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Step Aside, Bollywood

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Most of the Hindi movies these days are below average. Ofcourse there were quite a few good ones in between, but that happens very rarely. For a person like me who hates to stay at home during weekends, movies are the first place I go to for entertainment. But what happens when there is no good movie playing? I tried to shop, spent a lot of money but did not feel good enough. Went out drinking with my friends exploring the nightlife of the city, had a wonderful time and yet something was missing. You see there is no activity where you can put up your legs, munch on some popcorn and just unwind unless you are at the movies. So when no good movie was playing in town I decided to watch them at home itself. My husband and I make a large bowl of popcorn, pour in some Merlot and park ourselves on the couch and watch a few good old movies.

The first time I heard about Stand Up Comedy was when a friend of mine shared a video of Russel Peters. I found it hilarious. I ended up watching quite a few videos of his on youtube. Jerry Seinfeld was the only stand up comedian heard of until now. This guy was something else. Soon, my husband and I started getting interested in it. Both of us are sarcastic people with a good sense of humor, so it only made sense that we enjoyed stand up comedy too. Stand up comedy in India was almost an unheard of topic until a few years ago. Stand up comedy back then was limited to shows like 'Movers &Shakers' and 'Comedy Circus'. But now, thankfully things have changed. So when we heard of EVAM playing in Bangalore, we decided to go watch it. And I am so glad that we did. Those guys were super hilarious and we ended up laughing our lungs out. A few weeks later we went to catch the 'Stand Up Tamasha' which featured a list of comedians including the sole lady of AIB, Aditi Mittal.

From then on, there has been no looking back for us. Even if there is a good movie playing, we prefer watching a Stand Up Comedy show now. The duration is short, you are sure to be entertained and you get you hear a lot of new jokes and innuendos that you can use later. What is there not to like? The only problem with Stand Up Comedy is that these shows are not publicised enough. We have to scour through new papers to find out places where a few of these shows happen. Or we have to visit places and just happen to see what is happening there. These shows hardly make their way to the important parts of the news paper too. Why is that? Are we still a country which is obsessed with Bollywood and cricket? Are we still a country that takes like forever to embrace something new? Sadly, the answer is yes.

Thankfully sites like LiveInStyle are around to help the ignorant understand about Stand Up Comedy. For those who think that comedy is easy and is as silly as those seen in movies you cannot be more wrong. Like they say, it is easy to make a person cry but very hard to make someone laugh. Stand Up Comedy happens in front of a live audience who can throw rotten tomatoes or shoes at you if they do not like your jokes. It takes a lot of guts to come up and face an audience, let alone make them laugh. And the guys who are ruling the Stand Up Comedy scene now are brilliant. Naveen Richards, Sourabh Pant, S Aravind, Biswa Rath, Aditi Mittal and many more - these people are amazing! Every joke is different from the other and more often than not you can completely relate to the situation. We needs more sites like this to showcase such brilliant talent. They need to be promoted more and stand out on their own instead of getting lost in the colorful bubbles of make believe cinema.


Comments

  1. I love watching comedians, but then I love to laugh. The two kind of go hand in hand.

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  2. I love Stand Up comedy too! I am loving how it is slowly becoming a rage in Bangalore. :)

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  3. I love stand up comedy.. just recently seen a Indian guy it was funny .. But the british stand up comedians are hilarious .. try Michale Mcyntyre he is the best ..


    Bikram's

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    1. Indians are still just coming up. One day they will get there I'm sure.

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  4. Comedy is really tough... I love watching Russel Peters videos... sometimes on repeat. Never got a chance to watch a live one. Frankly I prefer it more than movies :)

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  5. Hey I never thought of that. I've never watched a live comedy show. Must do it sometime.

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