Stand-up comedians Raghav Mandava and Jeeveshu Ahluwalia tell Pallavi Gupta about weird situations they encountered on stage
As I stepped inside Barrels in Vasant Vihar, a dim-lighted cosy restaurant, I was amazed to see a lively crowed hooting and cheering for two young men standing at a small stage. I got curious and went ahead to hear them. These were the stand-up comedians Raghav Mandava and Jeeveshu Ahluwalia who were taking the audience by storm through their acts.
No matter both have different comedy styles, the two rocked on the stage together. While Raghav commented on life in the metro, Jeeveshu focussed on mom’s classic one-liners. Taking a dig on present water situation, one of them said, “Delhi has a acute water shortage. And to cope with this my mother has made the water motor her first love. Well, we are two brothers. Even if one of us dies she wouldn’t care to notice but what she would remember is to switch on the motor at the right time.”
While economic meltdown was making youngsters’ compromise on their salaries or profiles, Raghav found it better to make people laugh. “My inspiration to become a comedian was unemployment. The fact that I did not have a job, got me interested in comedy. I am a promoter-producer-turned-comedian. I used to work in a bar and there we started organising shows. I performed some acts and with each effort, I got funnier,” said Raghav. The best thing about these two is they try to ease the transition of jokes from less offensive to more. “Not all jokes are laughed at. But when somebody does not laugh at my joke I go kiss them. Well, I tell them I will kiss them and that makes them laugh,” said Jeeveshu.
An embarrassing moment is a nightmare for all of us. Tripping over a stone or falling off a stable chair, we don’t want to remember these moments. But when we find somebody else caught in the same situation, most of us find it funny. “Jokes are a creation of an imaginary world that one fabricates for an audience. Once the audience is in the make-believe sphere, it is then they start enjoying. Tragedies are the butt of jokes. What is tragic to one is funny to another. Tragedy when told in a funny way becomes better. Even in Santa Banta jokes, it is either Santa taking the lead or Banta taking the lead on foolishness,” explained Jeeveshu.
Raghav said, “If during your performance, no one from the audience has laughed in the first 10 minutes, then you should just get off the stage and not ask the promoter for your cheque.”
Jeeveshu once co-hosted a show with Mandira Bedi. “She told me that I wasn’t fat but hot. I did not know how to react. I blushed on the stage,” he shared.