There’s a new kid in town, and he’s making fun of you
“My friend Imran Ahmed said to me, ‘Man, Bal Thackeray dying is the worst thing he’s done—now the Swedish House Mafia gig is cancelled!’ I said to him, is that really the worst thing he could have done?”
This is a small stage in a 300-seater auditorium in a glitzy Mumbai mall, with spotlights on the speaker, a large laughing-mouth logo in the background. Instead of offended tigerish snarls and a broken head, the young man at the microphone gets a roar of laughter and applause, grins, and cheerfully proceeds to demolish other holy animals.
A little more than half a decade ago, that scenario would have been unimaginable. Most on-stage comedy was slapstick or, at most, poking fun at public figures through mimicry, performed by actors who peddled the same wares in the cinema. Hindi comedians found their spot on TV shows like the raucous Indian Laughter Challenge; Shekhar Suman did the talk-show route, with Movers And Shakers.
So what changed?
For one, in cities like Bangalore and Mumbai, with an established pub culture, electronic music nights and karaoke went stale and owners wanted something new and trendy to bring patrons through the door, particularly on slower weeknights.
Secondly, the online revolution brought comedic genius Russell Peters to our computer screens: Aha! It wasn’t just okay to poke fun at Indians, it was hilarious and cool!
Then, the Comedy Store came to India, providing a comfortable, up-market venue where Indian comics could perform alongside international acts, honing their skills and perfecting their sets. And more recently, the burgeoning Indian middle class (and their burgeoning wallets) attracted the Comedy Central channel to our TVs, bringing us even more high-quality stand-up.
And the cherries on top: The NRIs returning to desh as the West began to haemorrhage, and the expats whose companies had posted them in the new promised land, both of whom had seen Western-style stand-up abroad.
Of course, it needed performers too, and the first wave had mostly cut their comedic teeth abroad. Now they’ve been joined by—and some of them are actively mentoring—home-grown talent, and venues and event managers pursue them hotly. (One comic told us that there were more gigs than good performers.) All of them agree that the scene has grown because good venues now exist and audiences were ready—and ready to pay—to have taboos mocked rather than take offence.
The Ambassador
(This story appears in the 08 February, 2013 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)