English professor and standup comedian Vinay Menon considers both these professions his full-time job. Someone who believes that comedy is a serious affair, Vinay started his career in standup like everyone else, by trying out a few open mics.
He went on to do shows across South India and is also popular for hosting and judging standup events. He has also opened a show for the popular Vir Das in 2012 here and is the only English standup comedian to pursue the art from Kochi.
He is often asked to crack jokes in classes by his students and he can never really fathom why he isn’t a ‘serious’ teacher.
He weaves in funny incidents and acts while teaching and believes that standup helps him teach with a twist. An IT professional till 2014, he says that he finds the job of a tester and a standup comedian similar as both find faults with things.
He has a candid chat with Anushka Sivakumar about his quirkiness and his journey so far.
How does your standup story start?
I joined a theatre workshop which was conducted by Evam Entertainment. It helped me explore my creative side and led me to interesting people. Soon I realised that I could actually give standup a shot. My first show was at Counter Culture, Bengaluru. Though
I horrendously failed that night, the owner was polite enough to call me back which thus started my journey in standup comedy seriously.
How is the comedy scene in Bengaluru when compared to that in Kochi?
Let’s put it this way — the Bengaluru comedy scene is bustling. It is undergoing the Industrial Revolution while Cochin is in the Bronze Age. Cochin will take some time to reach where Bengaluru is.
If not a standup artiste...
I would be a college professor. Oh wait, I already am.
The funniest incident in your life.
I voted, thinking that the system of democracy actually works in India.
A female comic you would kill to see.
So many of them. Neeti Palta, Vasu Primlani, Aditi Mittal, Radhika Vaz... I would try to avoid murder though.
If people walk away from your show and you are left with an empty auditorium...
People get better only with practise which is why people can’t walk away from my show now.
Advice to younger comedians.
Never stop. It takes 20 bad shows to have that one awesome show and it’s all worth the effort.
What if someone tells you can never perform standup comedy in future?
I would swipe left.