It’s no laughing matter: holding back your laugh. The very thought of it makes me want to run. Indeed, for most people, suppressing their laughter is one of the most difficult things to do. Yet, it is this precise challenge 10 comedians have signed up for in LOL: Hasse Toh Phasse (releasing on Amazon Prime). For six hours, they were locked up in a room in each other's (increasingly ticklish) company. The task was to make each other laugh without cracking up themselves.
Adapted from the popular international format, LOL is hosted and judged by Boman Irani and Arshad Warsi. It's a happy reunion for the actors - having done their own bit of comic jousting in Jolly LLB and the Munna Bhai series. We spoke to them about the crazy concept of LOL, setting up boundaries and rules, and why Boman's Virus and Arshad's Circuit would ace this show.
What did you guys make of LOL's premise?
Boman: I had a little worry about who the contestants were going to be. If they weren't up to scratch, it could not work as well. The list of comedians they finally gave us was just outstanding.
Arshad: It's difficult for anyone who's familiar with humour to keep a straight face. And these guys are pros at it. Most of them have a perpetual smile on their face.
While judging, how did you rule what passes for a laugh and what doesn't?
Arshad: It got tougher and tougher. These guys had come solidly prepared. None of them were smiling. That’s when our work got really difficult.
Boman: It was also important that we enjoy the comedy too. We couldn't just sit there looking into 20 cameras. At times, there would be a call from the room for a likely offender. We used slow-motion and action replays for such situations.
In Documental (2016-), the Japanese iteration of this show, the level of crassness and shock humour is off the charts. Was it the same case here?
Arshad: Inherently, our humour has never been like Japanese or Western humour. So we had a basic (rule) of let’s not hurt anyone's sentiments. And that's what the comedians did.
Boman: They went for funniness and not outrageousness.
Name a character from your filmographies who would ace a format like this.
Boman: Definitely not Dr. Ashthana (Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.). He would go out in the first 10 seconds. I think Virus from 3 Idiots would be perfect. He has absolutely no sense of humour.
Arshad: I think Circuit would crack it. Because he does the most outrageous things and does not even realise it.