If you can’t take it, don’t come to the show

Karunesh Talwar, a 23-year old college dropout, is making a name for himself in the stand-up comedy scene. Though he receives flak from a few people for his stand-ups, he is not deterred

While most of us, though against the taboos in our society, are afraid to voice out in public, there is someone who has taken his voice straight and sharp to the masses. Karunesh Talwar is a stand-up comedian from Mumbai who picks political content which is highly opinion driven and molds it to communicate to the audience and make them fall of their chairs. To give Hyderabadis a bite of his humour, Karunesh will be performing in the city today at Trip Tease, Vivanta, from 8 pm.

Revealing what makes up most of his content, Karunesh laughs away saying that he likes ranting about what makes him angry -- be it social taboos in the society or policies of the government. The 23-year old college dropout says that he was too lazy to complete the last year of graduation. Having worked as a writer for All India Backchod (AIB) recently and Vir Das’ Weirdass Comedy, Karunesh has dipped his hands on social taboos in the society. What better a subject could he have picked?

Perhaps, what makes him a good stand-up comedian is the courage with which he speaks. He doesn’t hesitate in voicing his robust assessments on religion, homophobia and other social taboos among the packed audiences. On being asked if he faced any controversies for the very sensitive domain of his stand-up material, the comedian says, “There will always be a few people in the audience who will mock and shout at you. I have a statement for them, ‘If you can’t take it, don’t come to the show’. And all these people just shout. They don’t harm you and fearing such people doesn’t serve the purpose of a stand-up. I’m doing my job and I know it better.”

Taking about stand-up comedy serving as a medium for communication, Karunesh says that stand-up is a very efficient tool of communicating to people. It not only serves the purpose of entertainment but at the same time also helps in making it possible to communicate to people about issues ‘not-so-talked’ about.

Karunesh was interested in stand-up since he was 9 when he attended a Bill Cosby Show with his dad. “I was greatly inspired by Bill Cosby. I used to watch his videos online and wanted to be like him. And my innings as a comedian started with mimicking actors and gradually as I approached my final year of graduation, I knew I didn’t want to do it and on being insisted by friends, tried my hands on stand-up and here I am.”

Comedy these days is not confined to the theatre stages; people are making videos, podcasts and comics and spreading to the people through YouTube. Today we have people amongst us, who are getting to Youtube with channels serving a buffet of comedy, hot and spicy.Talking about channels like AIB, The Viral Fever (TVF), and shows like Son of Abish, Karunesh feels that the comedy scene is developing with websites like YouTube serving as free platforms. “If your content is good and appealing, it will be liked by people and you will get famous, fast. The stand-up scene in the country is yet to develop like other countries, though we have crossed the budding stage,” Karunesh signs off.