What are you favourite specials? Who are your favourite stand up comedians? West or Desi, anything will do. Share clips if you can.
I think the West has it better, with legends like Chapelle, Chris Rock, Russell Peters, Gervais etc
In India, there is seriously dearth of good stand up comics who know the audience's pulse. Some well known names like Biswa, Kanan, Kenny, Bassi, Zakir, Rahul S, Sahil, Upmanyu, Adar, Vir das, Sorabh, Abish Matthew, Naveen etc are hit and miss.
I've intentionally left out women comics because there is this overbearing stereotype that women are not funny, especially in a comedy set up (writing or stand up). I rage against this, but honestly the Indian stand up scene with women is so dismal that the sterotype sometimes seems true. 😆
Okay let me list the famous women comics in Indian scene off the top of my head, Sumukhi, Kaneez, Srija, Urooj, Pragati, Aditi etc etc. I just find it so hard to laugh at any of their segments even though I wanna support them so bad.
Even the specials with all these involved like Comicstaan, Improv are a snoozefest and make me question what am I watching.
I feel like the main reason is that there is this discord between what they joke about and what the audience wanna hear. They ape their western counterparts too much what with comedy scene in India just starting out and being limited to metropolitan areas like Bangalore and Mumbai. Comics who speak in hindi specifically elicit greater response like Zakir and Biswa. Is there something to it?
Also, I feel Indian comics are confused what they want their routine to be like. Most do observational comedy which goes banal because every millennial has the same take these days or the jokes are lifted off from social media. Most don't have the range to keep situational and anecdotal comedy going.
Any views?
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