Watch | Comedians Cyrus Broacha, Anuradha Menon, and Kanan Gill on why stand-up comedy is not a joke

Comedians Cyrus Broacha, Anuradha Menon, and Kanan Gill on stand-up comedy at The Hindu Lit Fest 2024

How does a stand-up or comedian assess an audience? What does a career in comedy entail? All this and more came to light in a tongue-in-cheek session, May I Have your Attention Please, a freewheeling conversation between comedy experts Anuradha Menon, Kanan, Gill, Cyrus Broacha, and Suresh Balakrishna, Chief Revenue Officer, The Hindu.

The session touched upon the changing face of comedy over the years, how stand-up on stage was vastly different from what’s done on TV and the OTT, the prep and pressures that come with the trade, and more. 

Menon and Gill explained how a survey of the audience was usually enough for them to assess and accordingly steer their performance in a certain direction. Speaking of how they adapted to everything ranging from 60-second reels, 20-minute podcasts, and hour-long shows while remaining funny and relevant on social media and the stage, Anu said, “Cyrus and I have had training in television. So, acting on the phone is difficult.

But the dream today is to go viral in some form so that people will eventually come for our shows. The best way to ensure that is to make a 90-sec reel which goes viral, and hope that people eventually turn up for a show. However, irrespective of the medium, the nature of the beast has changed and one has to be wary of the material he/she uses. I chose to stay away from political material for I cannot have a skincare routine in prison,” she joked. 

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