BENGALURU: Stand-up comedian, Raouf Gangjee is part German and part Bengali. Born in Kolkata, he is the founder of Kalcutta Komedians group and will be performing in the city on August 10, 7.30 pm as part of the show called ‘World Crass Comedy’ at Over the Top terrace lounge. City Express spoke to Raouf. Excerpts:
How did you end up in comedy?
I had nothing better to do. Actually, I had lots of better things to do, according to my parents, but what do they know! I have always had an interest in making jokes at inappropriate times. I thought doing it professionally might be more appropriate. At the end of 2012, I started the group Kalcutta Komedians, and then more comedy groups. Today the group is India’s largest network of comedians, with groups in 23 cities including of course, Bengaluru.
Who was your inspiration behind your current career?
Steve Wright used to be my favourite comic. I favour difficult jokes with wordplay, though I can’t do as many of them as I like because after hard a day’s work most audiences do not want to think too hard and who can blame them!
Was there a major transition that took place when you took up comedy?
I’ve always done work that involved humour, from writing humour columns to standup. So the transitions were never very challenging. Life has been too easy for me. It’s unfair.
Tell me about your show?
In this show I will be doing some selected jokes from the material I have written. I have accumulated an endless amount of material and it is difficult to pare it down to an hour’s worth: so I have decided to do mostly some of my earlier jokes which are generally well tested and pretty much guaranteed to get a good laugh from fans of English comedy.
Has any member of the audience ever gotten offended by your jokes?
-Luckily no audience member has every got really angry with me. I don’t aim to anger audience members but to entertain them. When I sense that they are a little uneasy with what I might have said, I remind them that I am only joking and that I hope they are not offended. And then I chop them into little pieces and feed them to the birds.
How supportive was your family in your decision to enter the entertainment industry?
My family has always been supportive of whatever I have chosen to do, partly because they never had a choice. I am one of the lucky ones. If my parents had been like yours I would have been forced to be a journalist. Then again maybe this is what you chose. Either way, I wish you the very best.
Where do you see yourself in the next five years?
Ideally, six feet under the ground, because when that happens they generally bring out a nice album of one’s greatest hits on stage. Otherwise, I think I will just continue doing comedy and developing our network of comedians.
Any challenges presently as a comedian?
At present, it is actually getting easier. The market is bigger, and people are more aware of standup comedy. A few years ago the new comedians that joined our groups took months or even years to become genuinely funny, but these days they are already aware of how comedy works and learn fast.