HYDERABAD: Comedians are known for looking at the funny side of every major problem that happens around the world. They are known to take on politics, politicians, their surroundings and hypocrisy among others.
Indian comedians love taking on Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi and a few other prominent people who managed to dodge Salman Khan’s vehicle. However, this comedian who is an NRI, hails from a country where people recently proved how fast food can affect your brains. It could go to any extreme and in their case majority of them chose Donald Trump, a person who took politics as a pass time, as their President. Known for his slapstick and intelligent humour, Siddhanth Singh a.k.a Sid Singh will be in the city for a performance on January 1. Read to find out more about this San Fransisco-based desi comedian.
Since when are you into comedy and what attracted you to perform on stage?
I have been doing comedy since October 2009.Telling jokes has always allowed me to make people laugh. A part of me has wanted to do it ever I remember.
Who inspires you when it comes to stand-up and why?
My inspiration for stand-up has always been the audience. You see a bunch of regular people who all have their usual problems become your audience and it is your job to give them a break and make them laugh. That certainly feels special.
Apart from stand-up comedy, what do you do? Or what did you do before becoming a comedian?
Before I was a stand-up comic, I was just a college student. In fact, I moved to New York to pursue stand-up before I had even graduated (although, I did go back and get my degree a few years back!).
What according to you is the current scene for stand up comedy in India?
The current scene in India is still very young, but in my few weeks there, I was inspired by all the young comics there. They love stand up so much, which is great to see, and obviously it is a sign that India is going to produce some amazing comedians in the near future.
According to you what changes should be done to encourage more people into stand-up in India?
A lot of times, comedians say really dumb things, but if you give comedians a chance, sometimes those dumb statements evolve into the best jokes. Society gains little from censorship. If your faith cannot be tested, it doesn’t deserve to be called faith.
What are you expecting from Hyderabad? Do you plan to tone down a bit for the Indian audience?
I’m going to tell my jokes and hope for the best. I won’t change my jokes for the most part because I’m too pretentious and consider my jokes to be my “art.” I can’t help it.
What can the crowd expect from you?
I will joke about my encounters with life. Life is ridiculous and we all live it together. You’ll hear my jokes about being Indian in America and about racism. You’ll hear my jokes about marriage and divorce. You’ll even hear jokes about becoming an atheist.
Sid Singh will perform at the Hyderabadass Comedy Club, Heart Cup Coffee, Jubilee Hills on January 1 from 7 pm onwards. Tickets at `499 per person.
On demonetisation
It was implemented to get hold of the black money revolving around in the economy. Basically, to get the accounts sorted for the rich. However, it sure is funny how much demonetisation is hurting poor people a lot more than rich ones.
On surgical strikes
If a hospital had surgical strikes like that, they would probably fire that surgeon, which maybe is why so many of our surgical strikes in the US miss our actual target and hit an innocent hospital instead. A simpler way to describe surgical strikes is “murder by mistake.” Unless of course, future President Trump doesn’t like that, in which case its described as whatever lets me go back home once this tour is complete.
On porn ban
People should start calling other problems ‘porn’ since that is what got people together. Henceforth, problems should be addressed something like, “Did you know making sure all these hungry, poor people are fed and treated like human beings is called porn?”