How Comedians In Odisha Capital Kept Humour Intact & ‘Stood Up’ To COVID

Bhubaneswar: While big blockbuster film companies, prominent theatre groups and various other performance art platforms have been left reeling under COVID-induced lockdowns, stand-up comedy has slowly but steadily continued its rise to prominence in the Odisha capital. Even though a lot of the artists tried taking their art online, none of it translated as well to the medium, as comedy.

It was showcased by Samay Raina, the winner of the second season of Comicstaan, who started the viral chess tournaments featuring national and international celebrities, that good comedy can be packaged and presented in any form. Our comedians in Bhubaneswar belong to the same pedigree and were able to reinvent themselves in innovative ways, which made lockdown smooth sailing.

“Zoom Calls were the key. We used the app to host our own comedy shows for around 50 people, each time. We could have sold even more tickets, but seeing the audience reaction is a very important part of our standup set, and things can get out of hand very easily. We used green screens to our advantage and various other props. This was all done under Comedy Highway, which is a comedy collective, comprising of standups from Bhubaneswar and Raipur, Chhattisgarh,“ says Satyabrat Mohapatra, the co-founder of the group.

A seasoned comedian of the Bhubaneswar scene, Satyabrat has been honing his comedic chops since 2016-17 in front of receptive crowds in the city. Five years into his career, he has now launched two specials – The Other Side of Me and Vartalav, doing a 12-city tour comprising Bhubaneswar, Vizag, Pune, Kolkata and Guwahati for the former in early 2019, and doing a one-time-only experience in Sambalpur for the latter, consisting completely of crowd work.

“The short stint between the two lockdowns was the period where we did as many live comedy shows as possible. We knew that the second wave was coming, and it drove us to work that much harder to help preserve the scene. We returned to zoom calls in the second lockdown, but we had an even more enthusiastic audience with us,” he says.

Comedy Highway has hosted various live shows since August 6, in cafes and spaces across the city, and is now gearing up for two upcoming shows, an Open Mic on December 18 at Chai Chaiee, Lewis Road, and Weekend Comedy Dose show at Exospace Esplanade, Rasulgarh, on December 26. Tickets are available on Bookmyshow and Ticket Central.

The tickets were sold out for the evening and they are now adding more.

Alokesh Sinha is the co-founder of Comedy Highway with Satyabrat and features on the Weekend Comedy Dose Show along with other seasoned performers. His set is self-described as, jokes about everything from his pet dog to online dating sites and the connection between them. During the lockdown, he came up with his unique special, Nanha Mard, based around the concept of giving back. “I looked up restaurants, unlisted on Zomato and Swiggy, and brought one of their veg meal for Rs.60. That’s exactly what I charged for the tickets to my online show. For every ticket, we went and gave out meals to the homeless, after writing a letter to the Commissioner of Police.”

With the live shows back, Alokesh is very excited about the future of the Bhubaneswar comedy scene, but he feels that something is amiss. “We definitely need more female participation. Organic growth, not just special features on Women’s day. It’s tough to survive in the comedy scene, but as long as you do, you learn. I feel that women are lacking the support system to bounce back after a tough night. We can always work on being more inclusive,” he says.

Highlighting the same issue, the poster for the Open Mic on December 18 features two relatively unknown female performers, but Tanistha Panda is sure of bringing her own publicity to the event. “The positive response I’ve got has been crazy.”

Tanistha, who is pursuing an MBA, is also an Instagram influencer with more than 15k followers. “I just roast people randomly, no ill intentions behind it. I also call out a lot of the fakeness on my platform. That’s some of the material I am going to do in my set, but it’s going to be way more planned out. A lot of my fans kept saying that my videos would lend itself perfectly to stand up, and after Satyabrat contacted me, I was completely up for it.”

Continuing on about her aspirations in stand-up comedy she says, “I am very confident, but everything depends on the audience reaction to my set. I love comedy and writing jokes. It’s not about financial gain, but a place for me to speak my mind without being judged. This is where I think I will find peace, but I guess the future will decide.”