Lots of laughs

BENGALURU: Aakash Mehta, one of the biggest names in the Indian standup circuit, is coming to Bengaluru with not just one, not two but six of his shows which will be spread over three days – May 19, 20 and 21. “All these shows were conceived at different points in time. One of them is a new show that I’m touring right now. But it’s not all new stuff. I’m performing my show Nasty as well.

This is a farewell tour for Nasty, as I’ve been performing it for over five years. It will soon come out on YouTube as a special in June. We didn’t have any plans for performing Nasty, but so many people reached out to us wanting to see it live for the last time,” says Mehta, who is finishing 12 years in comedy in 2023. 

Earlier in March, Mehta released his first standup special ‘No Smoking’ for free on YouTube. “I released it for free because we’re in the middle of a recession right now. I thought of putting it out for free in a ‘pay-as-you-like’ model. People are still tuning in to watch it and are leaving comments,” shares Mehta. As of now, No Smoking has amassed around 8,00,000 views on YouTube. 

Having been a comedian for over a decade, Mehta has watched his relationship with the Bengaluru crowd develop over the last 12 years. “The first time I ever went on tour properly was in 2015. Since then, Bengaluru has been an early adopter of my comedy. A lot of us performers call it the ‘reward city’. You tour around the country and do shows in many cities, some of the shows turn out to be weird, and then you come to Bengaluru and it is where you get your remarks. The running joke between comedians is that no matter how much you sell elsewhere, you will always double it in Bengaluru,” he shares. 

Mehta has developed a reputation for being fiercely independent. He isn’t signed to any agency, and everything is largely self-produced. He feels an independent career can be a double-edged sword. “There are two sides to it. The disadvantage is you will be kept out of the ‘trending’ conversation. Management agencies work in bulk and use the comedians signed under them to save time and effort.

That cuts you off the ecosystem when, frankly, there aren’t a lot of independent comedians in the scene. But the advantages are endless. You are free to do anything you want. There’s no outside pressure of a deadline. You can work on multiple projects. I do standup, run podcasts and even did a music album last year. Instead of trying to fit yourself into an ecosystem, you get to build one from scratch. For me, the freedom to carve out one’s path is key. I also run an event management agency Lasoon Live, and watching the comedians signed under us make it big is so wonderful to witness,” he says. 

With Scottish comedian Daniel Sloss recently coming to Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi as part of his tour, Mehta believes India will soon become a global hub for standup. “The pandemic has opened up India to a lot of stuff from the outside. It has also opened us up collectively to the idea of getting out of the house a lot more. The enthusiasm to check out a live event, a small local band or even a play, has gone up because we appreciate getting out of the house so much more. But I feel Daniel and others are under-servicing the market because they’re just going to do three cities right now. When in fact, they can do way bigger shows in much more volume than thought of before,” points out Mehta.