“Stand-up comedy has the potential to influence people,” says Angad Singh Ranyal, who is in town tonight with his new show Kaafi Filmy . “Comedians are generally very socially aware and if that message is mixed with jokes, it tends to stay in the audience’s mind for longer,” he adds.
Family and friends
In his own mind, however, this was not the top career choice when he went after an MBA in Mumbai, de rigueur engineering degree already in hand. But fate decided to introduce him to stand-up comedy and, soon, he was hooked. “Quitting my job and moving into comedy was a well-planned decision,” says Ranyal, who cleared his massive post-MBA student loan before announcing the career shift to his family. After four — startled — months to get their heads round the idea, they are now enormously supportive.
He shares, amusedly, that even for poorly-received shows, his family finds a way to blame everything other than his performance. “Once they said, the auditorium has bad food, so… how can people enjoy good jokes after eating bad food?”
Another force that shaped him is East India Comedy. As an intern, the opportunity was crucial in polishing his writing skills. Now, he does web series, sketches and shows with them.
Local influences
Ranyal is no stranger to Chennai, having performed here twice before. But audiences at tonight’s show will no doubt find plenty of new giggles. “Being a movie buff, I will talk a lot about today’s movie watching-experience,” which will segue into “my first fight in school, how it’s difficult to make new friends at 30, and why I hate long drives. I do a lot more of story-telling today; it’s great fun to take the audience down your memory lane”.
If you thought telling jokes was easy business, think again: it requires time and plenty of practice. With the current tour, which began in March, Ranyal feels he hits new levels with every performance and that his performance-readiness is now at 90%. “The more you perform, the better your writing gets. When I look at some of my old jokes, I cringe.”
He prophecies this will be the case again, when he looks back at his current jokes three years hence. “And if that doesn’t happen, it means I haven’t grown as a writer!”
Religion is a topic he keeps away from and he tends not to add too much “local” flavour in his pan-India tours. “I’m from Delhi but still haven’t added any Delhi references when I perform there. Of course, my manager thinks this is an excuse, and I’m just lazy!”
In reality, laziness is not an option, given that Ranyal does some 150 shows a year. How does he find the focus to go on? “Once you start making people laugh, you just can’t stop till people stop laughing!”
Evam presents Kaafi Filmy by Angad Singh Ranyal, at Bay 146, Hotel Savera, tonight from 6 pm onwards. Tickets at ₹500 on in.bookmyshow.com
