Purposeful StoriesDecember 2023
Life is an amazing journey. It is neither smooth nor predictable. One moment it can be extremely beautiful but, like in a game of cricket, it can surprise you with an unplayable googly too. In that way, life is comparable to a sea wave’s crests and troughs.
But what is life without laughter, humour and satire? Indeed, life will turn pretty boring if we remain serious all the time and refuse to wear a smile.
“A little humour is good for the soul.” - Richard Branson
As we look back at the year gone by, and try to make sense of the highs and the lows, we realise the importance of the last laugh! So, in the last newsletter of 2023, we take you on a journey of how laughter, humour and satire are our best companions in both good and bad times. Psychologists say an individual’s sense of humour is a ‘plastic shield’. It improves an individual’s mental and physical health.
Humour can also be a critical life skill, and a weapon to fight injustices or highlight issues of significance in a creative manner.
Let us explore how humour can be a powerful communication tool and a useful narrative device. Exactly how easy do you think it is to be a stand-up comedian and how difficult is it to make people laugh?
Horror and Comedy
Most definitely, there is a link between comedy and horror. What comedy and horror have in common is a question that many ask but seldom find a satisfactory answer. Let’s hear from the horse’s mouth!
Agrima Joshua, a stand-up comedian based out of Maharashtra, opines that like horror, what makes comedy work is the “element of surprise”. Other elements, of course, include how a comedian introduces characters, develops a story, controls the pace of narration, delivers a punch line, and ultimately weaves magic with the element of surprise.
As a teenage girl, Joshua loved watching 30 Rock and Desperate Housewives. That is how she found a connection between horror and humour. “A lot of the dark humour comes from this judicious mix of dark and weird madness from Tina Fey and the tragicomedy situations from Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry.”
Trained as a mechanical engineer, Joshua has survived in Mumbai and Pune on an interesting combination of jobs—switchgear design engineer, copy writer and sub-editor—before realising that she could also make people laugh on stage. In myriad ways, humour has been an “ice-breaker” for her in pressure cooker situations. As a stand-up comedian, she realised that “the first laugh, when wrestled out of the toughest audience, feels like victory!”
Her go-to comic is Maria Bamford, a well-known American actress and comedian. She took comedy ‘seriously’ only after following Bamford’s body of work. A young Joshua found Bamford’s art of storytelling fascinating and inspiring. For her, the courage summoned by the American stand-up comedian to openly talk about issues related to mental health on stage was “inspirational stuff”.
In her own style, Joshua says that she briefly worked as a stand-up comedy opener for a belly dancer at a birthday party. “Anything to keep me in the city (Mumbai) and keep hitting open microphones until you get jokes right!”
According to Joshua, what humour does is that it gives strength to the weak and dispossessed for that one moment where you can mock those in power. “A stand-up comedian can’t do what focussed activism or investigative journalism can achieve. Not with jokes! Real change emanates from action.”
In a chit-chat with Gnothi Seauton, Joshua opened up about how increasingly difficult it is becoming to employ comedy to highlight important or sensitive issues. “Honestly speaking, our spaces are becoming constricted.”
She has her genuine reasons to worry and tone herself down, and instead talk about the ‘soft’ stories. Joshua has faced unprecedented online abuse, trolling, threats, and even, on occasions, she had to tender an apology on X (formerly Twitter) after a complaint was registered against her in Mumbai for allegedly “hurting sentiments” of a particular community.
A video of her about the Maharashtra government’s statue (of a historical figure) project went viral in 2019. A year later, the female comedian received a backlash on social media platforms. A legal action was ordered against her.
For now, Joshua has stopped highlighting sensitive issues for obvious reasons. In her weekly experimental shows, she is trying to be funny while talking about the light hearted stuff, including cricket. However, she says, “If the situation makes us fall, we will try to rise again and draw lessons from our low points.”
Daring Tragicomedy
For some stand-up comedians, giving up on humour is no option, the battle continues, and the show must go on….
To highlight the faultline of caste discrimination and vulnerability of the marginalised sections in India, a group of Dalit comics is making a statement through poignant comedy and satire. The three stand-up comedians namely Ankur Tangade, Manjeet Sarkar and Manaal Patil, representing India’s ‘lowest’ social strata, are challenging the age-old discriminatory system with defiance. They are doing so with grace, gravitas, wit and grit.
Ankur Tangade, born and brought up in Beed Maharashtra, started an arduous journey as a stand-up comedian at the young age of 18. As a queer woman, stand-up comedian and human rights defender, she performs before live audiences in various parts of India. Initially, her performances would focus on issues that she thought that the upper class audience easily related to.
After a while, she took a risk rather boldly.
“I decided, let’s take a risk. Let my friends know who I am and from where I come. It worked,” she tells Gnothi Seauton in an exclusive interview. She found that even her closest friends were in complete denial about the existing caste-based biases and gender prejudices. Her friends would argue that in the 21st century, in 2023, everybody earns money and owns a piece of land in India, and all that jazz. They wouldn’t concur with her that inequality and marginalisation exists.
At that very moment, she decided to give her friends and acquaintances a reality check.
Once she made it a point to walk the talk on caste prejudices, she realised that the make-up of her audiences drastically changed.
“Initially, the response was amazing. It was beyond expectation. Right now, only academics, scholars, journalists, Dalit activists are showing up, and those who agree with us are among the audience,” she says, adding that a comedy show is basically meant for every person.
It was not easy for Ankur Tangade and her fellow comedians to talk about issues that large sections of society consider either sensitive or controversial. “For us, it was not at all comfortable to perform on stage. There was always apprehension, what if somebody attacks us?” But she gathered the courage to tell this to her colleagues: “Let people attack us. We will go viral….(laughs).”
Despite facing death and rape threats, she remains defiant as ever. “People have stalked me. They have issued threats. But I keep going.”
Even some people from her community (Dalit) accuse her of being privileged enough for her father is a well-known human rights activist in Beed. Her parents have been very supportive of her career choice. Her father’s work exposed her to many cases of civil rights violations. As a kid, she thought nobody asked her about her religion, caste and background. It made her surmise that her generation was different and destined to bring about a positive change. Discrimination was so normalised that she didn’t notice anything was wrong.
“But now, I am done with people who live in denial and see no merit in discussions on reservations.”
Ankur Tangade is known for delivering punchy one-liners with a sense of perfect timing. Recently, in Beed district of Marathwada, her hometown, a protest related to reservation took a violent turn in which several houses were set on fire, and the internet services were snapped. Comedian Tangade remarked, “We were safe. My house was not burned down. I am offended. Am I not important enough?”
Ankur Tangade’s team is performing in places such as Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Pune, Mumbai, etc. She is spreading awareness and enjoying her journey. Comedy is the best way, she asserts, to raise awareness about issues that are not talked about as much as they deserve.
Over The Top (OTT) Comedy
There are no two opinions about the fact that humour is a literary device that poets and writers employ with the aim to make their readers and audiences laugh. It, indeed, has many layers. As a poignant narrative device, humour and satire have a special place in literature. Those interested in reading humour and satire appreciate the beauty of America’s celebrated humourist Mark Twain. His sharp, incisive and biting humour often comes to our rescue during insightful conversations. Jonathan Swift is another big name in prose satire. In the history of English literature, Swift is known as one of the leading prose satire writers.
In India, R. K. Laxman’s name as a cartoonist is unforgettable. He is often hailed as ‘The Common Man’, who silently took a dig at the absurdities, the paradox and the doublespeak in Indian politics by drawing cartoons that made people pause and reflect. His eye for detail was second to none. The famed cartoonist used hard-hitting satire and humour to make a point. His take on India’s complex socio-political scene right from the emergency era to corruption of scandals to natural calamities was truly inspiring.
From literature to illustrations, humour has a place in our lives. Then, there are stand-up comedy shows and comedy films that make us laugh and wonder at the beauty of humour.
In India, Kapil Sharma has become a household name in stand-up comedy. Sharma, a 42-year-old stand-up comedian, television host and singer from Amritsar in Punjab, received a shot in the arm when he was listed in Forbes India’s ‘Celebrity 100’ list in 2013. At the time, Sharma was gaining popularity for his show Comedy Nights with Kapil. He secured the 93rd position in the coveted list.
Currently, Sharma hosts another popular stand-up comedy show known as The Kapil Sharma Show (TKSS). It is a show in Hindi language broadcast by Sony Entertainment Television (SET). Many in India consider Kapil Sharma’s comedy shows as laughing therapy sessions during the evenings.
Then, you have notable stand-up comedians such as Vir Das, Kunal Kamra, Zakir Khan, Tanmay Bhat, Munawar Faruqi and many others too.
Recently, Vir Das came into the limelight when he received the International Emmy Award for his stand-up special Vir Das: Landing in the best comedy category, according to the organisers. Das shared the much envied trophy with renowned British teen sitcom Derry Girls season three. He is the first Indian to achieve this feat.
After making it to international headlines by bagging the International Emmy award for the best comedy, Das said that it is “an incredible honour that feels like a dream.” “Winning an Emmy for Vir Das: Landing in the Comedy Category is not just a milestone for me but for Indian comedy as a whole. It’s heartening to see Vir Das: Landing resonate globally, thanks to Netflix, Aakash Sharma and Reg Tigerman who made it special,” the comedian said in his statement.
Isn’t it amazing to discover the many layers of humour?
In the present times, unconstrained streamed content over the internet is delivered to viewers in an unprecedented manner. Over-the-top or OTT refers to modern technology that delivers streamed content. There are multiple comedy shows available on platforms such as Netflix.
Tell us about your daily dose of humour, what do you prefer? Do you watch stand-up comedy shows, read satire and humour, prefer comic novels or satirical poems or watch comedy films?
And we leave you with an interesting thought by Poorva Joshi, who heads the content vertical for Gnothi Seauton. In her insightful piece, she takes a dig at the behaviour of cricket enthusiasts who abandoned their favourite team when the players needed their unqualified and unconditional support….
Cricket Had its Last Laugh, We Just Heard Crickets…
In Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), there’s a moment when, in an act of ‘martyrdom’, a member of the Resistance Army sacrifices herself to offer her comrades a fighting chance at escaping. She runs her smaller spaceship through the enemy’s much larger ship, blasting it to smithereens. The scene is silent. Audiences experience the loss of a much-loved character with nothing but the sound of their own gasp, or indeed a meek “Oh, no!” expression.
More recently, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer too featured its main scenes in complete silence. The atomic bomb was successfully tested. And the seemingly divine wrath of the 10,000 feet wall of fire seeded insurmountable dread and guilt in the heart of its maker.
Silence in cinema is a medium to convey emotions that spoken words seldom do.
But, in sports, which is yet another mode of heightened sentimentality and entertainment, silence is the making or breaking of one’s spirit, confidence and ‘can-do’ attitude. There is, unfortunately, limited scientific evidence on the effects of auditory cues on players in a stadium. But history stands witness to the fact that for the home team, playing in front of a supportive crowd can provide a distinct advantage. The familiarity of the environment and the encouragement from passionate enthusiasts creates a sense of comfort and confidence, thus contributing in enhancing player performance.
The recently-concluded India-Australia ICC Men’s World Cup Final in Ahmedabad (India) was a deafening example of the antithesis of that. Cricket heard crickets as a sea of blue fell entirely, and shamefully, silent, the moment the home team started crumbling under a pressure cooker situation. So much so, that rarely will you find a World Cup closing ceremony more silent than a practice ground.
Virat Kohli was seen hyping the crowd somewhere around the 25th over, apparently in an attempt to lift his side’s spirit. They had, after all, had a stellar streak throughout the tournament, with no losses recorded in the round-robin stage. Such consistency in the league stage perhaps warrants unwavering support no matter the outcome of the grand finals. And yet, one could see the stadium emptying out even before the game reached the 60 percent completion mark.
The pressure on the Indian team didn’t even entirely come from facing an excellent, and arguably a far better, team and their world-class cricketing talent, which has been on display for decades. The pressure mounted as the hoots, the cheers, and the claps died out after 30 overs in a One-day match.
The memes that the players must have eventually seen after the games were nasty. With faces of the crying team members, slapped with text that was insulting were a prime example of an absolute dearth of sportsmanship.
India is a nation of cricket lovers. Cricket and Bollywood are often put on a pedestal as religion in India. People dedicate their lives to loving and understanding the game. Only a few succeed. Nevertheless, the love seemingly lives on.
And yet, on the day it mattered the most, fans abandoned their team the moment the tide turned. Even for the spectacular display of cricket on display that day, and some truly exemplary performances, cheers were the bare minimum they could offer.
The last laugh, then, is on the fans!
Curated Reads
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Green Humour
Rohan Chakravarty, a cartoonist and illustrator from Nagpur, raises awareness on preservation of wildlife, nature conservation, environmental issues, sustainability and all things green through his series, ‘Green Humour’. It consists of cartoons and comics.
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Meaningful Startup
Safil Sunny, a youth from Angamaly in Ernakulam, Kerala, quit his tech job and started his own venture, Tranzmeo. His innovative venture has solved the problem of massive oil theft.
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Dose of Humour
American humourist David Sedaris uses sharply funny insights into life as we experience it to connect with his global audience. If you haven't encountered him yet you will love this introduction to his work.
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Latin History for Morons
American actor John Leguizamo recounts a conversation with his son, who has to make a school project on "Historic personalities that inspire him". However, when the son chooses a White man as his role model, Leguizamo goes on a 2-hour long hilariously delivered history lesson.
Podcast
School of Purpose: Episode 9
Tropes of Storytelling in Marketing
In the dynamic world of marketing, storytelling is a key component in connecting with and engaging audiences. But what exactly are storytelling tropes, and how can they be effectively harnessed in the realm of marketing? Tune in to the latest episode of Gnothi Seauton's School Of Purpose to learn more about the art of weaving compelling narratives through the strategic use of storytelling tropes. Join us as we delve into the power of storytelling in transforming mere messages into memorable experiences that not only inform but also inspire and influence consumer behavior.