On Stand-Up Comedy

         It's not easy to make people laugh.Infact,it's one of the most difficult things to do in life.To be very frank,I love making people laugh.It not only makes you 'feel good',but also makes you 'feel important and worthy'!.As they say, staying 'happy' is the secret mantra to a healthy and 'eventful' life.Stand-Up Comedy is an art which is different from any other.First of all,it is something which calls for a great deal of common sense,presence-of-mind,courage and ofcourse, passion! Unlike a televised skit or a short film,it is something which elicits an instant response from the audience.They will clap for your 'really nice jokes' and at the same time will boo their lungs out for the PJ s you crack on stage!

           Our Country has a great tradition in stand up comedy.Many of our ancient temple art forms like 'Chakyar Koothu' and 'Ottam Thullal' can be considered as the predecessors to the present day stand up comedy shows.Social Commentary in a satirical tone was 'Chakyar Koothu' all about.The medium was so powerful that it inturn lead to the origin of a similar art form-'Ottam Thullal'(that legend can be read here).From those days of heavily sanskritized 'comedy shows',our country has certainly come a long way.We have no dearth of talented comedians now.From Papa CJ,Raju Shrivastava,Vir Das to the guys at TVF,AIB and Viral Fever,the Stand-Up Comedy arena is booming now.The internet and social media has played a crucial role in popularising this art form in our country in this digital age.Who can forget that infamous 'AIB' video which went 'viral' on youtube a couple of months back.Had it been a few decades back,would it have got this much viewership? Probably not! It should also not be forgotten that websites like liveinstyle with their consistent coverage on Stand-Up Comedyshows and Comedians have not only played a pivotal part in making more and more people aware of this great form but have also encouraged a large number of highly talented people to take this up as a profession.They have infact hosted/hyper-linked a couple of good videos in their website,thereby promoting the intelligent brains behind these funny videos.(For those of you,who are more into partying and related stuff,the site offers something too.Buying tickets for a really good Stand- Up Comedy show and spending the rest of the night partying is my idea of an ideal weekend.What say,you? 

-nikhimenon