The city is bubbling with young artists who aspire to live their dreams. Kjeld Sreshth is one of those who made an effort towards chasing his dream of becoming a comedian. He will be seen performing along with comedian Arnav Rao at CupShup in Indiranagar on Friday, August 10.
“I was a business analyst before I decided that I want to be a stand-up comedian. The first ever time I heard about a comedian was when everyone in my school was talking about Russell Peters. I wanted to know what the buzz was all about and I watched a few of his videos on YouTube; and that was it for a long time. A few years ago when I was in my office I googled, ‘Best Stand-up Comedy’ and a special called Killing Them Softly by Dave Chapelle came up. With my earphones on, I watched it and before I knew I had all eyes on me; I had completely forgotten that I was in the office and burst into a loud laughter. That was the first ever time it struck me that I want to be a stand-up comedian and four years later, here I am.”
Kjeld throws light on a few hurdles that upcoming comedians face today and how the field of comedy has evolved over time.
“When I started four years ago, there were only around 20 comedians in the city; that’s including Kanan, Kenny, Biswa, Naveen. So, there wasn’t much competition for us to get stage time. Today, apart from the hustle that we don’t get paid very well we also have to deal with the problem of getting stage time in the first place. People have higher expectations from us and it isn’t easy to please them. It’s important for the upcoming comedians to make sure that they do go on stage on a regular basis, it is the only way you can improve and better yourself.”
With art, the challenge is to be creative. It isn’t easy to please your audience if you are repetitive. The search for something new and innovative is constant and pressing. This puts a lot more pressure on the new bees who enter the field of comedy and perform almost on a daily basis. Commenting on the subject, Kjeld says, “One of the best ways to invent comedy is by combining tragedy and time. What to you at a point of time felt like a huge loss or heartache will much later, in the future, seem funny. Another way I use to come up with a script is by spinning a story around a thought. This is a long, time taking process but most effective. When your audience relate to what you are saying is when they find your jokes funny. My jokes are mostly observational; about how men and women interact with each other, its edgy; a little dirty, a little witty.”
The young comedian is also preparing for his performance with Shankar Chugani, who represented Bengaluru in Comicstaan, a nine-episode series that brings together seven amongst the biggest comedians in India, on the 16th of August.
