It is half past eight and people are just beginning to trickle into Bay 146 at The Savera Hotel. Half an hour later, the place is packed with people holding a drink in their hand and expectantly waiting for the evening’s entertainment to begin.
Suraj Sethu, Ashwinth Kumar (who goes by the stage name ‘Prince’), Aamer Peeran and Deepu Dilipan have banded together as Burma Bazaar Conspiracy, a new stand up comedy act in the city. Their first performance on Thursday had the audience laughing out loud, giggling and snorting, with one particular girl crackling so loudly that everyone was convinced she was paid to do it.
Suraj took the stage first, called Chennai a welcoming city and went on to talk about a wide spectrum of topics ranging from squeezing mosambi s to getting the munchies. For anyone who didn’t bother to hunt him down in between the show and engage him in conversation, it would be news that he is a rookie comedian who has been making people laugh for professional purposes for a much shorter time in comparison to the rest of the gang. With a straight face, he told the audience about how a wife’s gift is just a polite term for dowry and had people in splits.
Suraj proved to be a great opening act and made way for Deepu, the self-proclaimed loner from Chennai. His jokes proved relatable as he talked about being South Indian , but his anecdotes about watching Ragini MMS didn’t work for everyone and a lot of his jokes didn’t strike a chord with the audience. “I really don’t think it was that funny,” he said timidly to a girl crackling hysterically at a joke that fell flat and immediately came off as a very likeable guy that people wanted to hear more from.
Deepu had the audience in splits when he said he is a lot like Rahul Gandhi when he is on a date with a girl because he ‘avoids making eye contact and repeatedly talks about women’s empowerment’. On that note, Ash Prince came on stage and insisted that Deepu pick up one of the ladies from the audience. Deepu won over the heart of the girl who volunteered and also had the audience cracking up as he looked into a girl’s eyes and said that ‘looking into her eyes is like being in Mogappair – it is so easy to get lost’.
Each comedian took to the stage after a 10-minute break, giving the audience time to refill their food and drink, walk around, socialise and make merry. With the audience crackling loudly, the comedians also got the attention of the people comfortably seated in the far corner of the lounge. By the second half of the show, a lot more people were crowding around the stage as Aamer took over.
Aamer got on stage with the cool confidence of someone who has been doing this for a long time and has done it many times; but he seemed to amuse himself more than he amused his audience throughout his act. He definitely looked funny as he stood on stage cracking himself up, but the audience were quite relieved when Deepu took over to introduce Prince as the Broadway comic.
Prince got on stage and threw around a lot of western references and accents, and had the audience laughing hysterically when he informed them that people often tell him, “I don’t actually get your jokes, but your accent is so funny.” Every time a joke didn’t work, he managed to save it with charisma and whenever he said ‘I’m hilarious’ the audience cracked up simply for the way he said it. He elicited applause and he deserved it, for he seemed effortlessly funny.
To finish up, Aamer got on stage to drop a beat and Ash did a bit of freestyle, which came off as a little offensive and not all too amusing. The audience seemed very receptive though and decidedly entertained as the boys wrapped up to a loud round of applause. It was an entertaining evening indeed and everyone who was lounging in Bay 146 was quite amused by eclectic styles of comedy of the Burma Bazaar Conspiracy.
