Comedy is the one genre that seems easy for the audience, but it's tough to portray in reels. Among the various categories of portraying comedy is Stand-up comedy. The history of standup comedy dates back to the late 1870s in America. At present, stand-up comedy is one of the best mediums, besides memes, sitcoms, vines, and movies, to bring humor to our life.
In Nepal, comedy is said to be brought into the limelight by Mahajodi. Later, mass movement and modernization have brought people to opt for various mediums to enjoy humor. Stand-up comedy rose in Nepal in late 2015. These platforms have given the opportunity for many of the capable comedians who have a great sense of humor and engage the audience. Moreover, Stand-up comedy has brought more ground-level as well as urban comedy overcoming the clinched and exaggerated comedies in the typical Nepali movies.
Let's learn more about the Top 5 Comedy Platforms of Nepal
Comedy Circle is the first stand-up comedy show in Nepal. Comedy Circle is located at Kupondole, Lalitpur. Bringing laughter among the mass in a confined place was a struggle back then. However, the humor, puns, and comic timing of the stand-up comedians like Himesh Panta, Pranesh Gautam, Sujan Zimba, Apoorwa Kshitiz Singh, Simran Pandey, Kshitiz KC, and many more gained audience support and love.
2. Nepgasm
Nepgasm aims to make Nepal laugh such that extreme pleasure is felt. Nepgasm's office is located at Lainchaur. The team has stand-up comedians like Lekhmani Trital, UKG( Umesh Kumar Gautam), Saroj Bhandari, Doresh Khatiwada, Bibek Khatiwada, Babin Baniya, Shistata Bhandari, Naria Giri, and many more. To experiment with delivering the humor in various forms, Nepgasm has come up with Nepgasm Samachar, where news is sarcastically read and explained by UKG.
Comedy TukTuk is a Kathmandu based comedy team devoted to spreading stand-up comedy throughout Nepal. Every Monday, the team has its stand-up events. The team has Aayush Shrestha, Astitwa Adhikari, Fedor Ikelaar, and Rajina Shrestha.
Laugh Nepal Comedy is another stand-up platform in Nepal. Sharu Shrestha, Samila Poon, Loman Regmi, Raymond Karmacharya, Kabita Rai, Sagar Mishra, Birata Thapa, Kamal Bohora, Barsha Ramtel, and many more. Also, it offers vines about Nepali society.
Mic Drop is another famous standup comedy in Nepal. Mic Drop organizes events weekly every Saturday. Moreover, it provides a platform for the new comedians, driven to share some funny incidents they have seen and been into. Bishal Gautam, Koshish Archarya, Alan Jung Thapa, Pujan Adhikari, Mayur Goyal, Shraddha Verma, and many more associated with this platform.
What is wrong with these stand-ups?
It's a fact that stand-up comedy in Nepal is for the late teens and early adults as they are the ones who can spend their money on tickets and watch the youtube videos (using headphones if they have family around). Most of the comedians have at least one joke or pun or punch, and some are totally dedicated to intimate jokes. Thus, the stand-ups seem to ignore the children as well as the old generation.
A prime example is Mr.Sujan Zimba, whose content is heavily based on intimate moments between the couples. He has the right tone for the story-telling; however, it's too overwhelming as headphones get necessary to listen to him. Simran Pandey also received lots of hatred for bringing intimate jokes because of being a girl/" Female Comedian."Her "Ma Bhanchhu ni Kasto Hunchha" line got her tons of trolls.
Here, I do not deny the fact that even in family shows like The Kapil Sharma Show (Inspiration to Mundre Ko Comedy Club as per Meme pages of Nepal) do have inside talks; however, it gets covered up (I also don't know how they do it).To some extent, this kind of cover-up could be seen in the stand-ups.
Another thing is the excessive use of vulgar words. My only question is, Is the cuss word so crucial in stand-up? Maybe, it's to have the courage to say it in front of the mass, making them distinguished, Or is it a trick to sound cool and young? Or is it the comedian's frustration being shown? Bishal Gautam is a suitable example of this issue. People have supported as well as criticized Bishal Gautam for excessively using a Nepali word referring to genitals.
And as an audience, sometimes we may not remember comedians by their real name, but we do remember their characters and the words they speak. Does it sound stardom to them if someone swears in front of them as a tribute to them? Most of them won't like it.
Of Course, I am not saying stand-up comedians have to give up on their uniqueness because audiences want variety and new puns and humor. It would be much better to have content, which could bring a quantity of audience (including children and older adults). However, I am not saying to bring out stereotypes or racist concepts to compensate for vulgar or intimate jokes.
What's the future of these stand-ups?
Audiences seem to enjoy more of the contemporary situation's jokes, the comedian's experience, and roasts about possibly anything. Stand-ups sure are story-telling, and why won't a person like listening to stories, that too on somebody losing their temper, having annoying friends, and the insides talks of relationships.
The way Nepalese audiences, typically the teens and adults, have been supporting stand-up comedians undoubtedly shows that these stand-ups are going to have a long journey. The support through rallies on getting Pranesh Gautam (a standup Comedian, then working for meme Nepal) out from prison and questioning the Freedom to Speech is strong evidence to prove the audience's support stand-up comedy.
Also, including the female comedians (clichéd term) in the stand-ups is another significant way of accepting and promoting women in media, especially in the comedy genre. I am proud to see girls talking out there with such great confidence, unlike an extremely mean or clumsy or way-too-naïve or so-hungry- to-chew-bones type "female comedy characters" portrayed in our movies and media channels.
Summary
Comedy is a difficult genre of acting. To make someone laugh means to heal somebody as audiences are trying to find ways to get away from the stressful and monotonous life. And why is this presumed notion that "If something has to be funny, it should have intimate jokes, racist comments, cuss words after each sentence, and it must be presented by a man."
Can we have clean comedy like that of Hera Pheri, Govinda's old movies, Mahajodi's 15 Gatey (I know these are movies, but hey, I am talking about inspiration). Some might argue that the era is different now; content needs to trigger a little bit of vulgarity. To address this, I would like to give an example of a recent Nepali song, "Tin Pate vaidiyo," which has received millions of views and has zero nudity or vulgarity, no raps, pure music, and great lyrics. What I mean is, A CLEAN COMEDY CAN GIVE COMEDIAN LOVE AND RESPECT FROM ALL GENERATIONS.
Let's see if the comedians would follow this suggestion and bring their unique content. Let's see if they would be accepted by the audiences, who just happen to listen to or visit shows just for hearing cuss words or intimate jokes. Audiences can also be tested.
Note: Please don't assume that I am a 70- year-old grandma trapped in the body of a girl in her 20s. I do watch these shows, but not all of them. This article has my perspectives on the current scenario in stand-up comedy in Nepal. So Chill and take this as constructive criticism on stand-up shows in Nepal.
