Desi humour hits America

Making it big in the comedy scene locally itself, is quite a task these days - with the city bursting with talent. But breaking past them all, are the Improv Comedy Bangalore, consisting of Madhu Shukla, Nasir Engineer, Rohit Nair and Abhishek Desai who will be travelling to Chicago to be a part of the festival on March 23 and will be representing India among the 150 other countries participating!

We get in touch with the hilarious bunch who have put India on the world Improv map. For a group that was incepted only around a year and a half ago, they seem to have come a long way!

“It was love at first phone call!” recalls Abhishek who was connected with Nasir, the founder of the crew. “I used to do playback theatre previously, and fell in love with the concept of improvisational and spontaneous theatre. Improv Comedy Bangalore happened by serendipity. But what started out as a hobby turned into a profession,” adds the improviser.

Nasir, the founder of the crew has had an adequate amount of experience in the field with over 75 shows across cities over the course of six and a half years! “I was initially a part of Improv Comedy Mumbai but when was determined to continue my pursuit of improv,” recalls Nasir, fondly.

Audience reactions are the only way to tell if improv is working, so we want to know if there have been any awkward moments or goof ups on stage. “Most often I’m the guilty party! I tend to get super involved with emotions when I’m playing a particular character and take the others by surprise with my energy,” pipes up Abhishek.

Adding to it, Rohit says, “He tore my shirt pocket and I was so mad because I bought a new one for the show that day. He has also pushed people to the floor while performing. He does get too involved.”

We are inquisitive about how long the fantastic four have been preparing for the upcoming festival. “We are always preparing when on the road of improv. Every performance becomes the preparation for the next, and so on. Hence in a way, the preparation to be an authentic improve performer has been ongoing,” shares Madhu quite diplomatically.

Rohit on the other hand, had been eyeing the opportunity ever since they began! “I knew we were good enough to take our performance outside the country. In fact, our performance back in 2015, convinced me we were strong. But we have been practicing thrice a week and aren’t compromising on the basic rules” he says.

And with the US being the Holy Grail of improv, what are the improvisers looking forward to the most in Chicago? “We want to absorb the tremendous amounts of improv energy and network with as many people as we can. I am dreading Trump’s America though and wondering if we can work on content which mocks him,” says Abhishek in conclusion.