“When I started the Besant Nagar Humour Club in 2001, I placed an advertisement in a leading newspaper, announcing the launch and inviting members. The event turned out to be a damp squib — as it was Dussehra season, and nobody really took note of the announcement. So, I coaxed a few friends into attending the first meeting at Indira Nagar Women’s Association.
There were 10 people — a good number. All of them stayed through the meeting — not bad. Truth be told, it was raining heavily outside, which deterred them from leaving the venue mid-way. Since then, the number has been steadily increasing and the meetings are well-attended, with some help from the rain god,” says A. Kumar, the Club’s founder. There are meetings that have registered an attendance of over 300 people. On an average, 70 to 90 people attend every meeting. “I am tempted to say that the quality of humour alone has led to increased membership and attendance, but that would be a blatant untruth. We have been charging a nominal membership fee, and that’s a major reason too.
Recently, we increased our annual fee from ₹100 to ₹300 and we are hoping the three-fold hike does not have a negative impact on membership figures,” laughs Kumar, who used to write jokes for Tamil publications.
“We still pray to the rain god for a heavy downpour to make members stay back. Though rain has been our ally, it has on odd occasions led to a meeting getting cancelled,” says Kumar. Over the last 16 years of its existence, the Club has drawn many celebrity humorists, including Crazy Mohan, S.Ve. Sekhar, Tenkatchi Swaminathan, Kathadi Ramamurthy, Solomon Pappaiah and Pattimandram Raja, Venkat Prabhu and Bosskey to its meetings. The Club also rolls out the red carpet to non-members.
“We do not stop any person from attending the meeting, even if they are a non-member as we like to see a packed hall,” says Kumar.
The Club meets on the first Sunday of every month at the Reserve Bank of India Quarters in Besant Nagar. Contact: 9444755430.
