'Our son is the most amusing muse'

Standup artiste

Standup comedy artiste Sorabh Pant talks about the wonderful insanity of becoming a father in his latest show My Baby Thinks I’m Funny (MBTIF). He talks to Shweta Sharma about the idea behind the show and why he decided to make his son his muse.

What led to the conceptualisation of the show?

Other comedians think that my wife and I planned a child just for the jokes. And, they are not wrong. About four months into my wife’s pregnancy, I immediately thought, “How can I use this expensive thing of child birth for my benefit?” So, the conceptualisation of my son coincided with the conceptualisation of this show! To be honest, it was just a way for me to figure how to turn all these costs into creating and raising my son into profit.

What is the main idea behind the same?

I love my son. He’s my favourite person on earth. And, rather than whine about being a parent and the standard template of sleepless nights, MBTIF is a celebration of being a parent.

All the silly things like deranged nursery rhymes, playschools, sonographies, my own childhood and even how parents put pressure on their kids’ careers. It’s all about having a baby, being a baby, and raising one as well.

Does your son give you enough talking points for the show?

There’s so much to talk about. I’ve never had so many notes for any show in my life — literally a hundred pages.

I’m in fact, putting out a few videos on YouTube from the show, and replacing them with even more content. Being a parent and everything around it is an infinite
supply of insanity. And, on a weekly basis my son will do at least 14 new things that will inspire 14 new bits.

In the series you break down nursery rhymes and toys among other topics. Do you also aim to give out any message?

Well, the show itself does seek to give out a small message about how I didn’t like babies till mine was born. And about how having babies is fun and exhausting.

The Nursery Crimes online was just silliness to talk about my son’s love for weird nursery rhymes. I don’t enjoy comedy shows that manipulate emotions, so, I’ve tried to keep this as genuine and funny as possible. There is a message at the end, but it’s silly and fun; much like my son. And, his father.

What is the thought process that goes behind the content?

I just write down as many notes as possible, which my wife is sick of now. We’ll be at the doctor with my son for an injection and I’m making notes and she’s like, “Can you hold the baby, you a**?”

So, I write notes as they happen. Then I write an entire page on each of the notes. Then you select a couple of paragraphs from that. And, eventually one paragraph turns out funny on stage. As a comedian, if even 10 per cent of the jokes you’ve written work on stage, you’re doing good.

Do you actually maintain a diary of notes?

I actually have two notebooks full of notes. Right from my wife telling me to talk to him when he was seven months in the womb, to me having to go for a sperm sample, to the delivery itself and how melodramatic that whole process was. Ninety per cent of the time though my notes are indecipherable. I have a doctor’s handwriting. Also, once my son tore my notes while he was playing. He’s definitely not approving of this show.

Did you feel that a comic series on fatherhood and child birth would be taken in the right spirit as it isn’t something which is joked about in India?

Anything can be joked about, actually. We just look at a few conservative, tightly wrung idiots in this country and give them too much footage and attention. Either way, I make jokes that are not too controversial. Most of my shows are a celebration of vaguely smart buffoonery.

Has your wife been supportive of making your son your muse?

My wife is more than happy that I’m now making jokes on someone else in the family! In fact she’s the one who keeps telling me new things that he did in case I’m travelling. So, we’re both using our son’s weird antics to make the show funnier. He’s the most amusing muse.