Don Ward, CEO of the UK’s ‘The Comedy Store,’ talks to Divya Kaushik about coming to Delhi after testing waters in Mumbai, his start-up years and stand-up comedy in India
He is proud to create an industry with over 500 venues across UK. Now Don Ward is all set to bring such a revolution in India as well. He opened his first branch of ‘The Comedy Store’ in Mumbai in 2010. And after its success, he is now coming up with the concept in Delhi. The Comedy Store’s first ever show at BlueFROG today will see performances by popular stand-up comics Raghav Mandava, Amit Tandon and Kunal Rao. Don told us that there are plans to come up with two more stores in Mumbai and he has plans to expand his network to other cities like Bengaluru, Chennai and Pune.
“It’s been 34 years that I am in the industry now and I have seen a huge change. India has been an emerging market and people speak English. That time someone suggested Delhi but I thought that Mumbai would be ideal location for the first store. I was testing waters and Mumbai has the film industry and I thought it was friendly yet commercial. Now when we have created a name and we are ready to move on, Delhi comes as the next best option. The response has been great, our website is full of requests from the Indian comedians,” shared Ward, a British comedy entrepreneur and producer, who performed comedy in the 70s.
Born and raised in Tottenham, Don now lives in Fulham. He got his first break while trying to attract the attention of girls at a holiday camp in Jersey. A comedy act devised for an open talent competition won Don and a friend first prize. Don eventually went solo, joining comedy groups and concert parties where he leant his trade while paying the bills working in newspaper printing. In 1972, Don took over a club in Dean Street called the Gargoyle, a traditional nightclub — where Don hosted and compéred the show. A trip to the USA in 1978 changed everything.
In the dark comedy clubs of the US, he discovered a new genre of observational comedy. In 1979, he decided to try it out in the UK, registering the name The Comedy Store, creating the now infamous Comedy Store logo, and scheduling an initial six-week run of shows on Saturday night’s at midnight. He auditioned raw talent from adverts placed in a selection of varied publications. From the 150 answers to the first advert, Don managed to sort some fine comic wheat from the chaff of aspirants, including Alexei Sayle, his compére for the early Comedy Store experiment. “If today you will ask my favourite stand-up comedian it will be unfair to name one. I enjoyed everyone but Alexie comes to my mind when I think of the best,” Ward commented.
The Comedy Store has attracted Hollywood stars like Robin Williams, Mike Myers. Don feels that it’s time for change in comedy scene in India. “The talent is immense, but I feel comedy is sophisticated and simple. It is important for the comedy to be observational and a good comic should talk about the incidents and events happening around. If you look around there are funny things happening everywhere,” said Don.
He listed down the traits of a good comedian and said, “First thing I look in a comedian is that he should know to show off. Comedy is nothing but show off. Second you need to have a funny bone. I have seen comedians without a funny bone but they don’t last long. One should develop his own style and for that one needs to observe.”