did you start performing?
#
I went to my first open mic
#
Realized that I wanted to do it when I did my
#
First open mic. So why did you do it then?
#
Because I was scared, I was very introvert, I didn't have
#
The courage to go on stage, and the
#
First time I did it also happened by accident
#
Because I took this workshop
#
Stand-up comedy writing workshop
#
By the then very newly formed
#
I went under the pretense that they're going to tell us
#
How to write material, and I'll write it
#
And someday I will go on stage and try it
#
But when I reached there I found out
#
So the afternoon was the workshop
#
You had to perform the material
#
So we had two minutes on stage, I think
#
And we had to write two minutes of material and do it
#
On stage, and my two minutes of material
#
I just dropped out of dentistry back then
#
And come back to Bombay
#
So my two minutes were mostly about how I'm fat
#
How I'm balding at a young age
#
And how I quit dentistry and disappointed my dad
#
And people lost their shit
#
They were laughing their ass off
#
And I thought, wait a minute, if I tell you about
#
The problems and troubles of my life
#
You find it funny, maybe I can do this
#
That was the first thing
#
So you were used in your previous profession, you would cause pain to people
#
And now you were making them laugh
#
Comedy as a way of dispelling tension
#
I can imagine the stand-up dentist
#
Where he's got his tools
#
And all over the person's face, and he's telling him a joke
#
Which is out of personal material
#
A patient died at my chair
#
Obviously the build-up to that
#
Of course, I was a comedy fan before
#
So the Comedy Store, which is now the Canvas Laugh Club
#
Had opened newly back then
#
And Aditi and all of these guys used to perform there
#
I used to be almost there every
#
I couldn't go on the weekends because the tickets were
#
I used to go on local hero nights on Wednesdays and Tuesdays
#
So I used to watch all of them
#
Rohan Joshi, Tanmay Bhatt, Aditi
#
So I became like hardcore fans of them
#
I would tweet to them, I would follow them
#
Find out where they are performing
#
So yeah, that's where it came from
#
And then I wanted to be like them
#
Wanted me to go to open mic nights and perform
#
So you performed first in 2012
#
But when did you start watching and following these people?
#
So I think I was in Bangalore studying dentistry
#
And I wasn't liking it at all
#
So I used to cut classes
#
I used to sit at home and just binge watch sitcoms
#
That the writers of these sitcoms
#
Are also stand up comics
#
So I would YouTube their name and watch their material
#
Like who are the guys you liked?
#
So there was this writer called Judah Friedlander
#
And I would watch him repeatedly
#
Then there was this one
#
Which has now become like a cult among
#
Comedians, it was called Talking Funny
#
It was Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld
#
Ricky Javez and Louis C.K.
#
In a room talking about comedy
#
Now I knew Chris Rock, I knew Seinfeld
#
I knew Javez from the television and movie stuff
#
Then I didn't know who Louis C.K. was
#
And again this all feels very weird to say
#
Because Louis C.K. is now
#
Disgraced, but there's one joke
#
That he did which stuck
#
In my head where he said
#
He was talking about his daughters
#
You look for the mini vacations that you take
#
In your life, like you shove your daughters
#
In the car, you close the door
#
And you walk to the drivers side
#
That's a mini vacation for me
#
I'm not a dad, I'm not a middle aged man
#
But I still found that joke
#
And in that one moment I went back to
#
All the times I saw my dad taking that
#
Walk in the car to the drivers side
#
And thinking what must be going in his mind
#
So you had a good start there for Aditya
#
The first time you performed People Laughed
#
Was it always like that in your early days?
#
I think one of the greatest things about this job is that
#
You throw shit at a wall
#
Every day and hope it sticks
#
And you never know if it's gonna stick
#
I know I still do bad shows
#
I still do shows where I'm like
#
I could have gone better, I could have said that
#
I could have pronounced that clearer
#
I could have hit that line more clearly
#
I could have put that other thought inside
#
So I think the unsurity
#
And you ever feel that I did the right thing
#
I was funny, the audience was stupid, they didn't get it
#
I mean that way I think
#
I'm awed by our audiences
#
I think I've never been
#
Thought that the audience
#
Because I think empathy is what is required
#
Even if you're speaking in a very different language
#
I think people latch on to
#
Your confidence, your energy
#
I've never stood in front of an audience
#
That I feel like it's their fault for not getting me
#
From those early days of stand up when you started
#
And not just a question about your own comedy
#
But also the comedy of the others around you
#
Much in terms of content
#
The kind of things they're handling or is it
#
Just more a sharpening of the craft
#
Yes, I think so definitely
#
In fact I think now we're smarter
#
In that we know that you approach in with
#
Stereotypes, Punjabis are loud
#
You know Maharashtrians don't do work
#
Gujaratis are always eating sweet
#
That's not a stereotype I've heard actually
#
Not the cheap tickets Gujarati
#
Stereotypes because those are accessible
#
Gathering in as many people as you can
#
On those and then you take them on your personal journey
#
Then you say oh and by the way
#
The other day I was thinking about death
#
This is after sweet dal
#
This is after sweet dal
#
And that's how you sort of take them on your journey
#
Audiences that way are very open
#
Performed abroad for Indian audiences
#
Indian audiences abroad are more conservative
#
Than Indian audiences in India
#
And they vote more for the BJP
#
That's not supposed to be funny
#
The two aren't connected or are they?
#
Because they're stuck in whatever year they left
#
I remember last day I was in
#
Somebody was doing a song
#
Somebody was dancing to at some function
#
Cultural function was dancing to chane ke khet me
#
But this person clearly her parents left
#
When they were in 1997 and so
#
This 12 or 14 year old girl is dancing
#
To chane ke khet me like it was released yesterday
#
So I think they're still stuck in the time
#
That they left the country with that same notion
#
Of like you know what India
#
Was and they carry that there
#
And we were discussing earlier about how
#
English speaking people like us tend to be
#
In the small cocoon which of course because niches
#
Are so big in India is a fairly big cocoon
#
In absolute numbers but at the same time
#
It's just a small niche and there's a danger
#
In sort of the selection bias
#
These 200 people who are coming to my shows
#
There's really not much beyond that
#
Is that something you think about
#
In the sense of how has the audience for
#
Stand up comedy evolved in
#
India is it really growing what kind of
#
Comedy are there how are the taste changing
#
Well how are the taste changing
#
Like I made the earlier point about the
#
Seen as a language barrier that these are
#
English comedians they do the
#
High fund do stuff they speak to an
#
Elite audience that is breaking
#
Primarily because of the internet and the
#
Streaming websites where
#
One of the top genres right
#
See any YouTube video stand up comedy
#
We do it will easily have around a million
#
Think comedians use the language
#
Of the people to make relevant points
#
The more the mindset of the people
#
Will expand and the more accepting
#
You have comedians doing
#
English comedy you have comedians
#
Down south doing comedy
#
In Tamil and English so
#
That barrier of this is only
#
For the elite crowd and the
#
Rest of them will be excluded out that's
#
So I think that's going to be
#
The turning point where
#
Language won't be a barrier anymore and
#
The kind of comedy that English comedians
#
Did when it starts going out to
#
More people the more people will be
#
Accepting of it or if they are not
#
Accepting of it at least I hope it
#
Will force them to think and know
#
That there is this alternate thought process
#
Expose ourselves to that the world
#
To expose yourself to different kinds
#
Of thought processes and mindsets
#
Be for all points of views
#
And then you pick and choose and
#
Find your sort of what you like
#
And in these kinds of polarizing
#
Are always sort of speaking truth to
#
Power and just going out there fearlessly
#
And in these kind of polarizing
#
Times do you find yourself self
#
Censoring or thinking I mean what kind of
#
You know and so actually instead of
#
Adding to Abbas's point
#
I personally feel like we are still in
#
The gathering stage I think
#
You know I mean we have a 2% repeat
#
Audience at say a canvas laugh club
#
That means 98% of the people
#
Who are coming for a comedy show
#
At any given point in time have never seen
#
Comedy before and so I think
#
Actually we are still in the phrase
#
This thing of the bell curve
#
But that's actually worrying also because it means if only
#
2% are repeat then there aren't enough repeats
#
But because it started with
#
It's sort of you know and I mean by like
#
One day for the next right so
#
On Monday or whatever so
#
Like again the fascination I know
#
I have been hired for shows where they have just been like
#
To apne mereko bulaya kiun
#
They are just curious that how does this get handled
#
They will have the conception ki ye aake sabko gaali dete
#
They will come and call everyone
#
Chitte chitte chitte chitte chitte and f**k off
#
Which also is a thing that people think
#
You know I did a show in a smaller city
#
And we had about 900 people show up
#
Organiser comes up to me
#
And I said dude this is crazy I did not know
#
There were 900 people in this city
#
He is like you know about 300 of them
#
100% got what you all were saying
#
He is like but the remaining 600
#
Were just there to see what
#
And I was just sort of blown away by that
#
I was like oh I did not know
#
That we are still in that
#
You are literally the first exposure to
#
Being on stage and seeing these things
#
Is the first time they are hearing
#
These kind of sentences constructed on stage
#
And what I kind of find is
#
You know like if you look back on the Soviet Union
#
It was a golden period of humour for them
#
So oppressive that the only way
#
You could express your dissent
#
And the state of course never gets attire
#
Look at what's been happening here over the last 2 or 3 years
#
And I don't intend to say for a moment
#
That we are anywhere near that oppressive
#
But regardless in these polarised times
#
Cartoons I just find a lot of these
#
Cartoonists like Manjul
#
And Sandeep of times of India and all
#
Are just doing mind blowing work
#
And actually I think that is one of the
#
One of the pillars of comedy in India
#
Has been our cartoonists
#
Because every 8 kilometers if our language changes
#
If you know we have such
#
Society of class, caste etc etc
#
Then surely language can
#
In understanding each other that's why you have
#
Small groups of offence popping up
#
It's always 6 people who are suddenly
#
Offended at one thing right
#
The remaining 350 don't care
#
Have been able to bridge that gap
#
Largest distribution networks of
#
Newspapers in the world and therefore
#
The channels of distribution
#
I think that's why our cartoonist
#
Manjul Toons to a certain extent
#
Are just doing amazing work and
#
Sort of presenting more potent
#
The current state of our
#
Government than any comedian
#
Ever will be able to with words
#
And I've heard someone make the interesting point
#
About stand up comedy in India that because stand up comedy
#
Has such a long tradition
#
You've got people tackling
#
All the different phases of life through that
#
Whether it's middle age or growing old
#
And death and so on and so forth
#
But in India it's kind of a young bunch
#
Of early pioneers and therefore
#
Sometimes it might still be
#
A little shallow and sometimes they don't go
#
As deep into some of those
#
Subjects and over the years
#
Like what do you feel about that like do you feel
#
That you are becoming a more
#
By living more and just growing older
#
Do you know and so I think the youngness
#
Of stand up comedy the first of all because it's
#
One of those jobs where you don't make money for three years
#
So you have to be young and stupid
#
And dependent on your parents
#
Also by the way the economic
#
I think one of the in fact almost
#
What I think has been the downfall of the
#
Stand up industry in India is the
#
I mean one first of all the youngest country in
#
The world and are the comedians and especially
#
The comedy groups figured out that the younger you
#
You will be able to milk that ticket money
#
You know into their 20s and into
#
Their 30s and so there has been
#
I believe due to the economic incentive
#
So you mean it's become more juvenile
#
You know it's I mean it's started with juvenile
#
And has I mean the economic drive
#
To be juvenile is there
#
Because the audiences respond to it
#
And because they'll buy tickets
#
And because it's you know it's edgy
#
So what is a juvenile is what kind
#
Of humor does it entail
#
I don't want to be specific
#
Don't take names but like
#
A gag like this for example
#
Or a move in this direction for example
#
Or you're joking about X for example
#
Simplify I think the thing is
#
So you catch certain tropes
#
No I'm really struggling I mean give me an illustration
#
Baby go for it I'm in the background
#
AIB did something this Valentine's
#
Day called Pyar ek dhoka hai
#
They used that tagline to
#
Garner as many people as they
#
And there were lot of questions raised around that slogan
#
Itself where Pyar ek dhoka hai what does it entail
#
Is there a reason behind it or is there a
#
Trying to make or is it just let's give them a slogan
#
Let's get as many people as we want and let's
#
Just make this a place where we can
#
Get more publicity more subscribers
#
And many a times what happens is comedy
#
Certain tropes and then they would use
#
This similar kind of trope in multiple
#
Sketches or videos that they make
#
Safe spot comfort spot and
#
We're gonna stay there and we know we're
#
Gonna get eyeballs so let's not experiment
#
A lot so your objection is not to the trope
#
Per se but to the fact that
#
Once they find a trope that works with
#
Getting reliable eyeballs
#
You don't push the envelope
#
That's exactly it actually I mean
#
You know you're like a 36 year old dude
#
Like you're sitting in like something called
#
Rockcho then your shows are called
#
Turdford and all this like you know
#
Grow up you really grow up
#
I think it's sort of becomes
#
Like beyond the point you have to
#
Start speaking your age and that's what it is
#
Is that nobody's talking about being a 36
#
Year old man even though there are
#
So many 36 year old men in comedy
#
Young people from where I stand
#
But you know what I'm saying
#
It's sort of then that becomes
#
Confining it becomes like
#
You know even the older men in sort of
#
Comedy are being compelled to do jokes
#
About then they'll do like whatsapp level
#
Jokes because they know
#
I'll say that if a woman takes
#
A lot of time to wear clothes
#
You'll get applause so yeah
#
They don't know how to park wow
#
I mean as I said the economic incentive
#
For juvenileization is very high
#
Having said that we have to
#
Variety of voices and having said
#
That like one thing you pointed out
#
Earlier about when stand up comedy started
#
Was that one reason it took off was because it was
#
A pure form there were no entry barriers
#
Or you needed no equipment nothing
#
You could just stand at a town square and
#
Do your gig and that is way
#
More true today than ever before because
#
It just is no entry barrier you can take
#
Your mobile phone shoot a video of yourself put it
#
On youtube or you can go to any open
#
Mics anywhere and surely that's
#
A good thing and even if it means that
#
The mainstream tastes are either
#
Juvenile or may not agree with them
#
Or whatever there is still space
#
For all kinds of comedy
#
Would you say there's enough of that
#
Yeah I don't think there is enough diversity
#
At all we don't have any good Dalit comics
#
We barely have like 10-15 female comics
#
We have I mean the variety
#
So little so we'll discuss misogyny
#
In the entertainment industry in the
#
Next episode but I nevertheless want to ask you
#
Now that why is it that
#
There is so little diversity is it only
#
Structural reasons behind it
#
There is access of course I mean
#
You know to enter one of these clubs you have to
#
Be able to enter a mall I mean
#
To be able to enter a mall you need to look a certain
#
Way without the security stopping you
#
You know you get in there
#
Am sort of the top of the top of the top of the pile
#
When it comes to having privilege
#
You know whether it's just self confidence
#
To hang around in an area which is
#
Dominated mostly by upper cast
#
Who will not let you talk
#
Or will interrupt you or will sort of
#
You know try and decimate
#
And minimize you at any given point in time
#
I know that me with all my privileges
#
It took me time so I cannot
#
Comprehend that someone who
#
Does not have the level of confidence and validation
#
That I keep giving myself
#
How they will navigate this space I do not know
#
But is it then the case that stand up comedy
#
In India as we call it stand up comedy
#
Quote unquote is essentially a very
#
Elite phenomenon restricted
#
To privileged elites which you necessarily
#
If you can enter a mall you are a privileged elite
#
It's not really there in the languages
#
It's not really there at the lower levels
#
And those entry barriers are still there is that what you are saying
#
You know we are starting to sort of work on
#
We do have now this one
#
Bhajpa is done they are doing like
#
For a moment I was wondering what's going on here
#
Aditi Mittal endorses the BJP
#
Actually in a sense you could give them
#
So she actually meant it
#
You know we are sort of
#
We are sort of going into that space and
#
The local regional comedy scenes have always been very
#
Active in themselves but I think
#
So far I can confidently say
#
It is elitist I can confidently
#
Say that it is confined
#
To that group that you know we discussed earlier
#
We have managed to find takers and people
#
Who are watching our videos and sort of
#
The variety of perspectives being offered
#
And I mean for that reason
#
I know EIC was doing those workshops where they were like
#
Just come along and sort of you know help out
#
I mean find your own voice
#
Do two minutes of jokes
#
I think the entry barrier for someone
#
Older like I think you would be great
#
But I mean you are clearly not even
#
Responding to that vocally
#
I am just going to move on
#
I don't even know what to say
#
The space is wide open and you know
#
Keeping in mind all these structural problems
#
I think there is a way to
#
But that means it is a very restrictive ecosystem
#
I mean for example even if someone like me
#
An older person wanted to get into stand up
#
I would still be able to go and do it because of the privilege
#
And the access and so on
#
But if there is a guy who is
#
Say a guy whose native language is
#
Bhojpuri or Hindi or whatever
#
Any of the languages and they are inspired by
#
Him everywhere but they can't develop
#
It simply because there is no audience for that
#
Because even their neighbors and friends don't have those
#
Tastes and they won't laugh at that
#
And is that something you see
#
You know I met Deepika ji recently
#
Deepika ji is a comedian
#
And I found out about her
#
From an open mic that happened
#
Two years ago on women's day
#
And it was for the house help of a building in Malad
#
It was being organized by
#
This lady called Sangeeta Vyas
#
And so Deepika ji went on stage
#
And I have the video of it
#
She just went and she was just talking about how
#
You know they had these
#
She was talking about the way lifts are
#
Different for house help and for regular
#
She was talking about how
#
Don't put ghee in chapati
#
I won't put ghee but you only eat cheese sandwich
#
Actually both ghee and cheese are great
#
Shout out for the keto diet
#
Ghee is a super food for us
#
Don't put chapati in ghee
#
She was talking about things
#
That nobody in the comedy scene
#
We have several sort of comedians being like
#
And then my maid came and my maid was like
#
When she came on stage her first line was
#
You stand up comedians talk a lot about maids
#
Audience just lost their brains
#
And again nobody in that audience
#
From where she came from
#
But everyone got that there was revolution
#
That she spoke because it was brand new
#
And now Deepika ji is a part of the regular
#
Open mic scene like she's done
#
She did the Femma Palooza line up 2 months ago
#
And she's been showing up
#
She is very much an exception
#
If my listeners want to search for her stuff on youtube
#
What should they search?
#
Type in bad girls with Deepika Matre
#
She's also on facebook and instagram
#
I think that's what I'm saying
#
But these are exceptions
#
Very much the exceptions to the rule
#
I guess the take away from this
#
Is that if there is anyone that you think
#
Might be funny, if you think you are funny
#
For not one second don't think that
#
Your story is not worth telling
#
Standup has taught me is that
#
Their story or your story is worth telling
#
No matter how ridiculously
#
That's a fairly inspiring note
#
I'll end this episode by asking you 2 questions
#
I ask all my guests on whichever subject they are speaking of
#
About the future of standup comedy in India
#
And what makes you despair
#
And you can address these from a personal
#
But whichever way you choose to answer
#
I think what makes me hopeful of course is
#
The platforms, I mean it's not like
#
We are dying for a lack of audience
#
Surely there are, I mean with so many
#
Find 10 people to sit down
#
Just tell them your story or tell them
#
Jokes or whatever it is
#
And so I think that's what makes me hopeful
#
What makes me hopeful about standup comedy
#
Also is the fact that it is such a low cost
#
You know that most of the rooms that are running right now
#
Were this guy going up to
#
Restaurant owner and being like
#
That place, when people are eating
#
Should we say something or mic pick
#
Restaurant is like okay
#
And that's how most comedy rooms start
#
Is while you are trying to eat food
#
Someone is like sir what's the deal with airplane food
#
You are like I am eating chips
#
Sir are you eating sweet daal
#
Don't let me live that one down
#
So I think that's what makes me hopeful
#
Despair about standup comedy
#
You know those as I was telling you
#
The small factions that keep popping up to be offended
#
And sad and all that stuff
#
I think that is a waste of time
#
That is a lot of waste of time
#
Resources, money, energy
#
I mean not only of course for the comedian
#
But also for the people
#
I mean this sort of ties into the premise
#
Of I know that you speak about it very frequently
#
Why are you out protesting at like
#
1.25 on a Tuesday afternoon
#
Shouldn't you be at work
#
I mean that kind of environment also then
#
Creates a tension for which the humor is a release
#
Just as you had great humor in the Soviet era
#
May I say this, may I say this
#
But one of my favorite stories
#
About humor in times of duress
#
In the concentration camps
#
Where they would have comedians
#
Where the concentration camps
#
Prisoners would be sitting in front
#
With the SS officers behind on chairs
#
And a comedian would come and tell
#
That I think is brilliant
#
That apparently they didn't get
#
Was this guy goes up to
#
Fortune teller and says
#
And the fortune teller says you're going to die
#
And so he's like okay what Jewish holiday am I going to die on
#
You die will be a Jewish holiday
#
This is one of those jokes that has sort of
#
I mean I was doing some research on it
#
So it's sort of come down
#
Through the ages and it was one of those jokes
#
Amazing and it could be argued that we are all in a concentration
#
Camp because we are all going to die anyway
#
And we all need all the humor we can get
#
Thank you so much for coming on the show Aditi
#
Thank you so much for having me
#
I hope I pronounced that correctly otherwise Aditi is going to make fun of me in her next show
#
Also watch out for the next episode
#
Which is also with Aditi
#
Where we discuss in particular how hard
#
It is for women to claim their space
#
Whether in entertainment
#
We have a podcast listener
#
Millions of years of evolution
#
Have led him to this point
#
He is on his way to work
#
And listening to podcasts makes his miserable day better
#
He will now head to work
#
And use all his knowledge to communicate
#
And possibly future mates
#
You can find more of his species
#
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#
Where you can check out
#
All the coolest Indian podcasts
