City comedians weigh in on the Trevor Noah show debacle

'Technical aspects are often the most overlooked. It is quite common in India that venues will sacrifice good sound, lighting, and audience comfort to save costs,' says comedian Aditya Sridhar.

People have blamed the shocking cancellation of Trevor Noah’s much-anticipated shows in Bengaluru on the ineptitude of the venue in hosting artistes of the South African comedian’s calibre. However, local standup comics say that it boils down to Trevor’s team and the event management company.

In 2019, Canadian comic Russell Peters performed at White Orchid Convention Centre, two minutes away from Manpho Convention Centre, where Trevor’s show was held. City-based comedian Rupen Paul says, “They’re both similar spaces. Peters’ show went off without any issues. He is known to do everything from the recce to the soundcheck himself, even though he has a team.” He adds that if he were to blame anyone, it would be Trevor and his team. “It’s not the venue, it’s not the city,” he says.

Lack of homework

When British actor and comedian Russell Brand performed in White Orchid in 2015, Ajay Samson was one of the opening acts. He recalls doing a thorough sound check before the show began. “A sound check is an important part of the pre-show process. We went to every corner of the hall to check if the person speaking on stage was clearly audible. If a proper sound check was done, it is a mystery how the show was allowed to continue before the issues were fixed,” he shares and states that if he was in Trevor’s place, he would have at least tried to make a go of it, even if only for 30 minutes.

“Standup does not need an elaborate sound system, unlike music. You check for basic factors like bass, treble, gains and reverb,” he adds. He feels that the echo, caused by the 3,000-seater venue’s high ceiling, would have added to the sound issues.

Comedian Sonu Venugopal points out that standup comedy is an art that lends itself more to intimate gatherings. Large spaces don’t work, because a good act should make you feel like the artiste is talking to you, she says. “I think someone has failed to do their homework. We have many great venues for standup comedy in this city,” she shares, adding that it’s possible that the event management company got so carried away with the magnitude of the celebrity they were dealing with that they forgot to check on something as basic as sound.

Wrong partners

Aditya Sridhar, another comedian, agrees. “Technical aspects are often the most overlooked. It is quite common in India that venues will sacrifice good sound, lighting, and audience comfort to save costs. While there are many poor venues in Bengaluru, there are just as many superb ones,” he states.

Oum Pradutt’s city-based event management company, Phase 1, has produced numerous events globally. He shares that there have been many successful events at the venue. “Bookmyshow (the organiser of Trevor’s show) has hosted some amazing events. But a large company like Bookmyshow usually outsources sound and lighting to smaller partners, and it’s likely that they went with the wrong partners,” he says. For an act like Trevor, he would have opted to work with “the No 1 partner” in all departments, be it lighting, sound, hospitality or transport.