Just for Laughs

Rajneesh Kapoor,one of the popular funnymen,looks back at when he started taking comedy seriously. Having drawn comic strips for newspapers for the last 15 years,he “never got to see [his audience and their reaction.” Inspired by Vir Das’s Weirdass Ham-ateur Nights in Delhi and Mumbai,and What the Funny? nights in Bangalore,Kapoor wanted to play a larger role in the existing circuit,which had shows sporadically across the city. “The same six-seven people were doing the rounds with the same material in the older comedy nights with Papa CJ or Vir Das,” says Kapoor. “I knew that there were more and I had to find them”. Kapoor created an informal company and spread the word through Facebook. The Rajneesh Kapoor Comedy Challenge had a good run through the year and wrapped up their last show of 2010 on Sunday.

Many other aspiring stand up comics,too,have put together their funny acts. Gurgaon’s Urban Café started hosting open mic nights in April with the support of old-timers like radio jockey Abhish Mathews and comedian Nishant Kumar. Owners Mohit and Pragati Sharma were regulars at comedy nights in Chicago and incorporated it into their Delhi restaurant,where they have comedy nights on alternate Sundays. “For six days of the week,we cater to the office crowd. On Sundays,we get close to 60 people,who are solely interested in our acts,”says Sharma. Each open mic has four pre-scouted comics who perform for 20 minutes each.

In January,Raghav Mandava,24,created Cheese Monkey Mafia (CMM). “Delhi people are inherently funny,we just need to give them a stage,” says Mandava,formerly a television news reporter. CMM started with the help of Papa CJ,one of the most popular stand up artistes from Delhi. CMM started with five comics per night and now boasts 30,with at least eight performing at each event.

Neeti Palta,36,is one such regular performer. “I was generally a tomboy,” says Palta,whose inspiration for humour comes from watching Tom and Jerry. “I have learnt to tone down my content,” she says. Mandava adds that a crowd often gets self-concious with off-colour jokes and does not laugh out loud. “For a comic,silent treatment is the worst nightmare,”says Palta,who works at an advertising firm.

If the crowd is also new to the concept,“they won’t know how to react,” says Kapoor,recalling a gig in Noida,where he took his club for the first time. “Many people still think of stand-up comedy as an American thing. That yeh sab India mein nahi chalta hai attitude will take time to change,” he says. Next year,comedy nights will become more frequent around the city. Urban Cafe is going to kick-start New Year celebrations with a series of comedy nights,and CMM has similar plans.

Such nights can attract between 50 and 200 people,primarily college students,the recently employed,and English comedy enthusiasts. “If there is a cover charge,we get attentive audiences. If people pay,we’re buying their attention,” says Mandava.

The content,however,needs major re-working. Most comics joke about regional or gender stereotypes —Punjabis called Happy,Bengalis who don’t spend money,and men who wear tights. When all else fails,they take their own case,or laugh at someone in the audience.

Most performers avoid video-recording their performances for once uploaded online,they can’t re-use the material for future gigs. “Comedy is not like music,where you are asked to play the same song multiple times,” says Mandava. “You can’t get a laugh every time for the same joke.”

“Every comic here has a goal,” adds Kapoor. “Some want to be like Russell Peters,others,want five minutes on the David Letterman Show”.