On my day off from work, I decided to destress, by watching Bar Boys, a night of stand-up comedy presented by Shoelace Productions. Three starkly different performers came onto the stage chronologically - Abijit Ganguly, Amit Tandon and Maheep Singh.
Laced with wit, humour, sex jokes, marriage, being single, losing your virginity, having a relationship, being Dilli ka Punjabi or a traditionally eccentric Bangaali, were some of the subjects which had the choicest of jokes cracked by the trio. At a personal level I loved the energy and the spontaneous craziness exuded by each of the acts. During Abhijit’s performances I got wrapped in, as he referred to someone dark in the audience as a South Indian, while I said nope it must be a Bangaali. Well… he asked me my full name and said Khan now that I wouldn’t want to comment on at all. So if you have a weekend off next time, definitely go in for one of their shows which will completely take your mind off on all worldly so-called issues.
Ganguly, Tandon and Singh spoke to Millennium Post on their career as stand up comedians. ‘I’ve been performing as a stand-up comic for around 2 and half years now and the experience has been kickass to say the least. There’s a huge difference from being just a funny guy to actually doing stand-up and then being somewhat decent at it. The initial year actually passed by trying to understand this transition. But with time as you go about doing it more professionally, you start becoming more analytical about it,’ says 25 year-old Abijit.
‘I simply love stand up comedy. I think its one Raw, Gutsy and still honest art form. I think stand up artists should be weighed in gold. Making people laugh actually works as a therapy for me and its cheaper,’ says 40 year-old Maheep.
Maheep goes on to say,‘ About two years ago I was accidentally introduced to this relatively new performing art and I found it fascinating and as luck would have it I was pulled into it by sheer chance for which I am thankful to open mics for comedy. Then went on to win All India hunt for best stand up comedian by Comedy Central. And have been performing ever since.’
Amit, who is married with 2 kids says, ‘At college, I used to write scripts and was the compere at the festival events. Now, I am 37 and have been working as a professional for over a decade, last six being as an entrepreneur. However, as MD of a company, I was increasingly becoming uptight. I had lost touch with the creative and fun side of myself. I was looking for an outlet to my creative side beyond blog writing. Then I heard of open mics for stand up comics in 2010 and decided to try. It gave me the most honest applause - ‘Laughter, an applause that cant be faked at all. And it is addictive.’
Recounting a freaky incident Abijit says, ‘Well, once I was performing at this pub in GK and there was this really funny couple who kept indulging in PDA. These guys were sitting right in the front, around two-three meters away from me. Although they were attentive and listening and laughing to all I was saying, but they just kept cuddling around each other and their hands were pretty much all over each other, which was rather distracting. So, I asked them over mic to kind of relax a couple of times which cracked up the audience. But they seemed to enjoy it more once I said it aloud and further upped the tempo. Post that I just had to tell them, that it’s starting to distract me and it gets real tough for me to crack jokes while having a boner. The audience had a good laugh at that and they finally stopped. Those guys are good friends of mine now and every time they come for a show they try to again distract me in the only way they know.’
Laced with wit, humour, sex jokes, marriage, being single, losing your virginity, having a relationship, being Dilli ka Punjabi or a traditionally eccentric Bangaali, were some of the subjects which had the choicest of jokes cracked by the trio. At a personal level I loved the energy and the spontaneous craziness exuded by each of the acts. During Abhijit’s performances I got wrapped in, as he referred to someone dark in the audience as a South Indian, while I said nope it must be a Bangaali. Well… he asked me my full name and said Khan now that I wouldn’t want to comment on at all. So if you have a weekend off next time, definitely go in for one of their shows which will completely take your mind off on all worldly so-called issues.
Ganguly, Tandon and Singh spoke to Millennium Post on their career as stand up comedians. ‘I’ve been performing as a stand-up comic for around 2 and half years now and the experience has been kickass to say the least. There’s a huge difference from being just a funny guy to actually doing stand-up and then being somewhat decent at it. The initial year actually passed by trying to understand this transition. But with time as you go about doing it more professionally, you start becoming more analytical about it,’ says 25 year-old Abijit.
‘I simply love stand up comedy. I think its one Raw, Gutsy and still honest art form. I think stand up artists should be weighed in gold. Making people laugh actually works as a therapy for me and its cheaper,’ says 40 year-old Maheep.
Maheep goes on to say,‘ About two years ago I was accidentally introduced to this relatively new performing art and I found it fascinating and as luck would have it I was pulled into it by sheer chance for which I am thankful to open mics for comedy. Then went on to win All India hunt for best stand up comedian by Comedy Central. And have been performing ever since.’
Amit, who is married with 2 kids says, ‘At college, I used to write scripts and was the compere at the festival events. Now, I am 37 and have been working as a professional for over a decade, last six being as an entrepreneur. However, as MD of a company, I was increasingly becoming uptight. I had lost touch with the creative and fun side of myself. I was looking for an outlet to my creative side beyond blog writing. Then I heard of open mics for stand up comics in 2010 and decided to try. It gave me the most honest applause - ‘Laughter, an applause that cant be faked at all. And it is addictive.’
Recounting a freaky incident Abijit says, ‘Well, once I was performing at this pub in GK and there was this really funny couple who kept indulging in PDA. These guys were sitting right in the front, around two-three meters away from me. Although they were attentive and listening and laughing to all I was saying, but they just kept cuddling around each other and their hands were pretty much all over each other, which was rather distracting. So, I asked them over mic to kind of relax a couple of times which cracked up the audience. But they seemed to enjoy it more once I said it aloud and further upped the tempo. Post that I just had to tell them, that it’s starting to distract me and it gets real tough for me to crack jokes while having a boner. The audience had a good laugh at that and they finally stopped. Those guys are good friends of mine now and every time they come for a show they try to again distract me in the only way they know.’