Ready to laugh out loud

Gone are the days when the only entertainment resort was to head for a movie. The theatre scene in the City began catching up and soon made way for another art form and another character — the stand-up comedian.

While the art has been around for long in a few pockets of the City, it has now taken centre stage and resulted in some full houses. The past year saw two big international acts in the genre in the form of comedian Wayne Brady and comedian and actor Rob Schneider. And that says no more than Bangalore’s declaration as an open market to comedy evenings.

“Stand-up comedy in the City is here to stay. The past year was great for the art. There were comedy shows almost every week in the City,” says Sanjay Manaktala, a City-based stand-up comedian. When probed about what the reason behind a surge in the genre’s popularity could be, he says, “People are now used to adult humour. They are appreciating much more and are looking for more than just toiled humour out of a comedy show.”

While Manaktala believes that the year 2011 marked a significant difference in the audience for comedy shows, City-based comedian Kartik Iyer, known for his ‘Higher Iyer’ shows, thinks the trend has been on for a few years now. Both certainly believe that Bangalore is an expanding market though.

“Stand-up comedy in the City has been on the rise for a few years. Comedy has been around in a vernacular form previously and now English comedy is taking over the stage,” says Kartik.

“Bangalore is definitely a great market. It has a very cosmopolitan crowd that enables a comedian to crack any kind of jokes, unlike Delhi, where South Indian jokes don’t go down too well,” he adds.

What is that keeps the crowds coming one wonders, the love of the art or a mere need for entertainment and original jokes? Comedians tell us, it is a bit of both. Venkatesh Harinathan, Chennai-based actor and comedian, who played to three full house shows in the City recently, says, “India at large is a big market for stand-up comedy and international acts like Wayne Brady go out to show that. People have begun taking jokes at themselves. Bangalore, in particular, has great availability of space.”

The future, however unsure, seems more on the brighter side for these acts of comedy. Fuller houses and louder laughs are here to stay or go a notch higher perhaps. “I see that people will prefer stand-up comedy shows to movies and pubs in the future. I also see a dedicated space being built for stand-up comedy in the City, much like ‘The Comedy Store’ in Mumbai,” says Manaktala.