Stand-up for laughter

Comedians Jeevenshu Ahluwalia, Sundeep Rao and Daniel Fernandes share the stage for a night of side-splitting stand-up comedy

“Life is a tragedy when seen as close-up, but a comedy in the long-shot,” said one of the greatest comedians of all time—Charlie Chaplin. Comedians Jeevenshu Ahluwalia, Sundeep Rao and Daniel Fernandes may have very different styles of comedy, but this is one principle that all three seem to agree with. All three comedians have made a mark in their fields and, through their own brands of comedy, are trying to convey socially relevant messages. The trio is now coming together at the Comedy Central Chuckle Stop, a preview event to the annual Comedy Central Chuckle Festival. The event will take place in Mumbai, followed by shows in Bangalore and Delhi.

“Comedy is not just an icebreaker; I think that it’s a catalyst for change. I want to start a discussion on disability and inclusion. If I talk about it on stage and tell them I’m partially blind, then there might be the odd audience member who might have a friend who has a disability and say to himself, ‘if a guy who has a disability can talk about it so comfortably, then maybe we can also make the effort’,” says Sundeep. The stand up comic gave up his job as a copywriter to become a comedian. “Stand-up comedy is a unique sort of self-representation through words, and since I am not from a theatre background, I depend quite heavily on writing. I guess that my copywriting background comes in handy there. I love puns off-stage, so I get it out of my system,” he reflects.

While Sundeep’s departure from his copywriting job was a gradual and thought-out decision, Jeevenshu simply walked out of his corporate job when he realised he had a chance of making his dream of being a stand-up comedian a reality. “I was one of those guys you’d call for a party to crack a few jokes. Then at one of the events, I was spotted by someone who informed the founder of East India Comedy about me. Eight days later I quit my job. I just walked out. It was the best feeling ever,” he recalls. Now, the comedian goes by the nickname of ‘Salman Khan of the fat world’. He shares the origin of the name. “I was always one of those guys who people used to come to and say, ‘oh, I know this fat girl, you guys will make a great couple’. Or something similar. I used to tell them, ‘dude, I may be fat but I’m a very good looking fat guy, in the fat world, I’m Salman Khan’. That’s how the title came about and it stuck,” he laughs. “I do a brand of self-deprecating comedy. This way, when I go into insult comedy, it’s like I’m putting myself on the same platter as them, so they don’t get offended,” he adds.

Daniel, on the other hand, has absolutely no qualms about offending his audiences a little if it gets his point across. “It is impossible not to offend people, in fact I wouldn’t mind offending a few people, because that offence comes from a place of discomfort, which in turn comes from a place of truth. I try to walk the line between hard-hitting comedy and saying things that might land me in jail,” he says with a laugh. According to this lover of dark comedy, observational comedy is one of the most relevant ways of decrypting the chaos of global information. “There is so much that is happening in the world. Comedians take that chaos and give it a kind of order by putting it through a perspective which is both insightful and something you can laugh about,” he says.

The first Chuckle Stop will be taking place today, 8 pm onwards, at Deepak Cinema, 38, NM Joshi Marg, Lower Parel