Its not funny

Vir Das is a standup comic. I had seen him on stage many years ago and I thought he was definitely unfunny. Now many years later he now has gained popularity and is now doing paid solo shows. That’s cool but I don’t see any reason why I should go for the show.

So when our friends planned ado together to see the show I was definitely unamused to start with. Why would I pay to see Vir Das. For those of you who are wondering – Vir Das moment of glory came when was a supporting actor in the movie Delhi Belly. He was good in the movie and  could act as far as I saw it. But still – arrghh… I don’t like comic acts and I can barely tolerate them as fillers between shows. They are not funny enough.

Grudgingly, after irritating and chewing jasmine’s ears for agreeing to go, we went for the show. I then realized that the ticket prices were 1000 bucks a head. SHIT. F&^% Y*&. ARRRGGHHHH. I hate this group thing. The how was designed as ‘the battle of da sexes’. So they kept the ladies seated in one half of the auditorium and the men in the other half. And then he started. To be fair to him. I think he has matured a lot now. He is much better than when I first saw him years ago. He brings a fair amount of energy on stage and to his performance. He talks well and his jokes are ok with a few funny ones. He probably spares no one in his castigation. But I refused to understand how the people when gaga at him and after the show. What’s there to gaga?

I do that all the time. Come in to see my lectures some time. They are the same type of jokes. You play one set of audiences over the other – typically male v/s female an then you support one and thrash the other. In the middle catch some unsuspecting member of the audience and pass a few jokes on him. I do that to one special character in my class all the time. this special character is typically one sweet guy who is usually loved by all but is made fun of and generally works as a good sport. People came out and were speaking about the energy for two three hours and how that is not easy. Well come over. I have had 6 and a half hour lectures and I still scream and shout and crack jokes while discussing serious marketing. It happens all the time.

Ya sure it’s a performance. And surely its nice but I STILL DON’T LIKE PAYING 2,000 BUCKS FOR IT. PERIOD. It’s like this thing where I hate paying full price for a shirt and other stuff. I know its the marketing that’s taking most of the money away so I like hunting for deals and like paying less. My marketing ego can’t let me buy most of the stuff. The same reason I hate business magazines and newspapers. They too are completely manipulated by the business houses. I know what we do in PR. The quality of journalism is bad thanks to the deteriorating quality of journalists. Most journalists don’t understand the domain and only rely on press briefings to take them through. Very little homework and absolute lack of understanding. Who wants to read that crap anymore? Especially if you have seen eth back rooms from where PR operates.

So that’s why I hated the experience. But it was a full house. All seats sold. And people were laughing a lot. I genuinely laughed on a few jokes as well. But still at the end I was bored on the moderate side.

I asked Jasmine and Jispa, if they remember my lectures. They have attended a few. Don’t I perform like that? I make the class laugh a lot and have fun. I crack jokes all the time. I am rude and politically incorrect at times. Jispa was not allowed at eth comic show but she agrees – I scream and shout and crack a lot of jokes while in class and the whole class laughs like crazy. And yes – I do it for a princely sum of Rs 200 an hour.