The show was supposed to start at 8 p.m. It’s 9.20 when I walk into a restaurant at the Chariot Hotel to meet the comedians who are yet to take the stage for the evening. Harith Iskander, the star act, sits there looking sober, betraying no sign that he is known as the ‘Godfather of Malaysian stand-up comedy’. Papa CJ sits across, with his notes strewn around the table, preparing his opening act.
I dissolve into giggles even as Harith announces that he’s the most boring person I’ll ever meet. He doesn’t mean for this to be funny, so he tells me I don’t need to laugh. He insists it to be true and illustrates, “After my first date with my wife, she declared that it was the worst, most boring date she’d ever been on. I think she came back because she was determined to find out why I was so boring,”
I could believe this because Harith Iskander looks like a serious guy. Comedy, though, is serious business and Harith says he has the best job in the world. “I could wake up in the morning and go sit in a cafe, every thought that comes to me after that can be used as creative content,” explains Harith. Papa CJ immediately pipes in, “You see how he says he wakes up in the morning? That shows he’s a serious guy. Most comedians only wake up in the afternoon.”
For Harith Iskander, it all started in 1991 when a friend asked him to get on stage and tell his funny stories. Once he did that, strangers began to ask the same thing of him. “At that time, there was no stand up comedy in Malaysia. I was performing to an audience who predominantly didn’t know what I was doing, because they’d never experienced it.” 23 years later, he’s in India, listening to Papa CJ tell me he’s a rockstar.
In the meantime, people are steadily streaming into Elevate Lounge and Bar, waiting for these two men to take the stage. The alcohol has started to flow; the audience have prepped themselves for an evening of laughter, making the job easier for the comics.
By 10 p.m., Papa CJ takes the mic and for the next three hours, the lounge is filled with ringing laughter. Papa CJ makes a few jokes at himself and many more at everyone else in the room, and checks about the censorship requirements before he gets down and dirty with his comedy. “I was holding myself back because I’m just here to set the stage for Harith. You’ll see the difference when he gets on stage,” Papa CJ tells me during the break before Harith takes over.
Harith gives an intense performance right from the time he picks up the mic. Since it’s his first time in Chennai, he makes observations about the traffic and the melodramatic nature of Kollywood films.
His jokes are relatable and the laughter he earns is often accompanied by applause. He never lets the energy drop, which means the audience never stop laughing.
The show begins to feel like it’s dragging as 1 am draws closer, but everyone in the lounge is still in high spirits. I suspect most people haven’t taken their eyes off the stage long enough to check their watches or they’re just too busy having fun to care.
It was a fantastic evening at Elevate and a great way for the bar to celebrate its one- year anniversary.
