Stand-up comedian Karunesh Talwar is the same, on stage or off. He will not speak in different voices, make funny faces or prance around to evoke comedy. Instead, his funny acts are laced with smart words; his comedy focuses on the written script. “There are people (comedians) who do that kind of comedy and it works well for them; it’s just not my way. My belief is that I want to get laughs on the basis of the written word. When I am on stage, I like to stand at one place and talk. The idea is to make it look less like a performance, if possible. The audience should feel the host is talking to them,” he points out.
Karunesh feels this informal method is also a great way of introducing himself to the crowd. This Saturday, he gets ready to acquaint himself with Hyderabadis with his show ‘Paka Na Mat Mote’. He is quick to clarify that the title refers to him and the show is not about fat people. “I personally do not make jokes about fat people. I don’t like doing that about myself. The title means, ‘Stop irritating me’ and it is obviously from the audience’s point of view. My friend made an epic poster for the show and I wanted to give a dumb name so that it gets balanced,” he states.
How it started
He participated in an open mic contest for Vir Das which opened the doors of comedy for him. He has been in the field for five years now and has also written sketches for AIB Roast. “I quit that to focus on freelance work and on my kind of comedy. It was pretty good to have those people around because it gives you a good sense of what you want to do and don’t want to do,” he observes and considers himself fortunate to make a living out of humour. “I liked stand-up comedy since childhood. I never expected that I could make a living out of it,” he smiles.
Of late, we have seen comedians being pulled up for ‘obscene’ content (AIB Roast) and also arrested (Kiku Sharda of Comedy Nights With Kapil), Karunesh feels the audience is not at fault. “Jimmy Carr once said that, “If you come for a stand-up comedy show, you can’t really complain about what you feel and can’t make noise about that because it doesn’t matter outside the room.’ There are controversial opinions and if you don’t agree with me, that is fine, because it is my show. I feel the Indian audience is cool. It is only the laws which are vague and do not protect us. If we have a show of 300 people, all it takes is one person to file a complaint saying ‘you hurt my sentiments.’ Whether I did that or not is another thing, but there will be an enquiry on me and an FIR against me.”
Karunesh jokes of how stand-up comedians make money which encourages even new entrants to launch a YouTube channel. “Unfortunately, there is good money here. In United States and UK, there are actual geniuses, people who have been working for 20 years and are not getting the kind of privileges we are getting right now. I am just a five-year-old in the industry and have a solo show,” he explains and adds, “The big mistake that comedians make is that without developing any kind of act, even one-year-olds upload their stuff on YouTube to get popularity. That is so short-sighted and stupid.” He wants to get better before thinking of a YouTube channel. “My aim is to slowly make Paka Na Mat Mote a two-hour-plus show. You have to hold the audience’s attention and have to write out of your skull, so that it feels funny for them.”
( ‘Paka Na Mat Mote’ is being organised by Funny Side Up on April 2 at Mocha Café; Tickets on bookmyshow.com)
The audience should feel the host is talking to them.
