It is a situation which is an integral part of an Indian family when a young member tries to be smart and offers a suggestion, elders ask him/her to be ‘chup!’ “I have faced this because I am the youngest in my family,” points out Jaspreet Singh, who is set to explore this fundamental aspect through jokes and one-liners in his stand-up show ‘ Tu Toh Chup Hi Reh .’ To be staged this Friday in the city, the title is part of a story and the show will be interspersed with lot of references.
First visit
There is a mix of excitement and anxiety as Jaspreet shares his feelings. “I am mostly nervous as I am performing in Hyderabad for the first time.” A native of Amritsar, Jaspreet has been working in Gurugram for seven years now. When his friend introduced him to the art of stand-up comedy, he felt at ease, “My first reaction was that I have been doing it all the time. Standing in front of an audience and telling a joke as though you are talking to them felt so natural. The only difference is that with stand-up comedy I had to hold a mic.”
Observational comedy
Ever since he began stand-up two-and-half-years-ago, it has been a way forward as most of his comedy is an observational one. “I have a strong memory in terms of observation, but not in studies though,” he shares adding, “When it is about observing life, I have a better view, I talk about life, whatever I think has happened to me or might have happened to me.”
Humour without malice
His roots also play a role as he is inspired from the Punjabi sense of humour. But is it not a stereotype to say that Punjabis have a good sense of humour? “It is stereotype but stereotypes are based on patterns,” he retorts. “I am from Amritsar which historically has a great connect with humour even from pre-Partition days. The basic difference in our kind of world is that we are fairly open people and don’t think much before saying something. When you don’t have that fear and speak things which comes to mind without any malice, a lot of them are funny. ”
Although Jaspreet has a day job and does shows during weekends, he is upbeat about doing comedy full time. “Nothing is planned but being an engineer I can take up anything,” he says with confidence and feels engineers are moulded in such a way in their institutions. “I honestly feel that engineering and MBA colleges have a different kind of set-up which brings out the hidden talent. The students are trained to be jack of all and master of none. We have so many subjects that we can just do any job.”
Jaspreet plays an ode to ‘shudh desi’ humour as majority of his one-liners and jokes are in Hindi. “I am rooted and native and want to keep it as real as possible. I want to talk the way I am in real life. When you tell a lie, keeping track of what you told is tough.”
