The First Heckle
The Comedy Store was started sometime in the late 70s atop a strip club in SOHO, London, I suppose inspired by the comedy theatres of USA. This company has a franchise in India also operating out of a posh mall in Parel, Mumbai.
The outfit claims to be a temple for stand up comedians and it is said that there is no stand up comedian worth his salt who has at some point of time not performed at the Comedy Store.
So I was there, casually dressed, actually ill-dressed, in a white T Shirt hidden beneath a dark blue cotton sweat shirt. The crowd that I saw was defying the stereotype of theatre goers that I had in mind as I would usually see at the Prithvi theatres. The kurta, jeans and sachel was completely missing, and the neo rich, most pretentious Hinglish speaking anglophile crowd populated the waiting lounge cum bar. The men were in skin tight shiny shirts and the women were of course in short skirts. There was enough flesh to ogle at while groups transacted flirtatiously over drinks in the bar. Presumably, more money is made in the bar than the show.
The show anchor was himself a stand up comedian. There were three more in the line for the performance including one Indian.
Stand up comedy too like most arts has been evolving. It started as a racist and regionalist wet and wild humor. But eventually this genre with overt racist content was considered to be in poor taste and passed into desuetude in due course. Today, the standard of stand up in many cases degenerated into ill appointed sexual innuendoes. Although I agree, it is healthy to laugh, and it is even more healthy to laugh on your ownself. But standards or yardsticks have to be uniform. If comedians constantly make fun of your country, religion and culture and not theirs it is really laughing at others and not at themselves.
But the show which began as a satire on Indians and all that was Indian, and all that India stood for, soon degenerated into sexual innuendoes and eventually pornography. We did witness a detailed depiction of a priapic lover fornicating and then masterbating as his woman was turned off by the air mattress they had at their home. Pathetic humor. Actually no humor. And even more pathetic content. But what was noteworthy was the fact that the audience laughed their intestines out even at such a crass depiction that was clearly and overly offensive for even boorish sensibilities. What was most disappointing was the females seemed to be enjoying the filth much more than their male companions. May be brazenness is yardstick for emancipation.
Also, nobody seemed to be uncomfortable about the fun that was being made of the country, its culture and history, and of course of Indians in India and also the diaspora.
The audience just laughed. When I objected with vehemence to one of the extremely pejorative remark of a comedian about the country which I believed was completely uncalled for, he thought it was a typical heckle and tried to target his buffoonery at me.
Comedian : what do you do sir
Heckler ( me ) : I work for a pharma company
C : what do you do in the company, sweep the floor
H : yes housekeeping is also one of the functions reporting to me
C : you look very elite, you must be a brain surgeon
H : you bet
Man fm the audience : ( who was like me disgusted by these comedians) he can repair your penis that you wife crushed with a brick ( as this was one of the acts that the joker had done )
From the audience which would have been about 300 strong, I think there was just one more man both literally and proverbially who reacted to the stupid comedy. One stand up comedian even referred to the Tata acquisition of JLR as reverse racism. Just look at the mind set.
Of course, the ultmate insult that I could have hurled at the performers was to stage a walk out. I don’t think an artist could find anything more dejecting and disparaging than being booed or walked out upon from his performance. That is exactly what I did.
The question that I would pose is this. Can Indian stand up comedians travel to UK and reverse the humor on the British audience? Would the British audience be able to stomach such humor on themselves? In what capacity was the audience laughing then.
But one thing I am clear about. Xenophobia not withstanding, Indians will have to bring in some sense of self - worth, pride and propriety about their culture, country and history. Material progress without them would be futile.
The Comedy Store was started sometime in the late 70s atop a strip club in SOHO, London, I suppose inspired by the comedy theatres of USA. This company has a franchise in India also operating out of a posh mall in Parel, Mumbai.
The outfit claims to be a temple for stand up comedians and it is said that there is no stand up comedian worth his salt who has at some point of time not performed at the Comedy Store.
So I was there, casually dressed, actually ill-dressed, in a white T Shirt hidden beneath a dark blue cotton sweat shirt. The crowd that I saw was defying the stereotype of theatre goers that I had in mind as I would usually see at the Prithvi theatres. The kurta, jeans and sachel was completely missing, and the neo rich, most pretentious Hinglish speaking anglophile crowd populated the waiting lounge cum bar. The men were in skin tight shiny shirts and the women were of course in short skirts. There was enough flesh to ogle at while groups transacted flirtatiously over drinks in the bar. Presumably, more money is made in the bar than the show.
The show anchor was himself a stand up comedian. There were three more in the line for the performance including one Indian.
Stand up comedy too like most arts has been evolving. It started as a racist and regionalist wet and wild humor. But eventually this genre with overt racist content was considered to be in poor taste and passed into desuetude in due course. Today, the standard of stand up in many cases degenerated into ill appointed sexual innuendoes. Although I agree, it is healthy to laugh, and it is even more healthy to laugh on your ownself. But standards or yardsticks have to be uniform. If comedians constantly make fun of your country, religion and culture and not theirs it is really laughing at others and not at themselves.
But the show which began as a satire on Indians and all that was Indian, and all that India stood for, soon degenerated into sexual innuendoes and eventually pornography. We did witness a detailed depiction of a priapic lover fornicating and then masterbating as his woman was turned off by the air mattress they had at their home. Pathetic humor. Actually no humor. And even more pathetic content. But what was noteworthy was the fact that the audience laughed their intestines out even at such a crass depiction that was clearly and overly offensive for even boorish sensibilities. What was most disappointing was the females seemed to be enjoying the filth much more than their male companions. May be brazenness is yardstick for emancipation.
Also, nobody seemed to be uncomfortable about the fun that was being made of the country, its culture and history, and of course of Indians in India and also the diaspora.
The audience just laughed. When I objected with vehemence to one of the extremely pejorative remark of a comedian about the country which I believed was completely uncalled for, he thought it was a typical heckle and tried to target his buffoonery at me.
Comedian : what do you do sir
Heckler ( me ) : I work for a pharma company
C : what do you do in the company, sweep the floor
H : yes housekeeping is also one of the functions reporting to me
C : you look very elite, you must be a brain surgeon
H : you bet
Man fm the audience : ( who was like me disgusted by these comedians) he can repair your penis that you wife crushed with a brick ( as this was one of the acts that the joker had done )
From the audience which would have been about 300 strong, I think there was just one more man both literally and proverbially who reacted to the stupid comedy. One stand up comedian even referred to the Tata acquisition of JLR as reverse racism. Just look at the mind set.
Of course, the ultmate insult that I could have hurled at the performers was to stage a walk out. I don’t think an artist could find anything more dejecting and disparaging than being booed or walked out upon from his performance. That is exactly what I did.
The question that I would pose is this. Can Indian stand up comedians travel to UK and reverse the humor on the British audience? Would the British audience be able to stomach such humor on themselves? In what capacity was the audience laughing then.
But one thing I am clear about. Xenophobia not withstanding, Indians will have to bring in some sense of self - worth, pride and propriety about their culture, country and history. Material progress without them would be futile.
No comments:
Post a Comment