India has witnessed a huge shift in the way we conceive comedy today, a culture that started from television with the sole purpose of adding humour, often slapstick, to stand-alone shows at the clubs, cafés/ restaurants, to the Youtube. The audience does not mind paying for an hour’s ticket to laughter, and humour, combined with a tweak of daily experiences. Whether it is a breakup story or an encounter with a stray dog, the stand-up artists have much in their bucket to make us all laugh.
The audience today wishes to listen to the original and relatable content. Many of these comedians are excellent observers, and use colloquial lingo and nuances, presented in ‘easy to understand’ language, that appeals to the urban audience. Gone are the days when stand-up comedy revolves around a few mimics, flirtations, insult, and vulgarity. Comedians now, write, test, and perform fresh jokes which bring their perspective about different aspects of personal life. Jokes based on group studies, online education, family dinners, or firing from the job, situations that brew within us but do not often get convenient outlet, is what the audience is relishing now. I guess, this is emerging as release for all, the performer, and the listeners.
Over the last few years, Comedy has evolved as an entire Industry. Comedian is being taken seriously and the reason is that society’s dynamics are changing. Indian comics today are not bound to only punchlines, instead, they are creating an emotional connect around the jokes, with a visual storytelling method. They craft narratives that take you on an imaginary ride, and prove to be influential sources of information. The voice modulation, verbal depiction the situations, attention to small details, are the little ways in which they add colour to stories after stories.
The stand-up comedy fulfils the need for truth, trust, and empathy in a society of isolation, that works as a therapy for some. Comedy helps to release the mental and emotional burden from the mundane realities of life. Increasing number of people have turned to comedy to deal with adversities brought in by Covid. The ingenious stand-up comedians have their unique style of delivering messages related to unemployment, salary cuts, fevers, masks, containments, and lockdown in general. Every comedian has a different approach to joke delivery, like stark poker face, strong language, keeping topic light, slow and morbid delivery styles; this relative style of narrative is what appeals to audiences.
The comedy legends like Rajpal Yadav, Johnny Lever, Raju Srivastav, and many others, have struggled for years to appear in movies or to create a name for themselves, whereas today’s generation comics, including names such as Zakir Khan, Kenny Sebastian, Abhishek Upmanyu, and Aditi Mittal, have changed the norms and developed a niche audience who are willing to invest their time and money on them. Also, with the development and wide acceptance of Youtube, they can sustain in a place that needs no marketing. Of course, they have also exploited the conventional choices like opting to present some live gigs at different corporates & college events.
After achieving mainstream acceptability they end up streaming on Amazon Prime or Netflix stand-up artists or show-writers. Here are the commendable and ‘comical’ journeys of a few contemporary artists.
1.) Zakir Khan – An Indian Standup comedian, the writer got fame after winning India’s Best Stand Up Comedian Competition at Comedy Central. He has been a part of AIB, his video – “When I meet a Delhi girl” got 15 million views on youtube. He has done several shows with Netflix “Haq se single”, “Chacha vidhayak hai hamare”, “Kaksha gyaravi” and appeared as a judge at “Great Indian Laughter Challenge Season 4”.
2.) Kenny Sebastian- He is a musician, filmmaker, writer, and stand-up comedian, started his career at the age of 19. He creates the content on everyday topics with a great sense of humor, his weird facial expression is a treat to watch. He is coming from an army background and holds over 5 million followers online. Some of his shows are’ Don’t be that guy’ on Amazon Prime, ‘Starboyz’ on Youtube, ‘The Living Room’ on Comedy Central and has delivered almost 500+ shows across the world.
3.) Biswa Kalyan Rath- An engineer from IIT Kharagpur turned stand-up comedian, writer gained his popularity with the series “pretentious movie reviews” on Youtube. Biswa jokes are unique and mostly share the experience of his college-knowledge of mathematics, language, and life. He released shows like” Laakhon mein ek”, “Biswa mast aadmi”, become a part of a panel of judges in “Comicstaan” and able to garner 14+ million views on Youtube.
4.) Abhishek Upmanyu- He is considered to be one of the finest young comedians in the country. A Delhi based comedian gained his popularity with the Youtube video “Indian Insults and comebacks”. He worked as a writer for AIB, manages a Twitter handle named “Gareebguy” and recently released two comedy shows – ‘Thoda Saaf Bol’ and ‘Jealous of Sabjiwala’. Abhishek’s cracks jokes, one after another, and his observation powers and writing skills makes it worth watching.
5.) Aditi Mittal- The first women English comedian in the country, rated amongst India’s top 10000 stand-up comedians, well known for her writing and acting skills. She did her first stand-up special “Things they wouldn’t let me say, soon after “Girl meets mic” both on Netflix, her third stand up “Global village idiot “around the world, and recently debuted the fourth” Mother of invention” at Edinburgh fringe festival 2019.
Readers, laughter is the best medicine! Let’s opt for fun over fear, comedy over combats.