Femina India – August 09, 2019

LOVEFORWRITING

HUMOUR ORGANICALLY

GREW INTO A PASSION

FOR HIM. HERE’S HOW

HE STAGES HIS JOKES TO

ENVELOP THE AUDIENCE

INLAUGHTER

THE

BACKUP

MAN

ou can call me Mr Runner-

up. In my group of friends,

I was not the funniest; on

the debate team, I was

thesubstitute—I was always the back-up

plan.I started off as a sales professional

before I steered into comedy, and

nothing much has changed since. The

plea that started as, ‘Kahin se bhi order aa

jaye’, now sounds a lot like, ‘kahin se bhi

inspiration aa jaye’.

My hometown, Kolkata, is a unique

place to pursue comedy. After seven

years of the culture of stand-up, the

craft is still not thriving! That’s just the

beauty of Cal; everything happens in its

own sweet time. I was studying in Pune

when I felt comedy’s call, and I began

following some popular comedians on

Twitter. Later, I landed a job in Mumbai

and could witness the rise of comedy

clubs. However, a job transfer made me

move back to Kolkata, and once again

comedy shrunk to virtual gratification,

until an open mic event popped up.

Typically, as a start, one would

expect a small setting of 20 to

25 people. Kolkata tunes in differently;

our first ever open mic took place in an

auditorium, in front of 20 people and

580 empty seats for a winning prize

of one lakh. The cash was to lure the

comedians to enroll, which it did—

three entries in total. To add insult to

injury, I lost, and I lost to someone who

quit comedy soon after. At the timemy

job involved a lot of travelling, andevery

time there was an important event,

I was away on business. I was trying

to make a similar living with my jokes,

before I quite my full-time job. As fate’s

line-up would have it, the gigs driedup

soon after I quit my job.

Over the years I have developedmy

comic style. I believe I get my humorous

streak from my mother, who is quite

the situational comic. Imagine this:she

wants me to give her a grandchild,so

whenever we talk, she finds a way to

bring it up. Once, we were discussing

cricket and she coolly said, ‘Oh Rohit

Sharma IPL jeeta, uske paas bhi bachcha

hai’; she always manages to crack meup.

Let me tell you what works for me.

Oneevening,I hada gigata hotel’s

nightclub,andwehadtakenoverthe

dancefloor.Inthemiddleoftheevent,

a seeminglydrunk(andvisibly-agitated)

ladydecidedtojoinmeonstage.She

proceededtointerruptmyset,saying,

‘Thisis a nightclub.Whyarethereso

manychairs?’I replied,‘Youcandance

toourjokesif youlike’.Naturally,like

heralcohol,mycomebackdidn’tsittoo

wellwithher,andwebegantoargue.

Thetwoofuswereinwhatfeltlike

a boxingring.I guessshejustwantedto

beatmetothepunch...line!

Thesphereofcomedyis both,

welcomingandrewarding.Justhave

funonstage,loseyourselfinthatseaof

laughter,andbaskinthevalidation.

—AstoldtoShrutiShukla

ANIRBAN Dasgupta

Y

I believe I get my

humorous streak

from my mother, who

is quite the who

is quite the

situational comic.

PHOTOGRAPH: NISHANT THAWRANI