CHENNAI: A strong presence and a confident voice is all it takes for Kaneez Surka to keep her audience in splits. Not to mention her charming wit. Touted as the queen of improv, Surka recently performed at the CounterCulture Comedy Club. She talks to CE about her genre of comedy, struggles as a female comedian and the secured friendships she shares with her counterparts and peers.
How did comedy happen?
When I was learning drama as a subject in my high school in South Africa, I kept tending towards comedic roles. I knew that I had the knack for comic timing. When I came to India, I joined an improv troupe. The comedy scene in India started four years after I moved here. One thing led to another and here I am, and I think we all have built a very lovely industry.
Is it important to know about other genres of comedy to practice improv?
You can learn improv even without knowing the other genres as it is a self-contained genre in itself. Having a natural knack for comedy does help. My first rule in improv is: don’t make jokes. The comedy will come from the scene. The act will automatically be funny if the participants build the scene and listen to each other. Improv is not about coming with jokes on the spot but building stories on the spot.
How difficult was it to make people laugh on issues concerning women at a time when comedy circling women’s lives was not common?
When I used to do jokes about women’s issues or about women, the audience would not laugh. But now, they do. It is because of two reasons: the audience is more aware of what we are talking, and also because I have now so much more conviction at what I am saying. I don’t do sexual comedy to be edgy or to shock the audience. I do it because it was a part of my life that I was told that I cannot talk about.
Does the audience respond differently to male and female comedians?
When I started, I was always the side/extra act or the side-kick. It was mainly about men. However, it is changing now. It is very exciting to be performing here as everyone is coming to see two female comedians (Supriya Joshi and me). I always felt that I was the side character in the story of comedy but not now.
It isn’t a novelty to see a female comedian nowadays as there are so many. I still feel that people go for shows by female comedians to mainly support them as just females. I want to get to a phase where it is not about a female or a male comedian but about comedy. Recently, I did a show with three other female comedians in Dubai. We owned that show, and so many people came to see us. It was very exciting.
How important is it to for a stand-up artist/improv artist to include social and political issues in the comedy set?
It’s not about social issues per say. A joke is good comedy, but if it makes you think or feel, it is an elevated joke. If it makes you think/feel and also make you laugh, then the joke has hit the transcendence. It is important to give the audience something beyond just a joke.
In the #MeToo movement, a lot of names came up with whom you are friends. How did you cope with it?
All women are feeling unsafe. It is the same in every industry and not just comedy. I just put my head down and did my work as I can’t get involved in every single issue that comes up. It is because if I get involved in everything, I won’t be able to do my comedy. As liberals, we have a lot of things that we have to think about. And if there is something that I want to talk about, I will do so through my comedy.
You post a lot of stories on Instagram with your comedian friends. Doesn’t the competitiveness creep into the friendships?
It is a very small industry and there’s enough room for everybody right now. For example, there are 4,000 comedians in New York alone. In India, we have a little over 100 working comedians. We haven’t come to the point where we might think that he or she is getting my work. People constantly pit me against Sumukhi Suresh for the best female comedian tag.
Both of us have this discussion wondering why we are pitted against each other and not against any male comedian. And also, don’t pit people against each other. We support each other, find inspiration in each other and we learn from each other. And of course, we have taken a lot of effort to build these friendships.
How do you keep up with your content for every show?
It takes around six months for a 50-minute set to come into place. I can only keep practising and doing more shows. I haven’t had the problem yet where someone said that I am doing the same jokes. Also, because of my improv nature I do sort of freshen the set every time with a bit of crowd interaction.
What would you like to say people who want to start comedy?
Just get up and do it. Don’t overthink. You will never be 100 per cent prepared for comedy. The only way to be prepared is to perform. You can never be prepared if you just sit, write, plan, formulate and coordinate and not be on the stage. And, break the barrier of fear. The kind of things that open up for you beyond fear is magical.
What do you do to recharge yourself after a bad show?
It doesn’t bother me anymore if it’s a bad show. It is because I am confident that I have the skill. I don’t question my talent anymore if I bomb at a show. I just say to myself that it was just a bad day or my rhythm was slow.
Every city has an audience based on their local jokes and culture. How challenging is it to make them laugh without hurting their sentiments?
I really don’t know. I only know after I crack the joke and somebody complains. There’s no way of telling what might offend somebody.