In the News

Comedy News Network has five stand-up comedians who are presenting hot news topics in an edgy and humourous avatar

Rahul Gandhi recently claimed that if India is a computer,then Congress is the default programme. An Indian scientist recently revealed that Gujarati DNA was found in a blood sample which belonged to Prince William. Chennai Express,with all of the nonsense going on,has managed to make tonnes of money at the box office. All this and more will be a part of the performance to be presented by Comedy News Network at High Spirits today.

The act is a live presentation of uncut and uncensored news mixed with sketch improv and comedy by a team of five stand up comedians which include Kunal Rao,Atul Khatri,Azeem Banatwalla,Sapan Verma and Sahil Shah. Each team member takes on a different beat (topic of news) and pitches it in his own inimitable style. We have a segment on sports,technology,lifestyle,politics and everything under the sun. Right from the youngsters who only stick to reading about news from the B-town to the oldies who hate the world,theres news for everyone in our show, says Shah. After the emcee introduces the concept and each of the reporters finish their segment,the comedians gather on stage for a debate.

A section of their performance involves asking members from the audience for a topic in the latest news they would like the on-stage comedy reporters to discuss or debate upon. No matter what has happened in the world,the most popular topic we get from the audience is Sachin. There is a war going on in Syria,terrible and fantastic things happening in the world today but we have people from the audience shout out,talk about Sachin! every time we perform, says Shah,who,like rest of the members,has to be certain that he is aware of the correct facts related to all hot topics in the news before he gets on the stage. They read different newspapers to be get a view of the news from diverse angles. While one newspaper may write a critical article about a certain political figure,another may write about who they were seen with at a party recently. The television only has Arnab Goswami screaming along with the people he invites for his shows, says Shah,who says he reads the newspapers as a part of his daily hygiene routine (while he is in the toilet).

The show branched out from their previous comedy property called Digging the news,which was a regular feature at the Comedy Store,Mumbai. The news-based act urged the team to come up with a full-on news show,which resulted in the formation of Comedy News Network,(they prefer the abbreviation CNN). Our aim was to come out with a news show every month. But that being an insane target to achieve,we decided to make this show a quarterly affair, says Shah. After their first show in June,they are now out with their second show,for which they will travel to Kolkata soon.

CNN will perform at High Spirits,Koregaon Park,today starting from 8.30 pm

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