THE BIG STORY
DESPITEHERPARENTS’
MISGIVINGS,SHEDECIDEDTO
QUITHERJOBASA RESEARCH
ANALYSTANDVENTUREINTO
THEFIELDOFSTAND-UP
COMEDY.THERESTISHISTORY
INTHEMAKING‘WHO’LL MARRY a
COMEDIAN?’
AISHWARYAMohanraj
f youaskmewhich
comediansI grewup
watching,I’ddrawa blank.
WhileI hada hushed
likingforit evenasa kid,comedyand
I foundeachothermuchlaterinlife.
PlanA wastohavea normal(read:
conservative)careerthatwasanything
but creative. This, of course, wasbecame a hobby. With every new like
on my post, my confidence escalated,
drawing me towards the big question:
why not do an open mic? That was the
final pull.
I joined the comedy bandwagon in
June 2017, and quit my job in October
the same year. Of course, it was not
without my fair share of apprehensions:
‘Kyun karna hai? Job toh hai.’ You can’t
quit your job, right?. But the voice in
my head said ‘How about quitting now?’
when I applied to Comicstaan, and it
grew louder when I was selected. While
my mother was adamant on me being
the potential bride, I managed to get
a year-long buffer from my father. My
first gig was at a cafe in Mumbai.
I prepped for a month in front of the
mirror before I stepped on stage,
I spoke about my school crush and
mother. Exactly 10 of my friends turned
up, and watched with an expression
asblatantas‘Arreekmaukato
dehansneka’. Asit turnsout,
Facebookpostsdon’tdoquite
aswellwhenyoureadthem
outloud,notwithoutthose
dramaticpauses,orthatvoice
youusedintheelocution
contests.Fortunately,
aseverycomedianwill
experience,firstopenmicsor
showswillneverbeasfunnyasthey
think,butgiveit time.
That’spreciselymygiveawayto
aspiringcomedians.Youmightbegood,
evenbetterthanmost,butyouneed
torememberthattherewillbedays
whenyouwillbomb.I assureyou,your
audienceswillberuthless;they’lltell
youthatyouweren’tfunny,makingsure
youhearthemloudandclear.Buttake
thatfirststep;it’stheonlywayyou’ll
getbetter.Theaudiencewillnotlaugh
ateverything;moreoftenthannotyou
won’tknowwhichjokesneedwork.You
havetokeepgoing.
Asforme,I amintheprocessof
creatingmorecontenttostayrelevant.
Sothenexttimeyoustumbleuponone
ofmyvideos,youshouldsaytoyourself,
‘Oh!Yehcomedykartihai,yaadhai!’
—AstoldtoHemchhayaDeI
supported by society-approved logic,
and my mother’s words, ‘Comedian se
shaadi kaun karega?’ But that’s how you
a have stand-up comedian with
a sleeping (read: non-functional) MBA.
We’re all rushing to grow up: when
in school, college life seems better; in
college, having a job looks good. It’s only
when you hustle to get to that ‘dream
job’ that you find yourself wondering
what you’ve gotten yourself into! I just
couldn’t imagine myself sitting in front
of a computer all day, every day, doing
only what I was expected to do. To fill
this void, I started sharing jokes on
Facebook. Soon, writing humour pieces
on socialmediaI just couldn’t
imagine myself
sitting in front of
a computer all day,
every day, doing
only what I was
expec ted
to d o.PHOTOGRAPH: OML ENTERTAINMENT PVT LTD