You Must Be Joking

The result is that he travels nine months a year and is now home for his first major holiday after Last Comic Standing. Home is a beautiful barsati in Delhi where he plays down the hype of the American TV show. He says “Comedians in the US used to say ‘Oh my god, 10 million people watch this programme’, to which I said ‘I come from India. If I open my bathroom window and crack two jokes, 10 million people will show up to listen to it live!’”.

CJ (even his mother calls him this) was trekking the usual route of a good, desi boy, arming himself with an MBA from Oxford University and landing a management consultanting job in London in 2000. “Four years of office work followed. Then, somebody hauled me to a stand-up comedy show in Edinburgh and I thought if you could make a living telling jokes on stage, I didn’t want to be in an office anymore. Waking up late, never having to commute at rush hour, traveling to interesting places all over the world, working less than two hours a day, exercising free speech in its truest form and of course, spreading laughter and cheer— surely that was better than any nine to five job,” declares CJ.

After some thought he resigned from his job to pursue a career in comedy and soon found that it’s no laughing matter. “In the first nine months, I travelled to 250 cities doing five to 10 minute shows and not getting paid at all,” he says. “The big, major acts were reserved for the guys with a proven track record.” As his savings depleted, he began to learn not just the art of writing a great punchline and telling it right, but also the art of squeezing his way into “the intensely competitive world of international comedy where the audience could boo and bay for your blood”.

CJ must have spoken the right lines because he now has a packed calendar that included performances in Africa, Europe, North America and Asia. “I gave the nod to the Last Comic Standing in January because it meant a free trip to Miami. Then, I made it to the higher ranks and traveled to Vegas, the Mecca of Comedy, and it was an amazing feeling to have thousands of people in the audience. Everytime I paused before a punchline, there was pin-drop silence,” he said. As far as he was concerned, the show was over in Vegas when he made it into the top 10 and the reality TV segment of the show. “I prefer my audiences live,” he says “and I came to the US to do stand-up comedy, not be a part of reality TV”.

Papa is careful to avoid being slotted as a desi comedian, a Black comedian or a Bush basher. So, he puts the world on a platter and poked fun at them all— Bush, Queen Elizabeth II, desi aunties, terrorists, racists, airlines, traffic lights and more. If there is something CJ is serious about, it’s the state of comedy in India. “It is certainly not a lack of talent, it is the lack of sponsors. If I get sponsorship, I can bring world-class comedians here every week,” he says. Until that happens, London and the US are his playing grounds. On the flight, some traveller sitting next to him will ask where he’s going, to which CJ will deadpan the standard quip, “My seat is going to London, where is your’s going?”

Papa CJ will perform at Kamani Auditorium on 28 Dec. For ticket details log on to PAPACJ.com.