CHENNAI: Known for his topical comedy, immense love for his hometown Shillong and videos on prevalent social problems of the northeast, Abhineet Mishra has successfully found his footing in the world of comedy. The stand-up comedian who was recently in the city for a private show talks to CE about the influence of comedy in the socio-political landscape of the country, challenge of content creation, and handling trolls. Excerpts follow:
Do you think topical comedy, such as the kind you focus on, is bringing a change?
Stand-up comedy as an art form has historically made a lot of impact, especially when humour and wit have been used to highlight a key issue. In my case, I have experimented with some variations of stand-up comedy to deliver the symbolic message I believe in, and the impact has been seen. The Meghalaya Miners video I first put out in this format helped in some small way to bring the issue to the fore much like my latest project on the Assam floods. Attention, funds and intent to help — all of it has flowed in for the causes I had the privilege to represent.
You are from the northeast and you speak a lot about and for it in your videos. How well is it
received during performances in other parts of the country?
Honestly, jokes on the northeast aren’t very relatable. At least that has been my experience. I think humour is best received when I can draw a personal correlation with it. The northeast has had the misfortune of not being spoken about as much. Hence, the blank faces in the audience, which I sometimes see after telling a northeast joke, is not a surprise. It is symptomatic of a larger level of disconnect, not just with jokes, but also regarding awareness and appreciation.
Your video about the country’s and government’s apathy towards northeast flood has gone viral. Do you think that this might change people’s attitude towards the region?
Yes. I say that more in hope than belief. But, hope holds me.
You have shared instances where strangers have slid into your DMs and criticised you, your family, and also threatened you. How do you deal with such trolls?
It’s fine until it is harmless. Even a personal attack is fine but when trolls go about commenting on my family or threatening to cause damage, it becomes a little fatiguing. Often, I ignore them because irrespective of what my view is on their views, I will still defend and appreciate their right to make themselves heard. Sometimes, trolls are the best dessert to have after a tiring day. They make for great content.
Do you think comedy should focus on societal issues when people are attending shows to forget problems surrounding them?
People are stressed because of societal problems. Talking about those problems through the lens of comedy will help them heal, even if momentarily. The audience wants to be a part of your story, and a societal problem, in some way or the other, plagues them too. So laughing off these problems is cathartic for them too.
Where is your content inspired from?
I have been a big fan of George Carlin; that man showed some spine. He made us believe that stand-up comedy has the words ‘stand up’ in them. He stood up for what he believed in and that is inspiring in so many ways.
Do you think that Indian stand-up is politicised?
Not really. The comedy scene in India is in its infancy for us to make those statements. Political affiliations do come out in some of the sets certain comedians perform. But, it’s fun to hear an alternate perspective wrapped in bombs of laughter.
Who is your favourite stand-up comedian?
George Carlin will be at the top forever. I am a big fan of Nishant Tanwar, Abhishek Upmanyu and Abijit Ganguly when it comes to Indian comics. Among international comics today, Trevor Noah is my favourite.
There are a-dime-a-dozen stand-up comedians, how does one sustain?
Stand-up comedy offers enough for a comic to sustain — both in terms of money and work. We all evolve into our own niche and an audience builds around that. But yes, finding and
establishing that niche is very important.
How do you ensure that content
is relevant, engaging and humorous?
It takes a lot of concerted effort to research content, write jokes around them, test them in front of a live audience, and then perform as part of a solo show. Awareness about what is relevant is important. I love reading the news and having worked as a journalist has helped me in culling the exciting from the mundane.
Is there an issue of plagiarism in the comedy scene too?
It happens a few times when comics come up with similar observations for a given set-up. But, as the industry is small and well-knit, we talk it out and clear the air. There are, however, a lot of aggregator pages that do plagiarise content without giving credits to the artiste.