Limited venues, restrictions on content dog comedians

Bengaluru’s standup comedy scene is quite active but Kannada comedians don’t seem to have an easy run. Though the challenges are many, they are trying their best.

From a smaller market to refining jokes, there are many hurdles that come their way, they tell Metrolife.

Anup Maiya, an IT professional and founder of ‘Lolbagh’, who has been doing regional comedy for one-and-a-half-years, says that choosing subjects can be quite a challenge in Kannada.

“Acceptance for a joke as a joke here is quite different. One can often not talk about politicians, actors, religion or sexual orientation. One has to be really careful around sensitive issues here; I do my routine and just talk about my work or the IT field, college days etc,” he says.

Venues are also limited for Kannada comedy, he points out. “Though we do perform at places like KH Kalasoudha, Alliance Francaise, Rangasthala and at some cafes, finding venues for the medium can be quite challenging.”

Anup adds that the market for Kannada comedy is also lesser. “We charge lesser for Kannada comedy, most of the shows go for a maximum of Rs 200-250,” he says.

Below-the-belt jokes are a strict no-no for Kannada shows, says Kartik Pattar, a hardware engineer who is also a comedian and ventriloquist.

“Clean content is a must here. Whenever I go for a show, I go with content which is more youth-centric like traffic, IT, Tinder stories etc but my material will also have enough for a crowd which is dominated by 50-year-olds. I tweak the content accordingly.”

Seema Rao, a part-time software professional cum Kannada standup comedian, who has been performing since March last year, feels that there is a stark difference between a Kannada audience to any other language.

“The age group is as wide as 15-year-olds to 70-year-olds which demands disciplined content. One has to be really careful when trying to work with adult content and cannot swear,” she says.

Seema works with women’s issues and feminism for her stage content. She adds, “Another issue I face is, English is a universal language which anyone across the world can present. I speak in Kannada with a Mangalurean accent and do not know words which are commonly used in Bengaluru.”

Sneha Suhas, a standup comedian, who also does English comedy says that writing content in Kannada can be quite challenging. “The audience is more interested but the opportunities are lesser. Kannada does create a bigger connect as it is the language families and friends speak commonly here. Writing content for a show can be quite tricky though. While one can easily slip in edgy content in English, it is not the case in Kannada,” says Sneha.

She adds that since Bengaluru’s crowd is cosmopolitan, not many venues like pubs open up to Kannada comedy.

‘Online content leads to shows onstage’

“When videos are shared online it helps to grab a lot of attention which leads to people attending the show. This helps one get desired attention. However, feedback is usually more constructive when given during a live act.”

Anup Maiya, founder of ‘Lolbagh’