A conversation with stand-up artiste Anu Menon is as good as attending one of her shows. Even when she’s talking about something serious, she has you giggling. As we talk, the conversation jumps around till I am no longer sure where we started.
Anu, who is bringing Wonder Menon to Coimbatore, says she’s looking forward to being in the city. “I performed here three or four years ago and was pleasantly surprised that the Coimbatore audience has a sizeable section of older people who appreciate comedy. In most cities, stand-up is assumed to be for a younger audience.”
And she takes off on another track. “In corporate shows, younger folks organise and choose the acts. And we get directions like ‘don’t talk about sex’ or ‘don't use bad language’. They’re scared that their bosses will be offended. But I’m thinking that the bosses have done and seen more than these guys ever will. Youngsters don’t need to get offended on older people’s behalf.”
Speaking of being offended, I wonder if that affects how she selects her content. “Being offended is now the national past time,” she laughs. While she’s not what she calls “a political comedian”, she finds that gender definitely plays a role. “If a male comedian says something about his child or partner or spouse, it’s cute. But if I do the same, people look at my husband as if he deserves a prize for putting up with me. And my son... people are like ‘how can you, being a mother?’ If I am raising my son in this material world and paying for his material needs, why can’t I use him as material? He’s just five, he’s not going to know any better.”
Another time, when she released a fun video on how brides are expected to “call their in laws mummy and papa overnight”, the reactions were extreme. “A lot was from women. ‘You have terrible upbringing’, ‘Your son’s wife will do the same to you’... Arre, my mother-in-law was fine with it.”
Almost as a natural corollary, she moves to how social media facilitates this. “I wonder if people are naturally filled with so much bile or if the anonymity of social media offers you this large platform where you can sit in front of your computer in Bhatinda and say what you want.” Does she respond to such statements? “I prefer not to. I did think about it but if you engage it becomes much larger.”
Also, she says rather plaintively, comedy is not meant to change the world. “Sometimes you just want to joke. Everything doesn’t have to have a deeper meaning.”
Living down Lola Kutty has been hard
Living down Lola Kutty
When she began her stand-up routine, it would go one of two ways. “Some were very happy I was nothing like Lola and the other half were very upset that I was nothing like her.” For the latter, it was a let down. As one message put it, “I am so disappointed because I used to love Lola and you suddenly emerged as this smart, articulate, dress-wearing, well-spoken person with short curly hair. You just messed up my entire childhood.” In Bengaluru, some people came to her and said that while they loved her show, they preferred Lola. “I still don't know whether that was a compliment or an insult or both,” she giggles. It was a Twitter follower who put things in perspective: it’s like Bruce Wayne and Batman, he said.
Pet peeve
“Women-centric humour. I don’t know what that even means. Humour is humour. I shouldn’t have to go through an experience to find it funny. Because funny is funny. People are always afraid that women are going to talk about skinny jeans and vaginas. But every female comedian has a separate voice. Aditi Mittal’s set on sanitary napkins is outstanding but I would have been fundamentally incapable of writing a set like that. May be because there are fewer female comedians, they tend to put everyone in one basket. At comedy fests, we usually have a token ‘funny woman’. We don’t need that tokenism. Women can be part of the mainstream line up as opposed to ‘all oestrogen belongs in Corner A’.”
Wonder Menon
The show that takes off from her own life. “I’m more of a story-based comedian,” she says. So she riffs on marriage (“I’m a Malayali married to a Gujarati and we’ve completed 10 years. He’s lost his hair and I’ve lost my sanity”), motherhood (“I have a five-year-old son and getting him admission in the school is like a Mexican getting into the White House”), her travels, and the pressures faced by women.
Some are self-inflicted (“everyone wants to be best mother and wife, throw the best party...”); some come from other people. “I keep hearing about paving the way for other women. I have enough trouble raising a five year old who won’t stop talking. I can’t shut him up, how am I going to pave the way for other women?”
Wonder Menon is presented by Evam and is a special stand-up show of one hour and 10 minutes and open to anyone over 21 years.
On September 15 at 7.00 pm at Hotel Kiscol Grands, 245 A, Dr Rajendra Prasad Road, Tatabad. Tickets of ₹400 onwards are available on Book My Show http://bit.ly/estwondermenon
