<p>For many stand-up comedians, platforms like YouTube and venues like cafes and pubs are not enough to make a name in the industry. They say that to perform better, test their jokes and improvise, they need platforms where the audience comes only for comedy and not for other distractions like food and drinks.<br /><br /></p>.<p>In an attempt to provide such stand-up comedians an alternative art space, 22-year-old Baneet Chhabra started with House of Comedy, a project under Playground Creative House — an event management company based in Delhi. <br /><br />“Having been a part of the theatre society in my college, I have always been fond of performing arts. My friends and I had a space (a room) which we thought of contributing to arts,” Chhabra, a graduate from Guru Gobind Singh Indra Prastha University, tells Metrolife. <br /><br />So with the help of a few friends in theatre, he invited stand-up comedians for open mic events during weekends and also people who would be interested in attending their acts. <br /><br />“We started as an experiment, four weeks ago. Apart from stand-up comedians who were interested in performing without any pay, we invited our friends and friends of friends to come and attend the open mics,” he adds. <br /><br />In the past four events for stand-up comedy, around six to seven stand-up comedians participated and an average of 30 people came to attend each event. <br /><br />“I saw about the event on Facebook and didn’t know any of the organisers personally. The description was restricted to stand-up comedians and nothing was mentioned about food, music or any other distractions. For beginners like me, an event like this is a welcome platform,” says Garv Malik, alumnus, BITS Pilani, who currently works at a start-up in Delhi. <br /><br />“Unlike an auditorium or a stage, it was a much smaller room. I have performed several times in colleges and other corporate events, but never has the audience been so attentive. Performing at the event gave me a chance to experiment and innovate,” <br />adds the 23-year-old. <br /><br />According to Malik, monetarily, such events might not be helpful. But how the audience reacts to your jokes and which jokes works the best for which age group can be seen only during such events, he says. <br /><br />Some of these aspiring stand-up comedians say that despite the platforms provided by stages like Canvas Laugh Club (CyberHub, Gurgaon) and cafes and pubs, getting enough stages at sometimes is not an easy task. <br /><br />“There are times when there are a lot of events taking place and there are also times when no events are happening. So any kind of stage helps us. One cannot practise jokes at home. No matter how much we practise, we need audience’s response to judge which jokes work the best,” says Aman Deep, 27, a graduate from Apeejay Institute of Design, Delhi.<br /><br />He says that apart from lack of enough platforms with a serious audience, making convincing jokes for people in Delhi is also challenging. <br /><br />“Delhi crowd is tougher and more rigid than the crowd in Mumbai, Pune or Bangaluru. Here people have varied tastes and it is difficult to reach out to them. Having an event where you can see how every individual responds to your joke is very important for us to learn and improvise,” adds Deep. <br /><br />On being asked the challenges that Chhabra faces while organising these events, he says, “Without promotion and funding, it is very difficult to get audience on the basis of word of mouth. Also, it is a risk that we give a chance to newcomers because even we are not aware of the quality of their performance.” <br /><br />Now, with the help of his contacts, he plans on expanding his venture by trying to get a few sponsors on board. “It is only after some funding that we can do some paid shows and progress to digitise our platform,” says Chhabra. <br /></p>
<p>For many stand-up comedians, platforms like YouTube and venues like cafes and pubs are not enough to make a name in the industry. They say that to perform better, test their jokes and improvise, they need platforms where the audience comes only for comedy and not for other distractions like food and drinks.<br /><br /></p>.<p>In an attempt to provide such stand-up comedians an alternative art space, 22-year-old Baneet Chhabra started with House of Comedy, a project under Playground Creative House — an event management company based in Delhi. <br /><br />“Having been a part of the theatre society in my college, I have always been fond of performing arts. My friends and I had a space (a room) which we thought of contributing to arts,” Chhabra, a graduate from Guru Gobind Singh Indra Prastha University, tells Metrolife. <br /><br />So with the help of a few friends in theatre, he invited stand-up comedians for open mic events during weekends and also people who would be interested in attending their acts. <br /><br />“We started as an experiment, four weeks ago. Apart from stand-up comedians who were interested in performing without any pay, we invited our friends and friends of friends to come and attend the open mics,” he adds. <br /><br />In the past four events for stand-up comedy, around six to seven stand-up comedians participated and an average of 30 people came to attend each event. <br /><br />“I saw about the event on Facebook and didn’t know any of the organisers personally. The description was restricted to stand-up comedians and nothing was mentioned about food, music or any other distractions. For beginners like me, an event like this is a welcome platform,” says Garv Malik, alumnus, BITS Pilani, who currently works at a start-up in Delhi. <br /><br />“Unlike an auditorium or a stage, it was a much smaller room. I have performed several times in colleges and other corporate events, but never has the audience been so attentive. Performing at the event gave me a chance to experiment and innovate,” <br />adds the 23-year-old. <br /><br />According to Malik, monetarily, such events might not be helpful. But how the audience reacts to your jokes and which jokes works the best for which age group can be seen only during such events, he says. <br /><br />Some of these aspiring stand-up comedians say that despite the platforms provided by stages like Canvas Laugh Club (CyberHub, Gurgaon) and cafes and pubs, getting enough stages at sometimes is not an easy task. <br /><br />“There are times when there are a lot of events taking place and there are also times when no events are happening. So any kind of stage helps us. One cannot practise jokes at home. No matter how much we practise, we need audience’s response to judge which jokes work the best,” says Aman Deep, 27, a graduate from Apeejay Institute of Design, Delhi.<br /><br />He says that apart from lack of enough platforms with a serious audience, making convincing jokes for people in Delhi is also challenging. <br /><br />“Delhi crowd is tougher and more rigid than the crowd in Mumbai, Pune or Bangaluru. Here people have varied tastes and it is difficult to reach out to them. Having an event where you can see how every individual responds to your joke is very important for us to learn and improvise,” adds Deep. <br /><br />On being asked the challenges that Chhabra faces while organising these events, he says, “Without promotion and funding, it is very difficult to get audience on the basis of word of mouth. Also, it is a risk that we give a chance to newcomers because even we are not aware of the quality of their performance.” <br /><br />Now, with the help of his contacts, he plans on expanding his venture by trying to get a few sponsors on board. “It is only after some funding that we can do some paid shows and progress to digitise our platform,” says Chhabra. <br /></p>
