Tickling Your Funny Bone: Stand-Up Comedians Finding Feet In Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: ‘Comedy is a serious business,’ goes the adage. For the ever-increasing demand of stand-up comedians, it has indeed become a serious task to render a performance that can be etched into the audience’ minds while not overdoing the ‘creative freedom.’

Of late, stand-up comedy has become a trend, and many groups from the city have emerged with a fair share of success. A local group ‘The Bhubaneswar Komedians,’ which has been performing for around a year now, left the audience in splits in their show with Zakir Khan, who shot into fame courtesy YouTube videos.

The group, which comprises 4-5 core members, have also worked with big names such as Kenny Sebastian and Kanan Gill. While they have performed at IIT-Ropar and NLU-Guwahati, one of their members Satyabrata Mohapatra has done shows in Pune as well.

The Bhubaneswar Komedians’ first-ever video, a parody on Republic Day, has got impressive number of views on social media.

Roshan Bishoyi, co-founder of ‘The Chain Jokers’, whose group too has performed in and around Bhubaneswar, and does shows in cafes as well as corporate gigs, feels the audience in Bhubaneswar is responding well to stand-up comedy.

“Now people are getting more open. Initially, we used to do stereotype jokes, easy laughs, boyfriend-girlfriend comedy and sex jokes, but things have started to improve. You can’t blame the audience. If you don’t give them something new, you can’t really expect the audience to grow. It is a two-way process – we are growing, they are growing as well,” says Roshan, an engineer working in a digital marketing firm.

The shows are generally structured. Roshan explains that in their shows there are 4-5 performances based on a theme including musicals. For example, they had a theme called ‘BJD – Bhubaneswar Jokes Day’ where all the performances concentrated on life in the city. On a weekend, they held a show ‘Dear 2017,’ which was essentially a review of the year.

On being asked how they prepare for their acts, Roshan says, “Open mics, where anyone can come and perform, is the best platform. That is where we test our jokes.”

Open mics and shows are regularly arranged at cafes, most of which today are equipped with mics, speakers and musical instruments.

Atul Shah, a Cuttack-based entrepreneur, says, “Amid such routine and chaotic life, enjoying a couple of hours of stand-up comedy is the best laughter therapy. Listening to comedians such as Papa CJ and Zakir Khan on YouTube is great, so I always look forward to such kind of live shows in Bhubaneswar.”

“If it is a cafe show, around 40 people turn up. For a college show, the turn-out is usually 400 to 500. If a YouTube star is coming, then 300-900 people turn up,” explains Akash Baghar.

Going forward they would want to venture into production and web series on YouTube, reveals Roshan.