JOIN USAn evening of rib-tickling humour awaited all those who attended ‘Donkey Dies, Father Cries’, a two-hour stand-up comedy session. Organised by the Chennai-based group ‘Evam Standup Tamasha’ at the Alliance Francaise recently, the event, which was being staged in Bangalore for the first time, received an overwhelming response. The unusual name of the programme itself had aroused the curiosity of the audience.
The opening act was by Karthik Kumar. This was followed by a half-an-hour session by Naveen Richard, S Aravind and Bala Kumaran. Pointing out that it took a while to figure out what Bangaloreans would connect to, S Aravind, popularly known as SA, said, “Initially, I had no clue about what would work here. But I must say that this has been the best show so far. The response has been overwhelming.”
Aravind, who bases his jokes on everyday situations and mocks instances from his personal life, explained that the ‘exaggerated style’ also works in Bangalore. According to the film director who has been into stand-up comedy for the last two years, convincing the audience in Chennai can sometimes be harder when compared to Bangalore. “In Chennai, people want complete value for their money. So we are under tremendous pressure. Whereas here, the folks are more generous and basically come to have a good time.”
The evening, restricted to those above 18 years of age, had a lot of adult humour. “There was clean humour for about 20 minutes and the rest of it was for adults. Since I have grown up in Tamil Nadu, the Chennai crowd could relate to it easily. Although Bangaloreans may not have experienced the same situations, I felt that they could relate to them,” explained Naveen. On being asked about the unique title of the show, Naveen answered, “When we put together the content, we realised that there was no common thread. Hence, we picked up a random name which sounded quite funny too.”
Zainab Ismail, a member of the audience who is fond of theatre and comedy, said, “The event sounded interesting, which is why I’m here. I particularly enjoy humourous performances. Whenever time permits, I ensure that I attend programmes like this.” Jagdev Jassal, who was there with her friends from Malaysia, said, “The name caught our attention.
We thought it sounded interesting and came here looking forward to a fun evening.” Her friend Harwant Gill Kaur added, “We don't get to watch such programmes in Malaysia. I love comedies and plays. For most of these programmes, one needs to understand local slang. Since I follow Tamil, I am hoping it’s entertaining and fun.”