A Sardonic Laugh Riot

In the city to perform for the first time,Mandava is visibly excited about the prospects of facing a new audience. “The audience in Pune is one of the best in the country. It is really cultured. I mean you wonder at times about how a mini metropolis like Pune,which has had little exposure to stand-up English comedy,can have such a wonderful audience.” He will perform at the Freaking Highlarious Nights event to be held at High Spirits on Wednesday.

Mandava derives his comic style from real-life instances. “I cannot do political or Bollywood-based jokes because I really don’t know much about them. For me,humour is derived more from real-life experiences of people,not a single person,but people messing up their lives on a regular basis. Audiences relate to that. I like observing people — the way they behave as well as their reaction to a situation. In many ways,my humour style is anthropological,” he adds.

Starting off in 2009,the 26-year-old is credited with bringing stand-up comedy to Delhi and NCR. While he agrees that stereotypes have actually messed up the perception about the audiences,he says NCR is a completely different ball game. “Of course,we have the typical Haryanvi crowd also coming in,but they are very few and even they can take a joke provided we don’t get too personal about it. That is more of a trial and error learning method,” he says. He will be performing mixed pieces from his solo shows,which have run to packed houses in Delhi and NCR.

At the time he started performing stand-up acts,he also formed his own entertainment company,Cheese Monkey Mafia (CMM). He says that there is a two-point agenda behind starting CMM. “It was born out of a need to tell people about English stand-up comedy — to educate them about the craft was one aspect. Giving both professional and amateur comedians a chance to perform live in front of audiences was the other agenda. In comedy circles up north,anyone who has not been able to generate a laugh with CMM hasn’t gone on to become a comedian at all,” he adds.

Raghav Mandava will perform at High Spirits,Koregaon Park,on Wednesday,9 pm onwards