The Comic Musketeers

Three Indian-American stand-up comics tour India with a bag full of fun.

A lean,bespectacled,almost-balding,Indian-American,Rajiv Satyal,in his mid-30s,gets on stage and imitates the thick Indian accent,makes fun of Bollywood,the typical first generation Indians abroad,and cracks everyone up. On the other hand,a rather portly,bearded Azhar Usman mimics the various accents in which salaam walekum is mouthed in the States. His humour swiftly touches topics such as terrorism and Islamophobia. Both Satyal and Usman laugh a great deal on stage,unlike another Indo-American stand-up comic,Hari Kondabolu,who teases the audience with one-liners and personal stories,but rarely passes a smile.

Now,imagine all three of them perform back-to-back on a single night,dishing out jokes,telling humourous personal stories and even making fun of the audience. The trios India tour promises a lot of laughs. Titled Make Chai Not War,the tour that started on January 4 has seen them perform in Chennai,Bengaluru and Hyderabad. The next few weeks will see them take the stage in Patna,Kolkata,Durgapur and Mumbai,till January 18.

I have performed in India before,in 2009,but this is the first time the three of us are touring together. That makes it more exciting, says Satyal,who will be pitching his performance on topics such as politics,technology and dating. Ask him if he is aware of the boom in the stand-up comedy industry in India and he takes a few seconds before he starts talking,I dont know how big the scene here is,but I think Vir Das and Papa CJ keep it going. They are quite popular.

Like Satyal,Usman too has toured India as a stand-up comic. In 2008,he performed in Delhi,Mumbai,Pune and Aligarh. Tune into some of his performance videos posted on YouTube and you will realise that his style of comedy,usually called Muslim humour,is inspired from his experiences as an Indian-American Muslim,ranging from incidents at airports to clichés surrounding bearded men.Its a form of street art and has to be all about self-expression and honesty. It is important to have original voices in stand-up comedy. Indians have a very good taste in art and are very cultured and who says they cant laugh at themselves? he says.

For Kondabolu,this is the first time he will perform in India. I have visited India before to meet family,but this is my first time on the stage here. I have no idea what to expect from the audience. I think every city will be different, he says.

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Rajiv Satyal