‘No career in comedy without open mics’

In an attempt to provide stand-up comedians and other artistes with a platform that allows them creative freedom, 23-year-old Baneet Chhabra along with Priya Sharma and Poojan Sahil started with ‘Playgroud Creative House’ (PCH) — in Defence Colony of south Delhi — a space dedicated to promote performing arts, in November last year.

“As a stand-up comedian, one should get the opportunity to do what they like, that’s what stand-up is all about. This was one of the reasons why I wanted to perform here,” says comedian Maheep Singh.

Under the title of ‘House of Comedy’, they started organising open mic sessions for free, where initially, budding stand-up comedians from the city participated. Through sharing events of Facebook, Whatsapp and Snapchat, the three sent invitations to various people who were interested to watch stand-up acts by these budding comedians.

“It’s a small world of stand-up comedians here and we are all connected. Word about PCF started spreading a few months back and when I saw the likes of Papa CJ and Rajneesh Kapoor performing here, I really wanted to give the place a shot,” says comedian Manish K. Tyagi.

Seconds Maheep, adding, “It is a small, but an effective space.”

At the platform, the audience and the performers come solely on the basis of invitations. Thus, only people interested in comedy and the art form are present in these open mic sessions.

“There are numerous open mics happening across the city. But they are either in clubs or restaurants, where people don’t pay much attention to the act. Here, there is no commercial aspect to the event. And that helps us get rid of the performance pressure that we feel in paid shows,” says Maheep.

According to comics, the need of a space where they can experiment jokes, see audience’s reactions and try things which they have never done before, is important.

“There are times when a joke strikes us and we scribble it immediately on a paper and carry it with us for months… but we never get the chance to actually try them and see how people react,” he adds.

Agrees comedian Rajneesh Kapoor saying, “For instance, to see how I’m going to work on Hindi comedy, I would have to go to a lot of open mics and see if I fumble, or if I find it more natural. We keep experimenting in places that don’t pay us. You cannot have a career in comedy without open mics.”

The comedians also appreciate the arrangements at the platform. “We deal with a lot of shady clients who promise so much but fail to deliver. Those guys (Baneet, Priya and Poojan) are committed, sincere and good to work with. This helps us to perform a lot better,” he adds.