Like Govinda movies and Harry Potter books, I have discovered another great leveller recently - stand up comedy. A roomful of people of disparate backgrounds, religions, occupations, sizes, shapes and aesthetic sensibilities get together in an atmosphere of forced congeniality, usually lubricated by alcohol and fried food, and then laugh their guts out for the next ninety-odd minutes. Well, there are worse ways than spending an evening.
Especially an evening where the main entertainment is usually young or youngish men, good or at least reasonably decent looking, with a sharp or nearly-sharp sense of humor. At least they try and make you laugh. And look nice while doing so. They also hit all the right buttons - disgust at our politicians, irritation with over exposed celebrities, condescension towards our lesser-evolved countrymen from Haryana and the like...and the mother lode of them all, Delhiites. I have been to at least eight or more stand up acts over the last year and a half, and it is incredible how nothing unites this nation more than jokes about Delhi and its inhabitants. I of course shy away from identifying myself as one of "them" and therefore enjoy the jokes as much, if not more, than anyone else.
As much as the jokes themselves, the comics who deliver them are equally interesting. Some are clearly cutting their teeth, at the cost of our sanity. Bursts of nervous laughter, pauses that last for just that nanosecond too long, too many filler words...it's easy to spot those. What are less easy to spot and tend to mislead are the ones who are still coming up the curve, but have learnt to disguise that fact. They start out with a couple of really good ones and just as the crowd is warming up, deliver a flat joke. The laughter's a little less now, the applause more subdued. Then there's again that pause and a flicker of the eyes betrays that all is not as it seems. The smiles become a little frozen and the loudest applause is when he steps off the stage. And makes way for the one or two who are clearly the stars of the show. And stars they are. After a few minutes of watching them, it's easy to realize that it's not really the material that's making you laugh, but the person. The pauses, the twinkle in his eye (or the poker face), the hand gestures, the interaction with the audience...this is clearly a performer. And like any natural performer, would have been good at whatever he had taken up - whether it be comedy or dance. Some people are meant to be on stage, entertaining others.
But why not women? I can understand the low ratios of women in other areas, where an industry or a vocation has been built over decades. But for a field which is relatively new and brash in our country, why aren't more women on that stage? Are women funny? Yes. Can they be natural performers? Hell, yes. Then why don't we have more women as stand up comics? Maybe it's do with the natural ruthlessness that a comic needs to have, an honest eye that seeks out the bullshit and just throws it away, with a grimace and a laugh that the audience joins in with. Many women may not be that ruthless...and even if they are, much of the audience may not accept it in them either. Even now, I see several people forcing laughter out when topics of a sensitive nature are being pilloried, or when abuses are being thrown about (which most stand-up comics seem very fond of doing, a slightly teenager-ish touch if you ask me). Their reaction to the same from a woman will probably be to just walk out. And that's bad for business.
But maybe the business needs to evolve. And it will. Today, everyone goes for comedy, even the ones who may not like it that much. And they all go for all kinds of comedy. Over a period of time, I see segments getting formed...of comics who are clearly identified for a certain brand of comedy, and of an audience that knows what it wants and goes for it.
Till then, we will continue the trial and error method. Sometimes, like tonight with Vir Das, we will get lucky. Sometimes, with some budding non-talent, we won't. As they say, anything for a laugh.
Especially an evening where the main entertainment is usually young or youngish men, good or at least reasonably decent looking, with a sharp or nearly-sharp sense of humor. At least they try and make you laugh. And look nice while doing so. They also hit all the right buttons - disgust at our politicians, irritation with over exposed celebrities, condescension towards our lesser-evolved countrymen from Haryana and the like...and the mother lode of them all, Delhiites. I have been to at least eight or more stand up acts over the last year and a half, and it is incredible how nothing unites this nation more than jokes about Delhi and its inhabitants. I of course shy away from identifying myself as one of "them" and therefore enjoy the jokes as much, if not more, than anyone else.
As much as the jokes themselves, the comics who deliver them are equally interesting. Some are clearly cutting their teeth, at the cost of our sanity. Bursts of nervous laughter, pauses that last for just that nanosecond too long, too many filler words...it's easy to spot those. What are less easy to spot and tend to mislead are the ones who are still coming up the curve, but have learnt to disguise that fact. They start out with a couple of really good ones and just as the crowd is warming up, deliver a flat joke. The laughter's a little less now, the applause more subdued. Then there's again that pause and a flicker of the eyes betrays that all is not as it seems. The smiles become a little frozen and the loudest applause is when he steps off the stage. And makes way for the one or two who are clearly the stars of the show. And stars they are. After a few minutes of watching them, it's easy to realize that it's not really the material that's making you laugh, but the person. The pauses, the twinkle in his eye (or the poker face), the hand gestures, the interaction with the audience...this is clearly a performer. And like any natural performer, would have been good at whatever he had taken up - whether it be comedy or dance. Some people are meant to be on stage, entertaining others.
But why not women? I can understand the low ratios of women in other areas, where an industry or a vocation has been built over decades. But for a field which is relatively new and brash in our country, why aren't more women on that stage? Are women funny? Yes. Can they be natural performers? Hell, yes. Then why don't we have more women as stand up comics? Maybe it's do with the natural ruthlessness that a comic needs to have, an honest eye that seeks out the bullshit and just throws it away, with a grimace and a laugh that the audience joins in with. Many women may not be that ruthless...and even if they are, much of the audience may not accept it in them either. Even now, I see several people forcing laughter out when topics of a sensitive nature are being pilloried, or when abuses are being thrown about (which most stand-up comics seem very fond of doing, a slightly teenager-ish touch if you ask me). Their reaction to the same from a woman will probably be to just walk out. And that's bad for business.
But maybe the business needs to evolve. And it will. Today, everyone goes for comedy, even the ones who may not like it that much. And they all go for all kinds of comedy. Over a period of time, I see segments getting formed...of comics who are clearly identified for a certain brand of comedy, and of an audience that knows what it wants and goes for it.
Till then, we will continue the trial and error method. Sometimes, like tonight with Vir Das, we will get lucky. Sometimes, with some budding non-talent, we won't. As they say, anything for a laugh.
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