In comedy, how much is too much?

'Audiences should just unsubscribe from creators they don’t like,' one comedian said.

Podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia, who runs the popular YouTube channel BeerBiceps, is receiving flak for his jokes on voyeurism and incest on the online show ‘India’s Got Latent’ last week. The show is hosted by comedian Samay Raina.

Metrolife spoke to standup comedians from the city to gain perspective on the same.

“He (Allahbadia) is not a comedian,” says Manjeet Sarkar. “His comment was not funny. But discussions about whether he should go to jail for what he said are funnier than the joke in question. Audiences should just unsubscribe from creators they don’t like,” he adds.

Aditya Sridhar believes the public reaction is bordering ‘aggressive’. “Firstly, it’s a joke that has been done before and secondly, he’s not a comedian. So I’m assuming that he was trying to be funny and it failed. It is a bad joke but he is allowed to crack a bad joke,” he says.

Shock value

‘India’s Got Latent’ was launched in June last year by Raina. The show acts as a platform for aspiring comedians. Since its inception, it has also been criticised for passing off crass and vulgar jokes as comedy.

Comedian Sonu Venugopal believes comedy is subjective. Speaking about the show, she says, “It is all about shock value. They say something that you are not expecting and then that generates humour. So, sometimes when you are not as funny in comparison to the competition, it leads to pressure and people tend to say stupid things."

"However, the large audience the show has garnered is testament to the fact that a lot of people want to watch something like this,” she adds.

While jokes are always a gamble, controversial subjects tend to accelerate social media engagement, shares Sridhar. “Nowadays, we see comedians and influencers post material which has a controversial edge to leverage this trend. Funny and unfunny jokes all start from the same base — until it’s cracked and people have laughed, we don’t know if it’s funny,” he adds.

What’s dark humour?

Raina is known for often walking the fine line between comedy and controversy, with many of his fans lauding him for his ‘dark humour’.

“In India, people say a lot of things and pass it off as dark comedy,” says Manjeet.

“Dark comedy emerged in the USA when talking about certain topics was a taboo. For example, in the 80s, people talked about dead babies and abortion and because the US is a Christian country and with abortion being a major controversial topic, it became a part of dark comedy. Currently, in India, people make misogynistic and homophobic jokes and pass it off as dark comedy,” he shares.

“There’s a difference between saying something dark and something that’s crass,” says Shankar Chugani.

“When you’re with your friends in a private setting, you have the liberty to have bold conversations about hypothetical situations. But, if our parents entered the room, we wouldn’t feel comfortable. The same extends to large audiences. As a comedian, the onus is on me about what I share with the audience, I wouldn’t expect them to be okay with everything I say in the name of comedy,” he adds.