I settled in the absurdly spaced chair at the basement of Hotel Vijay Elanza to attend the stand-up act ‘The Other Banana’. The comedians, all performing in the city for the first time, failed to evoke much laughter. I was reminded of other stand-up acts where the jokes were more in sync with the times they.
Satish Perumal, host-cum-performer, started with some old jokes on a poorly functioning mic. He made friends with a Punjabi called Tony sitting in the front, and his stint became more of a female-bashing session between the comedians and Tony. Perumal made awkward jokes on his defence background and ended with an absurd request for a round of applause for the armed forces. Shunky Chugani, who took the stage next, was so bad he had to repeatedly ask the audience if they could hear him. Most of his jokes were about his height. The show was heavy on repetition.
As if starting almost 45 minutes late was not enough, Perumal announced a short smoke break. Four members of the audience seemed amused. Suman Kumar, 43-year-old stay-at-home dad, came on after the break. It was a relief to hear some mature, politically relevant jokes that were more than juvenile takes on Punjabi men and HR ladies. But he soon tumbled into how his best friend is an impeccable liar because that’s how he covers up for his drinking sessions before his wife. Navin Kumar’s jokes seemed to be very rehearsed ones on casual stalking on Facebook and stereotyping people.
The audience guffawed at a few unhealthy and sexist remarks, albeit slightly uncomfortably. When an audience member called out a sexist remark, Perumal’s response was, “It’s just a joke!”
