Recently, some of India’s most sought-after comedians like Biswa Kalyan Rath, Sapan Verma Tanmay Bhat, Kaneez Surka, Kenny Sebastian, Kanan Gill, Naveen Richard united for Amazon’s stand-up reality show, ‘Comicstaan’.
I have seen Kanan and Biswa, young and unpretentious, gain fame with their “Pretentious Movie Reviews”.
I have seen Tanmay Bhatt and AIB grow through their long ordeal with all the FIRs and I have seen Naveen Richard struggling and then finally hitting it home with Hindi jokes.
All in all, it I feel it could say that I have been a following the stand-up comedy scene in India, since it’s infancy and Comicstaan thus only had a very lukewarm impact on me.
Why I Didn’t Like Comicstaan
I am not mincing any words here because the humour throughout the series is cringeworthy. If you don’t have a high tolerance for average level of comedy, watching Comicstaan would be a task to you.
I started watching the show and I somehow was only barely able to complete the first episode. By the end of it I was feeling cheated because I had been hoping to see some good standup, but instead what I got was just another podcast.
The process making of the show killed the vibe for me. There was less standup and more of judges talking and teaching about standups.
I am not an aspiring comic, so I couldn’t care less about hearing the subtleties and nuances of the art of comedy.
GIVE ME JOKES. GIVE ME SOMETHING TO LAUGH AT. I AM NOT INTERESTED IN GETTING SCHOOLED.
My Experience Of Watching Comicstaan
Since I like to believe that I am a strong, independent woman, who doesn’t like to give up easily, I convinced myself to not give up and watch the second episode too.
Now, I know I inflicted the horror upon me, all by myself, and so I shouldn’t complain, but damn, the second episode too was so, so bad.
Average, lukewarm humour, coupled with horrible comedy timing and two of the most annoying tv show hosts in the world, aka Sumukhi Suresh and Abish Mathew, successfully managed to give me an hour long headache.
The third episode, (YES, I LIKE TO TORTURE MYSELF) got me thinking that if maybe Sapan Verma, had actually put to use all the gyaan he was imparting, East India Comedy wouldn’t have turned out to become the total crapfest it is today.
Why Am I Disappointed?
I have been spoilt by Hannah Gadsby, Ali Wong and Hasan Minhaj. I am sorry if I expected some more genuine, relatable and humorous jokes, because Comicstaan clearly failed to deliver that.
A few of the contestants were genuinely good, but most of them just made me realize that there is a sea of aspiring unfunny stand-up comedians out there who just venture into the stand-up industry because they hate their day jobs.
I love open mics, because who doesn’t like fresh, spontaneous and relatable content but I realized that you can’t have too much of open mics when the level of humor is as bad as Comicstaan’s.
The jokes even though started out to be funny, failed to make me laugh because they were predictable and lacked the comic timing.
It’s understandable that these young comics will be underwhelming because they are learners and it’s natural for them to falter but I seriously don’t understand why a viewer like me needs to waste their time on an unfinished product.
Maybe if the mentoring process had happened earlier and Amazon had given the platform to genuinely funny and skilled comics, Comicstaan would have succeeded.
All in all, I truly believe that Comicstaan for me has just been a show that is very bland and hence should be skipped.
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: IMDB, Wikipedia
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Haven’t seen the show but my only comment on your piece is that anything you compare with Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette will fall far far short. Nanette is a beautiful piece of art and one that I believe is the responsibility of every human being on the planet to watch.