WHITEFIELD: Twenty-six-year-old Lilly Singh is an Indo-Canadian comedienne who posts sketch videos on YouTube. She calls herself Superwoman and has over five million subscribers to her channel from across the world.
In the city on Tuesday as part of her latest tour — A Trip to Unicorn Island (presented by Culture Machine) — Superwoman spoke to City Express a few hours before her show.
Unicorn Island refers to Superwoman’s happy place, apparently. “I’m going to be taking my audiences along to this place, and for a couple of hours, they won’t be in Bengaluru. Unicorn Island is very bright, happy, and full of positive vibes. It is a trip through my life, with a lot of visuals, music and comedy thrown in,” she says.
Having done six shows already in other parts of the country, she is wrapping up her week-long tour at Bengaluru; and the exhaustion shows. “It’s been amazing, but even on our down time, we’ve had barely space to breathe. A lot of people on the show have fallen sick. I myself had to go to the hospital after the sixth show,” she says.
When she talks about her shows in India, she seems overwhelmed by the things that spin out of control. “After our second show, we got a report that said that a cat ran across the stage. We are just not used to such things that only seem to happen in India, and it’s exciting and challenging to deal with them,” she says.
Before Singh was Superwoman, she was pursuing a degree in psychology. Soon after, she took a year off to figure out what she wanted to do with her life. She was also making videos at the time. But when she decided to make a dedicated channel for herself, she was under some parental pressure to apply for her Master’s degree.
“Even when I was sending out applications, I remember thinking how I really didn’t want to do it. So that’s when I decided to make a choice and just continue making YouTube videos,” she says. She was 21 then. Her parents got on board with her plan when they realised she was actually reaching out to a lot of people through her channel.
Superwoman’s videos feature exaggerated versions of real-life situations and are always filled with warm wit and a larger-than-life zeal. Perhaps, this addiction to happiness is what draws the audiences to her channel. Some of her most popular videos are: If Boys Got Periods, How To Stop Parents From Comparing Kids, Parents Reacting To Various Music Videos and Types Of Teachers At School.
In addition to her solo acts, Superwoman has collaborated with other YouTube entertainers such as Yousef Erakat, Ryan Higa, Shane Dawson, Tyler Oakley, Miranda Sings (Colleen Ballinger), Grace Helbig, Hannah Hart, Connor Franta, Joey Graceffa, Kingsley and more.
She has also worked with actors like Seth Rogan, James Franco, Kunal Nayyar, Karan Brar and Madhuri Dixit.
When asked about where she gets her inspiration for videos from, she says they are mostly from her daily life. “When people watch my videos, I want them to be able to relate to the things I’m talking about. I want them to go, ‘Hey, that’s exactly what was going through my mind and I thought I was the only one!,’” she says.
Over the last year, we’ve seen comedians debate over what topics are off the table.
We asked Lilly what she thought about censorship in comedy: “Personally, I don’t like to talk about religion because I feel it’s a lose-lose situation. But if some other comic decides to talk about it, it doesn’t bother me at all.
I really believe that it’s in the best judgment of the entertainer. Because that’s the best they can do, and you really can’t make everyone happy.”
Making YouTube videos sounds easy but is no walk in the park. “When I first started making videos, I did it to escape a 9-to-5 job, but only to end up working 24/7. It’s definitely not easy, and it’ll consume almost all your time,” she says.
While Lilly Singh wishes she could just buy a yacht, after this tour, and travel the world, she has other plans. “I’m going to focus on working on TV shows and a couple of films this year. I’m just waiting for some things to fall into place,” she says.