How long after your break up is it okay to stalk your ex on Instagram? Is it possible to be a horrible texter and a great human being at the same time? How many emojis is too many emojis?
These are thoughts that circle the drain of any 20-something millennial’s mind, but never quite leave; stashed away to be obsessed over. So, comedian Surbhi Bagga has taken it upon herself to voice them out in her podcast, The Overthink Tank.
Its third season has been keeping people entertained through the quarantine, and features fellow comedians and content creators like Kanan Gill, Kenny Sebastian, Kusha Kapila, Mallika Dua, Karunesh Talwar and Srishti Dixit among others. Here, she discusses life’s many problems that people over-analyse, from productivity and dating, right to crying in public.
Having shot until January, she has been releasing these episodes one at a time through the last month on her podcast, as well as abridged versions on her YouTube channel and on Instagram, (@surbhi.bagga) where she has over 20,000 followers.
The podcast, which was launched in 2018 has made intermittent comebacks in 2019, and now in 2020.
“I used to have so many overthinking sessions with my friends, and what generally happens is that your mind gets caught up in it, again and again. There’s no real answer that you get out of it,” Surbhi explains. “So I thought, imagine if you have someone to overthink for you!”
She invites people on social media to send in their questions, which she then discusses with her guests. Some of these discussions have led to mid-episode epiphanies.
In ‘Boredom, stalking your exes and horoscopes feat. Kanan Gill and Urjita Wani’ she comes up with the idea of a ‘zeroth’ date.
“First dates are weird because you’re spending so much time with a complete stranger, there are so many things that can go wrong. People can be very different on text and in real life. That’s why you need a ‘zeroth’ date, like a quick coffee for half an hour, where you discuss your priorities, political beliefs, the important things, and then decide if you want that first date,” says Surbhi.
While she wouldn’t normally listen to her own podcasts, the quarantine has had her doing so. “I realised that so many things I know now, or live by, are things that have occurred to me during recording an episode.”
The evolution
Being a comedian herself — she was a finalist in the TV show Queens of Comedy — it is easier for her to recognise which of her peers would be best suited for a particular episode. But she also invites experts such as clinical psychologists and gynecologists when required.
The podcast has evolved along its three seasons to become more formal. Now shot in a studio, its first season started out in her bedroom, and was a reminder of sleepover sessions. With an overhead camera in the first episode, Surbhi and Urooj Ashfaq discussed crying in public. Another one with Srishti, ‘Girls just want to oil their hair’, has them chatting in bed with glasses of wine.
“I liked that angle! But everybody looked at it weirdly. They see two girls lying down on a bed and their mind goes straight to the gutter. This is something I overthought about so much, and finally decided to shoot videos while sitting upright,” she says. Now she plans on introducing another segment called Underthink. “Guests will have to give quick answers to questions like “What do you do with a gift that was given to you by your (now) ex?”
Because overthinking is a very lonely business, she believes. “It is nice to know that you’re not the only one thinking about all these things.”
