BENGALURU: Wit, charm, and relatability are the words often synonymous with Kenny Sebastian, one of the brightest stars in the Indian comedy scene. His journey from a young boy in Bengaluru to a household name across the country is known to all. In a conversation with CE, Sebastian speaks about his acclaimed standup special Professor of Tomfoolery Vol. II, his career in comedy and more. Excerpts.
Tell us about Professor of Tomfoolery Vol. II
It’s a show about family, it’s the most honest and anecdotal show I’ve done so far. A lot of my audience is also pretty surprised about how much I’m sharing hardcore truth bombs and it’s a show that’s been very fulfilling because when I look at the audience I have people coming with their whole families and it’s a story about our communication between each other. Jokes are all light-hearted but the topics are all hard-hitting relatable ones. Interestingly, I’ve just done a small revision towards the end where we have two songs.
You have been doing comedy for the last 14 years. How has your journey been?
I keep telling people that the one constant support we’ve had from day one has been the audience. The only reason that stand-up comedy in India exists is because of the love we get from the audience. Nobody supports comedy. A lot of the platforms don’t, the infrastructure doesn’t. This shouldn’t exist actually, but we do due to audience. During the pandemic, technically it should have died, though it took about two to three years to recover, it has come back stronger.
Do you have any defining moments in your career as a comedian?
The first time my videos went viral in 2014 was defining. I went from doing shows at small bars where 20 people are eating their food or drinking to solo shows, it was surreal. I constantly get humbled as you pay money to sit and listen to somebody tell jokes.
What inspired you to be a stand-up comic?
I was always a freelancer, so I was a corporate video editor and I shot corporate films for companies in Bengaluru. It wasn’t a conscious choice that oh, I’m going to be a stand-up comic as it wasn’t a career back then. For me, it was just like, oh, I’m making the same amount doing comedy as I’m making corporate videos. So, which is more fulfilling, definitely doing stand-up comedy. Because both were very uncertain, in both, I didn’t know when my paycheque would come, I decided that I might as well do something that brings me so much joy.
Future plans?
Once this tour is done, the next special is coming up which will be a music special. My podcast is also going on and I’ve written two songs and I have to write about 18 more songs. It’s a lot of work ahead. So I’m just focused on that. Hopefully if platforms are getting back into comedy, you will see me doing more comedy. I think people are just very scared about censorship and that’s why YouTube is really thriving as it has the least censorship.