Stand Up Comedian Bhargav Ramakrishnan aka Baggy lately carried out in the town at a private match. The comic who comes from a theatre background has also directed and produced rise up displays ahead of taking the plunge to turn into a humorist himself. CT spoke to the comic referring to solo displays, managing comedians, festival and extra.
Talking about getting into stand-up comedy he says, "I was always associated with theatre as an actor, director and producer since my college days. In 2011 I started producing stand up shows to just try a different art form. So, I started doing this under Evam Stand Up Tamasha to develop the culture of stand-up comedy. Since I always travelled with all these people (stand-up comedians) and helped them get their material ready, I wanted to try it. I saw a show in Mumbai and that motivated me to take stand-up comedy. I have been doing it full time since 2014."
Baggy admits that he's at all times excited to accomplish in Coimbatore, "The art itself has significantly grown in the last two years in Coimbatore. We used to come and do shows in small halls for 100-150 people before and now we have more than 500 people watching us in hall. Now, almost every month there is a show there and every time new audience come to consume the concept, especially the younger audiences in the city really enjoy the art form. They are a lovely crowd to perform to as they are always full of energy, which fuels the performer to give his/her best."
Baggy who was here lately to accomplish at a private match thinks it is extremely challenging to accomplish at a private match. "In a public ticketed show people give money and buy tickets to watch your show, so they know about you and your previous performances and they want to have fun and enjoy the show along with you. But, in a private event, the crowd gathered there may not even know that stand up show is happening and the whole concept could be alien to them, because their primary focus of the event is not you, as someone else would have invited you to perform. And, more importantly it is not an organised crowd, they will be seated in an unorganised manner and there is a lot of disturbance. So it is really difficult to put up a successful show at private events."
The comic who has been traveling with his solo special show 'Kungfu Bonda' believes that solo displays are at all times special to the comic than sharing a level with another comic. "In a solo show the content is about you experience about life and things that have happened in your life, I think you take that extra effort for a solo show to make sure audience relate to your jokes, it also doesn't mean dual shows are badly performed, but a solo show is always special for an artist."
What changes does an artist has to make while traveling abroad with the same show? "There is a huge culture difference. While you are performing in India you know the audience understand what concept you are talking about. For instance, if I am making a joke about the grilled gates which are there in most of the houses in India, people here would know about it. But, it is an alien concept to the Indians abroad, though few of them would have moved there for jobs so they might know, but others who grew up there won't know."
"You need to explain them about the concept and tell the jokes. You need to figure out ways to connect your context to their context which is possible, but you need to do the home work as an artist to figure out how it is possible. Even in India while performing in different cities there are differences, maybe there will be a 10 percent change to my concept but while taking it abroad there is a good 40 percent change," he adds.
How does he help different comedians put their subject matter in combination, "We had a very different approach to stand-up comedy, since we come from a theatre background, I used to sit and treat their stand up show as a monologue. They (SA, Karthik Kumar, Alex) perform only to me and I will take down notes make corrections and make them perform again, we used to go through a rehearsal process which is unheard of in the stand-up circuit. Because stand-up comedy is done by only one person, he/she writes the jokes and performs, it is very personal. That was different in our approach only because we didn't know any better, not because it is the right way, there is no right or wrong way to it. Even now when I watch them perform I note down what occurs to me and how more relevant it can be made to the audience, they also do the same thing for my show."
However, Baggy thinks at this point there is not any festival. "I think it is way too early to talk about competition in the Indian market. The art form is just growing and expanding, there are a lot of people who are discovering stand up because of online platforms. I think every good show that happens is not a competition but it is going to help the market grow."
He also adds announcing that stand-up comedy can be a complete time profession. "There are enough people doing stand-up comedy full time, for me to say it can be a full time profession. It's not easy, but I never think art has ever been easy to take up as profession in India, but things are changing. They need to put in some hard work and it is going to take them a few years to become successful, but it is definitely possible."
Talking about getting into stand-up comedy he says, "I was always associated with theatre as an actor, director and producer since my college days. In 2011 I started producing stand up shows to just try a different art form. So, I started doing this under Evam Stand Up Tamasha to develop the culture of stand-up comedy. Since I always travelled with all these people (stand-up comedians) and helped them get their material ready, I wanted to try it. I saw a show in Mumbai and that motivated me to take stand-up comedy. I have been doing it full time since 2014."
Baggy admits that he's at all times excited to accomplish in Coimbatore, "The art itself has significantly grown in the last two years in Coimbatore. We used to come and do shows in small halls for 100-150 people before and now we have more than 500 people watching us in hall. Now, almost every month there is a show there and every time new audience come to consume the concept, especially the younger audiences in the city really enjoy the art form. They are a lovely crowd to perform to as they are always full of energy, which fuels the performer to give his/her best."
Baggy who was here lately to accomplish at a private match thinks it is extremely challenging to accomplish at a private match. "In a public ticketed show people give money and buy tickets to watch your show, so they know about you and your previous performances and they want to have fun and enjoy the show along with you. But, in a private event, the crowd gathered there may not even know that stand up show is happening and the whole concept could be alien to them, because their primary focus of the event is not you, as someone else would have invited you to perform. And, more importantly it is not an organised crowd, they will be seated in an unorganised manner and there is a lot of disturbance. So it is really difficult to put up a successful show at private events."
The comic who has been traveling with his solo special show 'Kungfu Bonda' believes that solo displays are at all times special to the comic than sharing a level with another comic. "In a solo show the content is about you experience about life and things that have happened in your life, I think you take that extra effort for a solo show to make sure audience relate to your jokes, it also doesn't mean dual shows are badly performed, but a solo show is always special for an artist."
What changes does an artist has to make while traveling abroad with the same show? "There is a huge culture difference. While you are performing in India you know the audience understand what concept you are talking about. For instance, if I am making a joke about the grilled gates which are there in most of the houses in India, people here would know about it. But, it is an alien concept to the Indians abroad, though few of them would have moved there for jobs so they might know, but others who grew up there won't know."
"You need to explain them about the concept and tell the jokes. You need to figure out ways to connect your context to their context which is possible, but you need to do the home work as an artist to figure out how it is possible. Even in India while performing in different cities there are differences, maybe there will be a 10 percent change to my concept but while taking it abroad there is a good 40 percent change," he adds.
How does he help different comedians put their subject matter in combination, "We had a very different approach to stand-up comedy, since we come from a theatre background, I used to sit and treat their stand up show as a monologue. They (SA, Karthik Kumar, Alex) perform only to me and I will take down notes make corrections and make them perform again, we used to go through a rehearsal process which is unheard of in the stand-up circuit. Because stand-up comedy is done by only one person, he/she writes the jokes and performs, it is very personal. That was different in our approach only because we didn't know any better, not because it is the right way, there is no right or wrong way to it. Even now when I watch them perform I note down what occurs to me and how more relevant it can be made to the audience, they also do the same thing for my show."
However, Baggy thinks at this point there is not any festival. "I think it is way too early to talk about competition in the Indian market. The art form is just growing and expanding, there are a lot of people who are discovering stand up because of online platforms. I think every good show that happens is not a competition but it is going to help the market grow."
He also adds announcing that stand-up comedy can be a complete time profession. "There are enough people doing stand-up comedy full time, for me to say it can be a full time profession. It's not easy, but I never think art has ever been easy to take up as profession in India, but things are changing. They need to put in some hard work and it is going to take them a few years to become successful, but it is definitely possible."
Stand Up comedy has significantly grown in Coimbatore in the last two years
![Stand Up comedy has significantly grown in Coimbatore in the last two years]()
Reviewed by Kailash
on
January 22, 2018
Rating:
