A small audience had gathered at MG Road Boulevard’s Rangastala auditorium recently to watch four stand-up comedians perform in a show titled ‘That 90 (ml)s Show’.

 The show lasted for two hours and kept the spectators thoroughly entertained. 

Satish Perumal, the first performer of the night, started off his act with relatable humour. “Happiness is finding a parking spot on MG Road on a Sunday evening,” he said. He was a success with the audience, basking in the spotlight of their laughter and cheers. Vishal Ramesh, the host for the evening, said the group started putting together shows two months ago. They picked Rangastala because they wanted an intimate and closed space to perform in. “We wanted a night just for stand-up comedy,” said Praveen Kumar, who was voted one of the country’s best comedians of the year.

Stand-up comedy is still in its baby days and the City has a lot of unexplored talent. Praveen, who is considered as one of the ‘founders’ of stand-up comedy in the country, has been in the business for five and a half years.  He said that Bangalore is still in its growth phase and we should compare ourselves to no one else. 

Once a week, places like Take 5 and Urban Solace have open-mic night and stand-up comedians are born. 

“The quality of Bangalore comedians is on par or slightly better than the other cities,” said Praveen. 

According to Vishal, the reason Bangaloreans are different from comedians in cities like Mumbai and Delhi is because people here don’t always talk about marriage and relationships. 

The four acts of the evening proved that right by picking up various subjects like sports, childhood, work, religion, ethnicity, technology and even some history and geography. 

But Rajesh Hinduja, the oldest comedian in the City, says that sexism is a part of the game. 

“We comedians are pretty broad-minded and it’s all for fun; it isn’t reinforcing any kind of stereotypes. The women comedians are worse!” The audience came out with smiles on their faces. Pooja, who had seen Praveen perform before, said, “There isn’t a nicer way to spend a lazy Sunday evening.” Shobhana and Janani couldn’t stop laughing throughout the show. They said they loved it. 

With newer forms of entertainment coming in, Bangaloreans have a lot to look forward to.