BENGALURU: Papa CJ, when he was called a different name and was a management consultant with a firm in London, saw a stand-up act. “The performer was holding a drink in one hand and the microphone in the other, he was having the time of his life,” says the stand-up comedian with a management degree from Oxford University, of an experience in 2004. He adds with a dramatic flair, “Three months later, I did my first show. In the first 10 months, I did 250 shows and, in the first three years, 700.”
He was in Bengaluru, at The Humming Tree, on Tuesday as part of his Papa CJ Happiness Project. Proceeds from the shows across eight cities will be used for charitable causes in India.
CJ, as he likes to be called in conversations, says that Papa was added for a catchier title for his London shows. “Comedy is a subset of happiness,” says CJ. “I want to spread more than laughs, I want to have a lasting impact on people’s lives. If I crack a joke, you enjoy it for a while. But what if I build a school, like with my happiness project?”
Not that he does not know the power of being able to get a laugh. “Every child knows this,” he says. “The jester could even make fun of the king.” He quotes another comedian: “Humour is like a rubber sword, it can make a point without drawing blood”.
But humour can prick without meaning to. “Yes,” he says. “The thing with stand-up comedians is that you forget you are off stage. Once I went to a friend’s house and joked about his floral shirt, clearly something he was forced to wear by his wife. I made a joke about that and he was offended. It was true, but he was hurt.” But he never means to offend and takes pains to ensure that no one in the audience feels picked on and insulted.
Therefore, he sticks to live shows and has few uploads online. “Offence has to do with intent. I am here to entertain and, with a live audience, I can communicate that easily. They get the context, they understand my persona and thus my intent,” he says.
Humour is not the same across countries but he would not slap a label on any place, they are some defining traits though. “In the US, you have to be very snappy. One joke, then the next, then the next. But in the UK, they have the time for a three-minute story as long as there is a pay-off in the end,” he says. “In India, it is not what you say but where you say it. We are not just the largest democracy but also the largest ‘hyprocracy’.” CJ says that people are worried if other will be watching what they are laughing at.
So, he takes the permission of the audience. “It is a psychological gamesmenship,” he says. For example, with corporate shows. “The sponsors brief you saying that we stand for this and this, and we need clean jokes. But the show starts and everyone has had two drinks, and no one wants a clean joke. So I introduce myself as a brand.
I say, I am on behalf of a brand and Papa CJ is a completely different brand. I ask them which one do you want the jokes from, do you want a naughtier show?” Most often the audience picks his brand of edgy jokes.
There are times he is met with a sea of silence in the hall, not a titter in sight. “When I don’t get the laughs, I either crack a better joke or address the fact that the last one was a crappy joke, that lightens the mood,” he says. “Otherwise, I remind them that I am a professional comedian who has done thousands of shows and know my stuff... they have no choice, they are in the room and I hold the mike,” he laughs.v His Broadway show ‘Naked’ won rave reviews.