Stand-up comedy is a whole new beast, says Ashish Vidyarthi

When did you transition from playing intense roles to stand up comedy?

I always had the funny bone and thought why not explore it. I have been killing and getting killed all my life. I am a jocular person and have quite a few tales to tell, which are funny. So I chanced upon stand-up comedy. And here I am, I think I am the youngest 59 year old stand-up comic, who was born on March 31, 2024. So I am a late delivery.

How do you craft your comedy material? What themes do you usually explore?

I have had so many amazing things happening in my life—tragedies and mishaps are huge material and quite a few of them in my life. So I am sourcing the material right where I am—from my childhood till now. In fact, one of the things about stand-up comedy is that we must be really careful because people nowadays are touchy. They are upset if you joke about them. So I found one person who is okay with me joking about him and that’s me. So I am having a laugh at myself.

Do you tweak material according to the place where you perform?

Yes, it’s a growing script and material. It changes with every room. There are clubs and then there are lounge bars. And then there are just rooms where there are people sitting and there’s a microphone there and you are performing.

So it’s very, very different. And I am just enjoying it. For an actor, it’s somebody who’s been doing theatre, it’s something like returning to theatre with less or no props, just that microphone, the actor, and the audience. And the audience, unlike in the theatre, are not quiet but enjoying it and laughing. They are saying something they want and in between that, you are doing your piece.

Between acting and performing comic acts, which one do you enjoy the most?

To be honest, I am very particular that I love whatever that I am doing. Be it motivational talk, acting in a film, stand-up comedy or even talking to you—it’s that moment. I realised that I have one life, and I am living many lives in that. I see myself as one person with many personas. And I really find stand-up comedy as a way to bring forth all my personas and having a conversation with people on everything. And to do it in a lighter way, where people are having a laugh.

Comedy has this thing to make people think. And it also makes them remember that just like the comic is laughing at himself, even I can laugh at mine and make light of what I am going through.

You have consumed comedy earlier, you have been on the other side. Now that you are performing, what has changed?

Whenever I used to go down to London, or to New York, I would visit stand-up comedy theatres in Broadway or West End and thoroughly enjoyed that. I never saw a live stand-up comedy after that. I used to just watch it on YouTube. Therefore I believe people take years to kind of create the material.

My first show I opened with a one and a half hour of material. Later on, I started going and watching other stand-up comics. And I promise you, had I actually been watching the material live from others, I wouldn’t have dared to open because I would have been too overwhelmed by how many different ways people do it.

So my style of stand-up comedy is very different. It’s so mine. And I also had the privilege of talking to a few comics, and they shared quite a few things. And one thing which stood out for me and that really helped me in having the confidence before my first show. In fact, after the first few shows, I had this conversation with one, a wonderful stand-up, his name is Rehman Khan, a poet and stand-up comedian.

He said, Ashish bhai, people discover their own voice after eight to nine years. And that struck me. Till then, I was still wanting to be like someone or perform stand-up comedy as stand-up comedy is performed.

And I got that, you know what, let me speak in my voice. Let me go and entertain the audience the way I wish to entertain the audience. So I am now really not straddling any one person’s method or genre.

I am regaling people with anecdotes. And I am letting them enjoy being with me for the duration that show is for. And allowing them to listen to me, my thoughts, allowing them to listen to how I am dealing with my demons, the mishaps in my life and my victories, and my observation of life in that journey. And I think that has really freed me. And I am really enjoying that.

As much as you enjoy this, what’s the most challenging part about stand-up comedy?

Well, I love this kind of challenge, but it’s amazing to be in front of a live audience once again. So for years, I have been doing theatre. There’s that live audience. And then when you start doing cinema, you meet the audience only on occasions in which they are there with you, they take a selfie with you, mentioning they have seen you in films.

Whereas in stand-up comedy, you are right amidst them, right in front of them, in flesh and blood, and you are performing and they are laughing or not laughing. You can see if you are getting their attention or not. A live show is a live show. I have done theatre over the years, but stand-up comedy is a whole new beast. I am so enjoying this challenging thing of just with the microphone, nothing else around you, you and the audience, you are having a conversation with them.

Any favourite comedy influences or inspirations?

Oh, so many. But, Dave Chappelle is somebody who I have just loved the way he tells stories. In India, there is Zakir, and then there is Abhishek Upmanyu, then there is Beerdas. But Dave Chappelle and Russell Peters, and there’s one person, my style is not at all like him, but I have really enjoyed Don Rickles, an exponent of insult comedy. The styles of each of these people I just mentioned are very different. But what I am taking from each one of them, is that they all are my mentors, unknown to them. What I have taken from them is that each is unique and celebrates their own voice. And I hope I am doing so.

I am happy that I am getting to express my voice, my material. So, as an actor, that is the feeling. After years of speaking lines written by others, in stand-up comedy, I am actually speaking my lines, and getting to speak with my voice.