Sorabh Pant’s journey on comedy track

Renowned stand-up comedian Sorabh Pant gave away 2-hour non-stop entertainment during Nalsar University of Law’s annual fest, “Carpe Diem-2017” in Hyderabad. As a performer of the evening, his act was as he said a journey for him as he covered all the aspects of the society in an attempt to try out his new content for the audience that was fresh and highly enthusiastic.

The act had an energetic start as it involved introduction and interaction with the students and rest of the audience striking an immediate connect while talking about law and drugs. The act later moved towards nationalism and various cultures and religions of India.

As students all over the world find an interest in ongoing television series all across the world, Sorabh took a pit stop at Indian Soap operas. Show did take the audience on a long journey of humour as he covered diverse topics from sex, religion, racism, television commercials, over growing population, fitness and not to forget the online trolls.

Sorabh Pant started his career in comedy with Vir Das working on a show called, “News on the Loose” after which he started opening acts for Vir that gave him his individual start. He is now the founder of “East India Comedy” under which they have done 130 shows across the country. He has now done more than 250 shows across 17 cities. Sorabh Pant comes across as his own critic, one of the important qualities of a stand-up comedian, as he speaks during an exclusive interview:

What kept you going there on stage for so long, yet maintain the energy?
I am developing a new show “Rant of the Pant”, which I am planning on bringing to Hyderabad on April 7, and so I decided to try the new material here. Though, some of it worked really well, some didn’t. But I never want to end a show where audience goes unhappy, and there need to be 8-10 big applaud breaks and so, it was a long haul. Initially, I could see the crowd was dull but the last 40min was madness.

Do you think opening act, today or in general makes any difference to your act?
The whole idea of opener is to give them a stage to present their acts, which help them experiment. Most of them hardly do it for a long time. I did the opening acts for Vir Das for over a year and I was consistently failing.

I remember my first 11 shows were a massacre. The reason I became a comedian or chose to take this as a career was because of this one show we did in Tata Theatre in Mumbai with 1100 people and the response was absolutely insane. And my inspiration always came from comedians worldwide but Indian comedians like Johnny Lever inspire me the most, for they understand our crowd.

In this long journey you have had as a comedian, how much of a change have you noticed in the audience when it comes to dissension?
People who consume a lot of comedy tend to be more reasonable than people who don’t. I wouldn’t say liberal but it does make you more empathetic to things as you consume more.

I get a hate mail every day since I started my career as a comedian but I have ignored it. The crowd right now is ready for a lot more and it is going to just grow. My first half of the career was silly and funny but I am looking at a serious and a particular way of carrying on my comedy. I have a vague idea on how to make people laugh and make it a lot more relevant. I love to experiment like my new act that I am writing involves PV Narsimha Rao. I am writing weird stuff.

Where does your political inclination come from?
Now, that comes from my dad. I always had a pen and a paper in my hands while talking to my dad for I don’t want to miss a joke. My humour comes from my dad and my insanity comes from my sister.

By Sasidhar Kocharlakota