A joke for everything

Humour Society did its job well by inviting stand up comedian Abish Mathew to spread some cheer

There is a story behind Abish Mathew’s name. His two elder brothers were named Aneesh and Bineesh. So, when the third child was born, his parents combined the first letters from each of the brother’s name and called him Abish! “Does this name mean anything? I have to live with it for my entire life!” he complained . This was Abish’s opening line at the comedy show organised by the Humour Society. His audience were delighted at his politically incorrect and morally inappropriate humour, as he kept them laughing at the Legend Hall, The Residency. Be it the Malayali or the Punjabi, no one was spared.

He had the audience in the palm of his hand when he switched over to IPL matches. “All of you must have seen how the channels play some scenes in slow motion, right?” And he enacted Virat Kohli making faces, M.S. Dhoni dozing off while fielding and Virender Sehwag running with his wobbly paunch. His mimicking of each player, in slow motion, was hilarious.

Every one from priests who heard confessions and men who flout traffic rules, to women who treat their dogs like their offsprings or spouse, every one was a butt of his jokes.

He appreciated women for their multitasking abilities, and earned himself brownie points from the ladies in the audience. But not for long as he then spoke of their driving ability and how when they finally run over a pedestrian, they blame the poor soul for being careless! The sniggers from the men were cut short as he added, “But men are better drivers because they pay attention to only two things — the vehicle in front and the pretty lady in it.”

The silent Manmohan Singh, Mayavati with her obsession of statues and the stiffly starched saris worn by former President of India Pratibha Patel found mention. He rounded up the evening with a song he wrote called, “Men are from Mars and women are from Venus”.

Abish, who was a radio jockey before he became a stand-up comedian, says how he has always loved stage. “Right from my college, I was always MC-ing fun events! Then I joined a rock band and realised that I could not be funny while performing rock music. So I shifted to stand-up comedy.” He says stand-up comedy is not easy as some time people just refuse to laugh. “We have a few sets of jokes to begin with. If there is no response for one, you move over to the next. You need to gauge your audience’s taste and improvise accordingly.”