Funny men step up

“What is an engineering college? A place you go to for a bachelor’s degree in virginity.”  No, that’s not a Russell Peters. This one comes from Mumbai-based freelance television writer and engineer Ashish Shakya who has finally decided to try his brand of humour on audiences outside his drawing room.

Amateur stand-up comedy is finding its feet in the city and Mumbaikars are trying hard not to fall off their chairs. Take, for instance, Weirdass Hamateur Night. Brainchild of actor and stand-up comic Vir Das, this is a platform for amateurs like Shakya to lay down their witty one-liners in front of a large audience.

“I started my career by going to comedy clubs in America, which was a good learning experience. Back home, there were no such clubs to encourage amateurs. This is how Hamateur Night was born last summer,” says Das.

Performing on stage is what Tanmay Bhat, a former Hamateur Night winner, enjoys most. “As a child, my mother used to make me dress up for school functions. And I loved the feeling of being onstage, making people laugh,” Bhat recalls. Bhat continued to participate in college festivals and finally decided to take the plunge. For this freelance writer of television and film scripts, stand-up comedy is a weekend job.

In August last year, television presenter Rohan Joshi tried cracking a few jokes onstage for the very first time. “I can’t recollect anything about my first routine. All I remember is that I kept talking to the crowd. By the end of it I did have people come up to me and tell me I was funny,” he smiles. Since then, Joshi has done six shows, and is booked for the  month.

In case you’re wondering, getting into Hamateur night is rather easy — crafting comedy is another matter, however. All you have to do is contact the organisers and submit your script. What’s required of you is simply to keep it original. Gigs of 5 to 10 minutes each follow, before Das takes over.

The content and style apart, delivery of jokes and timing is everything. “I’m half Gujju (Gujarati) and a half Maharashtrian, so most of my jokes are inspired by the communities. I also love making fun of Delhiites,” says Joshi. A lot of Shakya’s material too is community-based.

“I’m from north India, so I have jokes on what life for a north Indian in Mumbai is about. I (also) do have quirky man-woman jokes,” says Shakya. His repertoire includes a segment, ‘Chicks say the darnedest things’.

The mind of a comedian is always at work. “If you strike up a conversation with a friend, you keep thinking how it could be turned to comedy. It’s a disease; you can’t help it,” confesses Bhat. So, as you see a lot of preparation goes into a routine. The trick is to make it seem spontaneous, even though 80% of their content is prepared in advance.

“At times, the jokes come from the audience’s reaction. Some are in-the-moment jokes. Once the moment is passed the joke has no value,” says Bhat.

A handy plan B is a must for times when the jokes fall flat because a stand-up comic doesn’t have the luxury of letting his spirits dive. Kunal Rao, a chartered accountant, took a sabbatical from work decided to pursue stand-up comed.

He confesses, “Once my jokes bombed in the first two minutes of my routine. But the next minute was a relief and I pulled it off. All this is part of the game.” There are two options in times like those — you either continue performing unaffected or cut it short. A pro knows which way to go, and when.

From the looks of it, stand-up comedy seems to be heading towards a bright future, with more and more venues, like Headquarters (HQ), Café Gao, Blue Frog and The Comedy Store at Phoenix Mills (that will start business  soon) opening up their stages to amateurs. While that gets rolling, Vir Das’s ‘Broken Das’ is set for a world tour. This time, says Das, “instead of having comedians from other countries make you laugh, you have Indians going abroad to make them laugh.”

On Sunday, February 7 catch The Weirdass ‘Hamateur Night at Blue Frog from 7.30 pm onwards.