HYDERABAD: One of the first in the comedy scene in Bangalore, Praveen Kumar is someone who has seen the standup comedy scene in the city grow in front of him. The 33-year old’s brand of humour is something everyone can relate to. While the comedian has a pakka South Indian accent, Praveen doesn’t try to change it instead incorporating it in his routine.
Talking about his style of humour, he says, “My humour is something everyone can relate to. It is a bit self-derogatory as well. Most of the times, I talk about my life from the beginning to the present.” While doing something related to comedy was always on his mind, Praveen Kumar went into fulltime comedy only after he won the open mic competition organised by Vir Das in 2009 in Bangalore. Having done small open mic nights in the MIME club at his college BITS-Pilani, the competition was the turning point for Praveen.
“In the beginning, there was no platform at all for standup comedy. So I tried writing a blog which didn’t work. Later on, I did a few shows. It was only after I won the competition that I met other comedians and we decided to do something seriously towards this,” says Praveen. Having done some 600 shows since, the funny man says audience reaction is the same everywhere but he does tweak his routine depending on the audience. “When there are old people and married couples, I try to do jokes centred around marriage, the trick is to keep the script flexible,” adds Praveen who says those entering the field now have an easier time of it. “In our time, there was nothing like open mic. Today the scene is booming like anything.”
One advice he gives to upcoming talent is “to get on the stage”. “The most important thing for anyone new is try out their craft on an audience which will give them an insight into the workings,” shares Praveen.