Be a stand-up citizen

Three stalwarts of the Indian stand-up comedy scene – Anirban Dasgupta, Azeem Banatwalla and Atul Khatri - are coming together for a fund-raising gig that promises to have Bengaluru rolling in the aisles on August 10. Sales from Ruckus 3.0 will benefit the NGO while the laughter, considered the best medicine, will perhaps cure all your ills!

Looking at the amount of good work that this NGO has been doing, Azeem Banatwalla says he has done a number of shows with them. He talks about the upcoming one, “The three of us get along, which is pretty great too. The set that I will be doing will be slightly political. I will be also be talking about living alone, my maid, etc. Most of this is relatively new content, so it should go down well with the audience, even if they have seen me in action before,” he observes.

According to Anirban Dasgupta, who has done shows with the NGO in the past too, this event is a win-win situation, as it’s for a good cause and he can have fun as well. He recalls that the previous shows he had done for Ruckus were some of the best work he has done. This time around, he has some aces up his sleeve. “The set that I will be doing touches on a number of topics. I am currently working on my one-hour special. I will be featuring half of the content from that, which has jokes on stories of my friends - some who are getting married and some divorced! I have a bit on an MBA and the role it plays in the corporate sector. Since Bengaluru has a lot of them, this should be perfect,” he grins, adding that competition in the market for stand-up comedians has increased a lot even though the circuit is still growing.

Atul Khatri, who has been part of the fund-raising with Ruckus ever since it started featuring comedy, says, “I have worked with these guys before and though we are doing individual sets, we still have a lot of fun together. The material that I will be showcasing is new. I talk about going from a person who worked a 9-to-5 job to doing comedy. I travelled a lot last year so I will be talking about my experiences with NRIs abroad and also about the newest member in my family - my dog.”

Well, three men and a dog have made us laugh before so we’re certainly looking forward to this one!