When comedians travel: on Amazon Prime’s latest series, 'Jestination Unknown'

Vir Das and his troupe’s recent comedy travels across India as they figure out what each city finds funny

Comedian Vir Das is back on screen, but not with a routine stand-up act. This time, it is a decidedly whimsical, high octane canvas pitched as a ‘travel comedy’. The six-episode series (released on October 18), titled Jestination Unknown , follows him and his troupe — Ashwin Mushran, Shruti Seth and comics Anu Menon and Amit Tandon, among others — across India as they figure out what each city finds funny. The idea for the show (in the works for about 2.5 years) came from Das’ experiences during tours; from his notes as he travelled from the airport to the hotel and observed each city. “What if you actually took the time to experience those things? Would that make your jokes any better?” he says.

Mixed bag

With the new show, Das travels to unusual destinations, mining hyper-local comic traditions and spaces. “We tried to find a basic theme around each city. Lucknow is (kind of) where Indian stand-up began, with Urdu

shayari , our original form of satire. Jodhpur is where court jesters performed for royalty. Ladakh is where some of the toughest elements are,” he explains, adding that Patiala, Kumarakom and Mysore are other cities that feature in the series. But did he find that the nature of comedy differed widely from region to region? “Nuances do change, as some people have a drier sense of humour and some broader, but the show focuses on local jokes.”

The episodes are unplanned and unscripted, he attests, and include sketches, improvisations, a show in each city (which the team markets to the locals), and a bit of stand-up comedy. The show’s format — part comedy, part docu, part travel — was exciting and also challenging, he says, adding how it often meant shooting at five locations a day and thinking of sketches on the spot. “It would be like: we are going to Mehrangarh Fort tomorrow. Can we shoot a sketch about the first time the British landed there? So we call costume guys in Jodhpur that morning for British army uniforms, try to find 10 extras and shoot that stuff on the fly. It is the nature of an unscripted show. A lot of it works but also, because it is last-minute writing, a lot of it doesn’t. I feel like the failure is as watchable as the success of it,” says Das.

On the road

His biggest takeaway? “I got to see India with friends I love. I got to do strange things: I rode a camel, I rode a bike at 18,000 feet...,” he says, adding how of all the destinations, he found that Ladakh — which features in the series finale — surprised him the most. “You will know why when you watch the show,” he says. Next month, Das is off on a fresh tour across 35 countries to perform a brand new stand-up special titled Love . “It is me asking myself if I am good at love by questioning every type of love that I feel. It is a deeply personal show.”

Jestination Unknown is now streaming onAmazon Prime