HYDERABAD: “Hello, hello! All jokes will come from this altitude now,” announces comedian Shamik Chakrabarti like a seasoned flight attendant as he waltzes onto the stage, towering over all of us at around six feet.
But even before our cackling at his self-deprecating jibe could subside, Shamik turns teacher ji, instructing us to keep our phones on silent. He then tells us about a chicha at the Hyderabad airport whose ringtone sounded like a child’s sneeze and suddenly goes ‘Hacheee, hacheee, hacheee!’. That’s all it takes for Shamik to give us all laughter tummy aches at his solo show at The Comedy Theatre in Gachibowli.
Shamik isn’t your typical comic who carefully weaves one story into the next. He can sometimes be random with his jokes, making it all the more funny.
After roasting message tones, he suddenly wishes us ‘Happy Diwali’ and does an uproarious bit on crackers and recalls his childhood reputation as a loveable nerd. Perhaps that is what makes Shamik so endearing as a comedian—crass jokes that would usually make thathayyas and ammamas go ‘aiyyo’ instead elicit hahas galore from both the young and old in front of him.
The comedian openly attributes our laxity to his ‘innocent nerdy face’ as he likes to call it. But do not be mistaken if you are at Shamik’s show; he might be clad in a simple t-shirt and jeans but is not your meek nerd being pushed around in the school hallway.
Unabashed, unbothered, and refreshingly ruthless, Shamik roasts almost anything and everything under the stage spotlight…even spoons. We roll over laughing as he puts all his bodily efforts into mimicking the dangling set of spoons in his parents’ home. But the roast goes beyond stage too as the nerdy comic picks on attendees.
Oh, but you are certainly not going to bawl after his roasting session. College student Shabana says, “Even though he made a joke or two at my expense, it didn’t irk me at all. I enjoyed it and actually couldn’t stop laughing at myself.”
Only Shamik can narrate with an unparalleled comedic tenacity his journey through Mumbai’s thanas (police stations) to find his lost laptop. An episode that would put most of us 20-somethings and 30-somethings in the audience in an anxious tizzy is suddenly the funniest escapade ever. That is Shamik’s magic, his ability to calm your nerves with every joke.
Because his jokes aren’t just ‘funny’ but are also pure intelligence. And contrary to his jokes about how his height can be inconvenient, he uses his tall frame to his advantage on stage, coupling quirky body movements with his sharp jokes.
Speaking to CE, Shamik says he always finds the crowd in Hyderabad engaging and involved. The comic expresses, “I think standup comedy, in its true sense, reveals the persona of the comic.
A lot of people have told me I write good jokes but I feel that if people cannot connect with your persona, the jokes don’t work. It’s also about saying the unsaid thoughts of many; people feel relieved when they hear someone else say what they secretly thought. My primary aim with my comedy is to make people laugh. Laughter is involuntary—you can fake many things but fake laughter? You can catch that immediately.”