Time to spread some ‘cheer’

With four stand up acts, two stage premieres and one of the city’s first live podcasts, there is much to cheer for at the NCPA’s flagship comedy festival, NCPA Cheer this year. The three-day festival, which is in its fifth edition, will bring some of the best upcoming talents from the stage and stand up circles from across the country. And in a first for the festival, it will also have a special focus on improv comedy.

The comic journey will open with theatre person and stand up comic, Karthik Kumar’s 2nd Decoction — a stand up act about middle class upbringing and everything that is second best. One of the highlights of day one will be film and TV writer Kiran Kotrial’s Timepass Talkies, which takes a satirical look at films and their lack of logic. Telling us what his act will be about, Kiran says, “Timepass Talkies is a first-of-its-kind stand up act. I basically pick up scenes from films and take a humorous look at the inconsistencies. This is something that everyone loves doing when they watch a film and that is why it connects so well with the audience.”

The second day of the festival will present the live podcast, Audiomatic’s Our Last Week, by comic artist Anuvab Pal and actor/director Kunal Roy Kapoor. Day two will also see an interactive improv set titled ICMPopcorn, conceptualised by Improv Comedy. The concluding act of the day will be by popular comedian Sorabh Pant, who will be sharing his tales of becoming a father in his new act, My baby thinks I’m funny.

For day three, the festival has put together a number of acts and stage productions from across the country including the Nagpur-based Stagecraft Theatre’s A Shot in the Dark, which is modelled after the French farce L’Idiote. Telling us a little more about their production, Stagecraft’s Vikash Khurana says, “It’s not a typical French farce and doesn’t follow all its principle. We’ve tried to make it more intelligent. It’s a fairly unexplored genre — comedy thriller. And to balance comedy and thrill itself was a big task. To add to the humour, we have included a look at current issues in India.” The festival will come to an end with Papa CJ’s much acclaimed one-man act, A Comedian’s Tale, which takes an in depth look at comedy.