Wit is the ability to grasp intelligently and articulate innovatively. That is also how a good comedian stands apart from the crowd, for his merits of discernment. To be humorous is not easy and to master this art is hence an arduous feat. Actor and comedian Vir Das, 37, — although he says he still does not think he is humourous — has a laborious body of work from the past 10 years in which his style of comedy has entertained his viewers all over the world. His Unbelievable comedy tour ends today in Kolkata after performing in multiple cities from Delhi to Surat.
If you, like me, thought that comedy as an art form in India, particularly the English comic scene, was elitist and the Indian audience has not graduated to a point where they could understand it, Das clarifies: “I don’t think it’s either one of those things as I believe the Indian audience is very intelligent and they understand good comedy. For example, last year, our basis of selecting cities for the Unbelievable tour was to look at a map and see where stand-up comedy is not popular and go there. So we went to Jaipur, Shimla, Vadodara, Surat, Coimbatore, Kochi etc. In fact, we did big shows there, the 1,000-2,000 seaters. And it was tremendous, such an intelligent and nuanced crowd as well. That’s why I’m doing a second run of the show. We did 19 regions in 30 days last time. This time, we’re doing 11 cities because the response was so great. I hope to include Northeast India in the future too.”
Das has donned numerous hats whatsoever. Besides his Hindi films, he has written and performed in several comic plays, done over 100 stand-up comedy shows, hosted sports, entertainment and news shows on TV. He has also written comedic columns for leading media publications. His Weirdass Comedy (The Vir Das Comedy Company) is India’s first and only comedy consultancy. His Alien Chutney is India’s premiere comedy rock band. Reportedly, he will also been seen on the first episode of an American comedy show soon. But there’s a fascinating history to his journey till this point.
Born in Dehradun, the comedian grew up in Africa, where he had moved with his parents when he was around 11 months old. His father managed a poultry farm in Uttar Pradesh after which he joined a food processing company in lagos, Nigeria. In Nigeria, the legal system was in a chaos and his family witnessed much political mayhem. His parents moved back to Delhi after the fifth President in Nigeria was assassinated. He recalls, “I was studying here in India but my parents stayed there till I was 17. I started studying in boarding schools in India — The lawrence School at Sanawar in Kasauli, DPS etc — since I was nine. Back in Nigeria, we were part of an expatriate community that was largely well insulated. But at the same time, we also had to be cautious. I believe it is a country that saw at least eight or nine Governments change in the 17 years that we were there.”
I ask him if that political instability shaped his understanding of humour; humour after all, is not only an effective defence mechanism but Das has also said in the past, “Comedy comes from confusion.” However, he says, “I think that the one thing Africa does for you is that it gives you an outside perspective on the world, which might not be a very privileged perspective at the same time. About whether it made me humorous, well, I wouldn’t be able to tell you if I was indeed humorous!”
He also studied for over a year in Delhi University’s Sri Venkateswara College but headed to Knox County in Illinois to pursue theatre. During his time there, he wrote his thesis ‘Brown Men Can’t Hump’ as an act of rebellion. Rebellion againstIJ He answers, “I was rebelling against conventional old theatre. I had done Anton Chekhov and Shakespeare, lots of other old playwrights and it had become monotonous. So I thought let me try something new, edgy, vulgar and fun. I wanted something that was a little more organic, improvisational and rebellious. And so I did stand-up comedy because I’ve always been a fan of stand-up for a long time and that’s when I ended up writing that show.”
But that was not all. He has also done a lot of odd jobs like being a security guard, building painter, dishwasher. So when he was exposed to such different circumstances and people at work, did it shape the comedian in himIJ He says, “It’s a very deep philosophical way of looking at things. Actually, if I had to paint a building or drive a girl home as a security guard, I would just drive her and try to strike up a conversation. Now if that defined who I am, a comedian, I really can’t say.”
But that’s hard to believe, given that a comedian is, at least ostensibly, someone very observant and is required to remember and document his experiences so that they can help him write better. He explains, “I’ve done a lot of odd jobs which involved being on my own. Whether I was working in a paint factory or as a security guard late at night, you just have your own thoughts to accompany. I’ve always been a daydreamer and had conversations with myself. So in that sense yes, it heavily contributed to who I am.”
So what triggers an idea in himIJ Does he write down anything fascinating that he notices about people, places, or objectsIJ He says, “It varies depending on the show I’m writing. I think for the first few years when you’re a stand-up comedian, you try to write what people will like. So that requires a heavy amount of research on news, Bollywood and cricket. You’re always on social media, trying to write that kind of catered material to people that they lap up.
“After that phase is over, you start writing what you like. For instance, I’m a history buff, so I did a lot of research and wrote a show called History of India. I’m also a science buff, so I bought biology textbooks, and did a lot of research to write another show. likewise, in the case of Unbelievable, it’s the 10th year of my career, and I think that’s when you start writing about stuff that scares you. I realised in the 10 years as a comedian, I’ve never said a word about myself, ever. I’ve been performing for an audience that has championed me for 10 years and made me who I am, but they don’t know a thing about me, and that’s kind of ironic.
“So it is a show about major milestones in my life. And I think people will relate to them as it covers things like getting arrested, having sex, doing drugs, getting high, getting fired, breaking up, cheating, getting married, settling down, all of those things.”
He says that it all started when he was a dishwasher at Granola Cafe in Chicago and it was two blocks away from a place called Mike that hosted comedy nights. He recalls, “I remember watching these comedians go up and do four or five minutes of comedy and they would get free drinks and pretty girls would talk to them once they got off stage. So I decided to try it too.” And today, he says, to make people laugh is not just his job but also a privilege: “The soundtrack to my life is thousands of laughs. That’s positive energy, it’s good for your health and it’s great. And I feel when you’re able to make a person laugh, that’s the strongest connection you’ll ever share with another human being.” And about what in turn makes him laugh, he says, “little things make me laugh, I don’t really talk about big things. I’m more about smiles and burps and farts and whistles!”
Although Das tries to simplify his approach to hilarity, it cannot be so conveniently uncomplicated; nothing is. His sense of comedy has often gravitated towards a moral compass. It may be satirical but not hurtful, farcical but not uncouth, sentimental but not self-righteous. He says, “I think it’s whatever feels right or wrong to you. The rule is: Don’t punch down, punch up. Don’t make fun of somebody who can’t defend themselves. If you’re ridiculing somebody or something, make sure they’ve done something to deserve it. Stay within the bounds of intelligence. You’ll never see me making fun of the aged or the sick or children because that doesn’t feel right to me. I don’t censor myself beyond that. I assume that I’m a moral, intelligent person and I try to think about what I would want to hear about if I were sitting in the audience.”
He says his style is similar to that of George Carlin, Eddie Izzard, early Woody Allen, and lenny Bruce. Interestingly, he has also had his share of criticism when he was accused of hypocrisy recently. As he mocked the obscene objectification of women in brand advertisements, his critics countered by pointing out that his latest film Mastizaade was filled with vulgar innuendos.
Das had taken to social media to clarify that he was only playing a character and things should be placed in context, but I wonder if that same argument applies to all the item song performers and obscene ad endorsers — that they are just enacting a script and it’s their job to do so. He disagrees, “You have to be an intelligent enough audience to allow fiction. See, I’ve murdered nine people in all of my movies, but that doesn’t make me a murderer. Nawazuddin Siddiqui is an extraordinarily nice man and not a serial killer; he’s only playing one in Raman Raghav 2.0. As an actor, the mission is to challenge yourself and to play roles that are a complete opposite of who you are and to test the bounds of what emotions you can and cannot access. The art of stand-up comedy, on the other hand, is completely to be yourself and to parody and represent yourself.” I still find it difficult to accept his defence of Mastizaade but of course, moral judgement should not be anyone’s preserve and it’s appreciable to find an actor not disowning his team after their film is amidst any controversy. But there’s still a larger question.
In this attempt to parody, can being deliberately coarse and sensationalising issues in a titillating way to generate shock value instead of wit and laughter still be considered comedyIJ He says, “You can’t always stay in the box that people want you to stay in. You will have to dare to crack the jokes. Say, the AIB Roast, it was an early format and people didn’t get it; all those boys are extremely intelligent in their own right. At the end of the day, if you don’t like something you’ve seen, you won’t laugh. You don’t need protests, PIls, notices. If you don’t like a comedian’s work, you’ll never watch him again and that’s the worst thing that can happen to a comedian. That’s punishment enough.”
He also adds that there is no topic that he would ever shy away from. “I believe in my artistic voice. For example, in History of India, we talked about the Ramayana, Mahabharata, the Gandhis, Nehru, holy cows, and yet we sold a quarter of a million tickets of that show over six years because it’s an intelligent show and comes from a patriotic place. There is legitimate parody and satire in it.
“Having said that, there’s also a certain hypocrisy attached to Hindi and English as well. Say, you’ll watch a comedian in English do doggy style jokes, sex jokes, jokes about b**bs and ba**s and that’s okay. But the minute you hear that in Hindi, your sensibilities are offended because you look down on your own official language. Hindi allows for sarcasm, irony, being edgy, all of those things. You just have to play it safe in that language.”
He says he reads, interacts, and researches online to write new material. “I have been the most comfortable with a book in my hand. For example, currently I am reading The Essential Rock Discography, which is just the history of rock and roll and is nice to read. The more information you can put in your head, the better.”
It can take months at times to write one hour of impeccable stand-up comedy. So what does he do when he finds hecklers in the audienceIJ “When somebody heckles you, you’ve got to be 90 seconds ahead and smarter than the heckler. You have to take them down. You must.” He continues with a chuckle, “I haven’t had very bad hecklers because people are usually intimidated when they come for a show. There’s a certain advantage to being the most expensive comedian in the country — typically people who heckle are somewhere in the first five rows. And those people have paid `5,000 to come and see me. So when you spend that kind of cash, I don’t think you’re going to try and consciously mess up the show!”
That’s agreeable and in the same spirit, I ask him if he has to pick any incident from the recent times that he would love to ridicule on stage, what it would beIJ Pat comes the reply, “Any 9 pm bulletin on any news channel right now is a ridiculous exercise in theatre. Any debate for that matter is how magicians do magic through misdirection. I think Indian news these days is misdirection.”
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